The easiest way for me to explain what is happening on Tim's trip is by sharing bits from his journal. I have been deeply touched by this third trip finding myself emotional and wrecked by seeing and hearing testimonies from those affected by the ministries in Cambodia. Please continue to keep both Brian and Tim in your prayers as the heat is really affecting them and for their travels back to the capitol city to be safe. Thank you!
{ Wednesday }
Starting my morning off at the Dara hotel. It's always interesting starting these trips because it reminds me of how much time I don't spend doing these types of things. And I realize how much I actually need them. Even reading about the prodigal son this morning and I'm reminded about how much money and time I spend on activities that produce nothing for the kingdom, much like how the prodigal son wasted his resources when he left the home. I’m really looking forward to getting my head back into the bigger game here. In the company, we focus on the bigger purpose all the time, but it is so much more tangible and real when you are on the ground seeing face to face!
Brian and I went to AIM in the morning (Agape International Ministries). Below are links to documentaries that have been done on the exact street we were on, and about AIM.
They take children who have been sold into the sex trade by their parents, and rescue them. They also take in kids who have been abandoned and abused, and rehab them as they would be the next round of kids to possibly move into the sex trade industry because there is no other option for them. It’s an amazing program. What is staggering to me is how the families sell their kids off. How it works is the family has debt and the parents decide that the quickest way to pay the debt is to assign one kid to full time work in the sex industry which can make the most money around, and the kid then makes the money and the money goes to the family to pay down the debt. Or they sell the kid completely to a pimp and the pimp then takes on the debt and works the kid for it. As a parent, how can you do that? It broke my heart as I saw 10 year old girls there, and visualized my daughter in this situation. I stood in an actual pink room, which is where they locked the girls so they could bring men to them, and my heart just broke. How one could even conceive doing this as a parent just blows my mind.
They focus on prevention, rescue, restoration, and reintegration. And they are focusing in this community only right now. If the model works they will attempt to franchise it so to speak in other areas. But they are not going too big, too soon. Smart move. They also have SWOT teams in the city literally doing surveillance on potential offenders. They said within minutes of Brian and I walking into the streets of this small town, we were immediately profiled by both the bad guys and the good guys, both who were going to watch our moves to see if we were interested in purchasing. Kind of crazy, and scary to be honest.
The people leading the charge here are friends of Brian’s from Jefferson City, Missouri, Pete and Debbie Livingston. They came to Cambodia for a month sabbatical and saw what AIM was doing, went home and literally sold everything they had and moved here to work full time for AIM. Talk about sacrifice! Would I ever be willing to do that if called? Would I ever give up my comforts for something like this? Would my wife sit in a room with me like yesterday with a cockroach running on the floor? :) We need a reality check in our lives! And this is why it’s so important for me to come and see these things and be reminded of the realities in the world that we don’t see in Lynden. It helps me lead better as a father, husband, and in our business.
{ An actual pink room where girls were locked up. }
{ Kids at AIM making shirts and clothing. }
{ Tongue anyone? }
{ Thursday }
Today, after a workout with Brian and a relaxed breakfast, we went and rented our motorcycles. While it’s always fun to rent and ride bikes, there is a few moments when you are driving out of the rental place that you wonder to yourself, “what the heck am I doing.” That goes away quite fast as you hit the road and have no choice but to be insanely focused on all that is going on around you. Add to this that it’s 95 degrees outside with 60% + humidity, and you are in jeans, in hot traffic, etc. It was fun to ride but absolutely brutal in many cases.
The poverty I saw today was heartbreaking. I asked at one point why they stay there. If my family lived in that scenario, I would just pack up and leave. I would go find something else and risk death to attempt to improve the living conditions for my family. Yet they sit there and do nothing about it. This led to a large cultural discussion. Brian argued that it’s all relative and it really is, but as a parent, I wouldn’t let my kids live that way. Yet, each one of them has a smile on their face, the kids are enjoying their day, almost like they don’t know the difference. When you do know the difference, like we do, you just want to change it and fix it for them, but I’m realizing that isn’t necessarily the right way here. Most of them don’t really want it, which is the odd part. So you work with the ones who do, and focus on bringing Christ to everyone, knowing that the rest just doesn’t matter as much.
{ Easiest way to travel to and from. }
{ We spent $65 on little toy animals, bouncy balls, cars and games for the kids Tim would come in contact with...pure joy. }
A common thing I keep thinking about as we’re driving through the fields in the dust, looking at people living on nothing and in garbage huts, is that Christ is all that matters. None of this matters. As I was riding yesterday through a field, the song on my bluetooth headset in my helmet was “In Christ Alone”. Words like “firm through the fiercest drought and storm, my comforter, my all in all, no fear in death, Jesus commands my destiny, in Christ alone, in Christ alone, in Christ alone, IN CHRIST ALONE!”. It just grabbed me, after seeing the slums and then hearing that. All else doesn’t really matter, and if they choose to live this way, fine. Fixing it for them doesn’t necessarily help things, but we still need to help them find the true source of peace and comfort in life as they won’t have it in the physical sense, and that’s in Christ alone.
We drove to Prey Romeas Village, which is where Sophea was from. It was awesome. We were there a year and a half ago, praying over a piece of land that Sophea had a vision for. Standing there a year and a half later, we are in a complex that has a church building, a school, a library, etc. They have 190 students currently. The pastor there was a guy we trained in Shape a year and a half ago when we were here with Kim, his name is Sothearit. The LGN supports him and is helping him build the school and how it operates. Awesome to see! Sophea raised, and build the entire complex for $55k. Unreal!
{ Roasted frog? }
{ Friday }
Am excited for Saturday… A few days ago we were at the church and they were playing music and their sound system sounded awful. I have noticed this every time I’m here, and come to find out they think they have a bad system and wanted to get a new one. I asked if I could do some work on it and within 5 minutes had it sounding a million times better and they were pumped. I asked if I could come Sunday and run sound for them and get it fixed. They were ecstatic. So Saturday I’m going to run a sound check with their music team and help them get their system fixed. Going to be a blast!!!
Can’t get my mind of AIM…
