Inhabit

The long walk to Kraviek. One of the several river crossings.

A boy washing his cow along the way.

Beginning praise and worship.

Villagers gather to listen.

Kids enjoying activities during our time with them.

Some kids enjoy showing us their home.

A young girl playing enjoying a balloon.

Salvation bracelts. God's truth is being spread to the uttermost part.

The kids sometimes join us in the river for bath time.

Abby holding a shivering  boy.

Village children going about their chores.

Young monks along the way. 

Along the way to the village.

Kraviek village embodies the portion of Acts 1:8 that speaks about going out to the "uttermost parts" of the Earth. There is really only one way in and one way out...and it isn't easy. On our last trip (a few days ago) I brought a team of 11 people from Georgia, 3 translators and my assistant. We set out early on Tuesday morning and gradually throughout our travels, our modern conveniences disappeared. Eventually we made it as far as our van could go and left it at a home in a village that was already very remote. But very remote wasn't enough...we were going for extremely remote. So we exited the van, put our packs on our backs and set out for Kraviek. We had a 5k, 1 1/2 hour walk ahead of us. Just 2 weeks before I had been out there with another team and we had to wait a day for the river to go down before we could cross. It had rained and the river was about chest deep with a swift current. This day, however, the water was down and we crossed it getting only up to our knees wet. Through deep mud, rice paddies and several shallow rivers, we finally crested the hill into Kraviek.
It was wonderful to be out there again. The villagers never know for sure when we are coming (they aren't as bound by time there as we are so it probably wouldn't really matter anyways) but are always glad to see us. We set up camp again at the VC's (village chief's) house and headed to the river to wash the sweat and mud off our bodies. When we returned to the house, we made our dinner: 1 package of noodles/person. Not completely satisfying but somehow enjoyed by all. As night fell, it got dark (obviously). The kind of dark that you experience when you are camping away from the city and you can see the stars beyond the stars that are beyond the stars that you normally see in the city. I love those nights. They are without electricity so when the sun goes down, there isn't much to do. This is the time that I probably love the best in Kraviek. That's when we all gather under the house and spend time worshiping our Father. We always ask if the family would mind and they always say no and that they would enjoy it.
Under the stilted house is a large wood platform where the family sleeps and eats. It is probably about 10 feet wide by about 20 feet long. It is also where the VC's father-in-law lays all day and night. He was the VC until he had a stroke. Once we all gather, get the guitar out and begin singing, it is like the atmosphere changes. The darkness outside turns to black as we all sit around a small kerosene lamp praising the One True God! It was at this point on our last trip that I was reminded of the verse "But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel." (Ps 22:3 KJV). I felt like God was telling me that we are His people and we are praising Him in this tiny village and He is inhabiting our praises. He is right here in our midst. In the midst of a village full of people who are lost. They worship the spirits of their ancestors and are trapped in the grips of a false religion. Yet God is here, inhabiting our praises. As we continue singing and the light flickers, we catch a glimpse outside our circle and in the darkness we can barely make out shapes surrounding us. It is the majority of the villagers gathered around to listen to us. Partly out of curiosity, partly because there is literally nothing else to do but regardless, they are hearing praises being sung to their creator. And despite the fact that they are being sung in English, God is present and his power can break through the strongholds of false religion. His light is piercing the spiritual darkness through the simple praises of his people. For a moment, he has a place to inhabit in this tiny village in Cambodia.
Please pray for these precious people of Kraviek. Pray for Lao, the Village Chief. Pray that the truth of God's word will transform this community for himself. Pray also for a Cambodian to have a heart to move to this community full-time or that God would raise up a believer from within to start a church there.

High-Beam

I'm going to paint a picture for you. Not literally, of course. First, I am not a very good artist and second, how could I get it to you? I am going to paint a word-picture for you to hopefully bring you along with me and a team on our drive from Siem Reap (home of Angkor Wat) to Phnom Penh a couple nights ago.

