As a child, I remember going to school and reciting the Pledge of Allegiance.  I would stand proud, my right hand over my heart, and I would say, "I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America.  And to the republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all." 

ONE NATION UNDER GOD.

Then, suddenly, we didn't have to recite the pledge of allegiance anymore.  Just like that, it was taken out of the public school system.

What about Christmas trees in public schools?  My high school used to put one up in the office every year.  Then, my senior year, the school was no longer allowed to put a Christmas tree up.  A number of parents had called and complained that putting up Christmas trees was offensive to non-Christians.

Or maybe you heard about the Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court who was removed from office for refusing to remove a monument to the Ten Commandments from his courthouse building.

And when did people start writing "Merry X-mas" on their Christmas cards?  If you don't believe in Christ, why are you even celebrating His birthday in the first place?

You get the point.  The thing is, when I see these things happening in my country, I become discouraged.  How did we get to this place?  How did we go from a country that knew and acknowledged the God that created it, to a country that has turned our backs on the very hand that feeds us? 

On July 30, 1956, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed a bill declaring "In God We Trust" the national motto of the United States.  He said, "It is proper to remind all of us of this self-evident truth that as long as this country trusts in God, it will prevail."

The United States is the most powerful country in the world.  But we have forgotten why.  No nation can be strong except in the strength of God, or safe except in His defense.  I have been traveling all over the world, to third world country after third world country, and I am at a loss for words at the poverty I have seen.  We are so blessed to be Americans.  We are so fortunate to live where we do.  And it is all because of GOD'S GRACE!

Once upon a time, the United States of America was a place where the word of God was alive.  One nation under God.  We knew who we were.  And we knew who we had to thank for it.  When did all of this power go to our heads?  Who decided to stop giving God the credit for what He has done for us?  Do we really just think Americans are so superior that we figured it all out by ourselves? 

Being in Asia for three months only added to my discouragement.  We stayed in Thailand for two out of three months where only one percent of the population is Christian.  One percent!  To say it was difficult to see so many people who do not know the love of Jesus Christ would be a grave understatement.  To meet face after face and hear story after story of people looking to fill a void but refusing to accept Jesus was devastating.  Once you have encountered the love of the living God, you are never the same.  You feel like you have discovered gold.  You want to shout His praises from the mountain tops because your hope has been restored.  But most importantly, you want everyone in the world to have what you have.  And it is painful, physically painful, when people do not want what you have to offer them.  Because you know how good it is.  You know what they are missing. 

I have fallen to my knees many nights and begged God to move in the hearts of those people.  To reveal Himself to them the way He has revealed Himself to me.  To show them the love of Jesus Christ, who died for them and who came back to live inside of all of us.  But God is a perfect gentleman.  He is the Creator of the entire universe.  He created the earth and the heavens.  He formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed life into him.  He knows all of the stars in the sky and calls them by name.  But He will not force Himself on us.  He has given us free will to accept Him or not.  To accept what Jesus did for us or not.  And that is the part that is so hard for me.  How can you say no to something like that?  To SOMEONE like that?

Psalm 30:5 says, "Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning."  Halleluiah for morning!  After months of Asia slowly starting to take its toll, my hope has been restored.  I have arrived in AFRICA!

We arrived in Navrongo, Ghana late Wednesday night.  One of the many reasons, selfish as it may sound, that our team decided to go to northern Ghana was because we thought it would be cooler.  Ha ha!  Perhaps we should have brushed up on our geography before making such an assumption, seeing as how Africa is below the equator.  Therefore, the farther north you go in Ghana, the hotter it gets.  It is 113 degrees here.  I cannot even begin to explain what that feels like!

But man is it AWESOME!  God knew just what we needed.  He knows all things.  Before any one of us was created in our mother's womb, God knew that the six of us would be here in Navrongo, Ghana with these precious people at this time.  That never ceases to blow my mind!  God knows what we need and He is so faithful to provide.  Just as we are traveling the world in hopes of pouring into others and sharing the love of Jesus Christ, we continue to be poured into and blessed by so many people.  And Ghana is no exception.  The people in Ghana have renewed my faith that God is still moving all over the world.  He is just as alive as ever.  Satan wants me to believe that the world has turned its back on Jesus Christ.  But God brought me to Africa to show me otherwise.  THESE PEOPLE ARE ON FIRE!

