Our Team

Team Motto

Yep, we have a team motto: "No Problem!" Could be one of the greatest saying in the world. For an explanation that will probably still fall in the "had to be there" category, just ask!

Things we take for granted - other Christians

Quick story to share from our last night in Siem Reap. I was sitting in the hotel lobby having a conversation with the bartender and the desk clerk. I mentioned that we had been working with several pastors from small villages. The desk clerk, became very excited as he realized I was a Christian. He too is a Christian but is not part of a Christian community.

He became a Christian in 2005 and was so thankful that someone had shared the Gospel with him. He said that it changed his life but that he rarely interacts with other Christians. While there are churches in Siem Reap he has to work and does not get to attend the services. He was thankful to interact with us because "we are all part of the same body."

He now has my e-mail address and North Point's online resources. It's amazing, the little things we take for granted.

Love a Good Tuk Tuk Ride

We just landed in Seoul.  Our flight was delayed a bit so we treated ourselves to a long overdue foot massage.  Touring Angkor Wat took a toll of our feet. Yesterday we toured Angkor Wat with two awesome tour guides, our friends Rathana and Reatre.  The temples were beautiful.  Unbelievable, actually.  Im pretty sure our team collectively took about 1000 pictures.  But, because the temples are such a popular tourist spot, they were crawling with child laborers.  And they dont leave you alone until you buy something.  "$1, special price for you."  Its downright annoying when the adults follow you around selling stuff, but its super upsetting when its little kids.  The worst thing we saw was two little kids, maybe around 2 years old, selling animal mobiles.  There handler was lurking around the corner keeping a close eye on them.  We were told some trafficked kids are given "#32" or "#whatever" tattoos, to label them as property and so their handlers can keep track of them.  I tried to look for these tattoos on the kids at Angkor Wat, but didnt see any.  That's good, I guess.  Matt asked one kid why she wasnt in school and she responded with a quick "school in the morning."  We're not sure if she really had school the next morning, or if this was a rehersed answer.  Considering it was a Saturday and most kids do not have school on Sundays in Cambodia, we think it was scripted.  Sad.  On a more positive note, we hada great last day hanging out with our CHO friends (who are some of the nicest people ever, BTW).  They really treated us to a great day touring Siem Reap.  I really feel like we made some lifelong friends.  Oh, I forgot to mention that we went for an elephant ride up a giant hill in Angkor Wat.  Awesome.  Because my camera died at this point, I made Kim make a video .  We'll post it ASAP.  The ride was slow and calming.  I could travel by elephant, I think; it would take 5 hours for me to get to work each morning, but I'd be able to see the  traffic a mile away, which is a perk.  We ended our last night with dinner at the Red Piano (I think it's our favorite restaurant) and some Blue Pumpkin.  If you're ever in Cambodia, get the mango ice cream at Blue Pumpkin- it's awesome.  As we sit here waiting in the Seoul airport, I can't help but think about how blessed we are.  God has really blessed each and everyone of us on this team, and I think, as a unit, we couldnt be stronger.  God brought us together for a reason and I can't wait to see what He has in store for us in the upcoming months.

