If you travel with me to Cambodia — especially if you’re a first time visitor — you’re going to experience the very best and the very worst that this world has to offer.

In a single day, we might visit the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum — a former primary school that the murderous Khmer Rouge regime transformed into a horrifying torture and interrogation site — and then we’ll enjoy dinner and a dance party with some of the world’s most adorable kids and their parents at Asia’s Hope.

We’ll drive past slums where street kids sniff glue to kill their hunger while Chinese billionaires and local oligarchs sweep by in their $750,000 Bentleys.

But what you’ll remember most from a visit to Asia’s Hope in Cambodia is the love. These kids, they love each other. And their parents know them, protect them and give their hearts to them every day. And that’s what will change you — if you let it.

Here are some pictures from our last few days.

John McCollumJanuary 19, 2024Comment

Behold what manner...

*I’ll remember this meal — especially its preparation — for a long, long, time. Honestly one of the best meals of my life…*

Despite our short time in Phnom Penh, we’ve been loading on with memorable experiences with the staff and kids at Asia’s Hope in Prek Eng.

At church, I preached on 1 John 3:1 — “See what kind of love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!” Or, as the King James Version I remember from my childhood rendered it, “Behold what manner of love the father has given unto us…”

Taking inspiration from my friend and pastor Jared Boyd, I asked the congregation, “Try to picture in your mind: identify with specificity the last time you truly experienced God’s love, when you knew not just intellectually, but knew with all your body and soul as well that you are truly safe and fully loved by God.”

To paraphrase something Jared had said recently, “Our deepest wounds will never be healed until we fully experience the love of God.” It’s not his omnipotence that makes the orphan whole. It’s not his omniscience that binds the broken places in the heart of a child who has been sexually abused. It’s his tender, intimate love that brings new life the dry and broken places in our hearts and in our world.

I don’t know if my words were effective or even well understood. I hope that at the very least, I’ve watered a seed, a seed that was planted when each of these kids first came to Asia’s Hope.

After church, I had one of the best meals of my life.

The meal was a masterpiece of traditional Khmer home cooking. We made (I kind of helped, so I think I can get away with using the first person here) three classic Cambodian dishes — samlor kako (sour pork soup with mixed traditional vegetables), kreung machu ktis sach chrouk (Khmer curry with pork) and amok trei (river fish steamed in banana leaves with coconut milk).

Each bite was a unique joy — intoxicating flavors of lemongrass, kaffir lime, galangal, prahok, coconut and chili swirling effortlessly, receding and asserting themselves in an ecstatic… okay. You get the picture. It was amazing.

Taken along with the enjoyment of preparing this food with my dear friends, I’ll remember this as one of the best meals ever.

Eventually I’ll edit down some of the iPhone video my friend John Reed took of me and the staff cooking this lunch. I hope it’ll convey the familial love that makes Asia’s Hope a uniquely wonderful place for orphaned and vulnerable kids to grow up. The home parents really do adore each other. They love spending time together. They provide each other the friendship and support they need to do the nearly impossible job of rebuilding the lives of kids who have been beaten up and thrown out by the world.

And they cook a mean fish amok.

John McCollumJanuary 14, 2024Comment

Jetlagged and whirlwinded

It’s 5:30 in the morning. And I really wish I was asleep. But jet lag doesn’t work that way. So I thought I’d take a couple minutes to write a quick journal entry.

Since hitting the ground in Phnom Penh less than 48 hours ago, Kori and I have been on the go almost nonstop. This trip is, we acknowledge, going to be a whirlwind. Even though we have seven weeks total, we don’t really a lot of time to spend at each home, each project.

On previous visits, we’d take a day or so to relax upon arrival, to get over jet lag before digging in to our time with Asia’s Hope staff and kids. But this year, we’re jumping right in, and as I lie in bed contemplating the day, it occurs to me that we might have overscheduled.

Yesterday we were joined by a friend from our home church – John Reed – and I really wanted to take him to see Angkor Wat. I mean, what first-time visit to Cambodia is complete without a day at the country’s most important cultural and historical site? So that’s going to take a day or so out of the middle of our time here as well. It’ll be worth it, but we’re not building in much margin for any mishaps, missed connections or minor illnesses.

Before we picked up John Reed from the airport – we got up early, grabbed a quick plate of pork and rice at the little streetside restaurant across the street from our hotel and headed out to our campus to participate in a commencement ceremony for our Prek Eng Elementary School. It was quite an impressive little shindig, attended by dignitaries from the Ministry of Education, and our keynote speakers, the Secretary of State for the Ministry of Cults and Religions.