Our team is staying with Pastor Emmanuel and his wife Mary Anne.  They are absolutely amazing.  Emmanuel means "God with us."  And He is!  I tear up almost every time this man speaks.  His heart for God is the size of the entire continent of Africa.  He and his church have been praying for our team since they found out we were coming here.  And they told the children about us who have been praying for us as well.  Giving gifts is a big part of the culture here in Ghana.  It is a way of showing love and respect to others.  And they love to honor their guests.  So at 5am the morning after we arrived, a bunch of children showed up at the pastor's door bearing gifts because they knew we had arrived late the night before.  Pastor Emmanuel told us that it is the dry season here, so there is not much food to go around.  Therefore, anything that the children had to give, we knew was from an overflow of their hearts.  The children gave us a huge bag of rice and another huge bag of peanuts.  I can't put into words the emotions that came over me when we woke up around 9am and the pastor showed us what the children had dropped off for us.  I can't even begin to explain how long it must have taken them to gather so much rice and peanuts for us, and how much their families could probably use those gifts so much more than us.  How do you not just start weeping?  That is the love of Jesus Christ!

The more we get to know the people here, the more I am encouraged.  They thank God day and night for EVERYTHING!  "Thank you, God for safe travels"..."Thank you, Father, for a new day"..."Thank you, Jesus, for cool breezes"..."Thank you, Lord, for a beautiful sunset"...

Everyone says, "God bless you" everywhere you go.  The stores have names like, "Lord of Lords Hairstyles" or "God Saves Electronics."

These people are so welcoming.  They are ready and willing to serve you in any way they can because they are overflowing with the love of Jesus in their hearts.  And they are hungry for more of Him!  Pastor Emmanuel says that the people here who are not Christians were blown away when they heard that Americans were coming all the way to Navrongo, Ghana, in the dead of summer, because they wanted to share the love of Jesus.  He said just us being here is a testament to them.  People will give their lives to Jesus just because we said "yes" and showed up.  Wow!  We don't have to do a thing but show up!  God wants to do unimaginable things in us and through us!  We just have to keep saying yes.

Thank you, God, for sending us to Ghana.  Thank you for the precious people we have fallen in love with here.  Thank you for bringing me to a country where your name is shouted from every rooftop.  Thank you for reminding me to keep praying for my own country.  Thank you for knowing what we need and providing it in Your perfect timing.  Thank you for reminding me that the world has not turned its back on You.  There is a movement happening.  And I get to be a part of it.  Thank You!  Thank You!  Thank You!

20. Not sweating before 10am

19. Being able to FLUSH my toilet paper in the actual TOILET

18. Being able to brush my teeth, wash my face, and even DRINK water straight out of the faucet!  Woo hoo!

17. Waiting in line (I know that sounds funny...but you have no idea how much more I appreciate lines now, where people wait their turn in an orderly fashion)

16. Laws that require dogs to be on leashes

15. Towels (bath towels, dishtowels, hand towels...I would just like to dry off please!)

14. Air conditioning

13. Driving a car

12. Showering without shoes on

11. Bubble baths

10. Washing machines and DRYERS

9. Fruits and vegetables

8. Ice

7. Going for long runs by myself

6. Having some sort of income : )

5. Sleeping in the same bed as my husband

4. PERSONAL SPACE!

3. My church

2. My friends

1. My family

Then Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, being tempted for forty days by the devil.  And in those days He ate nothing, and afterward, when they had ended, He was hungry.

                                                                                                Luke 4:1-2

The number 40 is a special number in the Bible.  It signifies preparation for something special:

·         The rain lasted for 40 days in the great flood (Genesis chapter 7)

·         Moses stayed on the Mount Sinai 40 days (Exodus 24:18)

·         Jonah gave the people of Nineveh 40 days to repent (Jonah 3:4)

·         And, before starting His ministry, Jesus spent 40 days in the desert fasting and praying (Matthew 4:2)

Today is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent.  Traditionally, Christians have seen the 40 days of Lent as an opportunity to parallel Jesus' 40 days in the desert.  Jesus used this time to prepare for His ministry, and ultimately His death on a cross, by fasting and praying.  As a tangible way of experiencing Jesus' 40 days in the desert, many Christians choose to fast during Lent, as a way of preparing to rejoice at the resurrection of Jesus Christ on Easter.

