Khnach Romease Village

              october 15, 2012 - october 18, 2012

 the start of a week that changed my view on the world. on the nation of cambodia. and the commission to heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, take care of the widows and orphans. 

october 15, 2012  the morning of my birthday i woke up and was surprised with an amazing breakfast made by my team. banana pancakes and scrambled eggs. after breakfast we packed up and loaded into the van to take our long trip to the village. (this was my second birthday in a row in a foreign nation in a village). the trip was a lot shorter than we were thinking it was going to be. when we arrive we are greeted by the pastor, vanny. we walk into dirt and grim and heat and the most beautiful smiling children. all so happy to see us, they run straight into our arms. we spent some time playing with the children, a good game of volleyball. after volleyball we all go into the small church that they have and they tell us that some of the kids are so sick that they cannot come outside and that they want us to pray for them. they bring out this little girl her name is Men. she is so sick, she has scabs all over here and a dripping nose. We pray with about 30 orphans and she is completely healed. we got to run around with her the rest of the night. after we pray for men, we start worship with the kids and the second we start the children have their hands in the air screaming to jesus with the craziest wildest cries to God that i have ever seen. that is the night that srey art came to me and became glued to my hip. always being with me. her heart for jesus challenged me. My heart began to move to see these children so desperate for god and the understanding that they have of the father that they will scream out to adore him. 

Lesson Learned: desperate times call for desperate measures, make yourself desperate for jesus and he will come and show you who he is. 

Srey Art. Age 8. such a beauty.

october 16, 2012  after sleeping in an insanely hot bedroom in the back of a tin house, sleeping on the ground with my team. we are awoken at 6:30am to the sound of screaming children in the church, starting their day with worship. when we are awoken the team rolls out of their sleeping area and get into the word, some start with crazy prayers, some still lay and some still sleep and some begin to say what they are thankful for. we get out of bed to start our day with the beautiful children. for 2 hours we give a lame attempt to act out the book of Daniel. With the children laughing at our horrible attempts of acting. having a day of laughter and fun bible songs and crazy games. watching them tie the biggest bugs i have ever seen onto strings and spinning them around until the bug starts to fly as if its on a leash. then after it all the neighbors were gambling and the children with out being told grouped together and began to intercede for them to stop and to see the wrong in gambling. right after their prayers that lasted for a solid 3 minutes stop, the men stop in the middle of their game and stop and put it all away. finishing the nights with prayers for good dreams and worship and another skit of the Jonah and the big fish for them. we decide it is time for bed. since the children wake up at 5:30 every morning to be with the lord. 

Lesson Learned: jesus is faithful and will always answer prayer, it's in his nature.

Men. Age 3. She got healed.

october 17, 2012  same morning routine. but we know that today is the last full days with these children so we need to make it count. we run outside at 9 and start our bible time with the kids doing the creation story. and then playing with the kids and seeing my team fall in love with these kids and start to make really deep bonds and not let the language barrier stop them. i spend the afternoon with srey art doing her hair and her playing games. getting to spend quality time. then the team starts a massive game of duck duck goose which is a huge hit. then the night comes and it is time for bible. instead we have testimony and worship and pray with the kids. now this is the most impactful time we have had. so it starts by each of us cuddling up with a kid as matt scaperotti leads worship for us. then each of us get up and tell our testimonies and how we came to understand the father heart of god and how being with each of the kids remind us of that. then we all stand up and scap starts worship again and we begin to go around the room to pray for each of them. as we pray we begin to have tears stream down our faces and the children begin to cry and the love of god and his weighty presence hits the room and all we can do is look at jesus and see him move in each of these children's hearts as we watch them each encounter the love of god. it was one of the most moving times and a time where we literally all stopped praying and huddled together and sat in his presence together.

Lesson Learned: God shows up and he loves us so much more than we can ever love us. that a language barrier isn't to big for him to move and show his love through us and the holy spirit. 

people always say what a good thing it is that i do, that it must be such a sacrifice. yes, it is a sacrifice but jesus gave the ultimate sacrifice and this is a small price to pay for what he has done. and the greatest injustice this world will ever see is the lamb not receiving the reward of his suffering. i saw this week how much the lord has blessed me by getting to learn lessons from each of the children and see his love. that they blessed me more by their smiling faces, huge hugs and pursuit of jesus than any amount of food, clothes or money could ever bless someone. to get to go back to childlike faith for even just a week and see simple obedience and love and seeing jesus fully through these children. 

to the one who sits upon the throne be blessing, and honor, and glory, and power forever.

Kandbul. Age 7. never seen a child smile so much.

Boren, this boy can play guitar like no other. he is 6.

This is Neat. Age 5. The most joyful child i have ever met.