Lost in my own home

Were home now and I feel more lost in my own country than I did in far off Cambodia. Look at the pictures of the children makes me miss them. I know they have made such an impact on my life, there just are no words. I am simply filled with much emotion. Someone told us this is the time, after we have done God's work, the devil wants to creep into our lives to turn the light in our hearts to darkness. I would agree. Satan is probably very unhappy for the joy of the Lord we have just shared with others. At this time, I am the most sad and probably at the most vulnerable. Please pray for our team as we transition back into our daily lives. Please pray to keep our hearts safe from any spiritual warfare that might come upon us.
















I am comforted from this verse,
"Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go."
Joshua 1:9

With Thanks,
Anna Alexander

Tree roots overtaking another temple at Angkor Wat

Another temple at Angkor Wat

In Korea

We have made it as far as Korea and we have a couple hours to kill
before jumping on the next plane to Atlanta. I think we "left it all
on the field" because we are all exhausted by happy.

Other people are posting pictures of our past few days and I have to
say our time in Cambodia was amazing!! God is so good!! I feel so
lucky to have been a part of this team and to be able to travel 1/2
way around the world to love on some amazing children and to share the
story of Jesus. Lisa and I kept commenting on the disbelief of being
so far away from home but feeling right at home. Not only were the
children wonderful, all the adults that we worked with were amazing
too. They were such gracious hosts and made me feel so comfortable
and very taken care of. I couldn't have asked for more. It's like God
planned it or something ;). Maybe He will call me back here again
someday. I would come back in a New York minute!!

Please pray for the last leg of our trip home and that God will
continue to teach us even after we arrive back on American soil.

Inside one of temples at Angkor Wat

Angkor Wat

Monkeys at Angkor Wat

Coming to America

Angkor Wat

This is a rest stop we visited between Phnom Penh and Siem Reap....it was gorgeous!!

Blowing out the candles!

Singing Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday Jesus celebration at the orphanage

Our last day at the orphanage was filled with joy and tears. We started the day telling the story of Jesus' birthday to both the community kids and orphans. The story was received well during one of our more serious moods, played out by our actors, Kristi (Mary), Dominick (Joeseph), and Water Bottle wrapped in a bandana (Baby Jesus).

Afterwards we celebrated the birthday of Jesus by enjoying cake. The kids blew out the candles as we sang Happy Birthday to Jesus.

Srey Morm Nath age 16 befriended me on the first day by putting flowers in my hair. Everyday she gave me flowers. She could speak a little English and she told me that she would pray for me everyday. Today she gave me a scarf she wove by hand on a loom at the orphanage. The kids made one of these for each team member and handed them out before the picture above was taken.

Soon tears began to fall. We took some timeto play some games, make and exchange gifts and most of all share Gods love for one another.

It was a very emotional time for all of us. It took everything we had to go.

We are reminded of these verses:

Matthew 18:3-4

"I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefor, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven."

These children have shown us what Christ's love feels like. This is perhaps the greatest lesson of humility we have ever learned.

Every day we have spent with these children we've seen how God has truly touched this place in Cambodia and trust that he will continue to do so in the hearts of many for years to come.

We have faith in the Lord these kids will grow up to become the hands and feet of God for whoever they touch.

Matthew 19:14

"Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these."

As we drove away we knew that the Lord would take care of them. Despite the fact they have very little, they are fulfilled with the love of Christ and that is enough. We realized, it doesn't matter how much you have or how little you have, if you have never felt the love of Jesus you have never had anything at all.

Anna and Zach Alexander

my most prized possessions

One more post from me. Or if you're reading this thing from the top down, Hey! it's a post from Elloa! (Read 2 more down, and you might get a little sick of me.)

These things are now in my repertoire of most prized possessions. These are things the kids have made for me throughout the week. Never have I experienced such a deep and unconditional love from kids I have known for less than a week. The kids who made these spent a lot of time. Much more than a simple coloring page with their name signed at the bottom. These are labors of love, and I will cherish them for the rest of my earthly days.

on a lighter note...