 In the Western church, we skip over Sundays when we calculate the length of Lent because Sundays commemorate the Resurrection, and are therefore a time of celebration.  But this is entirely up to you!  Remember, this isn't a time of suffering for the sake of suffering.  This is a time of sacrificing our own wants and desires to show God how desperate we are for more of Him in our lives.  This is a time of declaring our faith that God will sustain us. 

Lent is a time of reflection, discipline, and surrender. 

Our team will be fasting over the next 40 days.  Fasting is going without food (either all food, certain types of food, or certain meals) for a defined period of time with the purpose of experiencing more of God's grace.  It doesn't matter what you give up, but that you choose to sacrifice something you enjoy for a period of time as a testament to the scripture:

Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God. 

Luke 4:4 

We would like to invite you all to join us in our fast.  This is a time of pressing in deeper to God, of spending more time with Him, of getting to know ourselves better, and of coming to a place of complete and total surrender.  We are hungry for God and we want more of Him.

My church back home has presented an additional challenge to its body, and I think it is a great idea.  In addition to giving up some sort of food, I would also like to encourage you all to give up any type of speech that doesn't honor others, such as gossip, swearing, complaining, tearing others down, sarcasm, etc.  For some of us (myself included!), it will be easier to give up food than to get control of our tongue, but this is so important: 

Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit. 

Proverbs 18:21.

But no man can tame the tongue.  It is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.  With it we bless our God and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the similitude of God.  Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing.  My brethren, these things ought not to be so.                                                                                                                                 James 3:8-10

My prayer is that this will be an amazing time of reflection, surrender, desperation, and revelation for you all!  And on Easter Sunday, we will all join together and celebrate the resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

Nevertheless, Nirout is very energetic and full of smiles. He loves to play football with the other kids in his village. They also like to play "the crocodile egg game," where he and his friends have a pretend crocodile egg and someone has to guard the egg. The object of the game is to try to get the crocodile egg from whoever is defending it. Nirout says he is very good at this game. 

 

                                         

Children in Cambodia only attend school for a half day in the mornings or the afternoons in order to allow space for all students. Nirout attends the Destiny Rescue Learning Center in the mornings from 7:30-11am. The children sing songs and practice their Khmer alphabet. At 11am, Destiny Rescue serves Nirout and the other children lunch. Then Nirout goes to public school from 1-5pm. He is in grade 4 and studies Khmer, math, social studies, and science.

Nirout is the only one in his family who is not HIV positive. Both of his parents, his older brother, and his younger sister are all infected. His sister Minroza is often sick and has to stay home from school. When Nirout grows up, he says he wants to be a doctor so he can save lives.

 

   

The prevalence of HIV and AIDS in Cambodia is among the highest in Asia. It is estimated that 1.6 percent of Cambodian adults aged 15-49 are living with HIV or AIDS. 

The first case of HIV infection in Cambodia was reported in 1991 and was followed by a rapid rise in transmission. Cambodia's national HIV prevalence rate is now the second highest in Asia.

But fortunately, Cambodia is considered one of the few success stories in the global fight against AIDS. Even though Cambodia is one of the poorest countries in the world, extraordinary efforts to prevent and control HIV have helped reduce the spread of HIV. Cambodia's efforts provide evidence that well-focused and sustained prevention efforts can help reverse an HIV epidemic. Cambodia should also be praised for its progressive AIDS laws protecting people living with HIV from discrimination. 

HIV is finally on the decline in Cambodia. And thanks to organizations like Destiny Rescue, treatment is available to even the poorest of the poor. Destiny Rescue has helped to make sure that Nirout's family continues to receive proper treatment. Our God is a big God and our hope is that Nirout will see all of his family members healed. Please pray for this family and for Cambodia.