Back in Siem Reap

We made it back to Siem Reap early yesterday afternoon.  I was sad to leave Poipet and the CHO staff, but am excited to explore Siem Reap.  We spent our last day in Poipet at a safe house.  CHO has quite a few safe houses around Poipet.  They are similar to foster homes.  Families take in at risk children and provide them with a safe environment.  The safe house we went to was about 30 minutes outside of Poipet, and we had to travel through some rough terrain to get there.  The flooding is still bad in some areas, so we literally had to drive through mini mud rivers and cross a few (kind of scary) bridges to get there.  We also passed a lot of mine fields.  They mark the mines with skull and crossbones signs that read "Danger!! Mines!"  The kids don't live very far away from this area.  We were told that they find dead cows every now and then.  Apparently it takes a lot of weight to set them off, something like cows or a tractor.  One single person couldn't set it off...  lets hope they're correct about that.  The safe house is tucked pretty far back in a little village and houses a few kids.  There is a school nearby, which is where we played with them.  I had so much fun playing ball with all the boys.  Once again, they were a little hardcore with the throwing, but it was fun.  We made cross necklaces again and sang head, shoulders, knees and toes, in Khmer.  We learned the song in Khmer!  Awesome.  "kabal, sma, chung kong, chung jeng chung kong, chung jeng. kabal, sma, chung kong, chung jeng chung kong, chung jeng. Peneck, tracheck, mot and tram; kabal, sma, chung kong, chung jeng chung kong, chung jeng."  Try saying that three times fast.  All in all I think we had a great time meeting and interacting with the kids.  They are so bright and inspiring.  I think we fell in love with them all.  Now we are back in Siem Reap after a two hour drive.  Our first stop was at the Land Mine Museum.  It's crazy that Pol Pott was in power, what thirty years ago?  Apparently the land between the Cambodia/Thailand border is FILLED with mines, and is considered one of the most dangerous areas in the world.  They are currently trying to de-mine it.  What a tedious job.  One of our CHO friends, Rothana, fought with the Cambodian army and was showing us the different mines and weapons that he used.  It kind of freaked me out.  I don't like weapons and war.  After the museum, we walked about Siem Reap and went to dinner.  We saw some pretty disturbing things while out and about.  At dinner, there was an older man (maybe around 60, 65) with a young, tiny Cambodian women.  Maybe they already knew each other and were having a nice dinner together.  But it's more likely that she was a prostitute, and he just bought her.  It was pretty upsetting and pretty much ruined my dinner.  Now it's Saturday morning, our last day in Siem Reap.  We're heading over to Angkor Wat today, which I'm super excited about.  We fly out tonight around 10:00pm, so I'll be sure to check back in before we depart.

Safe Haven

We just got back from Safe Haven, which is just down the road from CHO in Poipet.  The road to get there was quite rough, I felt like we were off roading or something.  I think the recent flooding took a toll on the terrain.  Safe Haven is absolutely inspiring.  There were some kids there that had just recently been rescued.  There were more boys than girls, which I found surprising.  There was one boy who had just gotten there and was hiding under the table while we were playing with the other kids.  We played soccer with them, which turned out to be a bit more hardcore than I was ready for.  They rarely passed to me; smart move.  The girls that graduated from the Freedom Stones Project live at Safe Haven.  We toured their sewing room and bought A LOT of their jewlery.  Dont worry mom, I got you a necklace.  Safe Haven is made up of a school, library, guest houses, wood carving room, a large chicken coop, and lots of fish ponds.  Its incredible how God has provided for these kids, and taken them out of such intense situations and given them hope.  Im not sure you can meet these kids and hear their story and not be changed.  To say that I feel blessed, is an understatement.  These kids have nothing, but they have everything they need.  They go to school from the ages of 7 to 15, then they "graduate" and learn a trade.  Some cook, some sew, some learn motobike repair, jewelery making, and some go to the university.  The universities average about $300/year.  Its so awesome that some of these kids now have that option.  I think CHO is currently looking for sponsors for the kids.  Once I learn more, Ill post the info here in the case that you're interested in sponsoring.  We're eating lunch now, more fried noodles, and are about to head over the the safe houses, which are more like foster homes.  Ill report back soon.

Soldier Camp Day Two

We just got back from dinner in the casino zone. We took a tuk tuk to dinner.  It was more like a metal cage attched to a motobike. We squeezed all six of us in.  Pastor Jeff told us that the driving laws here are more like driving suggestions.  I believe him now.  Today was our second and last day at the soldier camp, and I miss the little boogers (kids) already.  There were a few that I wanted to bathe and put in my pocket.  We drew pictures of people and things that make the the kids feel safe, and then things that make them feel unsafe.  Unsafe things included "evil", snakes, giants, war, and burial grounds.  The point of the exercise was to teach the kids, when you feel unsafe, tell somebody that you trust.  So if a stranger or a "bad person" comes up to you, tell somebody right away.  All the kids eat a rather funny snack: french baguette with sweetened condensed milk poured on top.  Apparently it tastes similar to a donut.  Mmmm sounds good to me.

