Ok I’m going to come out of left field with something that might surprise some of you. But it’s on my heart today so here it is. I’m very excited to let you know that Diane and I are planning a short term mission trip to Cambodia and Thailand. Why in the world go to Cambodia of all places…
It’s a funny thing the way God works. If you would have asked me three years ago would I want to go to Cambodia on missions I would have said unequivocally, no! That’s where I was the first time I heard about the orphan situation in SE Asia. I sat in the church that morning and couldn’t help but shed a tear as I heard about the desperate situation that many live in as the result of many years of oppression, genocide, and corporate abuse. I learned about how children were bought and sold like cattle to be used in the sex trade. I learned about how many LIVE in the landfills of the cities scraping for enough rotten food to survive.
But I also learned about one organization that was trying to help. Asia’s Hope was started by a couple of guys that lived here in Ohio. Asia’s Hope identifies children at risk for being victims of the sex trade among other atrocities and places them in safe orphan homes where they are cared for, taught English, and about Jesus. Asia’s Hope now has orphan homes all over Cambodia, Thailand, and soon in India.
Diane and I immediately decided to sponsor an Orphan. This is Ry Vith:
Ry Vith is our little girl. I feel like I know her, but we’ve never met. I have sponsored other children in the past through World Vision and the like. This is different. See here’s the thing. Ry knows about Diane and I. Not just that she has a sponsor. She knows about US. She has our picture. She’s waiting for us to come and visit. Cambodian orphans are a bit unique. Because Cambodia does not allow international adoption the vast majority of the kids in these orphan homes will never be adopted. They know this. So they are each other’s family. We are their family. They love it when their American family comes to visit, they are devastated when we leave. I have heard many stories from those who have gone about the gut wrenching departures from these homes. But what I hear more is the amazing love that these children have for us. They know us, they pray for us. When we don’t visit, they long for us.
I have been an outspoken critic of the missions tourism industry that exists here in this country. When I first learned about people going to Cambodia and Thailand to visit the kids I was skeptical. My first question was, what are we going to be doing? It seemed like there needed to be some purpose, some project, something to accomplish to justify our going, our asking others to help sponsor us to go. But it’s been a couple years now and a lot has happened.
The biggest thing that has happened is the birth of Team Hope. Team Hope was a vision that God gave Diane one day while she was running shortly after we learned about these orphans. Diane and I had been focused on and praying about making everything we do, about God. Diane was trying to figure out how her love of running would fit into that. While she was out running God said, why not run for me? So she has. It just didn’t seem like enough to write the check every month to Asia’s Hope and somehow think that was enough. We needed to do more. Team Hope encourages people to participate in races and raise funds to help support the needs of these orphans. To date, Team Hope has raised over $70,000 for our kids. The money has gone to meet several wonderful needs. A big one was the construction of a pavilion where the kids from all the orphan homes in the area could meet together and have church. The pavilion has become a focal point in the town where it was built and now many curious locals have begun to come for church on Sunday morning where they hear the gospel for the first time. We bought a van so the orphan home could get the kids to school and around town safely. Currently we’re funding a construction project to renovate their kitchen. Team Hope also pays the sponsorships for two other boys to live in the home. We want to do a lot more. That’s why we are in the process of incorporating Team Hope as a not for profit organization. If you want to see what we’re up to right now you can learn more here:
http://graceteamhope.org
It’s been very exciting to watch God turn this thing into what He wants it to be and it has been fun coming along for the ride. But once again God has asked us to go deeper. That’s why in January Diane and I plan to go to Cambodia and Thailand. We will be meeting with those who run the orphan homes, getting a feel for what their needs are, learning about the culture of these people, and the conditions that they struggle in. There are a lot of questions. How can I arrange to be gone for so long with my new job? What will we do with the kids, and how will they handle our being gone for so long? Where are we going to come up with the nearly $6,000 to fund the trip? I was worried about all this. I’m not worried any more. God has done so much all ready, he can work out these details with ease.
So, when someone asks me why go, that’s a pretty loaded question and as you can see it’s a pretty long answer. But it doesn’t have to be, because in spite of all of this, there’s really only one reason we’re going; one reason that matters anyway. There’s a little girl named Ry who currently is 8000 miles away from me but her heavenly father desires that she get a hug and he would like me to be the one to give it to her. So I’m going.
You’ll hear more about this in the days and months to come. The plan is to use this blog to chronicle our journey. We would love to have your prayers. If you would be willing to do that, I would love to hear from you. Just send me a quick e-mail and let me know. I’d really appreciate it.
