This fifth month of the World Race has brought many exciting, new things into my life. First, I got a new team! We are called Team Radical Pursuit, and our mission is to be fervently chasing after a relationship with Jesus every single day. It is a team made up of myself and five other incredible women of God. Seriously, they are such a blessing on my life. Jesus knew I needed some encouraging people to come alongside and build me up, and He blessed me with this team. Everyday I get excited to hang out and do life with them. They call out character qualities of Christ in me and seek to love me in any way they can. I love being around them, because it has taught me what it means to be a loving woman of God. In all circumstances, I want to be looking to constantly encourage and support them as my beautiful sisters in Christ, daughters of the one true King. They want to make a huge impact on this world. They bring God’s Kingdom to earth each and every day through their love. What amazing role models they are to me!
“Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.” 1 Thessalonians 5:11
Secondly, our ministry this month is very different than any other months. Our team does not have an established ministry organization that we are working with. Instead, we have been assigned to do the World Race “Unsung Heroes” program here in Phnom Penh, Cambodia! This program seeks to find new ministry contacts of which future World Race teams can come alongside and help serve. It is a month of adventure. We pray and ask for the Holy Spirit’s leading. We have been praying that He would bring us to meeting “Unsung Heroes” who work serve God here in Cambodia.
Unsung Hero (n.):
Men and women who are dedicated to serving some of the most impoverished populations in the world, yet rarely receive recognition for their dedication and service. These givers may also live with meager conditions but give consistently from an abundance of God’s love. Their names may not be in history books, their acts unknown to the rest of the world, while unrecognized, they shake a generation and move a culture and ultimately build the Kingdom.
Good news! The Lord has abundantly answered our prayers for direction and meetings with new ministries. We have met so many awesome unsung heroes in this city. Many ministries we have met through word of mouth fight against the sex trafficking trade here in Cambodia. Many women here are forced into this horrible industry because of their family selling them or due to lack of education and extreme poverty. Many ministries that we have met here in Phnom Penh are little cafés or clothing shops that employ these abused women. They pray for them, provide counseling and love, train and educate them, empower them to take back their lives, and overall share Jesus with them. They are not huge organizations with lots of man-power, but they are doing HUGE things to love and serve the least of these here in Cambodia for the sake of Jesus Christ. Also, we have seen how the church is growing here in Phnom Penh. For a country that has gone through a very recent and very horrible tragedy, hope and love are spreading like wildfire here. Praise the Lord!
“Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm, for love is strong as death, jealousy is fierce as the grave. Its flashes are flashes of fire, the very flame of the Lord.” Song of Solomon 8:6
Below are the websites of just a couple of the many wonderful ministries that we have met this month as part of the Unsung Heroes program:
- New Life Fellowship Church (http://www.cambodiaoutreach.org)
- Keylight Learning (http://keylightlearning.org/)
- Cambodian New Generation (http://cambodiannewgeneration.org/index.htm)
- Daughters of Cambodia (http://daughtersofcambodia.org/)
- Jars of Clay (http://jarsofclay.asia/about-us/)
- Made (http://agapewebsite.org/projects/restore/made-aim-retail-store/)
Also, check out these blogs by some of my beautiful teammates as they discuss more in detail about this month and some of the Unsung Heroes here in Cambodia:
- http://hannahberndt.theworldrace.org/?filename=made
- http://laurenmadawick.theworldrace.org/?filename=join-in
- http://kaylapark.theworldrace.org/?filename=unsung-cambodia-new-generation
“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.” Jeremiah 29:11
