~ Almost time to go! ~

Well its about a week and a half away.  We depart next Thursday and I am very excited about the trip.  Today I made contact with a number of folks in Cambodia to discuss the trip.  First I spoke with Sothea Da, a wonderful man who had dedicated his life to a ministry in the slums of  Phnom Penh.  Out of the blue he asked me if I was bringing a message to Cambodia.   WOW I don't pretend to know what it means, but I have been developing a message for the children focused around leadership through Christ.  I think that this message can apply to all people actually as it is more about how we should realize that in our lives, the way we live, the way we act and the things we do have an effect on those around us.  How each of us has unique personalities and unique talents and gifts that  God gave us to use in our lives for good.  When I told him that I was working on that, he asked me to speak at a service on the 2nd of August in their tiny church in the slums. Me?  speak at a service and provide a message.... butterflies!

So I have to tell you that most of the time my deepest thinking about my trip in terms of what I need to "do" while I am in Cambodia occurs in Church and mostly when I am singing.  I think its when I am most open to communication and when I really connect with God.  It is curious to me how God works in us and how things work out.  Months ago I thought of this message.  I thought... or maybe heard... Hey Stephan, you have been a leader of people, you have trained and learned about leadership for more than two decades.  Maybe you should put that knowledge and experience to work for a people who probably never would imagine they can be and are leaders.  So I have thought about it and worked on it for some time.  touching on it here and there, and creating a power point presentation to print out and bring with me to read/present, but not knowing if I actually would do so.  I still don't know actually.  Once in Cambodia our schedule is fluid and we never know if we are going to go to a place on time or things will change.... its just part of the experience.   So we shall see what happens.  :) Stay tuned for updates on that.

In addition I have thought up a very special message for the children.  But...... I'm not going to tell you until I get to tell them!  You will just have to wait for it.  A little hint.....

The other folks I talked to were Sokhom Sor and Ran Kimeng.  Sokhom is the director of operations for New Hope for Orphans and Kimeng is a house parent in Kampot.  My Step-mom Anne has given an amazing donation to NHO through all of us kids.  We all talked about it and decided that we would love to have our Family donate to NHO.  We are going to purchase 2 Reverse Osmosis water filtration systems for the last 2 orphanages that dont have clean water for the children and some used PCs for the home in Kampot.  It is amazing the difference that clean water makes.  The children are healthier.  They gain weight as they are not effected by the sicknesses that come from the water and they think more clearly.  They learn much better and the overall quality of their daily lives jumps up.  The computers will allow the children to learn computer skills and help them with their schooling and also help them to get work when they are older.  We still have more projects to do so we are going to work with Sokhom when I get to Cambodia to talk about those ideas and pick some. 

So the clock is ticking down...  not long now.  :)  Keep the children in your prayers!