God in a Brothel

On December 28th our family departs on a two week trip to Cambodia and Laos. We’ve been to Laos before briefly (as in less than an hour) and never to Cambodia. It is a country I’ve wanted to visit for many years, so this is a real dream come true for me. Cambodia is one of the poorest of the countries in Southeast Asia with a brutal history of genocide. Laos is also desperately poor and under a communist regime. 

A team of a dozen people who we went to mission school with in Mozambique have established a base in the capital city Phenom Phen this last year. God has given them a passion and heart to go into the darkness of the brothels and rescue women and children from the rampant sex slavery. 

In preparation for the trip I recently finished the book God in a Brothel by Daniel Walker.  I tend to get emotionally involved in books so parts of it were hard to read. It reminded me somewhat of the horrors of the book I read on child soldiers. Can anything be worse than child soldiers and child prostitutes? The very worse descriptions in the book were of the Svay Pak village, just 30 miles from Phenom Phen, famous for attracting international pedophiles.  The book gave a very honest portrayal and was eye opening. 

I was reading in Hebrews 4:7, “Today if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts” This is really becoming my prayer for Cambodia, just to keep an open heart. Sometimes the darkness is so overwhelming that I put up a wall and harden my heart. I feel like God is just asking me to come as a learner and be open to what part he might be asking us to play in releasing freedom to these captives. 

We are not planning on spending our whole trip in brothels (:  We look forward to hanging out with friends, eating, swimming and visiting ancient ruins, in addition to visiting some different ministries. We would really appreciate your prayer covering for health, protection and leading as we go. Thanks!