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

Communities educating the next generation

This has been my favorite start to the Cambodian school year yet! When I began working with the Samaritan’s Purse education team I had no idea how schools worked in Cambodia. It was a whole new learning experience for me. Two and a half years later after a lot of hard work and lots of help from people from Cambodia, Australia, New Zealand and America we’re able to work alongside communities and the Ministry of Education in improving the quality of education.

Let the parade begin!

The reason this year is my favorite is because I’ve had the opportunity to enjoy being part of activities led by communities, encouraging children to excel in school. In one community last week I was part of an enrolment campaign. This was no ordinary campaign. We had 17 iron buffalos (rice tractors), loaded down with dozens of students, musicians and community leaders, parading through 4 villages encouraging families to enroll their children in school. There was traditional music and dancing with encouraging messages about attending school. In another village, where Samaritan’s Purse recently constructed a new primary school, the community made neckties for every child in the primary school. The community wanted the children to value education and dream for the future. They made the neckties to symbolize the success students will enjoy if they finish their education.

I’m also excited because Samaritan’s Purse will be implementing education projects in a number of schools, helping children learn to read and write in their own language and empowering community leaders with tools to better manage the school system. These projects are the result of experiments with tablets, mobile apps created by organizations like World Education, hard work by Samaritan’s Purse staff and Education Symposiums with Cambodian government officials, Australian/New Zealand educators and Samaritan’s  Purse staff. 

We Can Read We Can Write Campaign!

From all of those experiments and ideas from symposiums the ones that look the most promising are those that capitalize on the values and resources of the village community.  In my learning journey I’ve realized that the most valuable resources are not those that come from foreigners from developed countries. While those resources are helpful, the most important resources are already in communities.  Whether it’s been from my teaching experience in the US or my time here in Cambodia there are some things I’ve found to be true.

•        Children have dreams for their future!
•        Parents have dreams for their children!
•        Communities want the best for the families of the community.
•        Every community has valuable resources to make children’s and parent’s dreams a reality.
•        Resources and assistance from the outside are valuable IF they align with community values and resources, but are worthless if they do not.

Village Chief on the right is watching me closely (and laughing),
making sure I don't have a wreck

Taking a break to play Rock, Paper, Scissors

I’m having the time of my life because the projects I’m involved in are serving communities who are learning to use their available resources to recognize their  dreams. While it may sound counterintuitive when you are trying to see communities transformed, servanthood is the best model. 

Jesus’ model of servant leadership applies in every corner in society. Just glad to be serving Him in this capacity in Cambodia!

Raven's Leadership Spotlight

 Last week marks the 3rd annual year to launch our Raven's Hope International Team to the USA. Every year as I am mentoring the girls in preparation for their journey, I don't always know how to describe what they will feel when they arrive. Every Raven experiences those first few days differently. Imagine the first time you left your home state and experienced a new culture of people, a new environment, and new foods. Or, imagine for a moment the first time you left the USA and entered a foreign country. However, there is one thing I do know. The Raven's come back with changed lives from their experience at RHI. Changed Lives! That is what I love the most. Seeing them go and return to Cambodia with a clear vision and a dream on how they can individually impact their country for Christ.

Raven's Hope International 2015 Team

I would like to take a moment to "Leadership Spotlight" one particular Raven from our 2013 team. Her name is Chantrea Chap. She is currently a program coordinator at an organization called Nummanna Auxillary for Community Enrichment located in the Samnong 12 area of Phnom Penh. After returning from RHI, Chantrea took her vision and dream into action and started a new program at NaCE called My Home.

My Home provides English language education

 "My Home teaches underprivileged children both, the Khmer and English languages. In Cambodia, poor children getting the opportunity to learn English language is rare. They will be offered more and better jobs if they are able to speak English well. This helps them break the cycle of poverty and gives them the chance to help their families and this nation", Chantrea shares.

Chantrea (left) and My Home team

The purpose of My Home is to empower disadvantaged children by teaching them Khmer and English languages, life skills, and caring for them holistically. This will afford them greater opportunities in life and lead them and their families to Christ. Chantrea shares that "My Home has a strong relationship with the Celebrating Church where I worship. With their prayer and support we are able to hold on Sundays a separate meeting, through which we present the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the children and their families. As Cambodia is a Buddhist nation, most of the children’s families are either Buddhist or they follow religions like the ancestral spirits".

