Cambodia Medical Missions Trip Videos
(Part 1) Introduction - The Dark Past
(Part 2) Amazing Grace - The Hope of Light
We were honored to have our partners from Cambodia -- Pastor Sinai, his wife, Somalay -- and 20 orphans from the New Hope For Orphans come to visit us at GrX this past September 2007. The orphans traveled all over the U.S. on a 6 week Christian Orphan Choir tour and spent 1 week total in the Bay Area performing at public venues and at GRX. GRX sponsored a churchwide BBQ for the orphans and Pastor Sinai, where over 200+ GRX members came out to eat and fellowship with our Cambodian guests!
God's blessing and presence was truly felt on this trip, because that was the largest number of Cambodian children that have ever been granted travel visas to leave Cambodia in the history of the country (a miracle)!
In November 2007, GrX allocated $10,000 to the New Hope organization for the purchase of a plot of land, backfill, property fence, and construction of a well in the Pursat province in rural Cambodia. This site was identified and purchased in order to build and support a new orphanage under the care and guidance of Pastor Sinai and the New Hope organization.
This summer, GrX will send 3 teams to Cambodia. The first team will be a medical missions team and will spend the first two weeks in June reaching out, ministering and evangelizing to Cambodians by offering free medical services. GrX Fremont will send the second team during the last two weeks of June. A third team will spend two weeks in August focusing on Vacation Bible School, orphan care and evangelism.
~Update from 01-29-08
Cambodia is a country recovering from a generation of warfare and violence including almost 20 years of civil war. During 1975-1979, under the ruling of the genocidal Khmer Rouge, all Education, Healthcare and Currency were abolished. Nearly all of the educated population were executed, more than two million people in total (about 1/3rd of the total population). After 20 years, the Khmer Rouge were finally extinguished, but their legacy lives on in broken families; the 'law of the gun' and the landmines littering remote areas (it is the most heavily land-mind country in the world). Cambodia is also a country rife with HIV, AIDS and Tuberculosis, poor health care standards mean that even a simple treatable illness can be fatal. Less than 5% of the population is Christian. Darkness and hopelessness prevails.
GRX has the exciting opportunity to partner with Pastor Sinai Phoeuk and his ministry New Hope for Orphans and Fellowship word of live (website: http://www.nho.org.kh/) in the areas of orphan care, education and church planting. This partnership was started after GRX sent the first missions team to Cambodia back in August 2006. The powerful experiences and testimonies of those on the trip allowed for Cambodia to be added at the last moment as the fourth and final Unstoppable country.
In total, GRX has sent 45 individuals on 4 different missions teams to Cambodia to serve Pastor Sinai's ministry. Just this past summer, we had two misisons trips to Cambodia - a vision trip of GRX-Fremont members lead by Min Tak and the second a medical missions trip lead by Scott Lee. Both teams were able to teach, encourage and bless the Cambodian people.
Currently, we are in the process of forming a committee of those in our GRX community who are interested in being directly involved in our partnership with Cambodia. This committee will help form decisisons regarding the direction of our partnership. Wesley Kang, a member of the April 2007 vision trip, is planning a summer 2008 trip specifically for the purpose of bringing those with a background and profession in education to train educators in Pastor Sinai's Christian schools.
GRX is honored to have the opportunity to have Pastor Sinai and about 20 of the orphans who live in his Christian orphanages attend our September 16th (southbay) Sunday services. They will be present a short testimony and a performance by the ophans. Afterwards, the whole GRX church community is invited to attend a free Cambodian BBQ, a member of the medical missions team, at Lakewood Park (834 Lakechime Dr.) in Sunnyvale at 1:15pm. Please look out for the evite. This will be a time to be able to fellowship with Pastor Sinai and the ophans and to hear the medical missions team share about their trip. We hope you will come and help us celebrate our GRX-Cambodia partnership!
~Update from 09-02-07
Vision trip in April consisted of mini-VBS at five orphanages, connecting with principals and teachers at six schools to learn how we can resource and looking at various economic development projects.
Pastor Sinai indicated that their number one need is the completion of the church/orphanage building in Kampong Cham. Church/meeting room on the ground floor and boys and girls dorms on the second floor. We're awaiting a cost analysis/budget for the building and fence.
Dr. Scott Lee will be leading ten GrXers to work with pastor Sinai in providing mobile medical clinics and eye surgeries in several areas of Cambodia.
Pastor Min Tak will be leading thirteen GrXers from Fremont to Cambodia at the same time (all 23 will be on the same flight out).
~Update from 07-15-07
