Wow, What to say and where to begin?   Today marks six weeks – time is really flying by.  The past couple of weeks have been interesting.  As you know from our previous post the regular staff has been on retreat and annual leave which has left a bunch of folks who speak three different languages together to try and get by day to day.

Lessons Learned?  There are too many to mention but, the first is that God has our best interest at heart – always!  Sometimes He may seem like a tough master but it is for our edification.

I (Darrell) very, very, very much dislike painting.  I have done quite a bit over the years and I just do not like it.  The first job I was given here during our (feeling out phase) was “paint manager”!  We are painting all the buildings on the property with a team of Thai teens whom I cannot communicate with.  As soon as I was told that I would be the “paint manager” I laughed and said “yep this must be from God”.

So, what have I learned?   I have high expectations from young people.  Maybe it’s from working with so many in the restaurant business.   I learned very early, when God bought me back home to Him, that I can’t expect something out of someone they are not capable of giving, especially in the spiritual realm.  It is not their fault that I could not communicate my expectations and I forgot that lesson.  We, me, people in general don’t know what we don’t know, right?  So I have learned not to get frustrated or angry at folks – though I am not perfect at that by any means.  What happened was I got angry at the Thai team for not meeting “my expectations”.  The big me, myself and I was mad for not getting my way and it affected my body, mind and spirit.  The Holy Spirit showed me that the Thai teens could sense my anger and revealed my sin to me.  What did I do?  I had to confess to God through the blood of Jesus, ask Him to forgive me for my anger.  I then had to go to the Thai teens (through interpreter) and confess and ask for their forgiveness and pray that my sin did not cause them to sin.  Thank You, Thank You, Thank You Father for your mercy and grace on a bunch of boneheads like us and Your Perfect Peace!!!

I (Sheri) also sat down and wrote a little in my journal about some of the things I have observed/learned/ been reminded of in these few weeks.   There are joys and difficulties, challenges and easy moments.  Most of all there is a love that develops from it all!  There are currently 37 kids living at the home.  A few are bullies, but they also cry when others bully them.  These few older boys want to push around the younger boys, but get mad when they push back.  Of the girls there are a few girlie girls and a couple of almost tom-boys, and a princess or two.  O’yeah, let’s not forget the typical teenagers – they want your help, but don’t want it!  All so different yet all the same!

Taking 37 kids swimming when only half can swim can be a challenge, but when you end up in the water with them the delight in their eyes makes for joyful moments.  Booboos – each one, no matter how small needs attention.  The more attention you give, the more is desired!  The closer you get to them the more they draw in to you!

So what else?  Trusting in the Lord!  While being substitute overseers I have had a responsibility of handling and reconciling the money.  Yes, I can balance a checkbook to the penny and if not…I will work until I find that penny.  Well, one week the market (food) money didn’t reconcile correctly-frustrating to say the least with new shoppers.  Then last week a couple of the receipts were misplaced by the people doing the shopping.  They couldn’t find them anywhere!  We looked and looked, asked and asked, but nothing!!  Two weeks in a row – the spending wouldn’t reconcile!  I was not happy and worried that I would be not trusted with this type of task although I believe administration is one of the gifts I have been given by God.  While reading “The Autobiography of George Muller” I have seen his prayerful heart while trusting in the provision of the Lord for every step and thing needed in his ministry – big and small.  This book has been constant reminder of lifting our needs to the Lord.  So…I was compelled to pray that God would provide for the finding of the misplaced receipts or show another way that we could reconcile that week’s books.  Yesterday (a week and a half later), He answered that prayer!  The receipts were found and returned to me.  The books balanced perfectly!!  Praise God for answered prayer, His perfect timing, and once again reminding me to trust in Him!

We are thankful to our Father for His grace and mercy through His Son and our Savior Jesus Christ and that GOD the Father would be magnified and glorified with all we think, say, or do!

A few more pics for you…

Greetings Brothers and Sisters,

Our time here in Cambodia seems like it has been more than two weeks (in a good way). With all of the different sights and sounds, our minds and bodies have been in sensory overload but we are starting to adjust more each day.  It’s funny sometimes, I can’t even remember what day it is but, I guess an adjustment period is expected.  We are blessed to be living where we are here at Happy Home Cambodia where it is clean and safe, though I am fearful to wander off of the property at night because of all of the strange sounds you hear.  It sounds like what you might expect to hear from Dante’s Inferno or Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom? Take your pick!
 
The people seem to be gentle, pleasant and look at us with a certain curiosity.  The kids we have here at Happy Home are wonderful and they seem to appreciate being here as well but, sometimes kids will be kids, huh?  Speaking of kids we are now official overseers of the home for the next 10 days.  The entire staff here in Cambodia (5 total) will be crossing the border into Thailand for a staff retreat that Rose has put together.   They have never done anything like this before and most of the staff has never left the borders of Cambodia so, they are extremely excited.  Please pray for them they really exhaust themselves for the Lord’s kids.   Soooo, Sheri and I will be overseeing a team of Thai teenagers who are here for their summer mission trip.  We have been painting all of the buildings on the property with them for the past week, and now they transferred from painters to house parents on Friday.  They are excited and nervous!  It will be interesting so if we pop in your mind it is probably for a reason – pray, pray, pray!  We will have three languages going on including English (Sheri/me), Thai (kids on mission trip), and Khmer (kids who live here) so we are looking to see what the Lord does!
 
