I have been in Cambodia for almost 6 weeks now and I am really enjoying what He has planned for me here as well as learning so much about so many things.
HA! That was a very vague sentence, huh?
Okay, the first month was spent leading an absolutely outstanding team of 4 from my church in Kansas City. We taught English for 3 weeks in a village called Svay Pak. This is a village that has been and still is very notorious for taking part in the selling of very young children for sex. Giving these kids as well as the pimps and brothel owners the skill of speaking English has the potential to transform their lives. When the people are empowered with English a huge number of employment opportunities become available to them. Many of the people involved in trafficking in Svay Pak are involved because of pure poverty. Speaking English affords them the chance to choose a better means of employment.
Svay Pak is about a 50 minute ride by tuk-tuk from where I live in Phnom Penh and it is where I will be spending my mornings for the next month. My team did such a great job with English classes that we have decided to continue them! The classes are taught in a 6 story building that was intended to be a nightclub and brothel. But, God’s name WILL be glorified in the dark places of this world…a partner ministry that HPC works with here purchased the building and it is now home to a thriving church!
This church is simply amazing…it reminds me so much of the church I came to know Jesus in. The doors are almost always open, there is a clinic two afternoons a week, a kindergarten program, Kids Club (similar to VBS) takes place for 2 hours TWICE A DAY, an official school will be opening this fall…and now, English classes as well! The Pastor and his wife have taken in many of the teens who have decided to follow Jesus and they call them “disciples”. These teens and young adults (about 20 of them) spend most ot their day at the church doing anything that needs doing and studying the Bible together.
My afternoons will be spent in Phnom Penh helping to start a ground-breaking ministry. I will be part of a team that will organize Kids Club in an area that has never been exposed to such a thing before. It is an area within the city where young boys (as young as 8) and teenage girls sell themselves not only to tourists but to locals as well. I am so excited about this opportunity. I cannot wait to see what Jesus has planned for this ministry.
Please pray for strength and energy…the heat of the days here really drains one’s energy quickly, especially as we’ll be doing our afternoon ministry outside. Pray that angels would go before me in every step I take. Pray for hearts and minds to be softened even as you read this.
Thank you all so much for any support you give be it prayer or financial. I have my budget pretty well figured out on a monthly basis.
Rent/Utilities-$200
Phone/Internet-$40
Transportaion-$300
Food-$150
Language-$240
Misc.-$70
Total-$1,000
Currently I have $450/month pledged. If you would like to know how you can give financially, please contact me :-)
Thank you all so much for your participation in what is going on in Cambodia.