Here it goes. Picture a semi-busy interstate or highway near your home. Got it? Now make it 2 lanes (one in each direction) and put it in rural Cambodia. Now, turn off all the lights, it's night time. Night time in central Cambodia is dark. No street lights to illuminate the road. Dark.
Next, reduce the width of the road by about a foot on either side.
Erase most (if not all, in some cases) of the shoulder.
Now let's add some things. All of these came one by one throughout the trip:

• 2 dozen  or more people (men, women or children) riding their bicycles in my lane without lights or reflectors. Remember, this is a highway so I am going highway speeds. The children especially ride their bikes quickly at a perpendicular angle to the road. This is so they can get enough momentum to make it up the small hill to the edge of the road. Then at the last second, they turn to ride just parallell to the road. I know they are doing this but it still freaks me out every time thinking they are going to pull right in front of me.
• 4 dozen cows or water buffalo walking across the road at various paces. BTW (again, the acronym for the hip younger crowd), water buffalo are large and dark greyish blackish, blending in perfectly with the dark night...and they don't have any reflectors either. Oh yeah, and they are large.
• 6 or more motos pulling loads of lumber on un-illuminated trailers that blend in with the night. They were going about 1/4 my speed.
• Motos (and some vehicles) coming the other direction with their headlights turned off. Why? I have no idea. Makes passing a slow vehicle in your lane a bit more interesting as you are constantly concerned about what may be in the oncoming lane without lights on.
• 4 trucks broken down in my lane, remember, shoulders are mostly non-existent. When trucks break down here, they break branches off the nearest tree and put them in the lane about 25 feet from where their crippled truck is. This is a substitute for the orange reflective triangles or flares I am used to seeing in the States. The bright green tree branches actually work fine...during the day. However, they don't really reflect well so a parked car can come up on you quickly. 
• 5 LOUD parties with dozens of inebriated guests set up literally feet from the edge of the road. That's how they do things here. Big tents, loud music, a lot of beer and a speeding vehicles.
• At least half of the approaching vehicles are being driven by people who do not have the (what I think should be innate) knowledge of the rules of highway driving at night. Those include but are not limited to: turning off your bright lights when another car is approaching; don't pass on a corner...etc).
• Large pot holes or eroded portions of the highway at various times.

Passing through a small municipality on National Road 6. Just as night was falling. On the right is an ice vendor.

A food vendor is sharing the road with us.

All of these are various shots of the same road. Gives you a small glimpse into the drive.

Water Buffalo.

Are you getting the picture? I hope so. It was quite the adventure. Don't get me wrong. I do enjoy driving here. It can just feel a bit stressful sometimes...like when I'm driving :-). 

Anyways, something that I realized on this trip more than any other that I have taken was how extremely helpful it was to be able to switch from my low to high-beams once a vehicle passed. There is that brief moment, just as I am passing the oncoming car, when it seems like I can't see a thing and I am praying that there is not a biker, water buffalo or parked truck in front of me. But when I switch on my brights, the road ahead of me becomes clear again. 

As I almost wore out the lever for the brights, I couldn't help but think of the people of this wonderful country and the spiritual condition they are in. Most are in spiritual darkness with no knowledge of where they are going and how to get there. They are unable to see the road in front of them and they have no idea whether or not the path they are on will lead them safely to their destination. But as a believer here, I have a responsibility to be that light to those around me. Especially in Cambodia, they may not see Christ anywhere but in my life and the lives of other believers here. If that isn't a sobering thought, I don't know what is. Through the grace of God, we will be the high-beam for them so that they can see the road ahead and enter the peace and safety that only comes through a relationship with Christ.

"Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven." Matthew 5:16-17

Empty

A couple weeks ago I had a real "LOL" (trying to relate to the hip younger crowd) moment. What made it even better was that I LOL'd at myself. Truly out loud. Why? I will recap the incident for you.
I have a dirt bike that I use as my main mode of transportation. I love it. It is fun, fast and I wouldn't choose any other way to get around town. However, it is also finicky...and can be high maintenance. In fact, Carolyn once said, "Your bike is more high maintenance than I am." (I will go on record that I never said that Carolyn is high maintenance...which she isn't :-). So a couple weeks ago I had an awesome team here from Hong Kong. They were a group of 27 from an international school and contributed greatly to our work in Cambodia. Since they were such a large group I had them split up into 3 separate service teams. It worked out great, but it meant that I was driving all around Phnom Penh visiting their ministry sites to check up on them. It was toward the end of one of these particularly long days that I noticed my bike "acting up". It is hard to explain what it was doing but suffice to say  that I just knew that something wasn't right.
On may way to one site, my bike just stopped. I was in a time crunch and didn't have time to figure out what was wrong. I rationalized that it probably needed to just "rest" since I had been driving it so much. I decided to hail a tuk tuk. I explained that I needed him to drive to our guest house. As I held on with one hand and had him pull me along, I felt as if my arm would be pulled out of socket but luckily it didn't. I successfully lasted the mile to my desired location and left my bike. I continued on with my day not thinking much of it. Later that night, one of our volunteers had an incident where her purse was stolen. I had to quickly go and meet her down at the police station, which I did not know exactly where it was. However, I got some partial directions and jumped on my bike to head that way. It started up just as I thought . It just needed rest. However, 2 minutes into my ride, my bike began to make the weird sounds again and then just quit. Late at night, I had no where to park my bike. So I hailed another tuk tuk and tried to give him the directions to the police station that I didn't know directions to. Sound complicated? Yep, it was. Well, I grabbed on again and through rain and several phone calls and conversations, we made it to the police station.
Things at the station were sorted out as best as possible and I decided to find somewhere secure near the station to leave my bike. I successfully found a place that was also near my bike shop/mechanic, parked my bike and headed home. The next morning, I checked on the teams and went to retrieve my sickly property. I I got to the place where I had left it and it started right up again. I drove it directly to the shop. I explained to them the problem (luckily it was making the crazy noise as I drove up) and they got it right in. I decided to wait around for a bit to hear the bad news. With my description of the problem, they accurately decided to begin their diagnostics at the fuel pump. They checked the valve and quickly isolated the problem. They looked up at me and told me I WAS OUT OF GAS. I don't think I have ever laughed so hard at myself. I was embarrassed but also relieved that it wasn't more serious.
As I drove off, I reflected on the whole process. My gas tank was running on empty but I was still trying to do life as normal. I would get part of the way to my destination and then just quit. It reminded me of times that I would try and do life successfully without being filled up with God's Word. It just doesn't work. I try to live my life successfully but I am not running on the fuel that God created me to run on. God has designed our lives to work successfully ONLY when running on the strength of Him and His word.
But then I thought, how lucky I am that I HAVE HIS WORD. How selfish of me to think that God was trying only to remind me to fill up on His Truth's each day. This is important but it was not the only thing that God was trying to tell me. This thought came to mind when I saw our neighbor bowing continually in front of his altar of incense to the spirits of his ancestors. His hope is in dead relatives and their spirits. He doesn't have the Word of God. He can't fill up on the only thing that will satisfy him because he doesn't know about it. Neither do 90%+ of all of Cambodia. That is roughly 13,000,000 Cambodians. That is why we are here. To bring His word to those who have never heard. To fill up their tanks that are empty...when they don't even know what is supposed to fill them. To love on the sweet people here and help them to understand that they are filling their tanks with things that will not only not help them but will keep them empty and eventually lead to death.
Thanks God for the great reminder!

Believe

I was challenged last Saturday during our weekly Neighborhood Kids Outreach (NKO). It is an event where we reach out to the kids in the community around our largest school, Logos. Each week anywhere from 120 - 320 kids from the neighborhood surrounding the school come onto our school grounds from 1 - 3:30. We divide them in 2 or 3 groups, depending on numbers, and have them rotate between Bible/English lessons, soccer and pool time. By far, the highlight for the kids is their time in the pool. These children rarely, if ever, have the opportunity to swim...especially in a real pool. Consequently, we try to avoid cancelling the swimming time at all cost. However, at times it becomes necessary, for safety purposes. to keep the kids out of the pool. 

Well, that's the decision we were facing last Saturday. We had the kids divided into 2 groups. I was in the pool playing with about 50 kids and my friend Sato, the Cambodian man who oversees the activities each week, was helping out with the Bible/English time. During the first rotation of kids in the pool, the clouds started to move in and the sky darkened. As time passed, we began to hear rumbles of thunder and I was certain that the second group of kids would have to miss their swimming time. "That is such a bummer for them", I thought. "Oh well, nothing we can do now." 