Soldier Camp Day One

So Ashley did a great job talking about the soldier camp and what all we did today.  So I'll just start by saying I just took the longest shower of my life, and this feeling of elation is incomparable.  I'm not sure I've ever been that sweaty and smelly before.  The soldier camp is a ways out from Poipet, maybe an hour.  But when you think of a soldier camp, you may envision something like an American army base.  Wrong.  Think more in the direction of huts and village people.  In Cambodia, it is not exactly honorable to be a soldier.  Most men join because they have no other options.  Matt, Ashley and Robert taught the anti-trafficking seminar to the soldiers and their wives, while Kim, Nadine and I played games with the kids. The kids were absolutely adorable, smelly, but so cute.  We made necklaces, colored, played duck, duck goose (they, they  ganag). They LOVED it.  The three of us decided it a better tactic to pick the toddlers, ones we can securely out run.  (Some of those kids were super swift!)  There were freshly plucked baby chickens walking around everywhere.  The younger the more tender, apparently.  How sweet of them to give them a few hours of free time before their untimely death.  We had chicken for lunch. I opted out.  So Cambodians have a completely different sense of humor than we do.  During the seminar, they kept making joke after joke, and the whole room would crack up.  We had no idea what they were saying but just laughed along like fools. Hahahahahaha, huh?  Good times, good times.  We're going back out to the soldier camp tomorrow.  Should be good fun.   My fried noodles are almost ready (we're at dinner right now). Tootles.

How much is a speeding ticket in Cambodia?

Q: How much is a speeding ticket in Cambodia?
A: Less than the bribe we payed today! - it was the best $1.50 we've spent!

Today in Poipet - A Day that God Made

Here's a special post from Ashley, one of our team leaders:

This was a day that God had made.  On Saturday our team was talking with the CHO staff about our plans for the Soldier Camp.  We had expected to spend time with the women and children.  But the CHO staff said they wanted us to help them fund two days of anti-human trafficking awareness training at the Soldier Camp.  The plan was for the CHO staff member to conduct the training and our team would buy the snacks and meals.  Well, late Monday afternoon we were blindsided when CHO told us that we, as in our team, were the ones to present the training.  You can imagine our shock.  We did not have a presentation planned.   We are not experts in this area. 

After a momentary team freak out, we remember that we had prayed specifically for God to use our team as he saw fit.  I myself had prayed for God to use us in an unexpected way to accomplish his plans.  This training was certainly an unexpected way.  Luckily, months ago, we had discussed with CHO the possibility of presenting anti-human trafficking awareness training.  Matt and I had actually created an outline for training, but we hadn't look at the outline in months.  And it was just an outline.  Thank God for individuals who save emails.  Matt was able to pull up our old outline.  We pooled our collective knowledge about human trafficking, we relied upon the skills that God had given us through past experiences, and we pulled together a training program in a matter of hours.  We were not sure how it would go over.  Our group today was the soldiers.  We didn't know how educated they would be.  We didn't know how open they would be to the information. 

God was definitely in charge.  What we presented was new information to many of them.  They had not heard about human trafficking before.  Several of them had personally experienced human trafficking but they didn't know what it was called.  I don't even think they knew it was wrong.  One young man said he was approached by a person who offered to get him a job in Thailand.  He only had to pay 3,000 bat for transportation to Thailand.  He gave them the money. He was taken to Thailand.  He began working.  But they never paid him for his work!  Finally he decided to return home but he had no money.  He had to walk back from Thailand to Cambodia.  The group talked about Korean men who come to Cambodia to marry Cambodian women.  After the marriage the men will take them away and force the women into prostitution. 