 “AT MY HOME, NOT ONLY DO WE TEACH THEM ENGLISH, BUT WE PRESENT THE GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST TO THESE CHILDREN AND THEIR FAMILIES.”

To learn more about My Home please email Chantrea at myhomeministries@yahoo.com.  Or visit them on FaceBook at My Home Ministries.

                                                 Blessings, Tricia

Your gift makes the work of the Hester family in Cambodia possible, and we work hard to maximize each dollar entrusted to us. We are grateful for the generous support of many individuals and organizations that share our commitment to informed, responsible and effective service in Cambodia. To partner with us in 2015   Please Click Here

Being Dehydrated: You’d be surprised what you might learn.

It’s hot season in Cambodia. Tricia and I have to constantly watch to make sure we are staying hydrated and especially keeping an eye on the boys. Unlike people in the countryside, we have access to clean drinking water. We get dehydrated simply because of the constant heat, conditions and sometimes just overdoing it. During our time in Cambodia we’ve seen the terrible effects that the lack of clean water and dehydration have on children and families in rural villages.

We’ve shared stories of how the groups we work with, like Samaritan’s Purse and New Life Fellowship, work in rural villages providing water access and clean water. And as some who have been to Cambodia know, we have our own solutions to staying hydrated here in the capital city. Aside from drinking plain water, we drink plenty of the famous Royal-D!

We’ve gotten pretty good at spotting dehydration 

in the boys. They come home from an active day at school sometimes with the classic symptoms of sluggishness, sunken in eyes, having a headache, etc. And though it isn’t pleasant to mention, urine color is a great indicator. In developed countries you don’t talk about things like that much, but here it’s a different story. I was laughing a few weeks ago when I went to Reece’s basketball game and in the school restroom there were “pee charts” on the wall above the toilets in the gym reminding kids they may be dehydrated if their urine was certain colors. That’s just one of the fun things you’ll find when your living in a new place. And oh yeah, how could I forget irritability! We have nights where we are all argumentative with each other and then somebody wises up and we all sit down and have a glass of water, with Royal-D of course.

Recently though I recognized a symptom I hadn’t recognized before. Sometimes when you’re dehydrated you can actually start craving food. This isn’t a symptom you would normally associate with dehydration. Instead of interpreting your body’s signals as thirst, the signal is interpreted as hunger. I’ve realized often when I feel hungry at a certain time in the day that my body is actually prompting me to rehydrate, but instead I start eating!

When I realized this I was surprised not just on a physical level, but on a spiritual level as well.  One of the interesting things is that our nonphysical selves also thirst.  In the same way, we don’t always recognize the true need of our spiritual self. We may misunderstand spiritually what we need, and we may try to satisfy our needs with possessions, foods, or relationships that do not satisfy and that may bring dangerous side effects. I immediately thought of how often I have tried to satisfy my spiritual thirst with a number of different activities or things that never seem to satisfy me.

It’s no wonder the writers of the old and new testaments make so many spiritual references to thirst.

“O God, You are my God; I shall seek You earnestly; My soul thirsts for You, my flesh yearns for You, In a dry and weary land where there is no water.” Psalms 63:1

It’s also interesting that Paul speaks of God’s love for us in a way that you would describe satisfying thirst.


“God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.” Romans 5:5

I’ve seen the terrible effects of physical dehydration in Cambodia. But, today I see even worse widespread effects of spiritual thirst being misunderstood all over the world.  The effects are pretty obvious. We are misreading the symptoms! Jesus has pointed the way to the answer, an overflowing fountain running over with the water of life.

“Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. “ John 7:37

Have you been trying to satisfy the wrong need lately?

Your gift makes the work of the Hester family in Cambodia possible, and we work hard to maximize each dollar entrusted to us. We are grateful for the generous support of many individuals and organizations that share our commitment to informed, responsible and effective service in Cambodia. To partner with us in 2015   Please Click Here

The Power of Hope – Search for Significance Part II

“Let your hopes, not your hurts, shape your future.” Robert H. Schuller

I recently visited a village that has continually inspired me during my time here in Cambodia. You may remember I wrote about it the first time discussing my Search for Significance.

