LEGO CREATIONS

Leap and Kyler

“Mom, that made my heart hurt and I  felt like I had pain on the inside”, Kyler shared with me. 

 I responded, “me too.  It makes me sad to see children hurting. But today, Kyler, you made Leap so happy”. Kyler smiled back at me, “Mom, I feel happy and sad. Thanks for taking me. I’m glad I brought Leap Legos today!”

Building Lego Creations car (above/below)

This past Saturday I made a nursing consultation visit to the “Healing Home”. Kyler joined me, and so we rode our bikes a kilometer there while I carried my medical bag. I was following up on a 16 year old boy with fever who has a terminal autoimmune disorder called epidermolysis bullosa.  

 
Kyler accomplished more that morning than I had ever
accomplished. Leap smiled when he saw Kyler (above photo). I have been helping with Leap’s care for almost 2 years now. He has never smiled for me during my consultations no matter how much I would smile at him. Kyler brought with him a Lego kit that day. Leap’s eyes lit up when Kyler gave it to him. I watched for the next 30 minutes as Kyler helped him open the box and the two of them assembled the race car together.

Kyler and I took a small journey together that morning. God showed us two things. First, that our identity as human beings is to be productive stewards, faithfully caring for people. Second, God created us to do ministry together as a family.  He intentionally placed us in a system of relationships with Himself, with ourselves, and with community. The human family is a gift of God, a reflection of who God is.

 

What is the Healing Home?

Healing Home, Patient Care Ministry

Leap and his family live in a small village in a rural area of Cambodia which does not have hospitals. Cambodia also does not have a social system that provides those marginalized like Leap with medical assistance. Leap requires specialized care which can only be provided in the capital, Phnom Penh. Leap and his mom are temporarily living at the HH. He receives routine dressing changes, pain medicine, and health check ups. 

  Like most Cambodians, once they arrive in the capital to seek medical care they have no place to stay. Many sleep on mats outside on the hospital grounds. This unmet need is why the Healing Home was created (photo above). It came out of a vision to create a “temporary home for rural villagers needing extended outpatient care while staying in the capital city.

Patient Care Ministry Staff, Donnie, Dara & Rina

The staff (right) at the Healing Home provide spiritual encouragement, healthcare support, and building oversight of the facility. The Healing Home is just one of the many ways that the Patient Care Ministry at New Life Fellowship uses healthcare assistance to minister God's love. If you would like more information how you can partner with the ministry of the Healing Home or become a sponsor for Leap, please select email me and/or to go “Patient Care”@ http://www.cambodiaoutreach.org/donate

 

Knocking It Out Of The Park!

 Okay, I’m going to admit it from the start that I’m bragging! I started to write this from the perspective of “celebrating”, but the truth is I’m proud of a little girl, her community, the Samaritan’s Purse staff and I’m really proud to get to be a small part of all of it!

So what am I talking about.  This last month Banteay Meanchey Province had it’s annual provincial reading competition. It’s like the state level competition in other countries. One of the contestants came from a small village and a small school. Her name is Sophea. She is 11 years old and is in the 6^th grade. Sophea won her school competition and then won the district competition and made it all the way to the provincial level where she won 1st place again!

Sophea receiving her award with the Village Chief
and Provincial Director of Education

After she won she was awarded a bicycle and other prizes and had her picture taken with the Director of the Provincial Office of Education and several officials, including her Village Chief.  You might ask, why so many people, and why was the Village Chief at a provincial reading competition?

A couple of years ago Sophea’s village had a small wooden school house and the school was struggling to provide the children with a quality education. Like so many other villages in this area the reading and writing levels of many of the children were extremely low. However, the parents and community had dreams and hopes for their kids. When the parents and community shared their hopes and dreams with Samaritan’s Purse and with partners, everyone was compelled to see how we could help. Samaritan’s Purse started a program called We Can Read We Can Write. They added library books, teacher's resources, teacher training and technology to the school. At the same time they built a brand new primary school building for the community.

Sophea with her new bike and the
 new school in the background

Sophea’s personal achievement is just one of the outcomes of this great partnership with the community. Before the program started only about 5 out of every 20 students continued their education from primary school on through middle school. This year 21 out of 21 6th grade students in Sophea’s primary school have enrolled to continue their education into middle school! The Village Chief’s presence at the reading competition is just one evidence of the communities commitment to seeing the next generation fulfill their dreams!  

6th Grade graduates receiving their
new bikes for starting Middle School

When Samaritan's Purse staff asked Sophea what she wanted to be when she grows up, she replied she wants to be a teacher. This is just more proof students aren't just learning skills, but are understanding the true value of education. 

There has been has been a lot of celebrating in Sophea's village recently. First was Sophea's victory, but later the community celebrated the enrollment of all 21 of the 6th grade graduates into Middle School. As a special recognition of this monumental achievement Samaritan's Purse and partners provided each child with a new bike to ride to school. I forgot to mention that the nearest Middle School is 8 kilometers away. These bikes will make that twice a day journey much easier and help make sure these students stay in school.  As a guy who went to a small country school this has been special to me because I realize that Sophea's victory, and the achievement of all of her classmates, is really a victory for small village schools across Cambodia. It's shows that when a community values its children they will rise to the occasion. It makes me thankful for the community I came from!

This is what hope for the future looks like! These students will attend Middle School and that will alter the trajectory of their lives. Please pray for these students as they continue to Middle School and that a church spring up in Sophea's community. 

