(Belated) Happy Holidays!

I know, I know!  Just when you’ve finally recovered from the holidays, I have to go and bring them up again!  But we had such a blessed, joyful holiday season at Christian Happy Home I still want to tell you about them, albeit a little late!

For me, the holidays again started with a bountiful Thanksgiving feast with friends and fellow missionaries at the home of Dr. Kent and his family.  If possible, I think this year’s feast even surpassed last year’s as roasted goose and pumpkin pie were added to the menu!  I can’t tell you what a treat this feast was, here in the land of perpetual rice!  There was not a single grain to be seen that day!

Feasting and fellowship!

In early December, the Christmas festivities began, starting with a home decorating party.  All the kids had a job, putting up the tree, making snowflakes, stringing lights and garland, or hanging our new stockings (Thanks Sigrid!).  The home really looked great this year!

The boys hanging lights.

Tree trimmers Pinu and Srey Mao

The second week of December, I drove with Mom, Witt, and eight of the big kids across the country to the southern part of Cambodia to do an outreach at Mom’s hometown church where her father serves as pastor.  We first helped clean and decorate the little church…….. 

Laen decorating the church.

...then, the following day, Mom, Witt and the kids hosted a Christmas program for the church members, families, and many neighbors invited from the community, about 120 people altogether.  The program was very good and included, songs, skits, testimonies, games, and sharing of the gospel.  I was so proud of them!  The kids are really growing up! 

Christmas program outreach

We even squeezed in a little time to visit the beach in Sihanoukville, which was the first time several of the kids had ever seen the ocean!  We thank God for this opportunity to have served Him and to minister to fellow Christians in Cambodia. 

Chanthorn enjoying the ocean!

When we returned from the outreach, it was time for me to get serious about some Christmas shopping!  The staff gave me the task of shopping for ALL the kids this year, that’s 40 kids!  On top of this was my own Christmas shopping for the staff, helping the kids to buy gifts for their houseparents, and preparing gift bags for two more outreaches.  Altogether I figured I purchased gifts for about 110 people this year!  Oiy!  And you thought your list was long!  It was actually a lot of fun, and I’m so thankful to the Lord for our ministry friends and partners who gave special gifts to make all of this possible!  Thank you!

An abundant Christmas!

As Christmas neared, we did another small outreach to about 30 poor children in a feeding program at our local church……..

Praying for kids at the outreach.

…….and went caroling around the community to spread a little Christmas joy!

Joy to the World!

Finally, Christmas day arrived.  What a wonderful day we had!  In the morning, the kids did yet another outreach, this time to their friends from school, sharing the nativity story as well as the gospel, building relationships and planting seeds……

Outreach to kids' friends.

The afternoon was filled with fun and games……..

Fierce competition

And in the evening was our own family Christmas with more skits, songs, and opening of presents.  In the Cambodian culture, it is tradition for the birthday person gives gifts to others, rather than receiving gifts for himself.  So we all thanked Jesus for the gifts He gave us on His birthday, and especially for the most precious gift of all, Himself. 

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Following close on the heals of Christmas, we celebrated New Year’s Eve with a giant bonfire in the front yard, a time of reflection and thanksgiving, and then movies until 4am. (For the kids, that is.  I barely saw midnight!). 

Auld lang syne

Now the Near Year is in full swing.  The kids have started soccer league again and Sunday afternoons are consumed with soccer games. 

Sou Sou MMF!

I was blessed to be able to take a week away at the end of January to a small Thai island called Koh Mak to just spend time with the Lord and get refreshed.  It has been a challenging year personally, so I was thankful to have some time to reflect on this past year and to pray about the coming year.  The Lord was gracious indeed to meet with me there.

One of my challenges in the past year has been persistent homesickness.  I desired to come home for a visit, but felt the Lord was always guiding me to wait, and wait, and wait.  Now it seems the wait is finally over, and I have peace from the Lord about making the trip home. Yay!  I purchased a ticket for early March with a return flight in mid-April, about six weeks total.  My plan is to visit my family in Missouri for a few weeks, then Lord willing, also visit Oregon and SoCal.  I am so excited about once again being reunited with family and friends!  And I hope I can meet many of you in person whom I’ve only met via e-mail so far.  Please let me know if you’d like to get together to share a meal, grab a cup of coffee, or hear more about the ministry.  Many blessings in Christ Jesus! And again, Belated Happy Holidays!

Wait on the Lord;

Be of good courage,

And He shall strengthen your heart;

Wait, I say, on the Lord!