During that visit the primary school principal and community invited our group to work with them planting flowers and trees to landscape where Samaritan’s Purse is working with the community to construct a new primary school for Bos Thom village. 

I was very touched by the experience because what I saw was Cambodians and foreigners, young and old, working side by side. It was a beautiful partnership where everyone was investing in one goal: a better future for the children of the village.

Principal Min showing students how to plant flowers

During the visit I was especially touched when I watched the principal. He was working harder than anyone! What a picture of servant leadership! Then I noticed something else that was really special. He was going from student to student helping them plant their flower or tree and then gently teaching them how to do it correctly. Although I couldn’t understand all of his words I could see and hear the care in his voice and touch. When I saw him working so diligently with the students I realized in the simplest of tasks of planting flowers he was trying to instill hope for the future in the children.

Later I was talking with Sophea Ngath, the program manager from Samaritan’s Purse. She told me the first time she asked the village leaders about their hopes and dreams for the future they were very reluctant. They replied they were afraid to dream. They were afraid their dreams and hopes for the children were too big and that they would fail to accomplish them. But after Sophea's encouragement they said no matter how difficult the situation in the village they would begin to discuss their hopes for the future and begin to develop a plan. Sophea helped them with developing their plan and the community began working towards their dream.

Little did they know, Samaritan’s Purse was working to help them see those dreams become a reality. In January Samaritan’s Purse started working with the community to construct a new primary school building. The primary school building is only part of the communities dream and they are working diligently on the rest of the plan!

On a repeat visit Sophea said the village leaders told her how excited they were. When they started dreaming and planning they expected it would take a very long time to even get started. But once they started putting action to their hopes and dreams, they've been shocked at how partnering together, we've all seen in a few months what they thought would take 5 to 10 years to happen!

A young boy sitting in front of the new primary school
under construction where he'll be a student soon.

Reflecting on my observations of Principal Min and his imparting of vision and hope to the children and community, even in the smallest act of planting flowers and trees. And, reflecting on the experience of the village leaders, I realize hope is a powerful component of a significant life. It’s not just that we should have hope for ourselves and our own future, but that we should encourage and envision others with hope.

The work I am involved with requires project management, logical frameworks and strategic planning. Those are all great road maps. But, the fuel that drives the car down the road, or even the fuel that drives the explorer who drew the map in the first place is, a hope and a dream. Without hope we’ll either fail to develop a worthwhile plan that changes things, fail to inspire others, or even worse we’ll never even try to make things better.

“What gives me the most hope every day is God's grace; knowing that his grace is going to give me the strength for whatever I face, knowing that nothing is a surprise to God.” Rick Warren

I now ask myself “How am I inspiring hope in the lives of others in what I am doing today? Especially, Hope in Christ! How can I help them plan and act in moving forward to see those hopes and dreams fulfilled?

"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope." Romans 15:13

A Very Merry Christmas

Yesterday morning (Dec 23) Tricia and I found ourselves in a room with dozens of  newborns and their mothers, many of them teenagers. These little ones were all miracles that started out as crisis pregnancies.  Moms who were once filled with fear, worry and were out of options now had beautiful babies and lives filled with hope.

In the afternoon we found ourselves in a room packed with over 180 young ladies who had either made a decision to leave a livelihood in the Karaoke Bars, sometimes fronts for brothels, or were in the process of making this life-change decision.

What was the reason these groups were together? It is Christmas in Cambodia!!! They had all been invited to come and celebrate Christmas and find out what Christmas is all about.

You might ask what Christmas looks like in Cambodia. In many ways it looks like just another workday. Cambodia is a country where 98% of the population are non-Christian and Christmas is not a national holiday. The vast majority of Cambodians have never heard the Christmas story or celebrate it in any way.

