New Begginings

I found out about these two young men last night.  One of our staff told us about them being orphaned and in a bad way not having anything to eat for a couple days.  So mom told the staff to let them know we have room for them.

Mother has died awhile ago and they presume dad to be dead as he went to work on a Thai fishing boat and have never heard from him again.  It's quite common for Thai fishing boats to kill migrant workers rather than pay them.

So I am excited because I told a young man two days ago that good things can come from bad things, I am excited to see what God has for these young men.
In the middle is Sitha he's 11 years old and in 5th grade.  His brother on the right is Sithon he's 9 in the 3rd grade.
Plus Sam and Joe's got a new class mates and brothers at home.  It's going to be fun to watch them transform.

What??? That's Crazy

What???  That's Crazy

Yeah, that's pretty much what's going on in my mind right now.
So the past couple months we've been feeling and looking at the change of direction our ministry with the desire to start counseling and repairing families in our area to help reduce orphans and start working towards foster caring some of our kids out.
We also have needed a human resource person at the school to work out issues with the staff and give advice to the kids on their needs as well help them with job and college direction.

Well an hour ago I was sharing about these needs with a guest and she was asking us how we do all this by ourselves, which I said we do it for now but we're looking for people to do the job.  Just a few minutes ago I got a call about an application given out.  We've got a married couple both Christians, the husband is councilor a pastor and a principal of a Christian school interested in working with us.  They know the accountant we hired a couple months ago and she told them we were looking workers.

How amazing is that.

So the prayer is that they are good normal people with the right mind for our project.  




Also on another note.                            
                                                                  This is Mr. Nhyn

I'd like to present to you your brother in Christ.

Mr. Nhyn has been teaching for us roughly a year and a half or so.  Mr. Nhyn had given his life to Jesus while working with us.  He has been a great teacher always loving and caring for his classes.

Yesterday his daughter asked us to retire him early because of his declining health.  He is unable to travel by himself now.  It's become difficult for the family to drive him every day to work.   Mr. Nhyn has not been listening to his families requests and desires to finish out the school year 2 months from now.

So we sat Mr. Nhyn in the office and let him know it was okay to retire that it we have replacements and he has savings with the school for retirement.

He told us that since he's become a Christian he desires to give his life working for Christ, as Christ has given his life for him.

How powerful is that.

I could have served here in Cambodia my whole life to hear what we heard today.

Mr. Nhyn's daughter is also a Christian and will now have her father in heaven with her.  Mr. Nhyn's grand daughter will start working at the school in July she to is also a Christian and Mr. Nhyn's son in-law is our maintenance man who we've blogged about in the past though not a Christian yet he's an awesome man doing so much for us.

Awesome to have such a family working with us.

I am so so proud of our ministry quite often and how lucky we are that God chooses to use us.  I truly love the ride.


Kit

A Previous Post

Earlier in May we posted that we were to start construction on a new team house.

Here is the updated version of that older post.  

We've mentioned before that the building has two phases; 1st phase is just the bottom floor and the 2nd phase is the second story.
We've enough funds to complete the "1st phase" and have already begun construction.

The photo is the best I can do with my limited cut and paste skills.

This is looking down from the orphanage.  42 feet long 32 feet wide.  The bathrooms to the left and the front door to the right.  They are to pour the ceiling shortly and the 1st floor will be completed early July.

Bottom floor

Bottom floor 3D from front right.  

Orphanage in back ground.

Bottom Floor view from the top. 

2nd floor is designed for long term guest.

2nd floor, back left view, orphanage in back ground.

2nd floor, front right view, orphanage in back left.

As for the 2nd Floor we are currently raising funds with the hopes that the builders can continue and finish the project in one go.
If you're interested in knowing the financial details of Phase 2 there will be a tab on the upper right corner called "Current Needs".

Thank you

A Small Change To The Way We Post

First I have to say how grateful we always are for the support given to us both moral and financial. There is never enough room to thank everyone for everything given to us.

So once and a while we put out a general thank you to everyone.  This way the person that gives a dollar isn't neglected and the person that donates a hundred dollars doesn't receive all the praise.

Recently a start up church failed to grow and the board of the church voted close it and to give us the remaining funds in their accounts.  I have to stay honestly, I had mixed feelings with this.  I was excited that one of our needs was met but saddened that it came to us at the price of a church not being unable to continue.   I was in a bit of a daze when I read the email, in away it felt a bit like reading "widows mite" story.  It's a very humbling to receive such a gift and felt worthy to mention it.
We are an organization funded by the people that love what is being done here in Cambodia through us by the grace of God.  We are a group that is covered in prayer by friends and family that know what difficult job this undertaking can be.  They know we alone could never begin to handle all the stuff we face daily with out their prayers.   We desire your prayers as well if you a newer reader who has not seen such a request from us.

So, about the post changes.
To help avoid our organization look like we ask for funds all the time.
We will begin to post what we are doing but make a note that if funds are needed you can click on a separate tab to the right to see what the financial needs are.   This way you don't have to read about our need for money and yet we can maintain the ability to raise funds with a less direct approach.

We do also have a high volume of people asking how they can give, or where to give, or what they can give too.   So we think this idea of posting the needs separate from the post will serve both groups of givers and prayer partners and keep the reading a little more enjoyable.

If giving towards a request isn't possible for you I would suggest still taking a peek at the financial needs so you know what we need prayer for.  Also knowing amounts of a "need" gives you an answer when someone asks you.  Which is what happened with the church that sent us their funds.  Some knew an amount when the question came up and funds were given indirectly of the person who knew about us.

I think it is very important for us to understand it doesn't always have to be us that gives directly to a cause.  Often sharing our hearts about something inspires others to get involved.  I would guest to say 90% of our visiting guests come to us because a friend once came here and I think that speaks amazingly to what's being done here; but to also that people are sharing and getting others involved.  I guess this is where I could use all those trendy words like, grass roots, organic, or home grown but I'm not the trendy type. ;)

I will be re-posting some earlier blogs in a couple days that employees this new idea.  Feel free to let us know what you think.


Also since we are in the middle of construction projects, I've asked a guest help us write a few blogs.
To give me time to focus on other tasks for a time.

Thank you all,

Kit Carson