Thank you.
It’s a funny thing the way God works. If you would have asked me three years ago would I want to go to Cambodia on missions I would have said unequivocally, no! That’s where I was the first time I heard about the orphan situation in SE Asia. I sat in the church that morning and couldn’t help but shed a tear as I heard about the desperate situation that many live in as the result of many years of oppression, genocide, and corporate abuse. I learned about how children were bought and sold like cattle to be used in the sex trade. I learned about how many LIVE in the landfills of the cities scraping for enough rotten food to survive.
But I also learned about one organization that was trying to help. Asia’s Hope was started by a couple of guys that lived here in Ohio. Asia’s Hope identifies children at risk for being victims of the sex trade among other atrocities and places them in safe orphan homes where they are cared for, taught English, and about Jesus. Asia’s Hope now has orphan homes all over Cambodia, Thailand, and soon in India.
Diane and I immediately decided to sponsor an Orphan. This is Ry Vith:
Ry Vith is our little girl. I feel like I know her, but we’ve never met. I have sponsored other children in the past through World Vision and the like. This is different. See here’s the thing. Ry knows about Diane and I. Not just that she has a sponsor. She knows about US. She has our picture. She’s waiting for us to come and visit. Cambodian orphans are a bit unique. Because Cambodia does not allow international adoption the vast majority of the kids in these orphan homes will never be adopted. They know this. So they are each other’s family. We are their family. They love it when their American family comes to visit, they are devastated when we leave. I have heard many stories from those who have gone about the gut wrenching departures from these homes. But what I hear more is the amazing love that these children have for us. They know us, they pray for us. When we don’t visit, they long for us.
I have been an outspoken critic of the missions tourism industry that exists here in this country. When I first learned about people going to Cambodia and Thailand to visit the kids I was skeptical. My first question was, what are we going to be doing? It seemed like there needed to be some purpose, some project, something to accomplish to justify our going, our asking others to help sponsor us to go. But it’s been a couple years now and a lot has happened.
The biggest thing that has happened is the birth of Team Hope. Team Hope was a vision that God gave Diane one day while she was running shortly after we learned about these orphans. Diane and I had been focused on and praying about making everything we do, about God. Diane was trying to figure out how her love of running would fit into that. While she was out running God said, why not run for me? So she has. It just didn’t seem like enough to write the check every month to Asia’s Hope and somehow think that was enough. We needed to do more. Team Hope encourages people to participate in races and raise funds to help support the needs of these orphans. To date, Team Hope has raised over $70,000 for our kids. The money has gone to meet several wonderful needs. A big one was the construction of a pavilion where the kids from all the orphan homes in the area could meet together and have church. The pavilion has become a focal point in the town where it was built and now many curious locals have begun to come for church on Sunday morning where they hear the gospel for the first time. We bought a van so the orphan home could get the kids to school and around town safely. Currently we’re funding a construction project to renovate their kitchen. Team Hope also pays the sponsorships for two other boys to live in the home. We want to do a lot more. That’s why we are in the process of incorporating Team Hope as a not for profit organization. If you want to see what we’re up to right now you can learn more here:
http://graceteamhope.org
It’s been very exciting to watch God turn this thing into what He wants it to be and it has been fun coming along for the ride. But once again God has asked us to go deeper. That’s why in January Diane and I plan to go to Cambodia and Thailand. We will be meeting with those who run the orphan homes, getting a feel for what their needs are, learning about the culture of these people, and the conditions that they struggle in. There are a lot of questions. How can I arrange to be gone for so long with my new job? What will we do with the kids, and how will they handle our being gone for so long? Where are we going to come up with the nearly $6,000 to fund the trip? I was worried about all this. I’m not worried any more. God has done so much all ready, he can work out these details with ease.
So, when someone asks me why go, that’s a pretty loaded question and as you can see it’s a pretty long answer. But it doesn’t have to be, because in spite of all of this, there’s really only one reason we’re going; one reason that matters anyway. There’s a little girl named Ry who currently is 8000 miles away from me but her heavenly father desires that she get a hug and he would like me to be the one to give it to her. So I’m going.
You’ll hear more about this in the days and months to come. The plan is to use this blog to chronicle our journey. We would love to have your prayers. If you would be willing to do that, I would love to hear from you. Just send me a quick e-mail and let me know. I’d really appreciate it.
Thank you.
