A few days before my trip to Phnom Penh via Saigon I asked myself why I signed up for the 1st ICPM Leaders Summit to be held at the heart of the Cambodian capital. It did not sink in yet that this will be my first ever mission exposure trip and that I will be made aware not only of the Khmer mission field but also God’s work through Destiny Ministries International in Southeast Asia particularly in Singapore, Malaysia, Cambodia, soon-to-be opened Vietnam and even as far away as Dubai. While my heart was in limbo, the Lord, on the other hand is and always will be fully committed to the work of mission and He was about to unleash upon me the full package. It was as if He was trying to say to me, if it is mission exposure that you want then it is what you will receive. I had no idea that the many stress points that are gradually experienced by new missionaries in the field I will go through in less than 24 hours.

I was at the NAIA before my 11:00 P.M. flight to Saigon – also known as Ho Chi Minh City. An hour before boarding time I was already in line for the immigration portion of my overseas travel. It will always be the least pleasant part of any trip abroad. More often than not, immigration officers are in a power-tripping mode and they will always make you feel that while you are standing in that particular zone of authority you are at their mercy. If they tell you to jump twice you will do it without thinking. If they tell you to crawl on all fours, you will probably do it because you cannot afford to miss your flight. But apparently, not everyone share this view; foreigners especially Europeans and Americans are not timid in expressing their rights and it is common to hear stories of confrontation between immigration officers and foreigners who do not appreciate the way they are being made to jump through hoops. I was about to witness one in full color, right in front of me.
The immigration officer a few feet away was not in her best mood. It was understandable; it was already past her bedtime. Many local residents who did not appear to have a legitimate reason of flying out of the country felt the full brunt of her power and at least two Filipinas who were ahead of were about to have an unforgettable evening. So I “wisely” queued to another line but as I went there I saw a foreigner who moved over my spot having no idea that he was about to enter a lion’s den. The foreigner looked like Jesus Christ – I kid you not – at least he had the features of the Hollywood version of Jesus. He had long, blonde and wavy hair and he had the correct kind of beard. He was carrying a heavy backpack and the first thing that I overheard in the discussion was the voice of the immigration officer asking him about his departure card.

The Jesus look-alike was confused and the only thing that he can say is: “I don’t know.” The response from the other side of the booth was hostile. She pointed to a piece of official document, pressed it against the glass and said: “Departure card, departure card!” It was only after one week that I come to realize why the foreigner was so upset. It seems that it is only in the Philippines wherein outgoing passengers are required to fill up a departure card. The argument went back and forth up until the foreigner could not take it any longer and in his frustration he shouted: “What are you doing to me!!?” He hollered with an accent that I can’t place out as of the moment. The confrontation became more intense but at the end he wisely backed down. However, little did I know that what he said that night would become the theme of my mission trip to Cambodia.

Saigon to Phnom Penh

The plane landed at Saigon ahead of schedule and there was no problem with immigration this time and so I was able to exit fairly quickly, passing through customs and then into the arrival area. But it was merely the calm before the storm. I decided to stay within the confines of the airport; the arrival area will provide safety and temporary sleeping quarters. My watch says 1:00 A.M. after I adjusted for the one hour time difference. My attempt to sleep using the hard and blue plastic chairs, placed side-by-side was made futile by the whirring sound of heavy-duty cleaners the size of golf carts as it drove past my make-shift bed. After a long wait it was already 5 A.M. At last, I can leave the airport and hopefully get some sleep in the bus on the way to Phnom Penh.

I immediately felt the sting of culture shock when I tried to hail a taxi for the next leg of my travel. I realized that no Vietnamese taxi driver can understand the words: SAPACO Bus station. I can’t understand why an interpreter is needed for a very simple English phrase. But as I read the signs I kind of figured out that bus or bus station is “buyt” in Vietnamese; however there is no way I will be able to pronounce “buyt” and so I sat there for a few minutes groggy from lack of sleep.

I was forced to befriend a group of Filipinas who carried some sort of business card that has the address of the SAPACO Bus station in the Vietnamese language. I was glad for their help but after a few minutes with them, I began to suspect that they were prostitutes on their way to work in Cambodia. My day was about to begin.

