Well, it just so worked out that I was able to SURPSISE visit them! It was only for a day and night, but it was legit and worth it! I'll for sure be visiting them again in the future, for a longer amount of time!

 

Her name is Betsy, if you don't remember her, refresh yourself with this blog "Tio Bryan" http://brentfrederick.theworldrace.org/?filename=im-an-uncle

 

 

This reunion was so legit!! Definitely orchestrated by God :)

http://lunchboxboy.blogspot.com/2012/04/no-fear.html

http://lunchboxboy.blogspot.com/2012/04/who-is-our-enemy.html

A guy gave money for beds and THIS is what happened:

So I could go on and on about what God is doing here, but I guess that is good enough for now.

My NEW blog is: www.lunchboxboy.blogspot.com so you can check out some other stories on there. I'm falling behind on my internet life, because I don't have internet too often. So thanks for being patient!

Thanks. Thank for praying. Legit, it's the ONLY reason why things happened. Like, without your prayers, I would not have been financially supported. Without your prayers I would not have been safe. Without your prayers I would not have had the opportunities I had to build His Kingdom, the Kingdom of God.

Thank you so much.

Legit.

If you want more direct prayer requests for my next journey, which I've already started (don't worry, God is outside of time ^.^ haha), e-mail me at: iwant2pray2@gmail.com

LEGITTT

So God told me to thank my financial supporters in a special way. After calculating my whole trip cost, I divided it by the number of days and came up with a number. That number was $42 a day. Yes, even the day that we flew from California to China was $42...cheap, huh?!

So everyone that donated financially, they were put on my list with an 'account balance.' I listed everyone in the order that they gave. Then each day, I would deduct the next $42. Some days, there would be two people or even three people that donated to that day. Does that make any sence? Here is the list: (it's an organized mess, b/c i know EXACTLY what happened here...haha

Each day I journal'ed a page of what I did that day.  And then when I came home I sent them the page(s) that were for them.
This was the start to the note:

You are too kind and too nice and too good to me! Thank you so much for your financial support! I (obviously) could not do it without you J It makes me think of 3 John 1:5-8: ⁵ Dear friend, you are being faithful to God when you care for the traveling teachers and missionaries who pass through, even though they are strangers to you. ⁶ They have told the church here of your loving friendship. Please continue providing generously for such teachers in a manner that pleases God. ⁷ For they are traveling for the Lord, and they accept nothing from people who are not believers. ⁸ So we ourselves should support them so that we can be their partners as they teach the truth.

It also reminds me of what Matthew 10:40-42. It basically says that you will be rewarded [in Heaven] with the same rewards that I get. So all the opportunities that God gave to me and I was faithful with, YOU will receive that same reward also! Snap! That is legit!

So yeah, thank you financial supporters! This is my way of honoring you. 

Back in the states

Ok this blog is a LITTLE late...haha

So I got back to the states on December 22, 2011. Wow, it's amazing how God worked everything out perfectly. My dad and brother found me at JFK airport without me having a cell phone...yeah how did that happen? God.

It's 'good' to be back. I love my bed. I love my toilet. I love the couch. I love FAST wireless internet, wifi I think it's called. I love my dad's cooking. I love American food (even though my stomach HATED it the first few weeks). I love my church. I love salvation army. I love my friends. I love the men that are surrounding me and encouraging me. I love my family. I love my car and driving it. I love my hot showers. I love having more than 2 choices of clothing when getting dressed.

I'm overwhelmed though. I can do whatever I want. I can make my own schedule...wow. There is food everywhere. Nobody is starving around me. Everyone is perfectly content to themselves. Nobody really cares about me...I'm normal now...I'm not a 'gringo' or 'mzungu'...I'm just a typical, normal person. I sort of just sit on the couch in shock...or maybe it's because I'm trying to unpack all my junk into a room that is full of junk already. Anyways, I'm overwhelmed and I sorta just chill on the couch and think, 'what am I doing?'

Re-entry...here we come!

Or maybe I'm overwhelmed because I came back Dec22...Christmas is the 25^th...birthday is the 28^th...then new years and then I leave for passion2012 and searchlight/Kingdom dreams (post-world race gathering)

Let's see what God has planned for me for the next few weeks! 

Ok, so what do I mean by speaking life? Well, let me start with the opposite, which is speaking death, which is what we are CONSTANTLY surrounded with. Speaking death is when you say negative things to people and put them down. Some examples: teachers calling students stupid, coaches calling players slow, pretty much ANY TIME you say something that puts someone else down. When I was a child, my neighbor's mom always called me a negative word. It hurt me, but I didn't say anything because I was scared. Her words stuck with me and brought me down :/ I believed her lie and started to think I was the negative thing she was calling me. So that is an example of speaking death and how those words can stick with you for the rest of your life.

