It has been thus far in Chiang Mai a banner day. The rain is tapering off after a brief but torrential downpour, and the post-shower breeze is providing a delightful though momentary respite from the humidity.

We arrived in Chiang Mai yesterday afternoon. Tutu and her husband Dan surprised us by booking us for two nights at the Horizon Resort, a beautiful hotel in Doi Saket filled with topiary gardens and bike paths. Despite our protest, they’re also picking up the tab – which is considerably more than the $15 per night I usually budget for these kinds of trips.

This morning, we slept in for the first time in weeks. And I mean I really slept in, like to 8:30 or something. It was pretty luxurious. Pak misses Cambodia badly, but is thrilled at the slower pace. At home, if we let him, he’d stay in bed every summer day ’til noon. On this trip, we’ve been by 6 daily. Here in Thailand, the kids are in school until 4pm, so there’s really no reason for us to rush to get up in the morning. And also, I don’t have a car here and there’s no public transportation this far outside of the city, so hitting the streets in the wee hours means inconveniencing staff. So I slow things down. Sometimes that stresses me out; I’m the kind of guy who likes to suck the marrow out of each hour of the day. But today, it’s been nice to relax.

We spent a couple of hours at our main Doi Saket campus last night, singing, playing and worshipping with the kids. It was a blast. The kids were very happy to see Pak and I, and excited to meet Seth. There were, however, a few disappointed teenage girls who were looking forward to another visit from Chien. There’s one girl in particular who has had a crush on him since he first visited as a ten year old. Sorry, Walai. Chien couldn’t make it. Sigh…

Our Doi Saket campus at dusk

After a leisurely morning at the hotel, we went into the city with Tutu. She had some errands to run, and we needed to stop at a store to pick up some toothpaste and other personal items we’d either lost or used up. I also picked up a sim card for my phone so I can be in touch in case of emergencies.

After a delicious lunch, we went to a bookstore to buy Thai Bibles for some of the kids, and then Tutu paid for Seth and I to have an hour-and-a-half traditional Thai massage (all therapeutic, no funny stuff). If you’ve never had a traditional Thai massage, I’d suggest that (after you confirm that it’s all therapeutic, no funny stuff) you go get one. Most of the experience skates the fine line between relaxation and torture: lots of knees in the back and very firm pressure on the shoulders, legs, neck and face. Good stuff.

Lunch with Tutu Bee and Seth Earnest

We’re now back at the hotel taking a short break before heading out of town to our Hot Springs home. I really enjoy spending time with Pastor Suradet, his wife, his kids and the staff. They live about 20 minutes away from most of our other homes, so they’re a bit isolated. They get to visit the rest of the kids on a semi-regular basis, but they don’t enjoy the same kind of drop-by-for-sugar kind of relationship with other Asia’s Hope families.

We’ll have dinner, play with the kids, spend a little time singing and praying, and then we’ll head back. If we have any energy, we’ll drop by the Chiang Mai night market. Tomorrow, we head to Wiang Pa Pow, where we’ll spend a couple of days. I don’t know what kind of internet access I’ll have, so this may be my last communiqué for a while.

The view of the countryside from our Hot Springs home

Evening devotions at Hot Springs

Keep praying for us. We’re all healthy and happy, and we’re not yet completely tired of one another. God is so good. It’s an honor to be a part of this ministry. Thanks for your support and encouragement. 

Ending the day with delicious Roti at the night market

After another long morning of driving we arrived back in Phnom Penh. It seems hard to believe that our time in Cambodia is almost over. Last year, I stayed in Asia for more than three months at one stretch, most of it with my family. This year, it’s just been my son Pak and my colleague Seth, and we’re only here for 4 weeks. No wonder I’m feeling rushed.

But that’s not all. This trip so far has been jam packed with activities and responsibilities. We’ve had multiple teams from the States coming over to visit the kids, and I’ve been meeting with a group of businessmen from Ohio, casting vision for the proposed campus in Prek Eng. In the past week, I’ve driven the 10 hour round trip journey between Battambang and Phnom Penh twice, and the 8 hour Phnom Penh-to-Siem Reap-to-Battambang route once.

