You are going where...Cambodia

So we leave Saturday night and will fly for 24 hours and end up in Phnom Pehn the capital city of Cambodia. We are regularly getting the question of why are we taking a mission trip to Cambodia when we are about to move to England long-term. We there is more than one answer to that question. First lets start with this one; about 3 years ago God spoke to us about Cambodia and told us to be ready, well since then nothing has happened but some reading and lots of praying. That was until this fall when our organization Antioch Ministries International developed a relationship with a Cambodian church and began to see the massive need of the people. They asked us to be a part of learning how our organization could be a part of what is already happening in Cambodia and how we can support the local church their. So we were ready and said yes. Second, we as a family have a desire to see God's justice come to those who are being mistreated. Cambodia is one of the hub if not the hub for human trafficking going on in our world. If you are unaware of what I am talking about I paint a brief picture. A poor rural farmers needs money so he sells his daughters into prostitution, neither him or them even realize this is not normal or ok. Children are kidnapped and sold as slaves in neighboring countries such as; Burma, Vietnam, or Thailand; and no one thinks twice about it. Those are real events that are happening everyday in this nation and it breaks the heart of God. So we are going to help the local church in Cambodia by serving them, educating people about the problem, and basically doing whatever they ask. Finally we are going to learn. AMI just had a research team return from Thailand and Cambodia (researching human trafficking) working mainly with NGO's there. Our goal is to now learn what the local church is doing and then help. AMI is looking at how we are help the fight against human trafficking, especially in Cambodia. So we will be getting dirty, seeing the hurting people, asking questions, trying to do some educating, and telling many for the first time that Jesus loves them. This is a really exciting opportunity for us to learn and to see a nation that God has placed on our hearts. We will being leading a team of 10 people and our kids will be staying in Texas with Grammy and Poppa. That right there alone is going to be a killer, but with the nature of the trip and the amount of travelling we have already put and are putting our kids through it was just too much. So let me give you a few things to be praying while we are gone...

• Health and Safety - we are taking meds for both Malaria and Typhoid while there
• Our Kids - 2 weeks without mommy and daddy is hard & Micah is in a key season, learning how to obey and such...pray we don't lose any ground
• the local church in Cambodia - they are very young, pray that they hear the encouragement from heaven to keep going
• salvation - we want people to learn how to love Jesus with everything they have and are
• A history note - Cambodia suffered a major civil war in the mid to late 70's and it completely destroyed the country and the church. So the church is just beginnings to grow again and is only 10-15 years old, as it was almost completely whipped out during the war. Also nearly everyone in this country was affected by the war and has recent memories of it, so there is tons of hurt from that devastating event

Alright well I might get another post up before we leave, maybe. But if I don't it will likely be a few weeks before I post again as internet is nearly non-existent in Cambodia. Pray for us, we love you....

Laters

New at this

So my sister set up a blog the other day and informed me that it is super easy to do...so here I go. This purpose of this blog will be to keep you informed on the comings and goings of our lives (i am missing the letter "e" from my keyboard so sorry for any typos). We want you to be able to not only read about what we are doing but to also see it and appearantly this is the coolest way to do it. The word on the streets is that email and snail mail newsletters are way out-dated. And by the way this is going to be a short post because the fact that my "e" button is missing is super annoying. The story behind the missing "e" is Micah and I were playing on the computer, it was some toddler game at the fisher-price website. Well it was the first time he has ever been allowed to touch daddy's laptop (because he doesn't know how to properly use a computer yet) and sure enough he accidently assassinated the letter "e". But no need to worry, Christie and I leave for Cambodia on saturday and will not be taking my computer so we can send it in to get it fixed. I mean the little guy didn't mean to and he has learned to be gentle with the computer. I mean could you stay mad at this guy??? Well I lied, I said this was going to be a quick blog but then I got to looking at some pics and had a few more stories to tell. A couple weeks ago we went to Houston to hang with Nana and G'Daddy. So we went to the Woodlands and they let us in even though I did't have on my Izod shirts and loffers. Well they also had an area where the kids could play in some water so us being the relaxed parents we are we said oops forgot the swimsuit let him go run in the water in what he is wearing and he can ride home naked. He loved it and ruled the play area - the others kid would just wait on his every need, bringing him lemonade and cookies, it was awesome. We I guess I said I had 2 stories but I honestly don't remember the other one, if I don't write things down then I forget them almost immediately. So on that note I will get out of here. I know I only put in pictures and stories of Micah but that is just because we love him more...just kidding. I will make the next entry all about Gavin or me, most likely me because I think I am awesome and I obviously think I am pretty funny as well. So enjoy my blog and subscribe to it, you will get to here awesome stories like the ones you just heard and the other reason is because...why not, what is holding you back and really what would it hurt?