Day 1 in Battambang

Today was our first full day of ministry work… And what a FULL day it was!!!

During the day, we split into three teams going to prison ministry, leadership training and children’s ministry.

Prison ministry:
Wow… what to say?! We were all blown away by what we saw in the prison. We were able to hand out care packages to the prisoners, many of whom looked like teenagers. Many of the women who lived in the prison did so with their children in the prison as well. It was so tough to see the look on their faces, but we were encouraged to see that the ministry was able to reach out to this population. We left with hope that the new class rooms built will be used to teach the gospel to the prisoner.


Leadership Training:
After some awesome praise and worship, people from each church shared a leadership training lesson with about 400 local Cambodian church leaders. Sherrie Serca really brought it!! She had the opportunity to teach a lesson alongside two other team leaders about leadership and team building. The Cambodian people were very responsive and were encouraged by the messages and fellowship.




Children’s Ministry:
This morning we were greeted by 40 adorable Cambodian orphans who could not quit smiling!!! Many of us had the opportunity to paint in the beautiful orphanage that the church contributed money to build. We also had plenty of time to spend with the children and play games, eat candy and sing ABC’s and 1-2-3s!!

Festival of Hope:
To round out the evening, we went to the kickoff of the Festival of Hope! We had an amazing night of Cambodian worship, traditional Cambodian dancing, topped off with a fabulous time with the worship team of the combined churches. Finally, Pastor Dino Rizzo of Healing Place Church shared the incredible message of salvation with about 2000 local Cambodian people. We can’t wait to see what else God has in store for the rest of the festival.