30 minutes later, the rain never started and the thunder kept quiet. The second group of kids had been in the pool for about 15 minutes already and still had about 20 left. "How cool, I can't believe the ran held out", I thought. I got out of the pool and went over to talk to Sato to ask how things were going for him and to make sure that everything was running smoothly. He said things were going great. Then, with a big smile on his face, he told me about the second group's Bible time. He said that the kids that were going to swim secod were concerned that their pool time would be cancelled. Instead of resigning himself to the fact that it would rain and we would have to cancel, Sato believed that God was in control of the weather and that He could and would hold the weather off so the kids could swim. He then lead the kids in a prayer asking God to hold off the rain and then they sang some praise songs. 

Well, the second group of kids did get to swim for their entire time. And, despite the fact that this may sound like a Hollywood ending, literally as the gate closed when the last child left the pool area, drops began to fall. I was so surprised...but then not. God is in control and it took my Cambodian friend and a group of 50+ Cambodian friends to remind me of that...to remind me to believe. That encouragement came at just the right time as God knew I needed the push to believe Him for something big this week. It is so cool when God uses unexpected sources to teach us profound lessons.

A couple kids swimming at NKO

Alex pulling a train of neighborhood kids.

Add caption

Always big smiles in the pool.

My friend Sato keeping control at the outreach

Love those faces.

Cameron and I hanging with some of the kids

Abby helping one of the girls to the side.

Floodgate

Ahhh. Mid-May....the time of year when the floodgate of visitors/volunteers/teams/interns/helpers...etc opens wide and our family gets to meet a whole new round of cool people coming all the way to Cambodia to learn and serve the Lord. It really is a pleasure to be able to be at the "front door" to welcome people to Cambodia. I love to be able to show people all of the amazing things God is doing in Cambodia in general and through Asian Hope in particular.
May always starts our busy season and it doesn't usually taper off until the end of June. This year is no different. Between now and the day I leave to fly back to the States (June 29th), we will have right around 60 different visitors/volunteers come through Asian Hope. They range from a "group" of 2 to a group of 27. We will have groups or individuals from New Zealand, Hong Kong and the US. The ages will range from mid-teens to...a lot older. The teams will pitch in and help in one of our Asian Hope schools, our village development program, one of our community outreaches or work with one of our partner ministries. There is no shortage of work to be done here.

A riverboat ride on the Tonle Sap river with a group from Louisiana

A game of cards with some Asian Hope students and a team from the US

Sharing exotic treats (bugs and snake) with visiting friends.

Part of morning school gang heading to "crazy hair" day at Logos.

A team of 51 college students from Washington listening to a presentation.

An amazing photographer and videographer who shared their talents with us.

A group of 28 from Hong Kong  enjoying Angkor Wat.

More fun in our home with a team.

One of the things I love most about this part of my job, however, is to hear all of the amazing ways that God has called each person to a period of service here in Cambodia. God has uniquely wired each person in our family to really enjoy inviting visitors into our home, welcoming them to Cambodia and getting to spend one part of their life with them. We have really met some amazing people and I am sure this year will be no different.
If you or someone you know would like to spend some time visiting and volunteering in Cambodia, let us know. We would love to host you as well.

Chuckle

As I found myself chuckling out loud several times on Monday, I thought I should share a few of those things that made me laugh and that remind me that we live in Cambodia.

• The appointment: Carolyn and I had scheduled a meeting with our landlords for Monday morning. We were going to sign a new 2 year lease on our house. We were ready at 8:30 to sign and move on with our day. Well our landlords showed up a few minutes late. They were customarily well dressed and overly enthusiastic with their traditional greetings. We returned their greeting and proceeded with the pre-arranged appointment. There was a moment of awkward silence as we waited for the lease documents to be presented...it was then that our landlords asked us when we would like to meet to sign our lease...What?  Inside Carolyn and I were both laughing, outside just smiling. Isn't that what we had arranged this appointment for? We meet again on Friday. Hopefully that works out.
• Power: After the nearly futile appointment, I had to go home for a Skype appointment. I got home in time, got some coffee and had the computer all set. Literally within seconds of receiving the text that we were ready to begin, the power went off at home. Not to be discouraged, I packed up my computer and took off to a coffee shop to Skype and work. I was able to Skype but the power went out at the coffee shop soon after so I needed to find another place to continue working. Then I packed up again and headed to Logos, Asian Hope's largest school. I sat down, opened my computer and guess what happened...yep, the power went out. Really. It did return 20 minutes later but I did have to laugh, or else I would have probably said things that I wouldn't want to put in this post.
• Meddling Kids: During my Skype time at the coffee shop I saw a group of 7 Cambodian teenagers walk in. I was thinking they were probably going to be loud and unruly. When I looked up at them 5 minutes later, they were all engaged in a game of UNO. UNO? I just had to laugh out loud. Certainly not what I expected from a group of older teens out for a good time together.
• Diligent: Later that day, we had an absolute downpour. I was completely drenched when I made it home on the dirt bike. When I turned down our flooded street, I saw on old Cambodian man in front of his house just across the street from us. It wasn't until I stopped that I realized what he was doing. During super soaker downpour, he was using a small container to diligently scoop water out of the gutter and pour it on his plants. Maybe he didn't think they were getting enough water with the rain.  
• Frisbee: I was playing Frisbee in the rain with Alex and some of the guys from House of Hope (Asian Hope's Boy's home). At one point I had to go out of our neighborhood to grab an errant disc. When I walked out, I noticed an unnerving site. During the heavy rain, I saw an aluminum ladder leaning up against some electrical wires where workers had just been working. Nearby there was a large electrical box on a pole with the door open letting the rain run in.  Maybe that has something to do with our power outages.