After 6 hours of not-so-comfortable travel we reached Phnom Penh. I said “we” because the group I was with were no longer total strangers. They help me save on my taxi fare and then they paid for my lunch. I was at the pick-up point one hour ahead of schedule so I decided to go straight to the house rented by the Destiny team and EnglishWorld. By the way, a few days before my arrival, I already communicated to the missions team through Facebook that I will arrive at the bus station around 2 P.M. The person whom I was sending mail back and forth said that she will pick me up. I don’t know her name because the message was sent through the account of DeLight Cambodia and she also did not introduce herself to me. So from that day forward I will just refer to this mysterious sister in Christ as Ms. Delight.

I was about to hail a cab or a tuktuk but the madame who graciously paid for my lunch said that her van is picking her up and she and her girls are more than willing to help me locate the house at #5 St. 167. But when we were already within the target area, I understood very quickly that the streets of Phnom Penh can be a tourist’s worst nightmare. In short, we were already circling the neighborhood for more than 30 minutes and we still can’t locate the house. I was embarrassed, the van’s aircon was not working properly and everyone was tired and hungry. I was about to give up when we finally located the headquarters of Destiny Cambodia. You will understand how difficult the ordeal was when everyone in the van erupted in cheers.

I quickly got out of the vehicle and excitedly pressed the doorbell of the yellow-gated house. But lo and behold no one was home. I knew I had to do Plan B but I could no longer ask my newfound friends to bring me back to the bus station so I told them I will be alright and I’ll manage.

After they left, I looked at my watch and felt the urgent need to go back to the pick-up point; I said to myself that Ms. Delight will be there to fetch me as agreed upon a few days earlier. But then the second major realization of the day hit me; there was no one in that area who can speak decent English. I realized later – especially after I learned a bit more of Cambodia’s history – that it was possible that there was no one who can communicate in the English language within one mile radius of where I was standing. Aside from that, the street was almost deserted except for a lone motorbike driver who was standing a few feet away from me. So I approached him and said that I wished to be brought to the SAPACO Bus station. He had no clue as to what I was trying to say. I repeated what I just said but there was nothing. It dawned on me that the language barrier can’t be brought down by I.Q. or charm.

The logical thing to do was to call Pastor Val. But my pride and ignorance of the culture and history of Phnom Penh prevented me from doing the necessary steps to make my phone into “roaming” mode when I was still in the Philippines. I don’t want to go through the hassle, if you know what I mean. I thought that I can wing it. I truly believed that I can solve the riddle of Cambodia just like the other countries and other exotic places I visited in the past. For instance, I assumed it was fairly easy to buy a cell card and go to a phone booth and dial an overseas or domestic number. But I was wrong. This is an example of how pride comes before a great fall.

My phone was useless and there was no way that I can go back to the rendezvous point and so I decided to use my computer skills to find a way out of this hole. So I tried to communicate to the driver once again, and raised my hands up and began to act-out as if I was typing on a keyboard. I told him, “Internet, internet.”  He nodded his head and I was glad that he can understand what I was trying to say. So I pulled up my luggage with my left hand and slung my messenger bag to my right and sat at the back of his motorbike and off we went.

After a few turns he began to slow down and as I look up I saw the sign that says “Cafe” and I thought we are near an Internet Cafe but the driver only slowed down because of a hump on the road. So we travelled a few blocks more and finally he turned off the engine and we cruised in front of a huge and black metal gate. I looked up once again, to read the sign on top of a four storey building and it reads: “Children of Hope.” I don’t have the slighted clue why he brought me there.

I was concerned that the “moto driver” was about to bring me deeper and deeper into the downtown area and far away from the headquarters of DeLight Cambodia so I asked him to bring me back to where we started. I guided him by pointing which way to turn using only my right hand because my left was already struggling with the heavy load of my travelling bag. My arms were already burning from the pain and so I was more than happy that we were able to go back to the starting point. I disembarked from the motorbike and I was again standing in front of the 10-foot yellow gate waiting for someone from Destiny to go back to the house for whatever reason and rescue me. But that did not happen.