Now, speaking life. Yes, it's biblical: Judges 6:12-16, it's the story about Gideon. Gideon was the youngest in the family and his family was the least in the tribe and his tribe was the least of all the tribes. So pretty much, he was at the VERY BOTTOM of the list. Yet, and Angel of the Lord came to him and called him a MIGHTY WARRIOR. Gideon was confused...he was the least of the least, he couldn't be a 'mighty warrior.' But since that life was spoken over him, he believed it! He turned INTO that!

Can you see the difference? I can believe that I am 'stupid' (according to my teacher) and then I will never try anything, because I'll think I'm stupid. -OR- I can believe that I am 'smart' (according to my other teacher) and then I will continually try things, because I know that I'm smart and that I can do it. We need to start speaking life into people. Even if you don't SEE that in them yet, speak it out so that they can believe it and seek after that. (Remember: Gideon was NOT a mighty warrior at the time that the Angel of God called him a mighty warrior. But since the Angel spoke that life, Gideon believed it and went after it.)

Romans 4:17 - As it is written: "I have made you a father of many nations."He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed-the God who gives life to the dead and calls into being things that were not.

This whole race, people talk about being 'unoffendable.' I was trying to figure out what that meant or what it looks like. Then a friend helped it click. I can't think that I do have any rights. If I realized that I don't have any rights...then I can't be offended.

Example: do I have the right to finish my sentence?
do I have the right to have silence on a long bus ride?
do I have the right to my own schedule?
do I have the right to my own stuff?
do I have the right to be upset when a car pools out in front of me and cuts me off?
do I have the right to _____ (you fill in the blank)

Now of course, do I just flop over when something happens? No. I still speak when I need to and say my thoughts, but the main point is: I don't get offended. When somebody disagrees with me or interrupts me, I don't get offended, because I don't have the right.

OK, so in my previous blog I wrote about what we are doing this month and I said how our church is about 80 young people (30 years old and younger) crammed in this small room with the overflow in the hallway.

The reason mostly everyone is younger than 30, is because of the genocide that recently happened here. It's a long story, but 80% of the population is under 30 years old. It was so amazing to see all these young people on fire for the Lord and they are already leading worship and the church service by themselves! And they teach the children, so they are already rising up a generation to take their place! It's sooo legit!!!

[***if you are younger than 15 years old, I would appreciate it if you don't read this next section. It's graphic and I do not think it is appropriate for you to read. If you want to read the rest, get an adult to read it with you to help explain what happened***]
I want to write more about the genocide because it really hit me hard :'(
It's a long story. I really don't know what to write, but I'll try to explain it quickly. Ok, this huge high school was overtaken and was turned into a place where they questioned people, tortured them, and 'housed' them in cells. The reason it hit me so hard is because all this stuff took place in classrooms. A classroom turned into a place where there was a chair for the person to question the person that was laying on a metal bed frame with a car battery hooked up to them. Classrooms were also turned into cells: 9x3 brick or wooden man-made cells. As a teacher, this was so tough to see in a school. People (infant to elderly) were here for month and months, and horrible things happened to them and then they were taken away to the 'killing fields' where they were brutally killed (without using guns) and buried in mass graves. It was so sad ;_;

There is so much more that I want to say...but here is my point: Cambodia is such a young country. They are rebuilding what had happened to their previous generation. They are not giving up. They are building up themselves AND the generation that is below them! They are taking up responsibility

We are in Phnom Penh, Cambodia this month and we have been teaching English to students. The first time slot has two classes: 4-11 year olds and 8-14 year olds. The next class is conversational one-on-one classes and they are for the more advanced English speakers. And then the last slot has two classes: 13-18 year olds and 16-30 year olds. I help out in the 4-11 year olds and the 16-30 year old classes.

It has been so much fun, but extremely tiring. We taught the children how to write the whole alphabet and for the older ones in the class that already knew how to write all the letters, we wrote conversations in their notebooks, that way the other students would not get distracted.

Then in the conversation/one-on-one class, we would ask them questions and they would ask us questions and we would get to know each other better. It was SUCH a great time and we actually got a lot of questions about Christianity and Jesus, which was so legit! The people here in Cambodia are SO HUNGRY to know more about Jesus!! :)

Then the last class is mainly college students, so we choose different people and act out different scenarios and they have to speak English to make the skit/scenario flow. It was actually really good! Then we would ask them questions or we would have a conversations with each on in the front of the class so they could get better at speaking in public.

Then on Saturdays we would have a 'kids club' sorta thing and it was so much fun! I taught the children Bible stories and also played games with them! Oh it was SO MUCH FUN!!!

Then Sundays was church and it was so legit! Cram 80 people younger than 30 AND a stage with a full band into a small room and the hallway and THAT was our church. It was SO LEGIT!!!!  [I'm gonna write more about this in my next blog]

Here are some pics, they aren't the best showing what I'm doing the whole month, but you get the picture...haha get it? You get the picture!! Haha and here are some pictures...haha!