I’m thankful for the way Savorn, our national director, has forged excellent working relationships with the government here, and I’m grateful to the government of the Kingdom of Cambodia for providing us the support and latitude we’ve needed to build a world-class orphan care ministry in this country.

After breakfast this morning and a quick tour of our neighborhood for my buddy John, we’ll be heading back out to Prek Eng for an evening with the kids. I’ll be sure to post photos from that time in the next few days.

John McCollumJanuary 12, 2024Comment

From Somewhere Over America

*From the San Francisco Airport. 30-some hours to go…*

Our flight out of Columbus was delayed for a half hour or so, due to something the captain called a “cosmetic external mechanical issue.” Yesterday, in an unrelated incident, an Alaska Airline flight was abruptly re-routed when a door separated from the cabin, sucking a young lad’s shirt clean off his torso, but leaving him otherwise unscathed. Our plane was cleared for takeoff, and we’ve been chasing a fiery sunset for the past two hours as we race toward San Francisco. All the doors — and shirts — seem to be intact.

It feels like forever since Kori has traveled with me to Asia, and we’ve never gone to Cambodia or Thailand together without any kids, at least as far as I can recall. Our two boys are grown, 25 and 26, so their days of joining us on Asia’s Hope business are long past. Xiudan, our 18 year old daughter was supposed to come with a few more times, but Covid pretty much ruined the last few years’ travel plans…and now she’s in college, too busy with Physics, Stats and something called Linear Algebra to get away for long.

So this trip feels pretty different.

Also, last year was pretty rough. Some of it was just run-of-the-mill, everyone-deals-with-tough-stuff sorts of rough. But some of it has been catastrophic. And, I suspect, some of those catastrophes have nasty little tentacles intent on wriggling their way into 2024.

But you know, God is good. As I told Kori last night, there are a lot of things I don’t know. But I do know for sure that we are supposed to be on this seven-week trip, and that we’re supposed to enjoy it. So, guess what? I’m ready to do this thing.

Two nearly-empty-nesters who just celebrated 30 years of marriage, heading out over the horizon for a whirlwind visit to four countries, 35 children’s homes, a bunch of churches, a couple schools and a handful of student centers. I hope our presence will be an encouragement to the 800+ kids and 200+ staff of Asia’s Hope. And I pray that Kori and I will get filled up as well.

Looks like we’ll be landing in San Fran in about a half hour. Then a long, long haul to Taipei. And then we should hit Phnom Penh something like 30 hours from now, just in time for lunch. And just like that, we’ll be off and running.

I hope you’ll follow along both here and on the socials. I promise to post pics, stories and videos of people, places and meals that will make you smile.

Cheers.

John McCollumJanuary 9, 2024 Comments

In loving memory of Steve and Kathy Cannell

I’ve known Jeff Cannell since I was in 8th grade.

Jeff and I have traveled to Cambodia together to visit Asia’s Hope throughout the years, but this was the first year I was able to travel with both him and his wife Adrienne.

We attended the same middle school, and although we weren’t close as kids, we reconnected as adults and I now consider him one of my dearest friends. When Jeff and Adrienne announced that they were planting a church in our Columbus neighborhood, Kori and I were among the first in line to join the team.

As Central Vineyard Church took shape, we became close not only to Jeff, but to Adrienne, his kids Ian and Kathleen, and to his dad Steve, who was something of a financial guru/strategic advisor to our little congregation. I never really knew Jeff’s mom Kathy — she died when Jeff was in his early 20s — but so many people around me have stories of her kindness, humility and commitment to others.

When Steve Cannell passed away in 2021, Jeff and Adrienne Cannell wanted to honor him and his late wife Kathy by blessing Asia’s Hope with a significant gift from their estate. They decided that purchasing a permanent home for our Battambang student center would be a fitting tribute to Steve and Kathy’s lifetime of generosity to underprivileged students, and in line with Steve’s longstanding respect for our organization’s work.

In fact, when Jeff was a small child, his mom taught English to Khmer refugees at their Christian Missionary Alliance church. So before I’d even heard of the country, Jeff attended a youth group that was primarily composed of kids from my now-beloved Cambodia.

It was at Central Vineyard under Jeff’s leadership that I was ordained as a pastor. And Central Vineyard, despite being a tiny church with limited financial resources, was the first congregation to fully sponsor a children’s home, thus pioneering our whole-home partnership model, which allowed us to grow Asia’s Hope from three homes to 35 over the following decade and a half.

In recent years, Central Vineyard transitioned its sponsorship from the Prek Eng 2 home to the Battambang student center, which had since its founding resided in a series of rented properties, and which today houses 90 university students who grew up at Asia’s Hope.