I’m tired. Sunday was probably the craziest day of all. But it was one of the best days I’ve had in Cambodia in years.

We got up bright and early and headed to the Asia’s Hope Battambang campus to join hundreds of kids and staff and dozens of visitors in a couple of hours of raucus worship – songs, dances, and a great message from Pastor Tim Armstrong from the Crossroads Church in Mansfield, Ohio. 

After the service, we walked to our beautiful new learning center, which was just completed at the end of last week. The Crossroads team outfitted it with computers and software they brought from the States, and it’s ready for use. Its two classrooms and computer lab will provide real and immediate benefit to our kids, who will need computing skills to compete in Cambodia’s competitive and rapidly growing employment marketplace. 

Pastor Tim, Pastor Deering and I were asked to cut the ribbon. Until the sign on the side of the building was unveiled, Deering did not know that the building had been named “The Jean Dyer Memorial Learning Center” in honor of his wife who died suddenly last year. The cost of construction was subsidized by donations given in her memory. It was a beautiful and touching event that left very few dry-eyed. After the dedication ceremony, we all walked over to the nearly-completed Battambang 8 home and prayed a special blessing on the kids and upon the building.

The dedication of the Jean Dyer Memorial Learning Center

Prayers for the Battambang 8 Children's Home

We grabbed a quick bite to eat and headed out to a nearby waterpark where we expended recklessly all of our remaining energy, baking in the hot Cambodian sun and serving as jungle-gyms for hordes of excited young kids. After a few hours of horseplay, we took a break and baptized more than a dozen kids and a handful of visiting team members.

We shambled back to Battambang for dinner and then returned to the campus for a dance party and fireworks.

My gracious. 

Despite our exhaustion, all of us danced – at least for a while. The party lasted for only about two hours, but it seemed much, much longer. It was physically draining, but emotionally and spiritually exhilarating. I’ve chaperoned dances in the U.S., and they’re nothing like our Asia’s Hope dance parties. At our bashes, no one is picked on, no one is left out, no one is harassed, and no one gets even close to first base. It’s truly a wonderful experience.

As I said to one of our amazed and delighted visitors, “If you don’t like this, you’re going to be miserable in heaven.”

Seeing these kids dance and laugh and play, you’d be hard pressed to perceive the depth of suffering that each of these children has experienced. You’d never know that Mariya’s father had hanged himself, and that one year ago, none of us could tell if she even knew how to smile. And although she is still a bit shy, you might never know that Srey Oun’s dad was a child rapist serving a long sentence, or that her mother was a destitute day laborer who could neither feed nor educate any of her five children. You certainly wouldn’t pick Usa as an child whose father died in a landmine explosion and whose mother died of a fever before he could even learn their names.

Beautiful MariyaVando, Seyla and some of the kids from our Battambang 2 home

But that’s the beauty of a loving family; that’s the transforming power of hope. Each of our children has suffered tremendous loss. A random sampling of our kids’ bios reads like an encyclopedia of misery: landmines, AIDS, abuse, alcoholism, addiction, abandonment – you name it, we’ve got it. But God is changing these kids, restoring their childhood and giving them not only strength for today, but a real, tangible hope for tomorrow.

Yesterday we visited a village not far from Battambang, where we joined a local pastor providing prayers and some financial assistance to widows and orphans and poor families just barely scraping by in conditions that would have to be improved significantly to qualify for appalling. Spending time in communities like the ones into which our kids were born is sobering, but also inspiring. We all left with an even greater commitment to continuing our hard work to provide the best possible care for as many kids as God blesses us with, not just in Cambodia, but also in Thailand and India.

Widows and an orphan in a rural village

Will you continue to pray with me? We need more churches to come alongside Asia’s Hope to bless orphans with high-quality, loving Christian homes. Our need in India – our newest ministry field – is especially great. I believe that God wants more from any of us than we can possibly imagine. Please join me in begging God for three, four – even five – new partnering churches in the next six months.

Tomorrow we head off to Thailand. I promise more pics and stories after we hit the ground.

