Kampong Thom Mission Trip

"Love the Lord you God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength...Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no commandment greater than these." (Mark 12:30,31)

When I think about the Harvesters Mission Trip that we took in early March, this is the verse that stands out in my mind. On our drive back to Phnom Penh from the province, I looked back in the van to see every one on the team sleeping. It had been a full weekend and they were tired. I kinda considered this to be a sign of a good outreach as well as a great team. They had given their all. They had loved God with all their hearts, souls, minds and definitely with all their strength. They served hard and loved those that we were sent to well. There was no issue of complaining, but an amazing willingness to do whatever was asked of them. They were flexible to the greatest measure as our schedule seemed to continually change.

We arrived in Kampong Thom in the morning and immediately started the service project...in other words, manual labor ;-) There is an orphanage that was recently built, but all around the building, there were holes and unlevel ground. We broke up some of the extra dirt from the back of the building and hauled it to fill in the holes.




We led a youth program for more than 50 young people from surrounding villages on Saturday afternoon with games, dramas, songs, testimonies and a short lesson. I love hearing the places that God has taken these students from and where He has brought them through their testimonies. Right after we finished, we walked around the village, speaking with people, praying for them and sharing God's truth with them.



Sunday brought the morning worship service and the afternoon children's program. We went to a nearby village and once again performed dramas, sang songs, did dances, played games and taught a lesson about Daniel and the lion's den.
Following the program, we provided lunch for more than 115 children. This may be the only food that some of them ate that day, or even for as many as a few days. At one point, I looked over at one of my students, Sareth, and the compassion he was showing greatly touched my heart. There was a very small girl who was there by herself and had no one to help her. She has having a difficult time getting any soup into her bowl. He knelt down beside her and scooped some out for her, making sure to get more than just broth. He then cut up the food so she would be able to eat it. He even spooned a couple bites into her mouth for her. I could almost see Jesus "on him" as he helped this little girl.

I was so blessed by the team! As I watched the students do the various ministries, I couldn't help smiling and feeling like my heart was going to burst with joy. They are living out the truth that God has put in them. They are walking in their callings to be the light to others.

A Grateful Heart

I must say first that I have written quite a few blog updates in the last couple weeks. The only problem is that have all been written in my head and never ended up on the actual blog. The Internet is not working at my house and so it made updating left to my phone Internet and I was kinda dreading that. So I waited. But here I am to tonight doing just that...typing on my phone. But I couldnt wait any longer.

Today was one of those days that I felt overwhelming gratitude to God for the ways that He has blessed me in the past and still continues to do each day in some way or another. I bought a Khmer Bible for one of my English students that had mentioned something in passing to me a few days ago. She said she wanted to read the Bible and study it but didn't have one yet because she couldn't afford one. Let me give you a little perspective into that sentence. Bibles here are not really that expensive compared to other places. A small Bible costs $3. That's it. So tonight after class I gave Pisey a Bible. I wanted to bless her with something that her heart desired...a way to get to know God. She was near tears.

I dont tell you this to share the fact that I was blessed in my own heart by this, but to share the reflection point that God opened my eyes to...to be grateful and not take for granted the ways that He has poured Himself and His blessings out over my life. I have never NOT had a Bible. I have always had more than one sitting on my shelf. I was raised in a family that loved God and was very involved with church. I learned Bible stories with the infamous flannel graph Jesus and various other characters. I have sung "Jesus loves me" more times than I think is possible to count. All of these things were a huge part of my life. They have all played a part in who who I have become today. The problem is that I have taken for granted that truth has always been shown to me. And today my heart realized that it should not just be a statement of fact for what my growing up was like, but a point of extreme gratefulness to God!

I am grateful that He has blessed me with a family who has directed towards Him. I am grateful that I have always had the freedom to worship Him. I am grateful that He continually shows me His grace and mercy. I am grateful for my Bible. I am grateful that He has called me to Cambodia to love the people the way that He loves them. I am grateful that He loves me.

I am grateful that I have the opportunity to take the Harvesters class on their first missions trip this weekend. We are going to Kampong Tom, a province about 2 1/2 hours away. It is going to be a full weekend! We start out tomorrow morning at 5:45 to leave for the province. We will be running a childrens program right after we arrive. There will be songs, skits, games, and a lesson about God's love and protection that we can see through the story of Daniel and the lions den. We are going to be preparing and serving lunch for all the kids, which we are estimating to be somewhere around 100 kids.

Once we finish with the lunch, we will head over to an orphange to help with some of the finishing contruction things as well as cleaning up the building. The biggest project we will be doing is filling in the land with fill dirt to make it all level around the building. The evening will be a youth program and then on Sunday morning, a church service. We will also be going out to one of the villages to talk and pray with people afterwards. Like I said before...we are going to be busy!

I will definitely post pictures from the weekend when I get back to Phnom Penh. Please keep me, Seyha (my co-leader) and the students in your prayers. I am believing for BIG things!