Kate's Perspective: The Call

       The red light district doesn't look like I imagined it would. How can such beauty, such joy, survive in the heart of darkness? I can still vividly picture the look in most people's faces when I told them I was going to Cambodia on a missions trip instead of a senior/graduation vacation. It was the look of: "Oh my God, this chick is crazy". And I would get a lot of comments along the lines of: "Why would you want to go THERE?". I never understood their reaction. Now I do. It would have been much easier to stay home. To stay safe. To not have to witness this much pain. To not feel like throwing up as I think of what happens to some of these baby girls. But if I had never gone, I would have never have gotten to witness this garden growing out of a graveyard.  I see people back at home broken, for no reason.  But these children possess a resilience I have never seen before. They have been through unimaginable horrors, yet when I first walked into the room where VBS was being held, they surrounded us. Smiling, tugging on our hands and clothes, wanting to show us something, to play with us. They are so loving despite never having a proper example at home of how to love.
          On our tour of AIM's multiple facilities we pass a room full of hammocks and Marissa calls me over to check it out. We discover that those hammocks are holding babies and Marissa, Mary, my mother, and I (the baby Nazis) are welcomed inside by one of the two workers taking care of about twelve small children. The man greets us with much kindness and laughs as I obsess over the adorable infants and toddlers. "Want a baby?" He asks while handing a little girl to Marissa. "YES!!!" I practically yell while shoving my water bottle at her and snatching the little girl from his hands. I am so in love. I swear, these children areTHE most precious human beings I have ever interacted with. Marissa is still bitter about the baby snatching and it's been a few hours. Whatever. You snooze, you lose.
            Seeing all these amazing, bubbly, bright children makes me wonder at who could ever want to hurt them. It angers me that the only time they get a childhood is for a small part of their day at Kids Club. It's really easy to be angry at God. When people hear stories about things such as trafficking and poverty  it is not uncommon that they get mad at God and complain that He does nothing. They question why He doesn't just "eradicate" the problem. Poverty is a man-made issue. Trafficking is a man-made issue. God has done something. He put us on this Earth and it's up to us whether we decide to answer The Call or do nothing.

A PG13 Walk At 4:30 A.M.

I woke up at 4 a.m. and could not go back to sleep, so I decided to go for a walk / run.  It crossed my mind that it might be a little bit dangerous, but I tower over the Cambodians, so I figured I would be safe enough.  Our hotel is located in a little bit seedy area. The hotel is surrounded by bars and night clubs and massage parlors, all of which are fronts for sex-trafficking.  Even at 4:30 in the morning, a few of the places are still open. As I pass one of the massage parlors a group of Cambodian men are sitting in front of the entrance.  As I pass, one of them says, "you want a girl?".  I politely tell him no, and press on.

I was not ready for the next proposition.  About a mile after the massage parlor, a scooter approaches me and slows down. I note that there are two young women on the scooter, dressed in short skirts.  The rider in the back greets me and strikes up a conversation.  Once again, I am propositioned and asked if I want to go somewhere.

The two propositions shook me up.  I have trouble getting it out of my mind the rest of the day.  How can this happen?  

This is why we are here.  One cannot even walk down the street at 4:30 in the morning without getting propositioned twice.  These people need Jesus....

Please keep us in your prayers.

Tim

Day Three: First Day in Svay Pak

Boarding the van to Svay Pak

Today was an amazing day. It was our first day volunteering with Agape International Missions (AIM) in Svay Pak. We had breakfast, read a devotional, prayed, and got on a short van ride to Svay Pak. Today was a real eye-opening learning experience. Svay Pak is the epicenter of child sex trafficking in Cambodia. This particular area is known for providing pre-pubescent girls for sex. Not only that, if it could get any worse, the brothels in this village cater to sex torture fetishes. Poverty is rampet. I expected to see darkness and dispare. What did I see? Joy. I saw hundreds of joyful children coming to AIM's Bible Kid's Club. Many of these children have or possibly are currently being trafficked. The room was packed with children as young as a three, up to young teens. It was awesome seeing these beautiful children singing and playing in a safe place.