Psalm 27:14

A Full House

Well, our Happy Home family has really grown since the last time I posted an update!  We added seven new kids in August and September, bringing the total number now to 40 kids, a full house!  Let me introduce the new kiddos:


Tep

Brothers, Pani and Siloam



Siblings, Tua and Srey Mao



Sisters, Reaksmey and Marie

People often ask me how we get the kids, where they come from.  Every child has his or her own story of how they came to live at Happy Home.  Most often, it is the surviving parent or closest relative who finds us, usually by referral from another NGO, a church, or a friend of a friend, and brings the children to us asking for help because they are unable to care for the children.  We interview the family and visit their home to try to understand their situation, degree of need, and reasons for wanting the children to come to Happy Home.  Then we, the staff of MMF, take time to pray, talk about the situation, and hopefully come to a unanimous agreement on whether to accept the children or not.  We have denied at least as many requests as we have accepted in the last couple of years, usually because it seemed the family had other options for help or because the need was not that great (relatively speaking, of course.) 

But now our family is full, and we will probably accept only a very few more children over the next 6 or 7 years, until our oldest kids start graduating high school and heading off to college or elsewhere.  So we thank the Lord for all the children He has entrusted to our care and pray that He would knit our hearts together as a family as we continue to seek Him and trust in Him.

August and September were also the months of annual school break for our kids and we had a busy summer.  Here are some highlights from the last few months:

 

✿ We had a great family vacation in Siem Reap again this year!  We went swimming, shopping, to a playground, to the Cambodian Cultural Village, and the highlight of the trip, to Phnom Khulen, a beautiful waterfall on the top of a mountain.  It was my favorite place in Cambodia so far!  Thanks to our friends in the States who made this family vacation possible.

Bael and Chanty at the playground.



Swimming at Phnom Khulen.

 

✿ I was blessed to be able to attend the Calvary Chapel Asia Mission Conference in Hong Kong again this year, along with Rose, David and several others from MMF. It was a great time of Bible teaching, fellowship, and mutual encouragement for the more than 40 missionaries there from all over SE Asia.  

Hong Kong





Rose and me in Hong Kong



✿  When I got back from Hong Kong, I learned we’d had a special “visitor” to the Home the previous night.  This 6-foot python was discovered trying to push his way into the big boys’ house through the front screen door!  Seriously!  Witt and Somearn wrangled him into a rice sack and kept him just for me to see.  (Thanks so much guys!)  We kept him in a makeshift cage for a week while we tried to find a home for him.  Finding someone to take him was easy.  Finding someone to take him and not EAT him was difficult.  To make a long story short, the snake disappeared after a week.  Frankly, we don’t know if he escaped or if someone came in and took him, but either way we’re relieved he’s gone and that he hasn’t resurfaced.

✿ The schools in Thailand also had a term break during September, so three of the four high school boys from Happy Home Chiang Rai who visited us in April returned for another 3-week visit (3 middle boys in back row).  Sadudee, a graduate of CHH Chiang Rai, also came along to help serve.  They were a great blessing to the kids and worked very hard during their time with us.  We really appreciate their hearts to serve.

Front: Sruitt, Sadudee. Back: Somearn, Piseth, Sombot, Arm, Witt

✿ Near the end of September, Rose’s sister and brother-in-law, Marty and John, arrived for a two-month visit.  John pastors an English-speaking congregation at a Chinese church in Orange County and is spending part of his six-month sabbatical here with us.  They have really captured the hearts of the kids and vice versa.  They will be greatly missed when they have to leave.

Rose, Sadudee, John and Marty touring the slum Kbal Spean

✿ The last week of September, the Filipino Baptist Church in Poipet hosted Vacation Bible School for our kids for the third year in a row.  The theme was “The Armor of God” from Ephesians 6, with a different piece of spiritual armor discussed each day.  The kids loved dressing up as soldiers in God’s army.

 

VBS theme



Little kids' VBS program

 ✿ The first week of October was Pchum Ben, a major holiday in Cambodia.  More than half the kids were able to go home and visit family during that week.  For the rest of the kids, we made sure to do some celebrating of our own with a lot of silly games and a trip to go swimming at a small waterpark about 40 minutes away.  Very fun!

Joining in the fun

Set ridin' the slide

✿ The following week, Mom, Witt and I joined the leaders from the five other Christian Happy Homes in Thailand for a leadership retreat in Bangkok.  A team from North Coast Calvary Chapel in Carlsbad, CA, hosted the retreat and taught us about scripture-based Art Therapy for children affected by trauma.  It was very interesting.