Peace.

After yesterday's all-day extravaganza, I was too tired to post. Today I'm too busy: another full day. 

I will let Seth Earnest's great post serve as my update for now. When I have the time I will do my best to write a suitable entry.

After church on Sunday, we drove directly from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap, a five hour and 5,000 cow journey through the Cambodian countryside. Since my first trip in 2000, the road has improved dramatically, but it was still basic enough in areas to keep my attention fully at the task of delivering our team of five without incident or injury to the 12^th Century capital of the Khmer empire.

My friend and colleague Seth Earnest has done an excellent job describing the vast temple complex of Angkor; it’s a joy to read the observations of such an enthusiastic first-time visitor to what is indisputably one of the world’s most impressive monuments to ancient man’s architectural ingenuity and artistic expertise.

After a long and exhausting Monday exploring the rocky ruins of temples and tombs, we drove yesterday another three hours to Battambang. After visiting our nearly-completed Battambang campus and joining the team from Crossroads Church (Mansfield, Ohio) at an appreciation banquet for our Cambodian staff, my head has been filled with thoughts about what man builds and for whom.

Certainly the modern-day ministry of Asia’s Hope is almost entirely dissimilar to the medieval-era kingdom of Angkor. That hasn’t stopped me from drawing comparisons in my mind, though.

The former was built for the wealthy and the powerful and for the glory of earthly kings. Thousands of years after its construction, the great city of Angkor remains a powerful symbol of the rise and decline of a great human empire. The Cambodian monarchs that designed and demanded the amazing feats of engineering have long since died, their names mere legends, shrouded in the mists of history.

Asia’s Hope, on the other hand, is being built for the benefit of the poor upon the command and under the authority of a Monarch whose kingdom will never pass away. Our  buildings will probably not last nearly as long as those of the Angkorian kings; certainly no one will be naming architectural styles or historical epochs after them. But the work we’re doing is eternal. The lives of the hundreds of kids currently in our care and those of the thousands of orphaned kids who will be served by the land and houses we’re investing in today are worth far more than the wealth of all world’s ruling families combined.

It’s late now. We’ve been running around and playing with kids for the last nine hours. Tomorrow holds more of the same. I’m tired, but encouraged by the words in Matthew that I’ll paraphrase here: “And Jesus said, ‘If you have not played Steal the Bacon with the least of these my brethren, you have not played Steal the Bacon with me.”

Our new learning center, with two classrooms and a computer lab, will benefit all the students at Asia's Hope by providing a venue for academic enrichment and vocational trainingBattambang 3, Battambang 6 and Battambang 7 Children's Homes; a year and a half ago, this was just dirt and a few trees!

Our Battambang 8 home is nearing completion; the kids and staff are currently living in a guest house await the completion of the facility, which should be ready for occupancy in about a monthSimon says...Touring the new facilities

Beautiful Battambang 1 Home kidsStaff appreciation banquet hosted by the team from Crossroads Church in Mansfield, Ohio

Looking at the dates, I suppose I can’t deny it, but it seems hard to believe that it’s been six days since I last posted. We’ve been beyond busy, going non-stop from about 6am to 11pm for the past week, traveling from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap and then to Battambang, where I find myself early this morning, rushing to put a post together before scrambling out the door for breakfast.

This morning, Jared and Rayli are heading heading out into some of the rural areas surrounding Battambang to meet with some pastors supported by Central Vineyard Church in Columbus, Ohio. Seth, Pak and I will be staying in town, and have no further plans until lunch time. Now that I think of it, I could probably use a shower. I’ll try to put a better post together after breakfast.

I have so many thoughts, so much I’d like to write about. Perhaps a cup of tea and some banana pancakes from Sunrise Café will help me focus. Who knows? It might be my best post yet. Stay tuned.

For now, however, I’ll leave you with some photos of some of the beautiful kids from Asia’s Hope in Battambang.

Asia's Hope Project Manager, Seth Earnest, gets the tour of some of our new facilitiesMy son Pak visits one of our newly constructed homes with some of his favorite little people

Our beautiful kids

It's going to be a short blog post today -- in just a few minutes we'll be heading out to take all the kids from Prek Eng (except for an unfortunate few who have exams this morning) to the Santapheap Water park. The kids are thrilled. It's always a great time.