Svay Pak. Picture taken from top floor of AIM's Building

The Kid's Club is one of many community out reaches that AIM uses to impact the root causes of child trafficking. AIM works with the local government to identify children in the sex trade and then rescues them. They shelter them in one of their rehab centers, providing therapy, medical aid, and the love they desperately need. AIM helps reintegrate the girls back into their community with vocational training. If the girls can earn money legitamately, they are seen by others as having value and honor and are not likely to be trafficked again. We toured three such facilities where rescued girls are working in a garment factory, T-shirt screening facility, and a braided jewelry facility. These girls are paid considerbly more than their Cambodian counterparts, and they are treated with dignity and respect. Additionally, AIM is providing K - 3rd grade schooling for children for only $1.50 per child per month. That may sound cheap, but many families cannot afford even that. As many as 80% of the students at the school (about 350 students) are on some kind of financial aid scholarship. This is made possible by people donating to AIM.

Today, I got acquainted with the Lord's Gym. This is another one of AIM's community outreaches. It is a kick boxing gym that is a place where young men can come to train, learn to box, and get mentored by Godly men - their coaches. These young men are jobless, and without intervention, they will likely be enticed to traffic or pimp to make money.

I met Somkan, the head coach, and gave him some new equipment for their gym. The equipment was purchased with your generous donations. We provided three suspension trainers and four super bands. When I showed them what you could do with them, they about lost their minds. I, by the way, have a home gym where I've been training people for the past couple of years. In the video below, you will see me demonstrating a one-leg burpee to Somkan. He thought it was amazing.

 

After training the fighters for a couple hours, we had lunch. All the children and staff at the Kid's Club were fed lunch by AIM. We had a delicious meal of white rice and a clear broth soup with vegetables. I sat at a table with a bunch of young Cambodian boys and girls and had a great time talking about where I am from and ping pong, a passion of many of the young boys in the village. I have a ping pong tournament in my near future. I think I'm going to loose.

Tomorrow we are back in Svay Pak. I am going to be training more fighters in the gym and helping out at the Kid's Club.

What an honor and privilage to be here in Cambodia serving The Lord. I can't thank those that help get me here enough. I'd like to especially thank my wife, Gretchen, who has been an amazing source of support and encouragment every step of this journey.

Clay Cranford

I Am A Thankful Mom

I'm a thankful Mom.
It's been a long, hot, and eventful day. With Justin's arrival our team is finally together. We spent the day exploring the market place and preparing our supplies for tomorrow.  In the morning we venture out early for Svay Pak, the village where we will serve for the next two weeks. It's becoming real.
As we gather each night at dinner, we go around the table and tell the group three things; our most favorite thing of the day, our least favorite thing, and what we are most thankful for.   Tonight I lied.  I lied to these people who I am becoming close to on this adventure.  I didn't mean to lie, I just did.  As I reflect on the day I realize that today, right here, in this place, I'm the most thankful for my daughter.   As we sat around the table sharing our least favorites, the theme of heat, lack of air conditioning, and smelly fish markets were repeated by all.  These things we liked the least. But not Kate.  Kate who detests both fish and sweat.  Kate's least favorite thing was the poor children begging outside the market.  So this is why I'm thankful.  Thankful for my daughter, who sees the least of these, and who's heart breaks for them.  Momma is proud.

