It was my first trip to Asia. And even before it began, I was already thinking it would in all likelihood be my last. After all, following my third trip to Africa in 
2002, I had basically “sworn off” trips of that length, preferring to do mission work somewhat “closer” to home (like Latin America or Europe.) But now, here I was leading a team of 12 Mount Hermon members halfway around the world, to a place much farther than Africa, crossing 11 time zones as well as the international dateline in the 
process. I honestly had been dreading the trip. The grueling travel. All of those hours in the air. The jet lag. All in all, including short layovers, it was more than 24 hours of continuous travel, the longest leg being an exhausting 15-hour flight from Atlanta to Seoul, South Korea. Ugh! Being up in the air that long makes me feel like I’m in the Twilight Zone…a place wherein time and space are suspended. (By the way, on the return trip, when it seemed as if we lived through two successive Fridays, someone on the team said it reminded them of the movie “Groundhog’s Day”.)
Finally, we completed our long trek westward to the Far East (?) and we began to do our assigned tasks. As the days passed, however, God began to make clearer some of our reasons for being there. After our first week—in which I saw various ministry partners weep in gratitude for our coming to support them—I knew that this year’s trip must not be the ultimate culmination of our efforts to Cambodia. What we had begun, we must continue. I recognized that we simply had to send another mission team from Mount Hermon back again next year.
After that first week, I asked my wife Sandy, “Would you be willing to come back next year without me?” She had been part
of the original team of six that we had first sent to Cambodia last year (without me). Yes, she replied, she would be willing to come back to Cambodia for a third time, whether I came or not. So, that’s what I thought would happen. We would send more people to Cambodia in 2009, but I personally would be “off the hook”, encouraging others to go but not directly participating in any future efforts myself. But then, as we moved into week two of our trip, and as I saw God moving and opening doors for us, and exposing us to so many potential opportunities, and as I saw lives being touched, I began to feel the compulsion that I too must return to Cambodia…even if I have to swim the distance rather than fly it!
In spite of my love for and interest in international missions, I honestly had never before had much of an interest in Asia. Particularly Southeast Asia. To me it had always seemed to be such a strange and mysterious place, so different and so far removed from us. But, in the final analysis, people are people, no matter where they live, how they look, or what language they speak. And all people everywhere need the Lord. Exposure is key. When God moves us out of our comfort zones, and we allow ourselves to be exposed to people of different cultures, God then uses those points of contact to truly open our hearts to other people.
In recent days, God began to put on my heart a love for the Cambodian people. A people who live in great poverty. A people who have known great misery (i.e., the evil Pol Pot regime and the “killing fields” of the 1970s.) A people who are in spiritual darkness due to the cultural saturation of Buddhism with its inherent idolatry. But a sweet people. A beautiful people. An open people. A spiritually hungry people. A people that need the Lord. During our time 
there, we were able to minister to many Cambodians and lead a number of them to saving faith in the one true God and the one true Savior of all mankind, Jesus Christ. And this, I believe, is only the beginning.
I wish there was some way to adequately describe to you all that our team felt, experienced and did during our two weeks in Cambodia. It was truly awesome. Some things I can’t post on my blog because of security issues. Suffice it to say that God exposed us to some remarkable things that He is doing in Cambodia. And I believe all of that unique exposure and insight was given to us for a 
reason. Not just to increase our knowledge, but as a basis for action. For I am thinking that God wants Mount Hermon Baptist Church—His global missions outreach center based in Pittsylvania County, Virginia—to put a major emphasis on Cambodia in the immediate future. What does that mean? I do not know at this time. But I want to encourage you to pray with me about that as we explore those possibilities in the months to come.
Pastor Danny
2002, I had basically “sworn off” trips of that length, preferring to do mission work somewhat “closer” to home (like Latin America or Europe.) But now, here I was leading a team of 12 Mount Hermon members halfway around the world, to a place much farther than Africa, crossing 11 time zones as well as the international dateline in the 
process. I honestly had been dreading the trip. The grueling travel. All of those hours in the air. The jet lag. All in all, including short layovers, it was more than 24 hours of continuous travel, the longest leg being an exhausting 15-hour flight from Atlanta to Seoul, South Korea. Ugh! Being up in the air that long makes me feel like I’m in the Twilight Zone…a place wherein time and space are suspended. (By the way, on the return trip, when it seemed as if we lived through two successive Fridays, someone on the team said it reminded them of the movie “Groundhog’s Day”.)
Finally, we completed our long trek westward to the Far East (?) and we began to do our assigned tasks. As the days passed, however, God began to make clearer some of our reasons for being there. After our first week—in which I saw various ministry partners weep in gratitude for our coming to support them—I knew that this year’s trip must not be the ultimate culmination of our efforts to Cambodia. What we had begun, we must continue. I recognized that we simply had to send another mission team from Mount Hermon back again next year.After that first week, I asked my wife Sandy, “Would you be willing to come back next year without me?” She had been part
of the original team of six that we had first sent to Cambodia last year (without me). Yes, she replied, she would be willing to come back to Cambodia for a third time, whether I came or not. So, that’s what I thought would happen. We would send more people to Cambodia in 2009, but I personally would be “off the hook”, encouraging others to go but not directly participating in any future efforts myself. But then, as we moved into week two of our trip, and as I saw God moving and opening doors for us, and exposing us to so many potential opportunities, and as I saw lives being touched, I began to feel the compulsion that I too must return to Cambodia…even if I have to swim the distance rather than fly it!
In spite of my love for and interest in international missions, I honestly had never before had much of an interest in Asia. Particularly Southeast Asia. To me it had always seemed to be such a strange and mysterious place, so different and so far removed from us. But, in the final analysis, people are people, no matter where they live, how they look, or what language they speak. And all people everywhere need the Lord. Exposure is key. When God moves us out of our comfort zones, and we allow ourselves to be exposed to people of different cultures, God then uses those points of contact to truly open our hearts to other people.
In recent days, God began to put on my heart a love for the Cambodian people. A people who live in great poverty. A people who have known great misery (i.e., the evil Pol Pot regime and the “killing fields” of the 1970s.) A people who are in spiritual darkness due to the cultural saturation of Buddhism with its inherent idolatry. But a sweet people. A beautiful people. An open people. A spiritually hungry people. A people that need the Lord. During our time 
there, we were able to minister to many Cambodians and lead a number of them to saving faith in the one true God and the one true Savior of all mankind, Jesus Christ. And this, I believe, is only the beginning.
I wish there was some way to adequately describe to you all that our team felt, experienced and did during our two weeks in Cambodia. It was truly awesome. Some things I can’t post on my blog because of security issues. Suffice it to say that God exposed us to some remarkable things that He is doing in Cambodia. And I believe all of that unique exposure and insight was given to us for a 
reason. Not just to increase our knowledge, but as a basis for action. For I am thinking that God wants Mount Hermon Baptist Church—His global missions outreach center based in Pittsylvania County, Virginia—to put a major emphasis on Cambodia in the immediate future. What does that mean? I do not know at this time. But I want to encourage you to pray with me about that as we explore those possibilities in the months to come.Pastor Danny