Later this afternoon, we'll be taking all the older boys out to a see a kickboxing match. Somewhere in between, Pak, Seth and I need to get to our travel agent and purchase our tickets to Thailand. It's going to be a big, crazy day. And then tomorrow after church? We're hitting the road for a week in Battambang. Busy. We're hitting the deep end of this trip: nothing but packed days from here on out.

The last couple of days have been intense. We've visited the horrific Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum (sometimes called the Asian Auschwitz) and the National Museum. We've spent time at all five homes, playing and chasing and singing and dancing. We've visited four plots of land and discussed the relative merits of each. We've had devotions with the kids and played ping pong with the staff.

A photo of prisoners at the Khmer Rouge's notorious S21 (Toul Sleng) "security office." All the men in this photo were later killed, along with about 17,000 others at the facility. Hundreds of other security offices operated in Cambodia between 1975-1979.

Staff and kids at Prek Eng 5Prek Eng 3

Devotions at Prek Eng 3

I hope we've been a blessing to the kids and the staff. I know for sure they've blessed us immeasurably.

Will write more when I get a second to breathe. Keep praying for us!

As usual, the pace of activities is outstripping by far the pace of my posts. (Lingering effects of trans-global travel aren’t helping things either.) I started to write last night at about 8 p.m., but I kept falling asleep. It’s 5:30 a.m. now; I have hot water on for tea, and no one else is up. I think I’ll be able to manage a short update before things get crazy again.

Late Tuesday night, Pak and I picked up from the airport a very tired group of friends from Columbus. Jared Boyd is my friend and neighbor, and a pastor at my church, Central Vineyard. He brought his ten year old daughter, Rayli. I know they’ve dreamed about Cambodia for years. I’m so glad it’s finally happening. We’re also joined by Seth Earnest, Asia’s Hope project manager. I work with Seth every day at the Asia’s Hope office in Columbus, and I haven’t tired of him yet. He’ll be continuing on with me to Thailand, his first trip there.

Rayli with Sophal, one of the directors of our Prek Eng 2 home

It’s really great to have both Pak and Rayli on this trip. I’ve been to Cambodia something like 20 times, and it would be easy for me to lose my sense of wonder. Experiencing the country and the ministry through the eyes of children keeps me fresh, and reminds me of just how amazing it is to be able to do this kind of work.

I prepared Jared and Rayli in advance for some degree of hardship – unfamiliar foods, unreliable utilities, unbearable heat – but to be honest, we’re living quite well. Savorn booked us a small apartment managed by a long-time friend and colleague of ours, Pastor Narin Chey, and we have everything we could ask for. There’s A/C, hot showers, internet access and even a TV that gets the BBC. And when we visit our staff and kids, we get fresh mangoes and bananas (grown on the premises!) and more hugs than we can handle.

A delicious bowl of soup at our favorite breakfast place

On the team’s first full day in Cambodia, they got another unexpected treat. The manager of a cinema in town offered free tickets to all of our Prek Eng staff and kids to watch Madagascar — in 3D, no less. So, yesterday morning we got up early, grabbed a bowl of phở and hustled off to the theater with 150 Asia’s Hope kids and staff. Everyone, including jaded movie critics like me, had a fantastic time. Rayli and Pak got commandeered by Asia’s Hope kids an hour before the movie started, and emerged from the theater slightly giddy and already exhausted by the non-stop hugs, hand-holding and hair tousling.

Hanging out with the kids from Prek Eng 2 before the movie

After the movie, I chatted with the theater manager, distribution director and a couple of other staff members. They’re eager to partner with Asia’s Hope in the future, and we’re already tossing around some ideas for a fundraiser in the near future. What a cool answer to prayer. Partnering with local businesses and donors is a key component of my long-term strategy for our ministry’s sustainability. Along with a few other contacts we’ve been cultivating, this could be the start of something great.