We talked about how they can prevent human trafficking in their area.  Everyone recognized that the people in the community need to be educated on what it is, and how to protect themselves.  We talked about the need to make sure parents educate their children about how to protect themselves.  In the United States we teach our children about good touch bad touch so they will know when someone touches them in a way that is not appropriate.   Well, we brought out the male and female stick figures and had them discuss what areas of the child's body should not be touched.  There was alot of discussion as to what should not be touched on the boy, and not very much discussion as to the girl.  We were a bit confused. In our mind, this is not a topic that is up for debate.  One should not touch the privates or the chest of a child.  Period.  So afterward we asked why there was so much discussion over the boy's stick figure.  We were told that in some villages it is customary and  acceptable to touch the privates of little boys up until the age of about 12 years.  After a boy reaches 12 years old, then no one should touch the private.  We asked again for clarification because this seemed strange.  But we received the same answer.  So we asked, in these villages would it be acceptable to touch a little girl on her private?  No!  You do not touch little girls, but little boys "it is ok".  So the big discussion was over whether or not this custom is appropriate.  The majority of the group said it was not.  Now as a community they see there is an issue that needs to be addressed.  They now know there needs to be education in those areas so everyone will know what types of touches are inappropriate.

This is just a snipet of what we experienced today.  The training was well received.  We are overjoyed at what God accomplished.  And we look forward to holding training for about 20 pastors and their wives tomorrow.

God bless,

Ashley

PS:  team from last year, we saw some of the same people.  i gave them some pictures of our time with them last year.  we held in the training in the church/community building that was built with our contribution from last year.

Monday Funday

Everyday, we start our day by walking down to CHO for breakfast.  It's about 3 minutes away; we pass a lot of kids along the way, an international school, small markets, and a lot of dogs.  We've decided that you do not need a business license to do anything here, because everyone seems to run some sort of food stand/fruit market/used cell phone stand.  All of the kids we pass run up to us and pose for pictures and give us hardcore high-fives.  We've started to think their parents train them to do this.  I'm can't even tell you how much dust I've swallowed while walking around here.  We see some women sweeping the fronts of their "market" or home... what the point of that is, we're not sure yet.  They are literally just moving the dust around.  Gross.  Ashley and I have a lizard that lives in our room.  At first we were a little freaked out, and the boys tried to remove it for us, but it returned.  It doesn't bother us anymore though, so we let it stay.  I just try not to sleep with my mouth open...  CHO's cafe is super tasty.  It's right next door to their offices/church and offers three meals a day.  Their coffee is excellent! They have really yummy, homemade bread, which rocks.  I could eat it the rest of the trip and be satisfied  Everyone seems to be infatuated with the fried noodle dish. After breakfast yesterday, we joined CHO for a morning devotional, followed by a graduation ceremony.  CHO is currently partnering with Freedom Stones Project, an organization that combats human trafficking by teaching girls/boys how to, not only make jewlery and sell it, but to manage their money and become self-sustaining.  They had been working with four young girls and one young boy who were at risk for trafficking, over the past few months and they officially graduated from the program today.  It was a really powerful presentation.  Later in the day, Matt and Robert gave a talk on 3 effective ways to minister to a small group of CHO staff. They seemed very receptive to the information, and were able to explain the information back to us (with a translator, of course) which was great.  So funny story, leading up to trip, and up until yesterday morning actually, we thought we were accompanying CHO for human trafficking seminar at the soldier camp.  We little did we know.  We just found out that WE are teaching the seminar. HA.  Wow.  Good to know. Thankfully, good ole Ashley is a attorney and educated on the issue, and spit out an outline in no time.  We're definitely winging it, but have prayed about it a lot, and are feeling more and more confident.  Each of us is taking a section: what is human trafficking, why does it happen, who poses danger, prevention and protection, and human trafficking resources.  Matt is doing the intro and welcoming.  Wish us luck!

PS - while I'm writing this at breakfast, my legs are throbbing because they don't fit under the table.  Everything here is super tiny - not made for large Americans like us.  I think I'm going on a diet after this.