I realized that #5 St. 167 can be like a no man’s land in a hot and lazy Sunday afternoon. Since I could not communicate to no one, I felt as if I was in one of loneliest spots on earth. It was like standing in an island after being shipwrecked and if that was not enough I felt the impact of the humid air as I continued my vigil past the 2 P.M. mark. And then, it began to rain.

Open line to Heaven

After more or less one hour of agony, waiting for clear skies, the heavy downpour became just a trickle and finally a tuktuk was able to fetch me out of the auto shop where the mechanics were gracious enough to offer me shelter from the hard rain. A tuktuk is one of the primary means of transport in Phnom Penh, it looks like a cross between a Philippine tricyle and a Hong Kong rickshaw but the design is actually a poor man’s version of the royal carriage. I pointed to the direction where the other driver brought me a while earlier, where I saw shops selling mobile phones. I decided that it was time to buy a local SIM card.

The moment I spotted a store selling cell phones I immediately signalled to the driver to stop the vehicle. I disembarked and went straight to the store; the clerk showed me a catalogue with the indicating the cost of the SIM CARD. It says $10 U.S. dollars. It was hard to smile looking at the price but what can I do? He asked for my passport and through his sign language I understood that he needed it photocopied. I was told beforehand that it was a weird legal requirement so I obliged handing him my passport but unexpectedly he gave it to his assistant and the girl ran towards a motorbike parked beside the store. She opened the storage compartment beneath the seat and carefully placed my passport inside.

I don’t know why it took me a long time to react but I finally blurted out, “Give me my passport!” And with an exasperated tone I said, “Give me back my ten dollars!” The clerk made quick movements indicating that he needed a photocopy. Well, I said to myself, I don’t care, there is no way I’m giving them my passport. The owner or manager of the store joined the discussion and he offered to use his I.D. instead for the sake of regulations. And so after another long wait I was holding a Cambodian SIM card but just as I was about to insert it I realized that my phone was locked for exclusive use to a local network in the Philippines. Therefore there is no chance that I can use it with another network. The phone was with me for too long I forgot about this very important piece of trivia.

I clutched my phone, placed it on my right hand while I raised my left hand to make another sign language and I said to the attendant in front of me, “Cell card, cell card.” I wanted one so I can call Val’s phone through a public phone booth, if there is one in Phnom Penh. The guy looked at me with a perplexed expression on his face and then pointed to my phone. He was probably thinking that this foreigner from the Philippines has gone loco. What’s the use of buying a SIM card only to ask for a cell card? And so I gave up and faced the other way, thinking what I was about to do next.

After a few seconds I turned around again to say, “Open line, open line.” His body language says he doesn’t understand. But after a while he asked for my phone and apparently he understood what it meant to open a locked phone. I asked how much and he said, “Sic doolar.” I thought he was sick. But what can I do?

Before I handed him the phone I looked up Val’s cellphone number and wrote it down on a notepad. I clearly remembered my last e-mail from him wherein he said to me, “Kuya naka-roaming ako, you can text me anytime. (Brother, my phone is in roaming mode, you can text me anytime.)” I know that the only thing I need to do was to contact him and I can rejoice once again. After another agonizing wait my unlocked cellphone finally arrived, however, at first glance I knew something was wrong with my phone. A week later I found out that all my contacts in the phone memory were wiped out and I can no longer use my phone as a modem. Anyway, I was glad to finally be able to call Val. So I dialed his number and yet there was nothing.

The electronic response on the other line kept saying sorry. I have no idea why I can’t make a call. After struggling to dial more than three or four times the sales clerk came near to where I was sitting, and then he leaned closer to say to me, “New SIM card, no load.” It was hard to stay calm, knowing that I had spent $16 dollars for a phone that is as useless as a piece of stone. And he said that I have to put credit and need to pay an additional amount and so I asked how much. He replied, “Fay doolar.” I was in a fighting mood, but again, what can I do? So I sat there for a very long time, with my head bowed down, staring at the floor.

