I will not forget...

I don't think it has quite settled into my mind that I'm really back in the States. How I thought I'd act and feel when arriving back on Monday did not happen. I did not suffer jet lag. I did not cry miserably for hours or seclude myself from others (as I did after my first mission trip). Instead, while I miss the people and the country terribly, and I get teary eyed as I edit the 700+ photos I took while I was there...inside my soul is quiet and filled with hope. I hope that I'll be able to return next year. I hope that it is part of God's will for my life. In addition, I bought tons of envelopes and stationary to write to not only the girl back in Battambang that I sponsor through BrightPoint, but also to many of the other precious souls I connected with during my short time there.

One of my biggest personal concerns was that when I got back I would start to slowly forget about everyone I met while I was there - distracted by the demanding and time consuming lifestyle I lead here. I don't want that. But then yesterday while spending 7 hours at the dentist (long story), as Dr. Patel had half his hand down my mouth giving me a thorough root canal, I had a moment.

I remembered the little children living around the orphanage who we invited over to join in the lessons, crafts, and games. I remember how when many of them smiled up at you shyly, you could see that their teeth were so decayed that they were brown or black in color. I saw this again while at Angkor Wat among the street children trying to sell you 10 postcards or five bracelets for one dollar. I realized how fortunate I was, but it also made me very sad that these precious ones had no access to dental care, among many other things we take for granted in the States.

The children at the New Life Orphanage are blessed and well taken care of, but I know that there are so many other children in Cambodia who do not have the love and care found there. That is where my heart aches the most.

Home Again!

We arrived in Atlanta safe and healthy after 24 hours of traveling. It's safe to say that our bodies are here in the US but our hearts are back in Battambang. It will take a while to transition to life as we know it here at home. We had bonded so closely as a team, I'm sure we'll go through withdrawal not only from the kids, but also from each other! We've pledged to get together as often as possible.

We are so incredibly grateful to all our friends and family for the prayers and financial support! We couldn't do this trip without your help. Your support touched the lives of hundreds of people in Cambodia!

Fishers of Men

Today was our last day to be with the children at the orphanage so waking this morning was a bit surreal. This was the inevitable day that we all knew was coming. We met early for breakfast, Jon and I had the great privilege of meeting with a few of the new Christians that committed their lives to Christ at the meeting held on Tuesday night. It was such a blessing to sit with these new "children" of Christ. We sat with them and answered some questions that they had as new believers. Jon and I had both (unknowingly) felt some concern that we would not have much in common with these men and women, however, God had it all planned out. One of the men in front of us was a principal (my 7 years of teaching came right out!) and the other worked in construction material sales (Jon, of course, has plenty of knowledge on this one!). To my right, was the girl that I'd met from Tuesday and to Jon's far right was the guy that he'd recently been in contact with during the week. Amazing how God can line things up like that.

We were off to the orphanage soon after the breakfast and rolled into the orphanage so see all those precious faces. Hugs and "I Love Yous" could be seen and heard immediately. We all went into their school room and began the dancing. Boy can these kids break it down...and I have to say that we have quite a few team members who can break it down as well.

Next we sat the kids down to talk about our theme for the week, fishers of men, and how we can be fishermen. Among the many things we can do to show our love for Christ and others is to give and share. So we brought out the HUGE bag of rice and began to fill small burlap sacks with rice and a verse from John 3:16. The children lined up from smallest to largest (as they always do) but we noticed something different. No longer did we have our usual orphanage children and a few stray village children, but today we had close to 50 children from the village to join us!!!! They were all lined up, ready for their bag of rice and scripture too. Some had brought their mothers and fathers, even a few babies heard the message today. God works in some really big ways when we wants to.

Once we'd filled the bags, the village children were told that they could keep theirs and then we took, or I should say, followed the orphan children out onto the gravel road to deliver the bags of rice. It was such a JOY to watch the children going out into their community and share their love and faith with others. They were truly fishers of men today!

Finally, it was time for goodbyes. The children took turns standing and telling us what they enjoyed about the week and telling us thank you. It was tearful and heartfelt by each one. They had written letters and made bracelets for us. Many had written letters to all the team members and made bracelets as well. They have such a giving heart. They also wanted to sing for us. As if these acts of thanksgiving were not enough, they recited Psalm 91. Word for word. By memory. It was amazing. These children really know how to say thank you!

I will spare you the details of what it felt like to get on that van and pull away from those tiny tear stained faces. Many of you who've been on this trip or one like it can relate to the sadness that comes with leaving these little ones behind. I can rest in knowing that God is watching over them and holding each one close to Him.

I'm so grateful to this team for their hard work. It has been 100 miles an hour since we landed. There has not been a moments rest. I'm also grateful for the support we've had along the way from friends and family. This truly would not be possible without each on of you. It's been busy and constant energy but I would do it all over again for the fullness that I have in my heart right now.