Church with CHO

This morning we attended CHO's church service.  There were about thirty people (including children) in attendance. They saved us all seats in the second row.  The people here are some of the kindest people I've ever met - they put the whole "southern hospitality" bit to shame.  They are all about serving their guests and being great hosts - which they are.  During the church service, we sang worship songs (all in Khmer).  One we recognized, How Great Thou Art.  They had Khmer and English lyrics on that one, which was nice.  Some of their songs were really pretty, I wish we knew what they were saying.  They had a little band to play the music. It was one man on bongos and one on the keyboard.  They were good!  Four little girls got up and sang/danced two songs for us.  I have a video of the first song, which I'll post as soon as I get home.  They were adorable, and you could tell they worked very hard on it.  Pastor Jeff gave the sermon in English, with Sophie (a CHO staffer) translating.  The lesson touched on how Jesus came to save us to rid us of our sins.  Jeff did a great job breaking it down for them, using dirt/mud as the symbol for sin (something, I'm sure, they can all relate to).  He used "Jesus taking a bullet for us" as a comparison.  Again, something I'm sure they can relate to.  The message was simple and straight forward, which seemed just right.  He also taught about how God loves us know matter what, even if we break some of "the rules."  Considering most Buddhists believe they have to do good in this life in order to move on to the next life, this seems to be a very applicable message.  There were three other Americans at church this morning.  They were from an organization called EXP, that is also partnering with CHO.  They just built a beautiful (5 story, I think) building next to our hotel, that will house trafficking victims. The first floor has a brand new coffee house and hair salon, where the women can learn these trades.  The second floor will house CHO's new offices; the third has reception space, which they plan to rent out as extra revenue; the fourth floor is where the girls will live; and the fifth and top floor is where CHO's new church will be. The building really is beautiful.  I'm not sure when it'll be open.  The girls floor has a security guard, in case fathers/husbands/pimps try to locate the girls again.

We had an informative meeting today with Jeff to see exactly where North Point can partner with CHO and how we can most benefit CHO.  A lot of ideas were tossed around.  It seems that, because CHO is a growing organization, there is a lot of opportunity for us to get involved.  What our angle(s) will be, we're not sure yet.  We just want to make sure that this trip continues next year, and so on.

Marketplace/ Travel to Poipet

This morning/afternoon was our "tourist day." We were able to walk around Siem Reap (and ride on the crazy tuk tuk) and shop. We went to this large open air marketplace. It was so colorful. Hot pinks, lime greens, everything was bright and cheerful, and naturally, caught my eye. It reminded me a bit of Anthropologie (the store) but everything costs like $1-$5. Awesome. I bought a lot and only spent like $20.  The market also sold raw fish parts, which were hung up like dried meats. The fact that it's like 90 degrees didnt seem to bother anyone. Hot fish guts, anybody? Crossing the streets here is like a fierce game of frogger - try really hard not to get hit.  Everytime we crossed a busy street as a team, there was a noted "good luck" and "meet you on the other side."  We have a contest to see who can spot the most people on one motorbike.  So far the record is 5: two adults, three little kids.  They have great balance here.  On our drive to Poipet (where we are now) we passed a ton of buddhist temples (obviously), really skinny cows and water buffalo, flooded rice fields (it's worse outside of Siem Reap), and a couple of weddings. The dry season (Nov-Jan) is the wedding season. Most Cambodians get married around 18, and it's usually arranged. Rough.  Their weddings are VERY colorful. Lots of hot pink.  The meals here have been good. For breakfast we had eggs, tomato, and baked beans (like in England) and coffee.  On our way to Poipet, we stopped for lunch at this little side of the road cafe.  We were with two CHO staff members who recommended the place.  They ordered curry with chicken hearts and liver. I ordered veggie curry and it was delicious.  Once we arrived in Poipet, we had a meeting with 3 CHO staffers to solidify our itinerary for the next week. It's pretty full, with two days at the soldier camp, one day at the safe haven (where trafficking victims go), another day at the safe house (where at risk children go, similar to a foster home).  We'll also be working and, hopefully, bonding with the CHO staff.  The goal is to establish a relationship with CHO so teams can continue to come back here.  One of the CHO staffers was in the Cambodian army in 1979.  That means he was fighting against Pol Pott.  We are going to dinner tonight in the casino zone. This is a heavy tourist area. It should be interesting. Tomorrow we're going over to CHO for church.

