Bus, Beach balls, & Baptisms!

Waking up on Tuesday morning was a little tough. The bus was leaving at 5am sharp, so we had to be in the lobby at 4:45am. We knew the kids were anxiously waiting, and they were definitely NOT going to be late. We later found out that they had stayed up all night from the excitement.

We all loaded up and headed to orphanage to pick up the children. When we arrived they were waving like crazy; you could sense the excitement. They all piled in for the 8-hour bus ride that was ahead. I guess time really flies when you’re having fun, because the ride was over in a flash. Singing, sleeping, playing clapping games (which mixed in a little rock, paper, scissors), and listening to music did the trick. We were ready to hit the beach!

The kids stripped down to their undies or just kept on what they were wearing and rushed the water. I joined them as if it were like I’d seen the ocean for the first time. We all swam and played with the kids and then something awesome happened - we broke out the beach balls! The kids went CRAZY! After we recouped from our light-headedness (from blowing up all the balls), it was back to the water for more fun in the sun. Some of the kids used the balls for soccer, others for volleying, and the most popular (at least for the littler ones) was to hold on to the ball, put their feet out behind them, and let us push them through the water as fast as we could. (Kind of like a wheelbarrow race, but in the water holding on to a beach ball.) What a blast!

The food at the beach was - you guessed it - seafood! There was crab, squid, giant shrimp, and the usual; rice. It was some of the freshest seafood imaginable. You could honestly watch fishing boats come to shore with their catch and give it to the cooks to prepare. Oh, and Ants were also on the menu. We all took turns passing around the tray of ants spritzed with lemon. They were actually pretty good.

The hotel was pretty accommodating, although Mistye and Candace might tell you differently – haha. From the outside looking in, you would think our team has known each other for years. As we sat in Mike & Jon’s hotel room (long after our devotional for the evening was over) we joked and laughed together. It’s so amazing how God works – even when picking out our mission team.

Today we woke up early again so the kids would have a few hours at the beach again before we head back to Battambang. But, before we left, pastor Vek (the creator of New Life Church and the reason why our mission team is in Cambodia) showed up with one of the teams serving at the orphanage in Phnom Penh. Everyone was excited to see him and his wife, but little did we know, the excitement was yet to come.

One of the team members from the Phnom Penh group (Alex) wanted to be baptized and pastor Vek was going to be the one doing it. One of our members expressed interest in being baptized as well, and sure enough it happened. As Candace stepped out in to the water, wear pastor Vek was waiting, we were all standing on the shore holding back tears. “I’ve been wanting to do this for a long time, and I can’t think of a better time than right now,” Candace had said earlier. All the kids surrounded us in song while she was washed by the water. God’s presence couldn’t have felt any stronger. It was a perfect day.

We said our goodbyes to pastor Vek and the others and got on the bus (which is where I’m writing this blog) for the 8-hour journey back to Battembang.