✿ While we were off enjoying ourselves in Bangkok, Poipet was getting hammered by heavy rains and flooding.  As in previous years, floodgates were opened upriver in Thailand to relieve flooding in those areas, which resulted in a deluge of water downstream in Poipet.  At the MMF Preschool, the water level rose to chest-deep in one day.  Almost all the roads between our Home and Poipet were completely flooded, including the one in front of the kids’ public school. 

Flooding at the public school

John and Somearn were driving to pickup the kids from school on the day the waters were rising so quickly and encountered two cars stalled in the water in front of the school.  John tried to carefully squeeze around the cars but misjudged the edge of the road and slid off into the ditch.  About three hours later they were finally able to get the truck out of the ditch and to a mechanic, pick up the kids from school, and make it home for a late dinner.  Thankfully no one was injured, just a little wet and hungry.  We’re grateful our Home was not affected by the flooding, but many, many other people around Poipet were affected and displaced.

Oops! 

✿ The week after the conference, the same NCCC team came to Poipet to visit our home and another ministry in town.  They blessed our kids with a lot of art and craft activities, tae kwon do lessons, and a big BBQ celebration.   

Tae kwon do lessons

Well, now most of the floodwaters have already receded, the schools are back in session, and life is getting back to normal (relatively speaking, again).  As I sit and write about all the activities of the Home over the last few months, I am again amazed at how graciously God provides for His children, the abundance of blessings and goodness in our lives, and the many wonderful friends of the ministry who also love and care for His kids.  God is good indeed.

A father of the fatherless, a defender of widows, Is God in His holy habitation.

Psalm 65:8

Dirt and Rocks and Trees, Oh My!

Truly, rocks and dirt and trees consumed our little lives at Happy Home for most of May and June! At the beginning of the year I was hoping to plant maybe 10 fruit trees on the property this year. What we thought would be a fairly simple project, turned out to be a major undertaking! Now that all is said and done, we’ve planted a total of 65 trees (50 shade trees along the wall and 15 fruit trees in the yard)!




A little background first... when the property at Happy Home was being developed a few years ago, fill-dirt was brought-in to build-up the ground level of the property by more than a meter. The fill-dirt was really more like ‘fill-rocks’ with a little dirt mixed in. So when we first began our valiant effort of digging the tree holes by hand, it took two people more than two hours to dig a single hole a half-meter deep and half-meter wide because there were so many boulders in the ground. So, we quickly ditched that idea and decided to hire a backhoe to dig the holes for us. The backhoe was certainly faster, but it left us with 50 massive coffin-sized holes for the trees along the wall. Then the work began!

Step 1: Separate the rocks from the fill-dirt and haul them away to our new gigantic rock-pile.  Rake fill-dirt back into holes.

Step 2: Fill the holes with good black dirt we bought by the truckload and chop it up.

Step 3: Mix-in a bag of cow manure with the black dirt and chop again.

Step 4: Finally, plant 50 trees along the wall! What a glorious day!

As if we hadn’t learned our lesson, we then decided to go ahead and plant 15 fruit trees in the yard also! aka: Rehire the backhoe, repeat Steps 1-5, again! Oiy!

The staff and kids did an awesome job! Everyone pitched in, from the littlest to the biggest. We worked every morning, evening, and weekend until it was all done! And we finished in the nick of time! Rainy season has started and the Lord is watering all our new little trees perfectly! As consuming and exhausting as it was, there is something very therapeutic and rewarding about working with the land and with your hands. I wonder if that’s why the Lord put Adam in the Garden, instead of in an office? Hhmmm……

In the midst of all the work, we did make time for some fun to keep up everyone’s spirits. On June 1st, we joined many other NGOs and schools in a parade through Poipet in celebration of International Children’s Day……..

….and followed that with some games at home for the kids.

A small (very small) carnival came to town for a few weeks, so we took the kids to play the games and ride the rides (aka ‘deathtraps’). (Boy, if you think carnival rides in the States are scary, you should see them in Cambodia.)

And finally, one day when the big kids were away at youth group, we had a special “Little Kids Only” day, which included games, bubbles, treats and movie time. They loved it!

Well, that’s about it for Happy Home news. Oh, one more thing, we will be adding three new little boys to our Happy Home family in the next couple of weeks! I’ll tell you more about them next time.  :-)

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I usually like to keep these updates light and cheerful, because that’s what our lives at Happy Home are generally like. Everyone who visits our home says the same thing, “It’s so peaceful here” or “This is a sanctuary”. And it truly is, because of the Lord’s blessings and presence here with us. But outside of our sanctuary, Cambodia can be a pretty dark and despairing place. I want to tell you about a few situations we’ve encountered recently to give you a glimpse of what life in Cambodia can be like for the majority of the people here. There are no pictures for this section.



