This included – replacing the canvas roof with a wooden roof, restaining and revarnishing all the wood and tightening a few bolts that had worked loose a bit. In the US, with the weather conditions they had (warm and sunny) this project would have taken 1 1/2 days max. No way it would take more. But this is Cambodia. Everything takes longer in Cambodia.

Last year I accused the guys of getting hammocks set-up and sipping pina coladas all afternoon. This year I was thinking we have a crack crew, it isn’t building a playground just touching it up a bit. No way this should take very long. I was wrong, again. Shocker right?

It looks wonderful. It’s all sealed up and in perfect working order. I’m not sure how long all this took Bill, Bryan and Ed – they may still be there tinkering on something, but I finally figured out the issue. It wasn’t pina coladas but the neighborhood ice cream truck did stop by. Ice cream, the culprit of productivity.

Nice work guys. Glad you invested all that time.

Now last year we went to Samanoa too. I actually spent two days there teaching with the DTS staff. Our team spent one day there doing a clinic. We set up in a church and really the conditions were “plush” for a village. This trip we went flying by the church we met at last year. Another 15 minutes by. We went so much further that Thera out ran us on the moto and we had to stop and call her to come back for us. We wound around deep into a rural area.

One thing I’ve found in Cambodia. The more rural the setting, the more gracious the people. They didn’t have chairs there. We brought our own. But the when we didn’t have enough for everyone they came bringing busted up chairs for us to sit on. And they insisted we sit. These folks were extremely sweet hosts. These families don’t have much but everything they have they are willing to share. It really is a picture of the early church and a great lesson for me.

Our second most serious case of the trip was with a boy in this village. He had a serious condition that could be life threatening if he didn’t change some lifestyle. He needs to drink more water. So we bought as much water as we had money to buy, 4 cases. Hopefully he drinks it – drinks enough. Otherwise it will be a rough year.

I loved our time in Thera’s village (Thera is one of the staff at Jeevit’s house). It was probably my favorite or second favorite village experience this trip. 

Some kids in Samanoa doing pillow case races. The pillow cases didn’t survive the trip : ) (Sorry to the grandma that donated those, they weren’t used on pillows they did bring great joy in Cambodia.)

Thank you to everyone who made this trip possible. We were all really blessed by this opportunity. I truly love the people of Cambodia and I can’t wait to see the Gospel take Cambodia by storm. Can I get an amen?

When I say home, I guarantee a picture pops into your head. Your mind knows exactly what home looks like to you. Your picture of home will be different than my view of home. That is just how it works. We have our own opinion of what home looks like, but home is the same regardless of it’s picture. Right?

This is my neighbor’s. It’s her home. It isn’t some beautiful mansion, but I am guessing Virginia wouldn’t want to live anywhere else. It’s safe and known. She doesn’t need anything else. It’s enough. And for some of you that may be true. For others of you, you would never live in a house like this. It wouldn’t fit your family or you just couldn’t live in such a small old house.

This is also my neighbor’s house.

They don’t live on my street but that doesn’t make them less of a neighbor.

Not every home in Cambodia looks like this. But some do. Is that wrong? Should anyone live like this? It doesn’t seem humane. It doesn’t seem right. We need to do something to change this!

But are they happy?

I would venture to say that I meet more unhappy people everyday in Iowa than I meet in a 9 day trip to Cambodia. Happiness has nothing to do with the size of your home or your bank account. If this is news to you, then I would guess that you have a lot of unhappy moments.

Our best opportunity at happiness is to seek Him first. Our best chance for smiling every day is not to chase the bigger house or better job or nicer car, but to chase after God. He may change our address, but he will definitely change our perspective.

Are you happy at home?

You are children of God. Loved by God and of immeasurable value. Don’t ever forget it.

The Circle Maker is a book about prayer. Not about how to do it as much as it is about how to commit to it. To say that this book convicted me in the areas of my prayer life would be a vast understatement. It kicked the crap out of me in a number of areas.

