Heading Home

Hey, everyone. Thank you so much for praying for us as we ministered here in Cambodia. we are in the Phnom Penh airport getting ready to board our plane. We now have about 30 hours of travel until we arrive at SFO, Friday at 7:20 pm. Keep praying for safe travel.

We were able to provide the orphan home with a water filtration system so that the orphans and staff can have clean drinking water. This was a total blessing made possible by your support and the Lords grace. Praise be to God. He has been so good to us on this trip. Enjoy the pics and we will see you all soon.

Goodbye, the Hardest Word

It is harder than traveling on an airplane for more than 13 hours. It is more difficult than the awkwardness of first meeting strangers who speak another language. It is harder than the physical demands of mixing cement the Cambodian way. It is saying goodbye to 30 children and adults who you have come to love. They were former strangers whom you have worked elbow to elbow with for one week in the hot Cambodian sun. People you have laughed with, sweat with, gotten muddy with, completed building projects with and together worshiped the Lord. Sunday was that day. It is the most dreaded day on the entire trip. Your heart is touched when you see the orphans for the first time. Your heart is moved the first time you see them freely and intensely worship the Lord. But the day you say goodbye, your heart is torn. It is hard to imagine in 7 days being connected to a group of people so strongly. Simply sharing a faith in the same God and then joining together in a common cause produces bonds that are not easily broken. The Cambodians are a people who do not have many possessions besides the couple of sets of clothes they wear, but they are rich. They are rich in a joy of the Lord that I see in very few Americans. I am extremely humbled watching them conduct themselves with contentment and joy that is an example to be followed.

We enjoyed a fun church service at the orphan home. I was able to share with the people about why we traveled half way around the world to work. To share the love that God the Father has for a little group of orphans in a little town, down a muddy dirt road in Cambodia. The congregation on Sunday included all the orphan children who ran most of the service from worship to the “emcee.” It also included a small group of kids and adults from the town, one dog, one bird and a chicken. After the service we locked all the kids out of the building and set up a mini carnival with simple games and prizes. The kids had a blast tossing balls into buckets, playing a fishing game, getting their nails painted and racing little plastic frogs across the tile floor. 90 minutes of mayhem and chaos ensued with everyone laughing and joking having a joyous time that will be relived in our minds over and over again.

The children were “kicked” out one more time so that we could organize the clothes and flip flops that we brought to hand out to them. Kids were given their clothes, everyone receiving an outfit, a toothbrush and toothpaste. Some kids ran immediately to their rooms to try on their new clothes and others just carried them around. The kids then enjoyed a special lunch that we provided complete with sodas, hence the toothbrushes and toothpaste. Lol.

Next came the hard part. We gathered all the kids and adults in front of the home and encircled them. Together as a team we prayed over them Cambodian style. Cambodians when they pray all pray at one time, with one voice. So the team lifted our voices and prayed for protection, provision and favor in the community. We prayed for health and strength and a firm grasp of Gods’ enormous love for them. Then the goodbyes started. Many of the kids asking, “do not forget me” as tears filled their eyes. We were all sobbing and hugging not wanting our time with the orphans to end. We each hugged every one of them twice, just to make sure we got them all. We slowly and reluctantly climbed into the van clinging to the promises we read in Gods’ Word. Promises like Jeremiah 29:11, “For I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.” Romans chapter 8 that says, “if God is for us, who can be against us?” And Galatians 3:26-29, “You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.”

Baptisms and Football

Today was about the best day in Cambodia I have ever spent. It is behind my wedding day and the birth of my children, but definitely in the top ten. We started the day with picking up all the kids and adults from the orphan home as well as some other neighbor kids that attend the church. We used a 2 ton truck that is sort of like a military transport. It was a bit crowded in the back with a generator, 6 adults and about 25 kids. We stopped after about 15 minutes of driving and picked up another group of people from a near by town. We then had the generator, 12 adults and about 35 kids! The ride was only about another 30-40 minutes and in spite of being super crowded it was a blast. We sang songs in English and in Khmer. There were lots of laughs and lots of smiles. We arrived at the Orphan home in the Shvay Reing Province toward the Vietnam border. We waited for everyone to get there from other homes near by and then we had church. We worshiped in Khmer and the Spirit of the Lord fell heavy in that place. I almost forgot that I was in Cambodia. The kids and adults pressed into God and the Lord was lifted high in that place.

We moved to the “back yard” were there is a fish pond. The pond was a square pool of water about the 40 feet across and 60 feet wide. The water was the color of a raw peanut and was not inviting. Our resident nurse was very concerned about what potential disease inhabits the waters, but I was not about to miss this opportunity. I was partnered with the Pastor from the home we are serving. His name is Pastor Presh. There were about 7 or 8 Pastors in the water with other people partnered with them. Sam our American host and Rick another team member got to be with other Pastors in the water. I got to be part of baptizing between 30 and 40 people. Two kids in particular touched my heart and brought tears to my eyes. One young man probably 13-14 who was already all wet and he came from another Pastor. I thought he was just going to pass by as he had just been baptized by the other Pastor, but he stopped to be baptized by us. You could tell he was hungry for the Lord. We baptized him and then he continued down the line of Pastors.

There was another young man who had a very intense look. He was very determined and looking for all that the Lord had for him. As we baptized him, instead of going straight down into the water, he fell forward onto the mercy of the Lord. I want others to have that deep desire to draw close to the Lord.