After the movie, the kids and staff returned to Prek Eng to finish out the school day, and I took the team to a local tailor. Shirts and trousers are incredibly cheap here, so Pak, Jared and I decided to get a few made. (I swear, if I had to wear suits every day for work, I could pay for my tickets to Cambodia with the savings over buying in the U.S.).

We then grabbed a bite to eat and drove out to Prek Eng for a staff meeting and a (literal) field trip to look at some plots of land. We desperately need to get out of the renting cycle in Prek Eng and move on the purchase of land. But as I shared with the staff from Psalm 127, “Unless the Lord builds the house, those who labor at it do so in vain.” So, we’re praying. And trusting. And planning. And, for now, waiting.

The same chapter in Psalms also says “Children are a heritage from the Lord…blessed is he whose quiver is full.” Well, we’ve been blessed. Our quiver is full.

Hence the need to build the house.

Today we’ll see some more land. It’s exciting to look out over a jungley rectangle — nothing but fruit trees, rice paddies and dirt — and to imagine a beautiful campus with five homes, a church, a school, playgrounds and gardens filled with sound of kids singing and laughing, of food being prepared and school lessons being recited… If I hadn’t seen it before at our campuses in Doi Saket, Thailand and Battambang, Cambodia, I’m not sure I’d have the faith to believe we could do it in Prek Eng. But I am 100% convinced that God loves these kids even more than we do, and will work through his people once again to provide the resources we need.

Now the rest of the house is starting to wake up. Jared’s up and checking emails and Seth is rustling around in his room. I should make tea for them and help them start day two in Cambodia.

More from me soon.

Peace.

Okay. That title is actually a pretty egregious exaggeration. Perhaps it should read “Through many airports, subways and transit delays.”

At any rate, after a ridiculously long day of travel, Pak and I arrived only semi-conscious in Phnom Penh yesterday at 2 in the morning. This was the only time I’ve ever been glad to have not been greeted by a large group of staff and kids at Pochentong International Airport. Mercifully, Savorn and Sony met us there alone to take us to our guesthouse.

Pak and I finally got to bed at around 3:00 a.m. and tried to salvage something of a night’s sleep. We got up around 10:00 and headed out to our favorite breakfast place, a little phở joint across the street from a Pakistani-Cambodian mosque a hundred meters or so off of Mao Tse Toung Boulevard, named for the gigantic Chinese embassy that takes up an entire city block in the center of Phnom Penh. The street our restaurant sits on is now paved, reducing slightly the amount of dust in one’s soup.

Perhaps it is something in the air. Or more likely, it’s the ancient family recipe, the years of experience and the ingredients that can only be found in Southeast Asia. But whenever we’re not in Phnom Penh, we can’t stop thinking about this soup. The beefy broth, the tender rice noodles, the fresh herbs that perfume the air as they hit the hot, oily surface of the phở – of course we don’t come here for the food, but it’d be something bordering criminal if we didn’t enjoy it while we were here! (And don’t get me started about the café sua da, the Vietnamese iced coffee that absolutely must accompany the meal…)

After enjoying our breakfast with a level of gusto that either a) amused; b) gratified; or c) frightened the proprietors, we ran a few errands, lost track of time and forgot entirely to eat lunch. At about 1:30, we headed out of town to Prek Eng, where all five of our Phnom Penh-area children’s home lie scattered about in rented houses.

Prek Eng, like most of Phnom Penh, has grown considerably in the last seven years. When we opened our first home there, the road was unpaved, and the five mile journey from the city was a bone-rattling trek that could take anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour depending on the number of cattle, petrol trucks, motorbikes, pushcarts and cyclos battling for turf and marginal advancement along a narrow stretch of dirt and gravel that could have only with a degree of optimism been described as having two lanes.

Today, the road has been paved, widened and in all ways greatly improved. A new and much wider set of bridges have been built over the Mekong; new hotels, casinos, restaurants and nightcubs line the road, serving countless new residents living in the thousands of condos and apartments that have infested like concrete kudzu the rice fields that once opened up to a vast, green horizon. The sky itself seems much smaller in Prek Eng these days.