Kate's Perspective: Whatever May Pass

         How do you sleep when brothels line your street?  Brothels most likely housing children under the age of twelve. How do you keep from crying as a four year old pulls at your clothes and begs you for money? Better yet, how do you keep from taking her home, clothing her, giving her food, shelter, love.and when you do give her money, others come, the elderly, the babies, the injured, all flock to you, hoping you'll give just a little. How do you even begin to take care of them? Above all else, how do you not completely lose your mind as you see a dozen white men sitting at individual tables across the street from a Cambodian nightclub (brothel)? They come from all over because child sex trafficking is so prevelent in Cambodia and they know that they can get away with it.
           Early on in the training for this missions trip I discovered I have this thing called a God Complex. Meaning, I want to save the world. I've never been in their situation, yet being here causes me to empathize with the Cambodian people to the point that it hurts.  Is there hope in a place as dark as this? Over half the little girls here are sold into slavery. Yet I see the love of a mother as she strokes her child's hair.  Is see joy as the Cambodian people gather in parks and around temples on a Saturday night to line dance to Cambodian  rap music.  I see humor as the girls serving us at lunch laugh hysterically and hold up peace signs as we take selfies with them.  And I see complete and utter chaos when our Tuk-Tuk driver decides to make a u-turn in the middle of the road on a congested street, as motorcycles and cars get so close to us that we can reach out and touch them.  And to be honest, cramming six vehicles side by side on a two lane street is kind of an adrenaline rush. Never will I ever complain about American driving EVER again.
             Tomorrow marks the first official day of our ministry.  We will be venturing out of the big city and into the small village of Svay Pak, globally infamous for its reputation of child sex trafficking. We will be working mostly with the children and staff care, but Justin and Clay will also be ministering through the Lord's Gym to former traffickers and the young men of Svay Pak.  I pray that we may bring joy, love, peace and relief to the childre, if only for a few hours.
             *Whatever may pass and whatever lies before me, let me be singing when the evening comes.*
-Kate

First Day Adventures (or Misadventures) Prove God is Good

Whew!!!!  What a crazy first 24 hours of our trip.  

We started with the longest night in history.  We left LAX at roughly midnight, and the next 14 hours we flew in the darkness.  Sitting and waiting for the trip / night to end seemed interminable, but it finally came to end in China.  Sometimes life seems like that, doesn't it.  Sometimes, life seems like the darkness will never end, but, just like our flight, morning will eventually come. Trust God that He is working.

Aanyways, on the flight a missionary heard us talking about our trip and he struck up a conversation. He and his wife were on the way back to Indonesia where the serve with CMF.  We both had a long lay over, so we got to talk to them and pray over them.  I think and hope we were able to encourage them.  

We got to Cambodia.  The AIM staff was here to meet us and we met up with Shawna and Katie.  Our driver messed up and was not there to drive us, so we took the traditional transportation method called a tuk tuk (see Katie's description below).  And, as we are pulling out, there was a big fight between one of our drivers and the police.  Then the drive through the city was crazy; Mr. Toad has nothing on the drivers here. 

As we get close to our hotel, we notice several "night" clubs. We realize that they are just the type of establishment that we are here to fight, namely, places that sell girls.  We note that there are cafes close to the night clubs where Western men are sitting around waiting for the establishments to open. Marissa starts feeling sick to her stomach once we realize what these establishments are all about.

Speaking of feeling sick to one's stomach, once we finally make it to the hotel, it comes to light that I messed up and booked the hotel for one day later.  One thing about the Cambodians is that they are very helpful and accomodating. So the hotel scrambles and half our team is able to stay in our hotel and they find rooms for the rest of us in a sister hotel.  I am thankful for the graciousness of the team who, despite being exhausted and travelling all night and all day, they do not panic and they do not chew me out. Instead, everyone graciously forgives me.

We force ourselves to stay up until almost eight PM, and then we are all exhausted and collapse and sleep hard.  I woke up this morning with a splitting headache.  I hoped that a walk would help. So I walked along the river.  Along the river in the morning, there are hundreds of Buddhists (Buddhism is the main religion of Cambodia; most estimates are there are less than 5% Christians here) praying, making offerings of lotus flowers, and lighting incense.

I am interested and stop becasue I see a man holding a net with dozens of little birds.  I watch as a woman approaches him and buys a bird. She carefully cups the bird and walks over to the river.  She obviosuly says a prayer, and then suddenly releases the bird.  I note that she is crying slightly as she watches the bird fly away.  Later, I ask a cap driver about the whole thing. He tells me that the bird is just like Jesus; the woman had a sin that she could not get rid of via ordinary means, so she bought a bird and released it, taking her sin with it.  I cannot help be sad when I hear the explanation.

Today has mostly been about getting our feet under us so we are ready for tomorrow.  We moved over to our hotel and now are all under the same roof.  I picked up Justin, our final team member, from the airport.  We have been organizing everything for VBS and everything that begins tomorrow.