The attendant and the manager respected my frustration and so they allowed me to stay inside their store and they did not dare bother me. But I said to myself I need to attend the anniversary, it doesn’t make sense to fly out all the way to Saigon and endure a six-hour bus ride to Cambodia and then miss this historic event. If I have to shell out American dollars to be able to attend, then so be it.

I realized that body language is more powerful than spoken words because the attendant suddenly remembered that I can have credit for as low as $2. I paid and then ask his help to load it to my phone. After that I began to dial Val’s number once again. And still I cannot connect. My first reaction was to blame his service provider back home. Yet still, I continued the attempt over and over again. After a while it is time to move on and solve the problem from a different angle.

Tuktuk and Tusok-tusok
I called my wife back in the Philippines and I was more than relieved than I can hear her voice. I asked her to call everyone and I mean everyone who was attending the event. But at the back of my mind I knew that no one will answer; I would do the same thing which is to ask everyone in attendance to turn off their phones or switch to silent mode. So I silently prayed, Ate Ahl, please pick-up, Ate Jane, please pick-up, and K. Lester please glance at your phone but there was no open line from heaven for me.

After a few more minutes I asked my wife to use her computer skills to find out the venue for the DeLight anniversary and update me. In just a few minutes she called back to inform me that it was in a hotel and the event was scheduled between 2-5 P.M. I looked at my watch and it says 4:30 P.M. She then gave me an address which I promptly wrote down on a piece of paper: 313 Siso Wath Quay, Hotel Cambodiana. I flagged down a tuktuk vehicle and showed the address to the driver. He pulled up a map and together we examine it but we can’t find 313 only 317. It was also his first time to hear of Cambodiana. After a flurry of sign languages we agreed to simply go there and just look for the hotel.

When we reached the riverside portion of the city’s main park the driver turned left. I found out later that he should have turned right. The tuktuk was moving at a snail’s pace as the driver was reading the names of the hotels we passed along the way. I was reading with him as well. We passed by many restaurants and hotels until we reached the boundary of the commercial district. The driver made a U-turn and I pulled up my phone to call my wife and asked her to Google the hotel and tell me the landmarks. She quickly replied that our target hotel was located near a park; but all the major hotels were located near the city’s biggest park. So I asked her to describe the architecture of the hotel and she confidently said, “May tusok-tusok…” (The roof  has a sharpened or tapered tip…) I shared this story at the 1st ICPM conference and all those who are familiar with Cambodian architecture were laughing so hard. Ask them why.

So I gestured to the driver to stop and ask a couple of security guards and then I wondered why it took him so long to admit that he was lost, maybe because he is a driver. Anyway, one of the guards pointed straight ahead and so we followed the directions given. I glance at my watch and it was almost 5:00 P.M. A short while later I saw Hotel Cambodiana. The driver saw it too but he did not make any effort to speed up his tuktuk, instead, he turned to me, I was sitting at the back of his four-wheeled vehicle and he seemed to say that we are finally at our destination. In my frustration I said to him in Tagalog, “Bilisan mo! (Faster!)”

He made another U-turn and he deposited me outside the main entrance to the hotel and far away from the lobby; he indicated to me that he is not allowed past the gate. I paid him quickly and began to walk fast. The distance from the main gate to the hotel lobby was a good 30 to 40 meters away. I was awkwardly pulling my luggage on my left hand and held tight my messenger bag with my right.   The security guard of the hotel spotted me far off. And he was caught in an awkward position. He was not sure what he was supposed to do. He doesn’t know if he has to go down and help me or wait for me near the steps. He must have thought, here is a guy who is supposed to check-in to a 4-star hotel and yet could not afford to pay for a taxi.

I was huffing and puffing as I climbed up the stairs leading to the hotel lobby and the receptionist asked me if I’m going to check-in, I said no and asked for DeLight Cambodia, he pointed to a conference room a few feet away and I hasten my pace. When I reached it I gently pushed the glass door open to take a peek. In an instant I knew that the anniversay celebration was already over and most of the guests are on their way home or in the comfort room. It was the perfect time to place my hands on top of my head, bend a little backwards and with a distorted grimace shout on top of my lungs: “What are you doing to me!?”