With that, I'm going to bed. Tomorrow is another day of travel for us as we leave Battambang and drive to Siem Reap.

Get Your Groove ON!

This afternoon we retold the story Jesus calling the disciples the follow Him and Be Fishers of Men! Will Britt by far is the favorite actor with his silly bow! This afternoon we decorated backpags with markers and we played outside and played duck, duck goose!


THE kids and The team got our GROOVE on at our AWESOME DANCE PARTY tonight! We rocked out to Jump Around, Brick House, Play that Funky Music White Boy, Let's Get Started by the Black Eyes Peas, The Jackson Five's ABC and IF WE have it, we will have to post our amazing sketch of Jackson's Thriller dance / video.

The slide show that Jon Vaughan created was BEAUTIFUL. The kids loved seeing themselves and so did the team. What a great a way to reflect on the week!

We had popcorn and soda and had our movie night watching WALL-E. Everyone enjoyed quality time with each other. The kids loved the silliness of the movie and being together.

We are getting ready for tomorrow so I need to go!

In His Grip,
Meredith Houston on Laura Siron Account

WHAT A MORNING!

We started out this morning having breakfast with Paster Vek. What an amazing man of faith and service to the Lord. It was great to have some quality time with him and get to know him better. This morning at the orphanage we had a great time with kids worshipping the Lord in music and then with coloring a fish! Afterwards we had fun playing steal the bacon and volleyball and the girls painted their nails. We left there at 11:30am and went to a restaurant for lunch. After lunch Mistye and Jon went to the market to get sodas, ice and stuff for MOVIE night and DANCE PARTY TONIGHT! It will an amazing Party! Stay tuned......

Day 7 - Perfect

Today was our second day at the orphanage. After singing our hearts out with the kids, we did two skits in keeping with our "Fishers of Men" theme. The first skit was our reenactment of the story of the miraculous catch of fish found in Matthew 9:9-13. We worked hard to make the skit as funny as possible and the kids ate it up. After arts and crafts, we did trust falls and a crazy relay race which involved blindfolds, spinning, and wheelbarrow.

Our perfect day continued with more praise and worship - which turns into a dance party - after lunch. The second skit told the story of the good Samaritan - found in Luke 10:25-37 - teaching Jesus' message to love your neighbor as yourself. The arts and crafts continued with our own "t-shirt" signing party. The genuine love of these kids is unbelievable.

The day wrapped up with a dinner better than any of us could have hoped for - we hosted all the kids (Pastor Vek and his wife joined us as well!) at the local BBQ joint. Fun doesn't begin to describe the evening. The food, the pictures, the praise - it was perfect (if we haven't mentioned that already!). To top it all off one of team members celebrated a birthday with the sweet sounds of those angels singing 'Happy Birthday' in English.

God bless!

Day 6 - More of God's Plan Revealed

What an amazing day! God truly is unbelievable, all knowing, and all powerful. His plans were revealed in a big way today.

Our day began with one of our team members being sick with dehydration. This presented us with a challenge, but a chance to grow closer as a team. God has without a doubt put the nine of us here to serve Him and work together to make His plans happen. (Fortunately, everyone is healthy once again!)

For a lot of people having a sick team member would have gotten them down. For us, we completely rallied around each other bringing our team members even closer. This was perfect timing for us with it being our first day at the orphanage. Our deeper unity allowed us to start our first day with the kids in an even more powerful way. On a scale of 1 to 10, we would say the kids' energy level was a 100! The skits and music seemed to be the favorites of the day. Each one of us had a chance to dress up as a character from the Bible and act out two different passages in Matthew. We sang many songs with the children while being able to see their dance moves and share some of our own. In addition to the songs and skits, the children created crafts that were used at the business dinner we attended this evening. Their origami and place mats added so much to each table as we sat down with men and women from the community. To wrap things up, we played steal the bacon and had three legged races. A long goodbye ended our day with hugs and a phrase we all love, “see you chop chop!”

After the orphanage, we were on to our last event of the day. New Life Church (The church that runs the orphanage) sponsored a dinner for local business and community leaders to witness to them about the love of Christ. It was such a powerful and amazing event. Jon found out yesterday that he would be the guest speaker. We all rallied around and prayed for him to make sure that he was as prepared as possible. He knocked it out of the park! After Jon, and the pastor from New Life spoke, 21 people (about ¼ to 1/3 of the non believers there) accepted Christ tonight. Isn’t God so incredible?! What God is doing in Cambodia continues to amaze us daily!

We wrapped up the day with a debrief as a team celebrating all that God has done just half way through our trip. We continue to ask for prayers for health, energy and strength to serve Him fully while accomplishing all that He has for us to do on this journey.