Here is another picture of a kid I just adore. He was bitten today by one of their dogs who just had puppies. His hand was all bandaged up, but that didn't stop him from making 3 Christmas cards for Mike and me, from playing basketball (one-handed), or even from making a necklace for Michael. Rothanak is a wonderful boy who is learning how to be a wonderful man of God.

Samnang

Oh man...this kid. He just tears my heart out. There is something about him that is so much like what I imagine my husband was like as a child. He has a sweet spirit; he's always floating around the classroom, helping younger kids, trying to write new phrases in English, and making a-mazing paper crafts. All of the kids are phenomenal people, of that I am sure. But Samnang is different. Even his hands as he makes one of his flower creations conveys a gentle power. I can't believe it's already Wednesday. Tomorrow is our last day with the kids, and it's almost unbearable to think about. Please pray for each of us as we experience the bittersweet sorrow of the end of our wonderful time spent with amazing kids.

On the road to the orphanage

Making Jewelry -we all had a blast!!

Healthy Living for the Lord

Well mostly recovered I got to experience my full first day with the kids. Wow was I surprised at how humble, nice, respectful, and Godly these children truly are. They new from the day before that I had been sick an all day long asked how I was and whether or not I needed anything. I am truly thankful for the opportunity God has given my wife and myself to serve in this capacity.

Today, we started out with a very interactive story of Noah's Ark, followed by the kids making animals, putting on animal masks, some relay racing (3 legged of course) an a lot of time with a parachute. (see pic)

Well, all from me at the moment.

-Zach

One of my favorite parts of the day was the happiness the rainbows brought us. Their smiling faces were enough to cure a very dark day. I have learned to have faith and trust the Lord to take care of us. Much like the olive branch the dove gave to Noah.

Anna

Lisa

Saegye

Pastor Vek & Madame Samoeun

Making hand puppets

Afternoon relaxation

Kids loved parachute (so did I)

Noah's Ark Day

Today was a true blessing. Although, it started out with Zach getting sick unexpectedly, but it still turned out to be an amazing day. I was way cool because today we talked about the "Big Picture" and how they were also a part of the big picture and afterwards we took their pictures and printed them for this rainbow craft. Games were silly and got the kids really excited. I know there is one memorable moment which will get blogged shortly with pictures, so I am going to be proactive. We played a game in which 2 people hold hands and try to tag people. Stuart and I were it. Definitely, the first time and hopefully the last time, I've ever hold a guys hand and run. This was a really awesome day of bonding with these children. We're already so attached to them and they've even given us gifts, which is so moving because they have nothing. Something that has really struck me during this trip, is the way these kids treat each other. They share extremely well behaved, the older ones watch after the younger ones, and they are so loving and generous. They also know so much about the Bible and have alot of love. I really feel like New Life Church is doing an excellent job of teaching these Children the Love of Christ. There are so many moments in which I get choked up and remember how awesome God's love is. Dominick, Elloa, and Kristie, acted out some bible stories, which were hilarious. The ended with meeting up with Zach, Anna, and Tammy again at the hotel. Praise God that Zach is feeling better. Please keep him in your prayers. Afterwards, we had to saygoodbye to our awesome driver and brother Phillip, who serves at New LIfe Church. So this was just Monday! Hoping tomorrow is going to be even more awesome:). Sorry if the post has errors, I'm fighting to stay awake right now.

Musical Chairs

Making Journals

The Big Story

Lifting Dominick

Making rainbows

The Students

Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum and meeting children

Yesterday, we got to go the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuol_Sleng_Genocide_Museum This was a high school which converted to a place of imprisonment, torture, and execution. Going into the rooms in which the tortures occurred really moved each of us. I've read and heard about the atrocities of the Khmer Rouge, but to actually see the beds and devices that were used for torture really made it that much more real. The pictures which showed the tortured and executed victims were very graphic. I can't really explain the feelings. Shock, horror, angry, sorrow... There were also thousands of pictures of the people who were imprisoned in that camp. What was really shocking was the number of children's pictures there were. One of them that will be hard to get out of my head was this cute little girl who couldn't have been more than 2 or 3 years old. There were between 17,000 and 20,000 prisoners in this camp and only 12 known survivors. How could something like this happen? A comment that Madam Samuen, pastor's wife of New Life Church, made that really made me sad, was during the time when she was going through this time and felt her life was in danger. She something on the lines of, when we faced things like this we could call on God, who did these people call upon?