                        

Destiny Rescue has also set up a homework club, providing students with extra help with their studies. Many children in Cambodia start school late and struggle to keep up with their learning. The homework club enables the children to receive assistance after school hours. 

A Day Care Center has also been set up in the slums of Phnom Penh, to provide parents with a safe place to leave their younger children while they go to work. Parents are often forced to leave their small children alone in the slums, in order to go to work to provide for their families. As a result, Cambodia has the highest infant and under-five mortality rate in South East Asia, and 45 percent of Cambodian children show symptoms of stunting, due to malnutrition.  At the Destiny Rescue Day Care Center, the children take baths (for some of them, it is the only bath they ever receive), sing songs, play games, and learn the Khmer alphabet and numbers.

 

                                          

Srey Lak, along with most of her siblings, recently came down with a case of scabies. Destiny Rescue took the children to the hospital, and the cream they were given seems to be working. Srey Lak is painfully shy and quiet. When she first came to Destiny Rescue, she would sit by herself and she wouldn't listen to the teacher. But now she seems to enjoy day care. She is still shy but she listens to the teacher. She likes when they sing songs, and she enjoys playing with puzzles and with toy cars. Her favorite animal is a monkey. Her favorite color is purple. She loves to eat pork soup. 

Srey Lak has captured my heart this month. We have spent weeks getting to know the families that live in the slums here in Phnom Penh, and my heart is forever changed.  I am definitely not ready to leave.
    

On April 17, 1975, the Cambodian capital city of Phnom Penh fell to the Khmer Rouge, beginning a horrific period in Cambodian history known as "the Killing Fields." During this time, close to two million people were brutally tortured and slaughtered. We went to visit the Killing Fields today. We saw where innocent people were tortured and then thrown in pits. These mass graves were later dug up, and the bones of the victims have been put on display as a memorial.

How did this happen? How did I not know about this?

Shortly after their victory, the Khmer Rouge forced the evacuation of 2 million people from the city to the countryside, on foot. The wounded were forced out of hospitals; some of them were even wheeled out on hospital beds.

What happened next was a shock to nearly everyone. The Cambodian people remaining in the country were about to suffer one of the most horrific genocides in history. 

  

   


That's because little was known of the leader of the Khmer Rouge, a Paris-educated communist known as "Pol Pot." Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge attempted to completely transform Cambodia overnight. That meant shutting off all contact to the outside world, eliminating loyalty to friends and family, emptying cities, and eliminating the Buddhist religion. Rather than "re-educate" the population, the Khmer Rouge thought it would be "easier" to execute anyone with any previous form of education whatsoever.

 

Those arrested were often "encouraged" to confess to things they didn't do, being told the Khmer Rouge would forgive them and "wipe the slate clean". Once a confession was given, the prisoners were taken away to a place to be executed.

In order to save ammunition, the executions were often carried out using hammers, axe handles, spades or sharpened bamboo sticks. The executed were buried in mass graves. Some victims were required to dig their own graves so the soldiers beating them could keep up their strength.

 

  

Cambodia is still very much wounded from the war. Phnom Penh bears scars of battle, the countryside is littered with land mines, and the Khmer Rouge slaughter of a generation of educated people has left the nation in poverty.

  

Most of the leaders of the Khmer Rouge, including Pol Pot, died before they were ever charged with war crimes. On September 19, 2007 Nuon Chea, second in command of the Khmer Rouge and its most senior surviving member, was charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity.  He will face Cambodian and foreign judges at the special genocide tribunal.

 

  

Meanwhile, Cambodia is a country in the process of rebuilding itself. These people need our prayers more than anything else. Prayers for hearts to be restored, for a country to be restored, and for the lives of those lost to never be forgotten.

 

                              

 

 

It's been six days since we left Ometepe.  I'm not going to lie.  This was definitely not the easiest month for me, and there were definitely times when I prayed for the day we would be able to leave.  So it's funny that I'm now on a plane headed to Thailand, and I find myself thinking about the children we left behind.  Those little stinkers stole a piece of my heart when I wasn't looking!

