July 3 - Missions, Part 1 (to be continued...)

I just got done watching a video clip that a friend posted on Facebook from his missions trip to Guatemala in 2009. Watching it, I couldn't help but think about my own trips, in 2009 and in 2007.
My introduction to missions came when I was ten, when I accompanied my father to Siem Reap, Cambodia. That trip planted something in my heart. Several years later, while praying one night, a longing to return to Cambodia rose up in me. The Lord paved the way to go back, so in January of 2007, I flew into Bangkok to join a team from the non-profit humanitarian group People for Care and Learning. PCL, as they are known, followed my dad into Siem Reap. He had, for several years, played the role of coordinator, putting together projects, people, and groups. With the groundwork he had laid, PCL stepped in to launch several projects. Every other month or so, PCL would bring in a team to show them the work being done, to raise support.
It was with one of these teams that I found myself, entirely by the grace of God, back in Cambodia. The Lord's hand could be seen from the very beginning of the trip, as my plane in Tokyo, Japan had broken down, causing me to miss my flight and the meeting with the team. The issue didn't seem so big of a deal on my side; I was exhausted by that point, and had met up with a guy my age in Tokyo who was traveling to Thailand. He had had more traveling experience than I, so knew what he was doing. I just followed him. However, on the home front, no one had any idea where I was. I was finally able to call home and explain that I was staying in Tokyo over night. When I finally got to Bangkok, I had, of course, missed the team, so a couple who worked with PCL came back to the airport to pick me up. My dad tried to coordinate a meeting, as I called him from the public airport phone and he called the couple picking me up. "Coincidentally", they walked past me, just as I pulled out a sign that said, "PCL". Had I pulled it out thirty seconds later, they would have missed me.
After a tempestuous beginning, I joined up with the team the night before flying into Cambodia. We stopped in Phnom Penh (the capital) for a couple of days, then headed to Siem Reap. That first week was spent exploring the different projects PCL had in operation. After this time, the team left, and I moved in with Pastor Simon Valenzuela, and his wife Dora. The Valenzuelas were Filipino missionaries working for PCL at the local orphanage established on the property my parents donated to PCL. Finally my real "work" would begin.