Now that I've depressed you, I wanted to bring you brighter news. Sorry, I wasn't trying to make feel bad. Today, we got to meet the children yea!! So we get off the bus and what we though were going to be about 40 but turned out be more like 80 to 100 kids. A bunch of children in the community came out, which was pretty awesome. They were so excited to see us. They put us in front and sang some songs to us. It was pretty moving, I don't think there were many dry eyes among our team and what made it escalate was to see some of the children crying. They seemed to have really missed the past teams that had come through, Noelle and Tammy, our team leaders, some of the members. Then it was off to play games/sports. We played 4 square, great choice Stuart! Super hot, but really good times. We had so much fun and got to make some connections with the children. We are so excited and blessed to be spending the next 4 days with these children. They are so precious and loving. And not to mention generous. One boy brought me this fruit that he had just picked from a tree and they even gave some of us massages, and we didn't even ask them for them. God has already rocked our world on the first day. Can't wait to see what tomorrow will bring!!

The rest of the day...

So, we left the orphanage around noon. Because we had left the hotel around 6:30 this morning to make it to church for the 7:00 AM service, noon felt like 3:00 or 4:00. Or maybe it felt that late b/c running around with kids for a couple hours is a bit more tiring than it used to be back in the day....just maybe.

Can you believe that the "main" service at New Life church is the 7:00 AM service. That would NEVER happen in the States, right? I looked around the room and it was packed...easily over 200 people there and I'm fairly certain that this did not include the children's choir, the youth choir or the adult choir - all of which played a role in the worship this morning.

It was a bit surreal to be sitting in Phnom and Penh in 2009 singing songs that I hadn't heard since the 1980's when I was a teenager in a Baptist church in Birmingham, AL. As for the sermon, we were given wireless headsets as we walked in and were able to listen to an interpreter throughout the worship service.

After church we piled into the van to head to the orphanage (see earlier post). After we left the orphanage we stopped at a local restaurant where our meal was most likely clucking at us as we walked in the door. A few minutes later, we had chicken on the table, some sort of fish & lotus soup and some veggies (primarily beans). It's not everyday that you actually get to see chicken feet on your table...=)

We had a little bit of free time this afternoon and spent that time exploring a local market. In the "the more things change, the more they stay the same category" as we were driving through town, Philip (one of our hosts this week), turned on the radio and none other than Andy Stanley is blasting through our speakers as we navigate the roads of Phnom Penh. Really.

It is 10:36 here and we have our team meeting at 6AM, so it's about that time....and I know that we haven't yet shared about our visit to Tuol Sleng (on Sat) - so, I'm going to post a link here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuol_Sleng_Genocide_Museum

Tuol Sleng is a school that was turned into a prison/place of torture by the Khmer Rouge regime in the late 1970's. One sign said that of the 20,000 prisoners to pass through the gates, only 7 survived. It is a very sobering place, filled with some incredible stories of courage and strength....

Ok as important as it is for us to all know about this particular piece of history, we can't end with that, so let's end with this thought from Psalm 40 (Saegye shared this with us earlier this week):

¹ I waited patiently for the LORD;
he turned to me and heard my cry.
² He lifted me out of the slimy pit,
out of the mud and mire;
he set my feet on a rock
and gave me a firm place to stand.
³ He put a new song in my mouth,
a hymn of praise to our God.
I think this passage is so relevant for the kids at the orphanage as well as Cambodia as a whole. Not only does it seem that the people here love to sing, but that they could clearly use a "new song" after a recent history that is devastating. So, please pray with us that we will be a part of God's "new song" for Cambodia as he lifts them up and sets their feet on a rock...
-stuart


ps For all of you who wrote notes of encouragement to us...they are so appreciated! Lisa did an amazing job in tracking all of you down and has done an even more incredible job of presenting the notes and prayers to us in a super creative way....We are grateful for you and loving all of your prayers!!