What am I praying for?
Why am I praying for that?
Am I really praying for that or do I just say that I am?
Is my prayer costing me anything or do I just pray when it is convenient?
Am I praying about what God wants me to be praying about?
Do I believe God has answered my prayers?
Is my confidence in God or in my words?

Like I said a butt kicking.

This will no doubt be another Batterson book that I read more than once (i.e. Primal).

The best part of the book for me is the call to actually do something. Change your prayer life. Don’t just read a book about it, but do something. Make a change. The book isn’t theoretical, it’s practical. I am excited about what God has in store for this year, not because I will copy everything Batterson talks about in the Circle Maker, but because I can change my life by changing my prayer life. And so can you.

Enjoy the Circle Maker, I did.

One of our first days in Battambang, we met this boy.

He was at Jeevit’s house for King’s Kids. King’s Kids is like an hour long Sunday school class, but it happens each day of the week in a different slum or village. On Monday’s it’s at Jeevit’s house. The first time this young man came to King’s Kids, he crawled there. You see he can’t walk. I’m not sure what is all going on, why he can’t walk or why he doesn’t really talk. But this I do know.

He smiled every second he was there. He had so much joy it was palpable. He never once gave us the “feel sorry for me look”. Rather, we got the “just try to keep up with me look”.

Why is it such a blessing to go to Cambodia? Joy. Regardless of circumstances – joy.

The people we spent time with aren’t poor or in poverty, they are rich beyond our imaginations. They have wealth we can’t even describe.

Why sleep deprive yourself? Why spend money to work your tail off? Joy.

I won’t soon forget this smile. Thank you for that!

I’m not sure how old these two are, but suffice it to say in the US these two wouldn’t be allowed into the babysitters club. But here, these guy are in charge. We saw one little boy who’s face was burned by rice porridge on a day when his 7 year old brother was watching him for the day while their mom went to work. Good news, mom was at work. Bad news, here only option for daycare is her 7 year old son. She does what she can to survive.

That story is repeated a thousand times a day just in Battambang.

These pictures remind me of a Matt Maher song. See below.

I think this translates into any language. That is beautiful.

Can you believe how diverse and beautiful the children of God in Cambodia are? It’s just amazing. And beautiful doesn’t have to have a “Rodeo Drive” address. I know for sure three of these kids live in a slum behind the base in Battambang, because I played with them there. The two girls together were at Jeevit’s house, most of the kids who go there for King’s Kids are from a nearby slum.

People ask me all the time, why go to Cambodia? Why not just send a check?

Your check can’t look these kids in the eye as you play together on their streets. Your check can’t have it’s heart broken as you hear these kids laugh. Your check can’t lay awake at night praying for these kids. Your check can’t see the hope in the eyes of each of these kids.

These kids from the slums aren’t hopeless. They are learning about Jesus. They are seeing the hands and feet of Jesus in their homes and on their streets. Because we come. We bring support, believe that, but we bring it we don’t send it.

I have to keep coming back because this generation of beautiful people in Cambodia need to know Jesus. Their lives will never be the same.

It is difficult to figure out where Tuesday and Wednesday went. It seems like it was just Monday. Time goes super fast.

But today we got to bless a community and that was a ton of fun. We saw over 120 people in Samonoa a village about 25 minutes from Battambang. The trip itself was pretty wild. It was definitely as “rural” as we have been thus far. I think Samonoa gave the team a good picture of the status of a large section of Cambodia.

I got to teach a bit with Marty in DTS this morning. That was a lot of fun, but also a great opportunity that God presented with me. A kid named Tobi from Germany is in the class and he had a lot of questions similar to questions I asked when I first started pursuing Christianity. It was fun to meet with him and encourage him that he isn’t the only person to every ask the questions he was asking. I pray he continues to pursue a relationship with God. I know God is pursuing him and it is fun to see.

Sorry no pictures yet. Upload speeds aren’t the best in the places it is most convenient to use internet. So once we get home there will be a full smattering of pictures and videos and the like.