Some closing conclusions about our first 24 hours here:

1. Our flight never seemed like it would end. It was worse becasue we experienced night for approximately 20 hours.  Sometimes life can seem like that.  The hard stuff never seems like it will end. But our flight did end, and hard things in life do end. Morning does come and with morning, His blessings are always new.  If you are in the nighttime in life that never seems to end, have hope.

2. God is good...all the time...everywhere...even Cambodia:  Yesterday was an insane day.  There was a lot that did not go as planned and a lot that was actually not good.  But everything turned out fine.  Life rarely goes as we plan, but we have a God who goes before us. Plans being derailed do not mean that God is not with you.  In fact, you will see as your plans get messed up, God's faithfulness and goodness. Yesterday could have been horrible; instead, because God is with us, it turned into a crazy adventure that we will always remember.

3.  Cambodians are kind, sweet people:  The Cambodian people are very, very precious people. They are extrremely friendly and helpful.  They will go out of there way to be accomodating.  They try hard to serve well.  They also have been through hell.  The country has been devastated time and time again by Pol Pot, invasion by communist Vietnam, Khmer rebels, and, most recently, corruption at the highest levels of government. The people here have been abused and the country has been in ruins. There are signs of life, but overall, it is sad. And it is especially sad because of the nature of the Cambodians who seem so kind and gentle.

So that is a brief summary of our first 24 hours here.  Two things have been extremely evident to me. First, God is with us and has gone before us.  Second, the team that is with me are great men and women. They are gracious and kind, men and women who are willing to put the needs of others before their own, and who extend grace to the leader who completely goofed up.

Please keep us in your prayers as we start "ministering" tomorrow.

With much love from Cambodia,

Tim

Kate's Perspective: Welcome to Cambodia

       After a week of working VBS, paired with a week of being a camp counselor, and a hearty dose of Tynenol PM, it wasn't hard to sleep a full seven hours out of the first twelve hour flight. Note to self: don't take Tynenol PM until you have actually boarded the plane unless you would really like to fall asleep in the waiting area of he airport.  1 1/2 movies, 5 chapters, 10 pictures of  the monks in front of me, 18 pictures of my new 80 year old BFF( who by the way, was  wearing a blue cheetah print sweater, had on sparkly nail polish, and did not speak a word of English. But that didn't stop us from bonding over Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.), 579 airplane selfies, 11 Facebook messages, and 42 snapchats later I have finally landed in Cambodia.  The 52 year flight ( 20 hours and 40 minutes if you round down) taught me many things of value. Most importantly: monks don't respond well to people taking creepy pictures of them. Also that the Taiwan airport has a Hello Kitty Lounge, in case you ever wanted to visit. And that the children of Taiwan really like people with purple hair, and touching said hair.
         Getting to the hotel was an event in itself. Our ride is this little thing called a Tuk-Tuk. Which in English translates to: sketchy cart pulled by a moped, or something like that. It's extremely dangerous and passing motorcyclists like to reach in and snatch phones and/or luggage.  We loaded the bags into one Tuk-Tuk and the rest of us split up into the other two. Lo and behold, the Tuk-Tuk I was in drives about 7 feet before turning so that we are PERPENDICULAR to traffic, as in BLOCKING  the street. Our driver, and the driver of the other death trap both get off their mopeds and go to this grassy area near the second  Tuk-Tuk. Stranded in the middle of the roadway, the only thing left to do is observe the scene while trying not to freak out.  A security guard walks up and starts yelling at the second driver and kicking at his moped. Next thing I know, the two are throwing punches. The driver really should have tried to use his words because, unfortunately for him, five other guards come and chase him directly in front of our cart. The six guards surround the guy and start kicking at him. Everyone is yelling and it is complete and utter chaos, they are so close to us that I pray a stray punch doesn't enter our "vehicle". Good thing the driver is quick because from the looks of it, it's hard to dodge six guys.  unfortunately half of the guards get out their tasers. Our driver decides that we have had enough excitement and saunters lazily back over to our cart. As I look back I hear the electrical current and see the guy get tased a few times then pushed away back towards his cart.  Lord have mercy. Welcome to Cambodia.