{"id":2289,"date":"2013-05-22T07:23:01","date_gmt":"2013-05-22T13:23:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/forum.belmont.edu\/health\/?p=2289"},"modified":"2013-06-14T12:49:54","modified_gmt":"2013-06-14T18:49:54","slug":"mission-to-cambodia-a-paradigm-shift","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forum.belmont.edu\/health\/2013\/05\/22\/mission-to-cambodia-a-paradigm-shift\/","title":{"rendered":"Mission to Cambodia: A paradigm shift"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Mission to Cambodia 2013<\/strong>
\nfrom Michael James<\/strong><\/p>\n

Some people may be wondering why it took me so long to write my blog for this trip.\u00a0 I wish I had a deep answer that would suffice, however, the truth is I have been to busy enjoying Cambodia to write it.\u00a0 This does give me an opportunity to reflect on the trip as a whole and analyze things that have changed within me as a result of nearly three weeks in the Khmer culture.<\/p>\n

This trip started out as a nursing trip, but quickly shifted into a mission from God.\u00a0 We were able to do tremendous things on this trip including building a house for family in need, going into utter poverty to take food and medicine to those who would otherwise be without, and observe some amazing work within the hospitals and churches of Cambodia.\u00a0 There was a myriad of emotions running through us as each new challenge arose.\u00a0 A bit of pride in the things we were able to accomplish quickly resolved into humility as we realized that the impact Cambodia would have on us far outweighed the impact we had on it.<\/p>\n

This was a paradigm shift for me.\u00a0 We as Americans think that God sends us places to spread his Word, help the poor and save souls.\u00a0 Kevin, one of the Americans living in Battambang, shared with us on the last Sunday we were here a difficult and life changing truth.\u00a0 He said, \u201cyou may think you are coming here to change Cambodia or that God is going to use you in some way to save their souls.\u00a0 But it is your soul and my soul that needs to be saved.\u201d\u00a0 His expression of how God had used Cambodia to change him rang true for most all of us.\u00a0 We slowly begin to realize that despite the terror from which this country has grown.\u00a0 The Spirit of God is alive and well here, and God is calling many of us to partake in the springs of living water flowing from the hearts the Kampuchean people.\u00a0 Our return to the states is bittersweet.\u00a0 Though we miss our families and friends, the time we were able to spend here in Cambodia will forever leave its mark.\u00a0 My prayer is that the Lord will be able to use us to share our stories, and we will be open to his Spirit as it reveals His will for each of our lives.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mission to Cambodia 2013 from Michael James Some people may be wondering why it took me so long to write my blog for this trip.\u00a0 I wish I had a deep answer that would suffice, however, the truth is I … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,10,7,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2289","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mission-to-cambodia","category-chs","category-nursing","category-mission-trips"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forum.belmont.edu\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2289","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forum.belmont.edu\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forum.belmont.edu\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forum.belmont.edu\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forum.belmont.edu\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2289"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/forum.belmont.edu\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2289\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2319,"href":"https:\/\/forum.belmont.edu\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2289\/revisions\/2319"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forum.belmont.edu\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2289"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forum.belmont.edu\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2289"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forum.belmont.edu\/health\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2289"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}