If you’d like to honor a loved one with a special gift to Asia’s Hope, please contact Roxi Larsen, our Director of Strategic Partnerships: roxi@asiashope.org.

When Steve passed away in 2021, Jeff and Adrienne wanted to honor him and Kathy by blessing Asia’s Hope with a significant gift from his estate. They decided that purchasing a permanent home for our Battambang student center would be a fitting tribute to Steve and Kathy’s lifetime of generosity to underprivileged students, and in line with Steve’s longstanding respect for our organization’s work.

Both Jeff and Adrienne have traveled to Cambodia before — on Asia’s Hope trips and as representatives of their denomination’s Cambodian church planting teams. But I’ve never traveled with both them together, and I really wanted to be there when our Cambodian leaders celebrated the purchase of the new facility with official dedication ceremonies and celebrations.

So about two weeks ago, I and Benjamin Hiltner — our Director of Media — met Jeff and Adrienne in Phnom Penh. We spent a few days with the kids at our Prek Eng campus, where they reconnected with staff and kids they’d loved and supported for years. We had a joyous reunion party, and saw a lot of the young adults who had previously grown up at Prek Eng 2.

Kathy Cannell teaching English to a Cambodian refugee child in Columbus, Ohio in 1981.

We then traveled the five hours away to Battambang for a week of celebrations, officially dedicating the student center to the memory of Jeff’s parents. The two main events were on Saturday and Sunday night. On Saturday, we threw a huge pizza party for the 90+ kids who call the center home. We rented a stage, and had live music, karaoke and a dance party. On Sunday night, we had a grand gala event on our Asia’s Hope campus, home to 13 children’s homes and our middle and high schools.

We invited all of the university students, all of our staff, the kids currently living at our Battambang homes and a raft of government ministers and officials from local and national ministries and departments. We had a band, our kids performed skits and songs, and we even hired acrobats and clowns from the local circus!

We roasted two cows and three pigs, and had endless soft drinks, fruit and side dishes. No one went hungry; in fact, we ate leftover pork and beef at the homes for the next two days! As the sun set, the temperatures cooled and we danced for what seemed like hours. Half a week later, my feet still hurt!

At one point in the evening, Jeff and I took a break from the mayhem and watched about 100 formerly-orphaned kids dance, jump and shout with complete abandon — well-fed, well-loved, completely safe. He leaned over and said, “It’s like heaven here.”

Amen to that.

As I write this, Jeff and Adrienne are now on their way home; their plane is somewhere over the Pacific. And tomorrow morning, Benjamin and I will return to Phnom Penh where we’ll spend a couple more days with the kids and staff there.

But the work here remains. And at the Battambang student center, where 90 kids who grew up at Asia’s Hope and are enrolled in college, the work can go on for generation after generation. I’m proud of what we’ve done here, and I think Steve and Kathy, watching from heaven, are delighted as well.

We had a band, our kids performed skits and songs, and we even hired acrobats and clowns from the local circus!

We roasted two cows and three pigs, and had endless soft drinks, fruit and side dishes. No one went hungry; in fact, we’ve ate leftover pork and beef at the homes for the next two days!

John McCollumFebruary 17, 2023Comment

Oh the places you’ll go: A look back on 2022...

Wow, what a year.

After spending 2020 and 2021 wondering when I’d be able to get back to Asia, I was able to visit all three Asia’s Hope countries in 2022. Not only that, I welcomed some of my dearest friends from Cambodia and Thailand to the U.S. for the month of October.

So before the ball drops and the curtain closes on this year, I thought I’d look back on some of the highlights. I’ll do a more comprehensive, official “Asia’s Hope Year-In-Review” in the coming weeks. This is more a best-of travelogue type of overview.

Cambodia

We originally planned to travel with four of us — me, Benjamin, Roxi and Carol — to both Cambodia and Thailand in January. But Covid restrictions and infections kept us kicking the can down the road.

By the time we actually got on a plane, it was just me and Benjamin (Hiltner, our recently-hired Director of Media). Our original plan had us splitting our time between the two countries, but just a couple of days before we were scheduled to depart Cambodia, Covid finally caught me, bringing those plans to a halt. I spent about a week in quarantine in Phnom Penh, and then (literally, thanks to an ankle sprain) limped home.

Despite the setbacks, I have to consider that trip a success. Benjamin and I captured a ton of photos and video, much of which made it into the excellent Decades short film Benjamin produced. If you haven’t watched it yet, please make time to do so!