We went back to the home and pulled a bunch of chain link fencing around the property and had some extra time. So we loaded up all the kids again and took them to their local school and played football (soccer). What a blast. It had rained pretty heavily for a short time around 3pm and the field was flooded. There were literal puddles all over the field. The kids were kicking the ball and falling on their behinds all over the field. As soon as someone ran to the ball and tried to slow down to kick it they would fall down and slide right by the ball. The ball would get kicked across the field and just stop as it splashed into a puddle. What a great time. The kids were laughing and running, soaking wet from falling all over the field. We all played till dark and had a heart felt goodbye as the kids rolled away in the truck. What a magnificent day. Words really cant express the warmth and joy that came from this Cambodian day.  

New Kitchen Floor

Late yesterday, because we had a break in our work waiting for cement to harden inside forms, we decided to raise the floor in the multipurpose room slash kitchen. So we loaded medium size rocks from front yard to kitchen by hand and 5 gallon buckets. We covered most of the floor with those and then grabbed the old cement  fence posts and used a 3 pound sledge hammer to break them up and place among the rocks. Today we mixed and mixed cement. At one point we had 3 separate piles going. The hardest part is carrying the 110 pound bags of cement from inside to the pile of sand and gravel. We probably mixed about 25 bags of cement today to finish the kitchen floor.

                                      Some of the beautiful Cambodian orphans from the home.

We needed to help them get a new floor. The home is right next to rice fields and the land is low and the kitchen floods when the rain is heavy. This was a real blessing for the home because they will now be able to eat on dry ground. God is so good to allow us to be able to do extra work at the home. This was only able due to Gods grace and mercy. He allowed us to bless the home beyond what we had planned.

Cement, Cement, Cement

Making cement the Cambodian way

Today was a much better day than yesterday.Yesterday our van got stuck in the mud less than 50 feet from the entrance to the orphan home. We got the 2 ton truck from the orphan home to pull the van out of the mud and the road sunk under the truck and it got stuck. Good news is that we were close to the orphan home. The bad news was that the road was blocked and could not get any building materials delivered. After 4 hours of digging in the mud and trying to make chains for the truck out of rope and cut tree branches we found an over sized jeep from town to come help. The tow cable broke about three times but we were able to get both vehicles out. Praise God. Needless to say there was not a lot of work that got done in the morning. The afternoon was a blur. We put fence post forms in place over re-bar and made cement. We working until 6:30 pm. Which is about an hour to 90 minutes past our normal time. We went straight to dinner with dirty, muddy, cement covered clothes and bodies. There was not much talking at dinner. We wolfed down our food. Everyone was starving from the  flurry of work in the afternoon.
We were able to get the rest of the re-bar set for the fence forms and we got about 17 fence posts in place. This may seem easy, but we made forms and are pouring cement into the forms and creating our own cement fence posts. They are better than wood and much better than the prefab ones that you buy here. They are thicker and hold the chain link fence better than the others. This takes much more work and much more cement.
To make cement you start with seven, 5 gallon buckets of sand. You lug a 50 kg (110 pounds) bag of cement and place on sand. Mix these two together with shovels. You then add to that five, 5 gallon buckets of gravel. The you add water and mix until ready to carry by buckets to the fence posts around the property. This is all mixed right on the ground. No wheel barrels, no cement mixer and no quickrete cement that you just add water to. Today we made about 10-12 sets of this mixture. Tomorrow we hope to make at least 15 sets. That is 1500 pounds of just the cement, This doesn't include sand or gravel. Wow. I am getting tired thinking about it. I better head off to bed. Pray for us. Pray for God's continued strength and provision. Christ is King!

First Day of Work

Monday began slow. There was a bit of assessment around the orphan home to determine how to tackle removing the old barbed-wire fence. Then with a flurry it was on. Our team along with three young Cambodian men from the training center and the orphans not in school in the morning went at it. Bamboo fence sections came down and barbed wire was being rolled onto bamboo poles from the fence around the home. There are rice fields that border the property on two sides which makes the fence line very mucky. Our shoes were totally muddy and wet, perfect for sloshing around in all day. lol. At the back corner of the property just as a cement fence post was pulled from the ground something black scurried into the half empty hole. As I reached in and pulled aside a clump of grass and dirt I got to see a very black scorpion which was 4-5 inches long. We were able to get it out of the hole and push it into a water bottle. We then found its mate close by and put it into another water bottle. Scary little creatures. It was very awesome to get to see them. With everyone’s hard work we had all the old fence posts out and the barbed wire rolled up before lunch. After our lunch break, went back to the home, which was hard to do. After you work in 90 degree weather for three hours doing some pretty physical labor, then take a two hour break during the hottest part of the day, you do not want to go back and do it some more. We all sucked it up and we were able to dig the fence post holes for two sides of the property by 4pm. It then started pouring rain. It has rained now for the past 4 hours and things are pretty sloppy out there, especially since there are very few paved roads here. My pillow looks very inviting right now. God has strengthened us for this trip and provided all things, he will continue to sustain us through the rest of our days here. Thank you Jesus.

Church and Orphan Home

Sunday we went to church at the FCOP training center in Phnom Penh. It was awesome. It was completely in Khmer and we did not understand one word of the worship, prayers, greetings or message but it was terrific. Even though we did not know any of the songs or any of the lyrics, we could feel the presence of the Holy Spirit and were moved. The Lord is alive and well in Cambodia. Not that I thought he wasn’t, but God just keeps growing in my mind. As he does he covers more and more of the doubts that I have about all that he does and wants to do in my life. God miraculously provided for this trip with people and finances. He delivered us here with all the supplies and safely. He even had one team member bring a shirt for a woman that is a maternity shirt. She did not know exactly why she brought it, she just had it. It turns out that the Pastors’ wife is 7 months pregnant and it is perfect for her. God knew the need and supplied it even before we knew what it was. God is amazing. Tomorrow we start the real work. Tomorrow we dig. We dig fence post holes and lots of them. Today’s temperature was 91 degrees with 65% humidity and our dig day tomorrow will be the same. Dirt and sweat here we come.