All of this development is grand in its own way. But it’s also problematic for us. Prek Eng is an ideal location for our homes, providing our kids access to universities, to utilities, to activities. But it’s getting harder and harder to find affordable places to rent, and no landlord is willing to give us more than a year on a contract, just in case there’s a profit to be taken with another lessor in a few months’ time. Some of our homes have already moved 4 or 5 times over the past few years — you can imagine the inconvenience and expense. Plus, if there’s anything a kid who was once an orphan needs, it’s a sense of stability. And the constant shuffling of homes has left us with an inequality across our facilities that is far less than ideal – some of our homes are spacious and in great condition, others less so. But we’re not eager to invest heavily in a property that we may lose in four months. So we make do.

Clearly, it’s time to build and buy. More on that later…

Anyway, Pak and I drove out to the Asia’s Hope Christian School and visited with the kids, interrupting their studies for a few hugs. It was clear that most of the kids – and some of the staff – did not recognize me in a beard. Once they heard my voice, they laughed and pointed and shouted my name. (It would be very easy for a white dude to go incognito around here. Change your hair, put on a pair of sunglasses, adjust your accent and you could live hidden in plain sight for years).

Asia's Hope Christian School, Prek Eng, Phnom Penh

After hanging out at the school for a while, we called Narun, the director of Prek Eng 2, and he told us that the senior staff were enjoying some ping pong at Prek Eng 1. I hopped in my car, drove to Prek Eng 1 and then remembered… the home had moved since my last visit, victim of another non-renewable lease. I drove back to the school, and met Sopang, director of Prek Eng 3, whom we followed back to the new (and, in this case, nicer) Prek Eng 1.

For the next couple of hours, Pak and I played ping pong with the staff, causing each of our extremely patient doubles’ partners no end of bad luck. It was very bad ping pong, but it was a very nice time. How wonderful to be able to fellowship as friends and as family with these men and women who dedicate their lives to the difficult work of raising so many children so very well.

After a couple of hours, the kids from Prek Eng 1 came home from school, and the staff returned to their homes to greet their own kids and get dinner started. It’s amazing how much the kids have grown in the past few months. I did a couple of doubletakes as  the adolescent boys, squeaky-voiced and scrawny on my last visit, now pumped my hands muscularly and greeted me with a deep, teenagery, “Hello, Daddy!” And so many of the girls have become beautiful young women. Before long, they’ll be all grown up and off to college. (Pak has also changed a lot since his last visit. He now towers over most of our staff, and is quite a handsome young man. I sense that this has not gone unnoticed by some of the girls at Asia’s Hope, but I’m choosing to pretend it’s just my imagination). 

 

Relaxing with the kids and staff at Prek Eng 1 Children's Home

Around 5:00, we headed to Prek Eng 2, where we were treated to an hour or so of games and a delicious dinner of fish, beef, rice and French fries. By 7:00, we were completely exhausted, and I knew we’d have to head home. Despite the road improvements, driving at night in Cambodia can be hazardous, especially for exhausted foreigners.

Prek Eng 2 Children's Home

After a good night’s sleep, we’re ready to do it all over again. Some delicious phở, a few hours of errands and then off to see the kids. Asia’s Hope project manager Seth Earnest is arriving late tonight, as are my good friend and ministry colleague Jared Boyd and his daughter Rayli. This is Jared and Rayli’s first trip, and I couldn’t be more excited to show them around. Jared’s family has supported Asia’s Hope financially, strategically and morally for many, many years. I’m thrilled that they now get to experience it first hand. I’m certain they will have an amazing time, and I look forward to creating lifelong memories with them.

After a few days of relative rest with Jared and Rayli, the trip will begin to pick up steam as other teams which will need my attention arrive over the next few weeks. I can’t wait. I’m so encouraged about what God is doing with Asia’s Hope, and I am eager to share it with you as time and internet access allows.

Thank you for your prayers, your encouragement and your support!

P.S. Apologies for the marginal quality of the photos -- by the time I got around to editing them last night, I was so tired I could literally not keep my eyes open for more than a few minutes at a time. Hope to do better next time.