It was wonderful to get back to Cambodia, which has really become a home away from home over the past 20 years. And it was exciting to take Benjamin, who had never been to Asia before. It was a joy to see so many new kids, and to meet newly-hired staff, and to reunite with some of the young adults who graduated from Asia’s Hope, but returned to see us.

Thailand

In July and August, Benjamin and I packed up the camera gear and headed out to Thailand and India. And although he visited Cambodia earlier in the year, Benjamin was a first-timer to both of these places as well.

I meet a lot of people — either frequent missions travelers or long-time missionaries — who are so jaded. The wonder has worn off. Many times they don’t even like the countries to which they’re deployed. They’re cynical and kind of miserable to hang out with. I’m thankful that God has somehow allowed me to maintain a child-like sense of wonder related to the places I’m blessed to serve. I still geek out at the traffic, the foods, the cultural differences.

One of the things that helps me keep a fresh perspective is bringing newbies along for the ride. I get to see the sights, taste the flavors for the time — vicariously at least. And Benjamin is a great travel partner. Up for anything, he powered through jet lag and culture shock and embraced every experience I could throw at him.

When we arrived in Thailand, we took a few days in Bangkok to soak in the culture and acclimate ourselves to the time change. We hired a street food guide for an epic culinary excursion in Chinatown, and over the three days we spent in the capital, we probably tried 40 different Thai dishes, a handful of them were new even to me.

But the real reason we came to Thailand lay further north, in Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai provinces, where Asia’s Hope has 10 family-style children’s homes. We visited all of the homes over a period of about three weeks, and we even got the chance spend a night in a Karen-tribe village, sleeping in a wooden house under mosquito nets, sampling local foods, including squirrels, which our host had caught especially for our dinner

We shared so many lovely family meals with our staff and kids. There’s just something special about sitting around a table, outside, on a warm summer night in Southeast Asia. As the sun goes down, you can linger over conversations serenaded by the creaks and croaks and cries of crickets, birds, lizards and frogs, while children sing and play in front of the nearby houses. Heaven will probably be exactly like that — minus the mosquitos.

India

Ah, India.

Most people would forgive me if I recoiled from the idea of returning to India. I mean, aside from being an overwhelming, dizzying, mind-bendingly intense place to hang out, I’ve had my share of traumatic experiences there that some of you are already aware of.

But dang it, I just love India.

To be fair, I’ve only seen a small portion of India — mostly New Delhi, Agra, Darjeeling and Kalimpong. But then again, even people who have spent their entire lives in the country have only seen a fraction of what the subcontinent has to offer. It’s as big as Europe, and at least as diverse. Dozens of official languages, countless sub-cultures; endless variety in culinary, musical, artistic and religious expression; topographical variation ranging from snow-capped mountains to tropical rainforests.

Delhi is more-or-less exactly what I grew up believing India to be: hot, crowded, chaotic, loud — a sensory overload 24/7. Kalimpong, however, is something like a South Asian version of the Swiss Alps — verdant fields and forests carpeting vast foothills. And when the weather is right, it all unfolds before a backdrop of the majestic snow-capped peaks of the Himalayas.

Alas, the weather on this trip was NOT right. In rainy season, the vistas are still breathtaking, but the distant mountains are shrouded in heavy, wet fog. In fact, it rained every single day of our trip.

But that didn’t stop us from having an amazing trip. I so enjoyed spending time with our university students and some of our recent graduates. Binod and Tashi, two young men who grew up at our Kalimpong 1 home, just finished their training as chefs. They joined us on a couple of outings to the Haat Bazaar, a weekly farmer’s market in the town center. With their guidance, we found the best food stalls and sampled dumplings, flatbreads, chai, and fumbi — a weird but wonderful savory, gelatinous snack that can only be found in Kalimpong.

Every time I return to India, I’m overwhelmed with gratitude for what God has built — and preserved — here. There were years when I thought I’d never be able to return. And things there are challenging. But oh so worth it.

Ohio — and all the rest.

Aside from some trips to Chicago and Indy to visit colleges with my wife Kori and my daughter Xiudan, a few short jaunts to Florida, Indiana and Missouri to hang out with Asia’s Hope partners, and Oregon to attend the funeral of a dear friend and board member, John Campbell, I spent most of my Stateside year close to home in Ohio.

And for the entire month of October, we were joined by our Cambodia director Savorn Ou and his wife Sony, and by our Thailand director Tutu Abourmad. We hoped India directors Amber and Sunil and their wives Radha and Punam could join us, but they were unable to get a visa due to massive Covid-related backups at the American consulates in India.

I posted a bunch of pictures from our directors’ trip here.