Great job community, teachers, partners and Samaritan's Purse Education staff!

Bye! Bye!

Hot Pink and Lime Green Walls

 Ma Om's Storefront Beauty 
Salon Advertsement

      Ma Om and I are sitting inside her small, quaint storefront salon as she shares with me her life story as to how she become a stylist and business owner.  The walls are painted a hot pink and lime green. The room holds a single wash station, salon chair, and glass cabinet housing various colors of nail polish. It is located on a narrow street on the south side of Phnom Penh. As we are visiting, she has a routine costumer who arrives, but pleasantly asks if the young woman could return later in the day so she could continue revealing how she was impacted by Precious Women ministry. She shares with me how afraid she was to start her own salon, but “day by day” she states she is gaining more confidence. She is grateful, and talks repeatedly that “Precious Women staff has encouraged me that I can do this!”

Ma Om, at 32 years old, shares the story that many young women in Cambodia face as a single mom. Without skills or education, and no financial support from her ex-husband, she found herself unable to buy food and pay for housing for herself and her son. Working at night as a waitress in a barbeque restaurant and part-time during the day at a health organization teaching women’s health, she was barely surviving on $60 per month.

Precious Women Salon Skills Training Workshop

With little hope, Ma Om began working in a beer garden promoting and selling beer. Her income improved very little earning only $30 month with beer sales commissions earning only $4-$15 per night. Still unable to feed and house herself and her son, Ma Om began working as a “lady” in Cambodia’s sex industry. Her face changed and became saddened as she shared with great and painful remorse that she would “go out with customers” when she needed money for food or needed to take her son to the doctor or to buy medicine for him. Ma Om’s eyes watered and mine did also. I could not imagine having to face such choices when I reflected on the needs of my own three sons.

Two years later, Ma Om met a staff member from Precious Women organization, and was invited to attend a “Fellowship Party” at the 2014 Women’s International Day outreach.  After the “fellowship party”, the staff began developing a personal relationship with Ma Om and shared about how they could help her start vocational salon training and help her start her own business so she could stop working as a“lady”.

This year's 2016 Women's International Day fellowship              
   party as an outreach to young women currently 
working in beer gardens

Shortly after, Ma Om asked PW to help her exit the sex industry. Ma Om said she took a step of faith and trusted PW to help her. She shares how scared she was, not knowing how she was going to buy food or care for her son’s medical care and medications. She states “I wanted to change so I could have value and dignity. I wanted respect from society”. PW provided financial assistance for Ma Om and supported her through beauty salon technical school along with counseling by PW’s social trained social workers.

At the end of our time together, Ma Om shared the below statement with me at the end of our conversation. I would like to share it with you because it reminded me just how grateful I am to be in Cambodia and have the opportunity to partner with an organization who cares deeply about the lives of women who are caught in the same circumstances as Ma Om,

“I have hope once again and I believe God has helped. I have no husband, but now I can improve my life, and improve my living standard. I thank God” - Ma Om.

                                                        Tricia

To learn more about how you help financially sponsor a "Fellowship Party", please visit www.preciouswomen.org
(for client confidentiality purposes real names were not used in this blog)

Church Planting 2016 and Beyond

2015 was a significant year in my life in Cambodia. Seeing life-giving churches being planted has always been a passion. One of the goals in being here is to contribute in the area of church planting.

When the leaders of New Life began discussing a new church planting initiative I got really excited. Over the last couple of years New Life has seen the number of congregations in the network grow from 60 to 180 congregations. This growth is almost completely from new believers coming to know God and leaders being raised up to lead cell groups, house churches and village churches. As a result of what we have learned from that growth the team feels God is calling the church to launch 500 new congregations over the next 5 years, including 6 new city churches.

Leaders respond to a call for those desiring to be church plant pastors

It was a privilege to be part of the planning team for this new initiative. As our planning progressed other networks and leaders began to encourage us to think bigger and to share what we’ve learned with the broader body of Christ. We’ve now expanded our vision to include serving as a resource and a catalyst for church planting in the country. I’ve been asked to play a key role in the development of a resource center that will serve to empower and equip church planting at a national level.

Those of you who know me understand that when I’m talking about planting a larger number of churches, I’m not talking about numbers and growth for the sake of growth. I’m passionate about church planting because it is an effective way to introduce people to Christ and to make disciples.

A recent study  in the US showed America is launching new churches faster than it loses old ones, attracting many people who previously didn't attend anywhere.  On average, 42 percent of those worshiping at churches launched since 2008 previously never attended church or hadn't attended in many years.

Church planters serve God faithfully while
enduring significant challenges  

In Cambodia less than 2% of the population is Christian. Out of 14,138 villages across the country only 2,170 villages have a registered church. Please pray for us this year as we look to link arms with the rest of the body of Christ and reach the remaining 11,968 villages in the coming years.

Cambodia National Statistics
Population	15,708,756
Estimated Number of Christians	185,000 (1.18%)
Number of Villages	14,138
Number of Villages w/registered Church	2,170
Villages without a church	11,968

Your gift makes the work of the Hester family in Cambodia possible, and we work hard to maximise each dollar entrusted to us. We are grateful for the generous support of many individuals and organisations that share our commitment to informed, responsible and effective service in Cambodia. To partner with us in 2016 Please Click Here