Well, it’s t-minus seven days.

In exactly one week, I’ll be on a plane heading west. So far west, in fact, that it’ll be east by the time we leave. Kori, Chien, Pak, Xiu Dan and I will be in the air for about 24 hours (30+ if you include airports) and arriving bleary-eyed and hopefully-not-too grumpy in Phnom Penh, Cambodia — a city that feels to me like a home away from home.

One of my first requests as Asia’s Hope’s full time Executive Director was for the board to grant me the option of taking a travel budget designed to sustain three or four separate month-long trips to Asia and use it to take one very long trip each year for not only me, but for my whole family. I’m so thankful that I don’t have to choose between my family and my job. I’m also thankful for my pastor and my church family; the emotional, logistical and spiritual support they provide makes all of this possible.

This summer promises to be one of the busiest and most productive trips yet. Kori and the kids will be joining me for the first two months and returning home with just a few weeks to prepare for school. I’ll spend June in Cambodia, July in Thailand, most of August in Cambodia, and the first part of September in India. Along the way, I’ll be joined by board members, friends and family, and will have the chance to meet up with many of the teams visiting from U.S. and Canadian church sponsors.

Wait, India?

Yes. India.

This year we’re adding India to the itinerary. I’ll be traveling with Asia’s Hope project manager Seth Earnest (and, I pray, Executive Board Member Dr. John Campbell, who is recovering from a blood clot and a small handful of other health incidents) to West Bengal, India to meet with lawyers and potential ministry partners. We’re praying that God will provide the support necessary to rescue 125 orphaned children in the remote hill areas near Darjeeling in 2012. http://www.asiashope.org/five-for-india/

If time and technology permit, I’ll be updating this blog at least two or three times a week. Please check in frequently and travel the world vicariously through us. I promise you won’t get bored. You probably won’t get Dengue Fever, either.

All joking aside, please pray that we stay healthy. As many of you remember, I got Dengue at the end of my trip last summer, and it was miserable. I lost about 25 pounds, and aged – perhaps permanently – about five years. If I get it again, I have an increased of getting a more serious version. I’d hate to go through this again, and I don’t want to see anyone else in my family suffer this kind of malady either.

We can use all of the prayers and kind words we can get. Pass this link along http://www.asiashope.org/directors-blog -- the more the merrier.

Catch you all on the flip side.