Looking forward to 2023

Now as I look forward to the next year, I’m ready to travel again! I’ll be heading to Cambodia in February with my dear friends — and pastors of my home church — Jeff and Adrienne Cannell. We’ll be dedicating the Battambang Student Center, which we purchased with funds from Jeff and A’s family foundation.

And then in the summer, I hope to return to Cambodia and Thailand with Kori and Xiudan, stopping by South Korea to visit my son Pak, who is living in Seoul teaching English. I hope we can bring Roxi, our Director of Strategic Partnerships, who has worked for Asia’s Hope for more than three years, but has not yet been able to visit our projects overseas.

In the fall, I’ll head to India.

Throughout the year, I plan to get out to see a lot of Asia’s Hope friends and family across America. If I’m lucky and can make the details work, I’d love to visit our partnering churches in Montreal and Sydney. And I also hope to visit a few places I can’t name here to investigate potential projects in countries where we can’t work openly, but where orphaned kids desperately need assistance.

I’m thankful for all of you who make this work possible. I hope to see some of you in Cambodia, Thailand, India — or your town — some time in 2023. Happy New Years!

John McCollumDecember 27, 2022Comment

What are you thankful for? I'll start...

Of all the major American holidays, Thanksgiving is the one that has resisted most successfully crass commercialism. Setting aside the calendrically-adjacent Black Friday, the holiday itself really does seem to be about gathering with family and friends to reflect upon our blessings with gratitude.

So I’ve asked our national directors to join me in an online version of taking turns around the dinner table and “sharing one thing you’re thankful for.” I’ll start:

I’m thankful that I’ve been able to return to Asia after nearly three years away. Covid affected all of us deeply, and one the most distressing consequences of the pandemic for me was the time away from Asia’s Hope friends and family. I always enjoy my visits to Cambodia, Thailand and India, but this year was especially joyful.

Savorn Ou, Asia’s Hope Cambodia Director: “I’m thankful that Asia’s Hope Cambodia has been able to rescue 80 new children this year.

Tutu Bee, Asia’s Hope Thailand Director: “I’m so thankful that, after more than two years of Covid-related disruptions, all of our kids have been able to go back to school in-person.”

Sunil Tamang, Asia’s Hope India Co-Director: “I’m thankful that none of our kids or staff were infected during a severe dengue fever outbreak in our town this year.”

Amber Gurung, Asia’s Hope India Co-Director: “I’m thankful that we have been able to make progress in securing the future for not only the kids and staff of Asia’s Hope India, but for the organization itself.”

So as we gather with family and friends to reflect on the year’s blessings, please ask God to continue blessing all of us at Asia’s Hope. And know that I appreciate your prayers for and your generosity to our precious kids and hardworking staff.

On behalf of myself, my staff and my family, Happy Thanksgiving!

John McCollumNovember 14, 2022Comment

Wrapping up a month of celebration with our Cambodian and Thai directors!

Early Tuesday morning, I dropped off our Cambodian country director Savorn and his wife Sony at the airport, returning a favor they’ve afforded me about thirty times in their own country. Having said goodbye to our Thailand director Tutu a couple of days ago, this marked an end to a rewarding yet tiring month celebrating the start of our third decade of ministry.

We wanted to do a 20 year anniversary celebration in 2021, but alas, the coronavirus had other plans. And as much as I wish our Indian directors hadn’t been prevented from visiting due to visa issues, we had our hands full attending and hosting two country’s directors’ worth of celebrations, meetings, meals and gatherings.

For all of you who attended an open house, dropped in on a church service or participated in a fundraiser during the month of October, I just want to say thank you. Savorn, Sony and Tutu were truly encouraged by all of the people who came by to hear their stories and learn about what God is doing in their countries. And speaking for our board and U.S.-based staff, we deeply appreciate the love you’ve shown for the international staff and kids of Asia’s Hope.

We’re also profoundly thankful to Savorn, Sony and Tutu, who took the time away from their busy schedules in Cambodia and Thailand to spend time in America. As much as everyone would like to rest, we are all returning to our “normal” schedules a few steps behind. But those guys are going to do so with the added burden of jet lag!

If you didn’t get a chance to hear from Savorn, Sony or Tutu during the month of October, that’s okay. We’ll be posting a link to the excellent Night of Worship and Prayer hosted by Life Vineyard soon, and you can find out all about our short- and medium-term plans by visiting www.asiashope.org/flourish

And you can watch the short film we’ve created about our organization’s history and future by clicking on www.asiashope.org/decades

Please share both links with your friends who might be interested in what God is doing through the ministry of Asia’s Hope!