Meeting a New Friend

Let me tell you about a God moment. Or rather someone sent by God to remind us that He is with us. Not only are we reminded of the comfort Jesus brings, but the joy we have in him. Our first day in Cambodia started with breakfast in our hotel. The hotel serves a continental breakfast every morning. After breakfast we waited outside of our hotel for someone from the Learn2Work center to come meet us and show us around the city. As we stood waiting for Odam, this elderly man came up to us. He was wearing a smile that stretched across his face. He asked us where we were from. He told us he was from Korea. He told us he teaches at a near by university. We told him we were here because we are teaching English. He teaches Korean at the university. He spends a month in Cambodia and a month in Korea. He was so happy to see us, he asked if we could take a selfie. We couldn’t say no to such a kind man. Little did we know that this would only be one of the many encounters we would have with “Korean Grandpa”. We usually see him every morning at breakfast. He always greets us with his big smile and cheerful hello. He has mentioned to us that he is a missionary. We are not sure if that means he is a full time missionary or if he tries to shows Gods love through his actions. Either way he brings joy to us every time we see him.

Sunday morning we attended our first church service here in Phnom Penh. God was already teaching us a message before we even stepped foot into church. The day started with us meeting in the dining room of the hotel to eat breakfast. As we sat at the table enjoying our breakfast, Korean grandpa comes around the corner. He tells us he wants to go to church with us this morning. I know for me personally I was a bit sketched out. First, a tuk tuk can barely fit all 6 of us. Second, Korean grandpa is very nice but do we trust him? I am not the only one on this team. I am reminded by my team members thorough their actions that God loves every one. Also as I am writing this a few days later I am thinking, “Why did I even want to deny someone the opportunity to go to church?”

Anyway, we told Korean grandpa that we didn’t know the name of the church. We also told him that we didn’t think there would be enough room in the tuk tuk for him. He didn’t get discouraged at all! He said he would wait until the person came to pick us up and ask them where the church was. That is exactly what happened. We finished breakfast and headed outside to wait for Dali to meet us. As we waited on the steps, Korean grandpa arrived. He pulled a candy out of his pocket and handed it to Chad. Chad took a small bite and said it was a buttterscoth candy. Chad quickly said to us “he really is a grandpa!”   Dali finally arrived and flagged a tuk tuk down. Dali told Korean Grandpa where the church was. When Dali saw that grandpa was going to take his own tuk tuk he said that would not be necessary. So Korean grandpa would ride with Dali on his motorbike. We started laughing as we witnessed Grandpa climb on to the motorbike. We knew he was probably so happy. As we ride in our tuk tuk to church Dali passes us on his motorbike and korean grandpa is smiling. We also heared him tell Dali “You are such a kind man.” He also waved to our tuk tuk driver.

As we arrived at church we were greeted at the door. The service was in Khmer. During worship the lyrics were in English and Khmer on the screen. I loved hearing the different languages both praising God at the same time. It was a reminder that God speaks all languages. The message was given by a guest speaker from the Philippines. He spoke in English and the pastor translated in Khmer.

We arrived back at the hotel after church. We quickly learned that Hannah and Chad’s hotel key was missing. Hannah had gave it to chad in the elevator that morning. They were able to get a spare one from the front desk. After dinner as we walked into the hotel, the lady at the front desk waved at us and said that the elderly man had turned in our key. She told us that he went to use his key and quickly found out that he had the wrong key. We think the the key fell out of Chad’s pocket at church. Korean grandpa might have picked it up thinking it was his. From the joy his smiles brings us to the rescuing of a hotel key, Korean Granpa is a person sent by God to remind us he is with us on this trip.

That’s all for now,
Connie

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