By: Brett Medlin 
If there’s one thing I have learned over the years, it’s this: God’s got a sense of humor.
I moved to Cambodia to “make a difference.” Basically, to try and repay my debt to God and society for living a selfish life and embracing the entitled “me culture” for so long. It wasn’t the easiest of times for me to make a big change in my life or to take a chance with nothing to fall back on, but the timing was critical, and it was time to come back to God. Even though I couldn’t physically walk for eight months in 2007, I started slowly turning my life back to God. He gave me the grace, peace and freedom that I had sought for so long.
Little did I know He was also slowly equipping me with the tools I would need to serve Him fully in what He was calling me to do.
I learned a language that I thought would be impossible for me to learn. I mean, really, I didn’t even try to learn a word for my first three weeks here in Cambodia. It was hard. Not only is the alphabet written completely differently from English script, but it also contains 33 consonants and 35 vowels. Today, I speak Khmer so much that my English-speaking abilities have suffered a little bit.
I accidentally started an International NGO (INGO) in February 2011 called Rock Foundation Inc. (Rock Foundation Cambodia)– named because the Lord is my Rock (Psalm 18:2). For all the selfish living that I’ve done, and all the places my travels and adventures have taken me along the way, I know that without God I am hopeless and empty. Either God shows up or I’m screwed for lack of a more palatable phrase. 
I sold and gave away nearly all my possessions in early 2008, including my Acura CL and even dearer to my heart than the car, my Gibson Les Paul guitar. I gave away the rest of my possessions that wouldn’t fit in my two 44-pound suitcases and bought a one-way ticket to Phnom Penh, Cambodia in the spring of 2008.
My life has never been the same, and I’m forever grateful for it.
Cambodia is the country I still live in full-time as of June 2025, and I have formed quite the love-hate relationship with this place over the past 17 years. It’s such a beautiful place. The smiles through the sun-worn faces of the older locals are a pleasant sight, along with a “sok sabay pu or sok sabay yeay?”. But underneath it all is the unspoken reality of what these older Khmer lived through. The Khmer Rouge.
I love the beautiful people of Cambodia. They can be found everywhere if you make yourself available. We must make ourselves available to those in need, just as others have done for us when we were in need and just as Christ has done for us.
Through God’s faithfulness, we have made a real lasting impact on the physical and spiritual health of countless Khmer people.
Cambodia is also a place of broken dreams, broken promises and hopelessness. Every day, I see people who are left without a voice and have no way to speak out against injustice and corruption. They have to make desperate choices and endure long-term suffering and hardship just to meet basic life necessities and to provide for their families and loved ones. There is so much heartbreak in Cambodia and so much hurt and need for healing. 
Over time, one thing I have realized is that a group of people who visit for a few weeks with a cool t-shirt and Lonely Planet guide and do some “voluntourism” are not going to end poverty and world hunger. The problem is that people have the emotional reaction to cry out against the problems, but they lack the long-term determination and passion to stay and get the job done when it’s not “sexy,” when no one is looking, when the people that you help are rude and aggressive towards you, or even when the people are thankful and give hugs and tears of love and gratitude.
Through the thick and the thin, if you don’t have the passion, resilience and determination to work through the extremely tough times, then you won’t be around here to enjoy the good ones.
Retreat is not an option. Defeat is not an option. Surrender is not an option. We will continue to move forward!
Would you join us in this cause?