There was one boy in particular that captured both Brad's heart and mine this past month.  His name is Jimmy.  He's the most annoying 12-year-old child you have ever met.  He has the attention span of a fruit fly, he needs constant attention, and he is always in trouble.  He's like an A.D.D. child on speed!  While we were staying at the orphanage, he would run up to us and slap us in the back of the heads for no reason at all.  Or kick dirt on one of us.  Or grab our shoes and throw them into the lake.  He had just failed elementary school for the third year in a row, just because of his behavior.  He's the kind of kid you want to slip a sedative to and then lock him in a room for a few hours.

And there was something about that boy that I fell madly in love with.  Because I know that boy.  I married that boy!  Jimmy is just like Brad was at his age.  He craves endless love and attention, but doesn't want to ask for it.  So he acts out, because negative attention is still attention.  He misbehaves at school and at home because he is bored.  He's too dang smart for his own good.  He has more energy than he knows what to do with, so he finds less than constructive channels for that energy when he isn't given an outlet.

But that boy has a heart of gold!  And Brad and I were lucky enough to get to see glimpses of that heart when he would let his guard down...even if only for a moment.

I think the reason Jimmy opened up to Brad and I was because we responded differently to his behavior.  When Jimmy acts out, he is usually either ignored, or reprimanded.  Brad and I chose two very different approaches.  Every time Jimmy would assault Brad physically, Brad would turn around and knock him on his butt.  Now I know what you're probably thinking.  What kind of person would beat up on an orphan?  But for some reason, Jimmy was intrigued by this.  So every single day, sometimes two or three times a day, those two would go at it.  They weren't especially rough with each other (or so Brad assures me), but it seemed that the wrestling gave Jimmy the outlet he needed physically, and the attention he needed emotionally.

My approach was also different.  Every time Jimmy would come up and pinch me or steal something of mine, I would hug him and tell him I loved him.  Now at first, he pretended to be completely repulsed by this.  But after time, he started running up to me to give me a quick hug and the tiniest hint of a smile before running off to torment someone else.

So Brad and I fell head over heels in love with this boy.  We understood him.  We could relate to him.  We knew why he was acting out.  We knew how smart he really was.  We saw the potential inside of him.  We saw the size of his heart, hidden beneath all of his walls.  We would pray for him and see huge things in his future.  This kid has the power inside of him to shake nations, to stir things up, to lead others and to speak truth!  His future is anointed beyond belief!  The more we prayed for him, the more we knew it to be true!  There are no limits to what this kid will be able to do for God's Kingdom!  He just needs guidance, and discipline, and prayer, AND LOVE!

So our last day at the orphanage, this man and wife came to put on a clown show for the kids.  After the show, the man began preaching to the kids.  At the end of his message, he asked if there was anyone who didn't feel God's love for them.  He invited anyone who didn't feel like God loved them to come up for prayer.  I remember praying, "Please God, not Jimmy!  He's always in trouble.  Just please, please let him know that God loves him!"  But before I had even finished my prayer, Jimmy was coming forward with tears in his eyes.  I immediately started weeping.  A few more children came forward, along with some of the "tias" who help out at the orphanage.  Then the man turned to the world racers and said we could come up and pray for someone if we felt led.  Brad and I ran to Jimmy and threw our arms around him.

We began praying ferociously!  That God would reveal Himself to Jimmy in a way he had never known.  That His love would flood over Jimmy so abundantly that he would shout from the rooftops how loved he was.  That he would come to know the Lord in such an intimate and personal way, that he would allow God to move through him and mold him into the man he was created to be.  A man of power!  A man of wisdom!  A man of royalty!  A man of destiny!

By the time we were done praying, all three of us were holding each other and weeping.  I will never forget that day, nor the love I was overcome with for that boy.  For a brief moment, the three of us were a family.  It's hard to put it into words or to explain it any better than that.  We were a family.

So now we're on our way to Thailand, to fight human trafficking.  My heart is 100 percent dedicated to what this month has in store for us, and I am beyond excited.  But Brad and I will keep the people at Cicrin in our hearts and in our prayers.  We have exchanged email addresses with some of the contacts there, and we plan on writing Jimmy letters and keeping up with him.  We'll continue to pray for him, as he has touched both of our hearts forever.