But, for those Cambodians who celebrate Christmas it is a huge party that can take place anywhere in the months of December and January. The whole focus of the party is to celebrate the birth of Jesus and to tell everyone you know, neighbors, friends, clients, etc., about the birth and life of Jesus. The excitement of telling people about Christ and the curiosity of those who’ve never heard is something I’ll never get tired of. Churches have standing room only crowds where people are curious to hear what Christmas is all about.

This has been a joyous Christmas for me as I’ve been a part of the Church truly heeding Jesus’ words “whatever you did for one of the least of these… you did for me.” It is refreshing that the focus of Christmas isn’t a single day, or about giving gifts, but about declaring the birth of our King.

Being far away from home and family during Christmas is always difficult. Tricia, the boys and I always feel down and miss all of our family celebrations during this time of year.  But what we’ve found in Cambodia is refreshing and inspiring during the Christmas Season. It’s during this season that we are proud to be a part of the lives of leaders of organizations like Precious Women, Mother’s Heart and New Life Fellowship.

Your gift makes the work of the Hester family in Cambodia possible, and we work hard to maximize each dollar entrusted to us. We are grateful for the generous support of many individuals and organizations that share our commitment to informed, responsible and effective service in Cambodia. To partner with us in 2015 Please Click Here.

Butterfly Home

I am given a tender moment that is brief to meet a 22 year old precious woman of God named Rotha.  Her story is not unusual for many young Cambodian women, but it is difficult to listen as she shares. It is not easy to grasp or imagine for just a moment how an experience such as hers can occur to such a vulnerable young girl.

Rotha has been living in the “Butterfly Home” for over a year now at an organization called Precious Women (PW). She is smiling as Sopeak, a social worker at PW, interprets for me.  Sopeak interjects that when Rotha arrived at PW, she never smiled, but now she smiles all the time and “is so happy”.  Rotha continues and says “God is good! And he saved me!”

"Precious Women help to make me strong & have hope again"

When Rotha was just 13 years old, she left her province of Steung Mencheay in search of a job to help support her family.  Roth shares “I met many problems in my life”.  Her friend told her that if she traveled to the capital of Phnom Penh she could work as a cleaner and make “good money” to help her family. Upon arriving to the city, she took up a cleaning job at a karaoke beer garden, which is a common location for “hostesses” to work in the sex industry.  At the age of 13, she was unable to earn enough money for food or housing and began working as a hostess.  “I became hopeless when I began to sell myself to customers, but I had no food and was hungry. I could not return to my family because I was embarrassed”. 

Over the next 7 years, Rotha worked at multiple beer gardens as a hostess. She shares that she attempted one time to leave, and took a job as a masseuse in a spa in Siem Reap hoping for a better life.  After her job began, she was sexually abused by a customer and immediately left, returning to Phnom Penh. At the age of 21, without food or shelter, she returned working as a hostess again at a local beer garden. It was at that time that Rotha met a staff member of PW during a Friday night outreach and was invited to come for a Women’s Fellowship Party. 

Women's Fellowship Party 

Rotha attended the Women’s Fellowship Party and began receiving counseling. PW provided Rotha with a bicycle for transportation and began reaching out to her. She shares “I get love from people at Precious Women and I began to study the Bible”.  Shortly after, Rotha was able to exit the sex industry because PW provided her with housing at the Butterfly Home. In addition, for the last year, Rotha has been enrolled in salon skills training provided by PW and works part-time at Roomchang Spa in her new career field as a cosmetologist.  

Rotha is excited to share, “Precious Women help to make me strong and have hope again! I am happy to live in the Butterfly Home because I have a place to live so I can stop my work [at the beer gardens]”. She continues, “I love God because he is the only one that can change me.”

I was humbled this day to be able to hear the amazing redemptive story of Rotha and how God uses Precious Women to impact the lives of so many women in Cambodia. Through careful counseling and unconditional love, Sopeak was able to help Rotha gain back her confidence through education, new skills training, and employment opportunities.

 I am honored to have had this moment with Rotha and to also serve as chairwoman of Precious Women organization! To learn more about this organization, please visit www.preciouswomenministry.org (For confidentiality purposes, Rotha’s real name was not used)

                                                                                        Blessings,   

                                                                                                         Tricia

Ministry Team from Abilene, Texas hosting Women's Fellowship Party! (July 2014)