Night in Siem Reap

hello again.  we landed safely in siem reap a few hours ago. for some reason, the second flight was worse than the 15 hour one. the plane was small and stuffy, and they played the worse movie ever: planet of the apes. on the longer flight, i sat next tot this older korean woman who didnt speak any english. i had to pick movies for her on her little screen. once we landed, we took a van to the hotel, which was about 20 minutes away. the drivers phone started ringing. his phone ring was ace of base. hilarious.  ive learned two words so far (forgive me for the spelling): sueysday (hello) and acoon (thanks).  once we checked into the hotel we went to dinner at the red piano. apparently this is a well known restaurant - angelina jolie eats there. the food was great, but what was even better was the atmosphere. we outside right near the street. siem reap has sort of a vegas vibe (but dirtier). the streets were bustling, the karaoke bars were in full swing, and as we ate, about 6 men lurked around waiting for us to get up so one could give us a ride on his tuk tuk (motor vehicle, thing). we're back at the hotel now and are completely wired. hopefully we can get some sleep, because tomorrow is our full on tourist day, then later in the afternoon we're heading to poipet which is about 2.5 hours away. goodnight!

micah

Landed in Seoul

hey everyone! i want to apologize in advance for typos, im blogging from my phone in the airport. we just landed in seoul and board the next flight to siem reap in about 20 minutes.  the flight was  pretty brutal: 15.5 hours. i think the trick is to watch a movie, take a lap around plane, watch a movie, walk around plane. whoops gotta to go. boarding flight to cambodia. ill check back in soon! thanks again for the thoughts and prayer. oh, there were two buckhead church groups on our plane! cool huh?

Here We Go

Before I check-in for the night, I want to say how excited I am about this trip.  People keep asking me if I'm nervous (which I thought I'd be), but I'm not.  Not at all.  I am so excited and ready to get over there and do great things, that the nerves have completely subsided.  Matt, one of our team leaders, sent out a really great email to the team a few hours ago.  He said if you're tired, stressed or frustrated about this trip, take all that energy or lack of desire to God.  It's never easy to put your life on hold for 10 ten days, travel 20 hours to a country you've never been to, and try to connect with people that don't even speak the same language as you.  But together, as a team, I know we can overcome these obstacles and really make an impact.

I think the coolest thing about this particular trip is that we're the first team from North Point to work with the Cambodian Hope Organization.  We are establishing a brand new relationship for North Point, and are leading the way for this anti-trafficking mission.  We will most definitely learn via trial and error.  But through our mistakes and/or successes, we will be able to create a template for this specific mission, to be used by future North Point mission teams.  How cool is that?

On another note, we will have one team computer while there, so I will try to post as often as possible.  I really want to keep "the readers" (ie. Heather Neal) up to date with where we are each day, and explain exactly what we are doing.  So please, check-in every day or so for updates.  In the meantime, here is a little map, so you can see where (on the map) we'll be: we fly into Siem Reap and will be traveling to Poipet (right on the Cambodia/Thailand border).

Thank you for the of the positive thoughts and prayers.  Here we go!

Micah

Who Said Packing Couldn't Be Merry Fun?

TO-DO:
Take first round of malaria medicine - CHECK
Spray clothes with insecticide - CHECK
Pack lengthy man shorts - CHECK
Pack highest SPF available - CHECK
Pack Super Tums - CHECK
Germ-X - CHECK
Fruit Snacks - CHECK
Crayons - CHECK
Teen novels - CHECK

Ready to go!  Kind of.

More exciting, lengthy post coming soon.
m