Well, the title of this blog says it all. We are nearing the end of this Race. I know that I didn't get a blog out about last month so I'll sum it up for both Jeremy and me.
Last month we were both in Thailand but we were in different places. We prayed about it and felt that Jeremy should go with the guys of our squad to do Man Ministry. So they were in Western Thailand while I was up north in Chiang Mai, Thailand with the other 3 girls on my team. Last month was really good for Jeremy in that the Lord really used in a lot of different ways. They did a lot of physical labor including spreading manure by hand, shepherding goats, and pouring concrete. They also worked with the growth groups in the church that they were working with as well as doing minstry among one another. It was one of his favorite months on the Race.
I was working in a girls home, basically just living life with them. We got up at 5:30 every morning and didn't stop until about 9:00 at night. We did everything from physical labor to walking the girls to and from school to teaching worship songs in English to playing volleyball and helping with homework. It was a very tiring month, but it was one of my favorite months and totally worth it. Sharing Jesus' love always is, isn't it?
So that brings us to this month – Month 11. We're here in Phnom Penh, Cambodia and we're actually just finishing up ministry here. We worked with a program called Children At Risk. These kids are from families that have been recently brought out of the slums and these kids are at risk for anything from prostitution to gangs to drugs/alcohol and pretty much anything else you can think of. We have done kids club, preschool club, youthgroup, washed and styled hair, dramas galore (which we made up!), games, crafts, and songs. We also had the chance to help build a house for a family last week that had been living in nothing more than a shelter of sticks and tarps. It was hard work in the heat, but worth every drop of sweat to see the excitement they had in having a home made of wood. Oh, the things we take for granted.
This has been a great month for us because we got to love on children that are desperate and hungry for it and share with them about the love that God has for them. We're honored to be used by Him in this way, as we can tell from the Bible that children hold a special place in God's heart. These kids then leave that center and share that love with their families who are then interested and show up to see what this is all about. It's so cool to be a part of it!
So we ended ministry a little early this month because there is a huge holiday here called the Water Festival. We then leave on Sunday for Siem Riep, Cambodia to have our final debrief of our trip. Pray that it is a time of rest and a time that we can process what God has done and that He would begin to prepare us for the things are ahead. We will be back in the States on Saturday, November 19th and then we will be heading to Pennsylvania to be with Jeremy's family and our supporters there. And finally….the first week of December we will return to Indiana! We are excited about this, but please continue to pray for us as one season is ending and yet another is beginning. We just keep pressing on toward the goal…
I also wanted to ask all of you to pray for Jeremy and me in the area of finances. Our personal finances are not where we expected them to be at this point, and so we really want to ask you all to pray hard that God provides us with jobs as soon as possible. It's a bit of a stress, but we are trusting God in this. He didn't bring us all this way to fall flat on our faces in our return home. Thank you for partnering with us in this way!