Think too hard on the BODY of CHRIST and it will blow you away.  We think of all the people of our local church, the believers in our families, all of our friends and acquaintances that follow the Lord in addition to HIS children over here and it is a trip!

Fellowship after church!

Reading how the apostle Paul describes His church and all the different roles, and seeing it in action is humbling.  We will never know the true extent of how we are all ONE in Him until we see Him again.  We all have roles and gifts from above!  Some prepare the ground, some sow, some water, some harvest and on, and on and on!  There are no solo acts in His church! We are all in this together so be in this world but not of it!  With Love and His Peace be with y’all!
 
P.S.  We threw a few pictures in and hope you enjoy!

Saturday at Happy Home

Girls 3rd Place SoccerSaturday at Happy Home

We have landed here on the ground in Poipet, Cambodia and have jumped right into the daily routine of Happy Home.  Thanks to everyone for your prayer!!!
 
Not much looks different at the home from a little over a year ago.  The kids greeted us with big smiles and the traditional Y of their hands as they said “hello”!  Some seem to remember us being here last year and some not, but they are all God’s precious children and a delight to our hearts!  The town is growing ever closer to the Happy Home property and you can hear more activities throughout the day. 
 
The activities of doing business were evident from the day we arrived (Tuesday, March 13).  I only thought staff and business meetings were over when I left my job!!  There seems to be a focus on the protection of children in Cambodia and an organization called Chab Dai held a two-day meeting with MMF Cambodia to assess their policies/procedures, etc in this area.  It was a great way for us to get a basic view of the structure of MMF.
 
Over the next few months we and Rose will be in observation mode!  We will be spending quite a bit of time in Cambodia.  The staff will be on retreat for about a week in Thailand and we will be staying here at the home to continue operations with the help of eight Thai teens who will be here for their summer mission trip.  The five Cambodian staff seem to be very excited about the retreat as most of them have never left the borders of Cambodia.  We are also hoping for on-the-job language training during this time as well.   Please pray as we listen, learn and seek the Lord for continued direction.
 
Everyone has their favorite author or teacher through whom God seems to communicate truth and for me it is Oswald Chambers.  Here is a quote that communicates our feelings about you prayer warriors, “intercession does not develop the one who intercedes; it blesses the lives of those for whom you intercede” (Disciples Indeed 387 L).  Thank you for your blessings!!!

Move – what do you mean move? Where are you moving? Why? Did you get a new job? Well, kind of. Some of you know that we are planning a move to south east Asia!! Final destination Cambodia!! I guess you could say it is a new job – we are taking a volunteer position with Mercy Ministries Foundation (Children’s Happy Home).

We hope that this blog/newsletter will keep loved ones and our spiritual family informed of what He is doing – specifically in our lives and in the lives of the people we will be living and working with. We are sure there will be mountaintop experiences as well as times of pressing forward in the valleys. This blog thing is a little weird for me (Darrell) and I must confess it has taken me a little longer to become comfortable with than Sheri. I think it is a little bit of pride creeping in. Silly…huh? Pray for me!

How we got to this. First off, we ask that you read the “About Us” section which tells you about the beginnings of God moving our lives in this direction.

As God continued laying out the path and tugging at our hearts, He was changing our desires and opening our hearts to different things. He has had both of us teaching in Children’s Church for a few years. In 2009 He took me (Sheri) to Cairo Egypt to visit children’s homes and to see the street children/orphans who need love, guidance, and the gospel. He also got Darrell involved with a ministry called U-Turn for Christ.

One and a half years later, God allowed both of us to go on a short-term trip to visit Mercy Ministries Foundation (MMF) homes in Thailand and Cambodia. Rose Martinez started MMF 30+ years ago. The ministry now has five children’s homes in Thailand and one in Cambodia. MMF has legal custody of the children and raises them in Christ-like fashion. Every child has a different story. One of my favorites was the about Witchia “Which-I” who is the leader of the home in Chaingsen Thailand. He grew up in one of the MMF homes from the age of nine. Before he came to MMF Witchia was living in the fields with water buffalo tending the herds. From what I understood he was sold or passed around as a child laborer? Anyway, this guy grew up in the home, went to bible college and now is a leader in the ministry.

The trip was more than we could have imagined. As much as we had fallen in love with people we had never seen before we touched foot in the country, we fell further when we met the children, heard their laughter and saw their smiles! Dirty faces, dingy clothes, broken shoes and all – they grabbed our hearts!

We prayed and listened for the next few months, and sent Rose an email in May…telling her that we felt God wanted us a part of what MMF is doing. Rose wrote back and said she believe the same thing! WOW! Now what? Well, after all of that, we also learned that they (MMF) had been praying for 2+ years for someone to oversee a home for babies in Cambodia. They want the home to be built by the end of 2012!

Is that us? At this point we think so. God has opened doors, confirmed thoughts and answered prayers. We believe He is preparing a way!!

What’s next?Well, we need to get rid of all our stuff. ALL of our stuff? Yes, ALL except for what we are taking with us – clothes, shoes, personal items!! We are both fine with getting rid of everything – it’s the actions that need to take place that are overwhelming! We need to close out life in the U.S. to open the book to a new chapter across the world. We are praying along with Rose for God’s perfect plan and timing. She is hoping for mid-February. We will see what He does!

How can you be a part? Well, first of all prayer!! We need lots of it now and will need lots of it when we hit the ground. What to pray about now –

The babies that God will place in our care
God’s preparation for those we will encounter in SE Asia
Selling/renting our house           Getting rid of our stuff
Financial Provision                    Peaceful hearts