Although there are many things that we still look at daily that remind us of how different our lives are in our new culture, we do enjoy life in Cambodia. Laughter just makes the day go by easier sometimes.

I'll leave you with a hilarious sign we saw in Thailand a while ago.  We see many like this in Cambodia as well.  Makes you laugh.

Thanks for translating into English...but what does it say?

Perspective

Perspective: "The state of one's ideas; the facts known to one." Everyone has one. Most of us usually think ours is right...until it is challenged. Until someone else comes forward and says "why don't you look at it from a different perspective?" I don't usually like that because more often than not when this happens I am already heading down the path of realizing that my perspective is either highly skewed or sometimes totally incorrect. That's what happened this morning.
I went for a run at my usual time, which is around 7:30 am. It was also the usual temp, which is around 84 degrees (heat index nearing 100). Dumb, I know. Anyways, from my perspective, I had a lot to lament during the run. I was listing them off as the kilometers ticked off:

• "It is sooo hot" (I have a/c and a fan to go home to)
• "These shoes are hurting my feet" (I have shoes)
• "The stopwatch on my ipod didn't work correctly" (I have an ipod - actually it's Carolyn's but she is letting me say it's mine for this post).
• "My eyes get stuff in them as I get blasted by dust, smoke and/or exhaust constantly" (My eyes work)
• "I'm so thirsty" (I have a tall glass of ice-cold water waiting for me at home).

As I went on and on with my laments, however, I conveniently never included the parenthetical comments. I was only seeing things from my perspective. All of the parentheses would be filled in later when one chance encounter instantly changed my perspective. I never spoke to this person, never met them and am pretty sure they didn't even see me. It all happened within just a few seconds. It was during my last lament (and subsequent parenthetical statement) that opened the flood gate to all of the other ones. On the last stretch of my run (and always the hardest and hottest) I was saying to myself:

• "My legs are sooo tired" ...then I passed a woman dragging her legs behind her as she scooted along the hot dusty pavement looking for someone, anyone, to give her some money or food. She also had a young girl walking alongside her. I was heartbroken. My perspective didn't only change, it was obliterated...(At least I have legs that work).

One of the streets I run along. Busy, dusty, hot...but it's home.

A boy loading bags of recyclables onto a trailer. The man sitting in the background was waiting for donations from people. 

Monks walk from house to house in the morning. They stand in front of your house. Once you put some money into their bag they will pray for you.

These kids are walking in the exact spot where I saw the woman  scooting along the ground.

Instantly I began thinking of all of the things I had to be thankful for. I am sure that woman would love to run and have her legs get tired. I didn't have anything with me but I knew I wanted to do something for her. So I ran the rest of the way home and told Carolyn about her. She had seen her as well after dropping the van load of kids off at school. She had also been profoundly affected when she saw her. We agreed to pack up some food, a water bottle and some money to bring to her. I quickly loaded it up and took off on the dirt bike to find her. Unfortunately she was no longer on the street...but the impact she made on me will be felt for a long time.

Sadly, this type of scenario is all too common here in Cambodia. In order to survive here there has to be some level of detachment or other coping mechanism in place. However, her presence came at the perfect time to snap me out of my lamenting and help me to view my life from her perspective.