In a very short time I learned that Ms. DeLight forgot to pick me up. Also, I found out that the phone number that Val gave me was not in used since he switched SIM cards prior to the event and was currently using a local number. There is no way; absolutely no way I would have known that even if I am a gifted clairvoyant.

I remember Job, the Bible character who did not complain even though he was tested severely. And yet at one point he suffered so much that he allowed himself to ask God a question. If I will indulge myself – I know my recent experience was nothing compared to Job – I would write a note addressed to the LORD and humbly seek his face and it would read:
To: God
From: Bai
Subject: What are you doing to me LORD?

The story did not end that badly. I met K. Paul in the lobby and he was sorry that I wasn’t able to witness the event. And then it was time to go back to DeLight house and it was nice to finally be able to see the big yellow gate pushed open and I can now enter in and rest inside. There was dinner and then it was time to retire to bed. But before I hit the sack, I opened the Bible for some words of encouragement and I was led to read Luke 17:7-10 where it says:
Suppose one of you had a servant plowing or looking after the sheep. Would he say to the     servant when he comes in from the field, ‘Come along now and sit down to eat’? Would     he not rather say, ‘Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and     drink; after that you may eat and drink’? Would he thank the servant because he did     what he was told to do? So you also, when you have done everything you were told to     do, should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.’ ”

These words encouraged me tremendously. It made me realize that I am first and foremost a servant. This helped me get some perspective and it was such a spiritual uplift. Even if I have to indulge myself and allow myself to question why I had to go through so many stressful moments, I could no longer write the same letter. It would be totally wrong to even show a hint of complaint in my voice or my face. However, I can modify it and it will look like this:
To: God DeLight Cambodia
From: Bai
Subject: What are you doing to me!!!!?

I shared this story to the ICPM pastors one night, after dinner, and K. Paul suggested an alternative title. He said it should be: “What not to do in a mission exposure trip.” I agree with him one hundred percent. Peace to Pastor Val and Ms. DeLight Cambodia, I miss your company and thank you very much for the unforgettable experience. Love and gratitude I send to you guys in behalf of Destiny Philippines.

In 2007, young people from Destiny, gained Cambodian friends taking their Masters or PhD in the University of the Philippines-Los Banos. Valentin Celeste and Sotico Pagulayan III had an exposure trip to Cambodia last April 2007 with their Cambodian friends.  After their visit, Val and Ico sensed God is opening Cambodia so for months they eagerly prayed and sought openings in the land giving them the word in Isaiah 55:1-5.

“Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price…”

At this time, a businessman from Destiny, Edwin Pages, received a vision from God to create a business that would create openings in a nation, which also will be sustainable for the missionaries who will enter the land.  The vision for EnglishWorld Inc. was birthed. Meanwhile, in Cambodia, Paul Friesen, a dear friend of Destiny, endorsed us to an American NGO that is establishing a scholarship program for Cambodian youth. Thus, the partnership with CUSP (Cambodian University Scholarship Project) was created.

Finally, last March of 2008, Barbara Jane Cabrera first came into the land and was hired as a teacher in a private school. Ico and Patty came on May 2008, as the English teachers hired for the CUSP project in a province in Kampong Thom Cambodia.

Months after, several people came in and joined the team. Jennilyn Catimbang came in from Singapore and was also hired as an English teacher. Jane Marian Luis came as an opportunity opened in PNSA, school in Preak Leap, to have English classes within the school’s training center. Marian came and established EnglishWorld Inc. in PNSA. Soon the need for a second teacher in PNSA arose and Rachel Ann Alba came December 2008. Both Marian and Rachel were fresh graduates from the University of the Philippines-Los Banos. Then on February 2009, Ava Brenda Gomez and Mary Anne Andres joined the team as English teachers as well.

Since the start of the vision, God has initiated and orchestrated everything that in the end made the vision that was once just a prayer into reality.

To God be the glory!