• A couple of months ago, a 22 year-old woman came by the home asking for our help. She had moved to Poipet from a village in northern Cambodia about a year ago with her four younger siblings. Her father had abandoned the family, and her mother was unable to work to care for the children, so she became the breadwinner. And now, she was unable to find work locally to continue supporting her siblings. She asked if we could take her brothers and sisters to live at Happy Home, and she planned to go work overseas in Malaysia. Immediately, alarms started going off in my mind. It sounded to me like she was walking right into the hands of human traffickers.
     This is a classic situation. Traffickers target young, desperate, uneducated women and promise them good pay, education, and the opportunity to help their families. But in reality, they are forced into slave labor, or worse. In this case, the company had told the girl they would take her to Phnom Penh for three months of English language studies and get a passport for her before going to Malaysia to work in a hotel. But in exchange, she would have to give them her first six months’ salary to pay for the classes and the passport. Most likely, and unbeknownst to her, that cycle would then continue. The company would say she owed them for her airfare to Malaysia, her room and board, uniforms, etc. So she would be perpetually broke and indebted to the company, unable to help her family, and unable to return to Cambodia even if she wanted. (The company usually keeps that passport from the person for “safekeeping”.) So at the end of her three-year contract, she would have provided three years of slave labor and have absolutely nothing to show for it, returning home to her family shame-faced and in a worse situation than when she left.
     After talking with her, we contacted some other NGOs in town that work with these situations. They met with her, talked at length with her, and presented her with other education and work options. In the end, she decided not to go to Malaysia, and another children’s home received her siblings. I sometimes see her riding through town on her bike now, and feel a deep gratitude that we were able to help her and her family. I received an e-mail last week from an anti-trafficking organization in Phnom Penh saying the police have cracked down and are beginning to prosecute labor companies sending girls to Malaysia. Praise God!



• The next week, a 15 year-old girl walked into Happy Home with her suitcase in hand and kept saying “I want to live here. I want to live here.” The girl was uneducated and seemed perhaps a bit mentally slow. When we calmed her down, we were able to piece together her story. Her mother had “married her off” to a 28 year-old man about three months prior. (Essentially the mother gave her to this man because they were too poor for a wedding.) The husband was an alcoholic and abusive, and had kicked the girl out of their home that morning and told her not to come back. The girl made her way to Poipet looking for her parents who had moved here recently, but she didn’t know where they lived. Since she couldn’t find them, she asked people where she could go to stay, and she ended up at our home. We contacted a women’s crisis center in town and they were able to take her in that same night. I’m sorry to say I don’t know what became of this girl, but the shelter does good work and I feel confident they were able to help her.



• A couple of weeks later, while I was in Bangkok, I received a call from one of my staff saying that the mother of one of our girls was in the hospital about to die. The family asked if we could please bring the girl to see her mother before she died. Witt and Mom took the girl the same night, and her mom died a few hours later. It turns out, her mother had been badly beaten by her abusive boyfriend a few days before but had not been able to go to the doctor. She laid at home getting worse and worse until her family found her and took her to the hospital, at which point it was too late. I remember seeing this lady just a few weeks before and she told us she was leaving her boyfriend and moving away. It seems she waited too long. Now her daughter is truly an orphan. Thank the Lord she is with us.



• About that same time, another mother of two of our kids became very sick with AIDS because she had stopped taking her ARV medications about six months prior. She has been in the AIDS clinic for five weeks now and is only getting worse. In hospitals and clinics in Cambodia, the patient is usually required to have someone come stay with them because the staff and doctors do nothing for the patients other than hand out meds and start IVs. This lady has no family other than her kids and no close friends, so we are stopping in to care for her three times every day. I was able to get her ARV meds restarted last week, but they are making her so nauseated she can’t even drink water without vomiting. She is becoming very gaunt and emaciated, and at this point she can do almost nothing without assistance because she is so weak. It is a very heartbreaking, discouraging situation. We are helpless to do more for her but to pray for God’s mercy and grace upon her. Please pray with us.



When we encounter situations like these, it makes me even more grateful to the Lord for our home, our sanctuary of peace in the midst of so much darkness in this country. And I am especially thankful to the Lord for bringing the children to live at Happy Home, for giving them a chance at a new life, a different way of living. In Cambodia, it seems there is such a stark contrast between living life with God and living life without God. Without Him, there truly is no hope. May we cling to Him, as we consider how different our own lives may have been without Him. Bless the Lord!

"I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, 

that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; 

therefore CHOOSE LIFE, that both you and your descendants may live; 

that you may love the Lord your God, that you may obey His voice, 

and that you may cling to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days;….. "

Deuteronomy 30:19-20a