The kids...it's all about the kids

So after 6 months of planning, preparing and praying. After 24 hours of flights. And after another 24 hours of acclimating to life on the other side of the planet, finally we made it to the orphanage. As we pulled up, here are the first thoughts/images:

- That sure looks like way more than 30 kids...maybe closer to 100

- Beautiful, amazing smiles beaming at us from every single one of the kids

- Tammy and Noelle getting hugs as soon as they get out of the van. These kids obviously have great memories and couldn't wait to catch up with their friends from last year

- How proud the kids were to show us their home, to sing for us and to show us how much scripture they have memorized (one boy who couldn't be over 6, had memorized James)

- Watching Noelle tear up when the kids brought out a poster that her team had made last year when she came the first time. I think we all saw her start to cry and immediately realized how difficult it will be to sat good-bye on Thurs afternoon when we are done....But way too much to do between now and then ...

All in all, it was a great afternoon. Just a word of warning, however. If you are going to go and play games with a bunch of 4-16 year olds in Cambodia in December...jeans are not your best option. Trust me on this. =)

It was a great morning of getting connected with the students and building a foundation upon which to build the rest of the week. I can't wait for you to hear what our curriculum and arts/crafts teams have prepared for Mon - Thurs. I am so blown away by their creativity and preparation. But, I'll have to wait so that you guys can check back in with us later this week and be reminded to pray =)

-stuart

Driving the streets of Phnom Pehn

Zach, Phillip, Stuart & Dominick at lunch

Children's choir at church

Tammy, Kristie & Lisa at lunch

Church in Phnom Pehn

Christmas tree inside the church

Sunday

It has been a great few days getting to know each other better,
getting to know the country of Cambodia & city of Phnom Pehn, going to
church, and meeting the children in the orphanage. I feel so blessed
to be here and to be serving such a great God!! I will try to add
some pictures from on my phone so you can get a few visual updates...

Sunday

We are here and loving every minute of it! Today we went to the orphanage for a few hours. We showed up and a LOT of the kids in the community had heard we were coming and came to play. So we spent most of the morning playing games with about 100 kids whose language we don't speak. 4 corners went over REALLY well. Also, soccer and basketball are the same in any language!

Longer updates to come. Thanks to everyone for praying for us on the other side of the world!

Welcome to Cambodia!

We are here. It is 11:32 on Friday night in Phnom Penh. We are all doing well and just waiting for the last couple of bags before we head out of baggage claim. It has only been 24 hours since we left Atlanta....and we were in the air for nearly all of it =)

More to come once we get settled in, but wanted to let everyone know that we are all safe and sound in Cambodia. Thanks for your prayers!

-stuart

Our next flight is ONLY 5 hours....

So you know it has been a long flight when you get off the plane and give a sigh of relief b/c your next flight is only 5 hours long. =) We have made it to Seoul safe and sound (and a bit tired, too). Back in Atlanta it is just after 3:00 AM, so our internal clocks are all sorts of inside out and upside down. We journeyed from Atlanta with the other Cambodia team as well as a two other North Point Globalx staff guys - so there were plenty of opportunities for conversation in between naps and meals. Here's what I found out on this crazy long flight:

Lisa and Kristie are knitting masters.

Dominick is a sleep master.

Noelle and Tammy are minesweeper masters (would have been way cooler in the early 90's)

Saegye is most definitely not a sleep master on the plane

Elloa and Mike are masters of getting good seats (bulkhead, I believe)

Anna and Zach are masters at keeping up foreign relations

Stuart is master of sleeping with his knees up around his ears (or so I've been told)

More importantly, here's what we really found out. Because long days of travel can bring out the worst in anyone, I've thus far discovered we have a team lacking in "worst." In fact, there has been nothing but politeness, encouragement and fun so far.... This bodes well for us as we look to join together over the next 10 days to love on some kids who have already stolen our hearts over the past 6 months - despite the fact that we've yet to meet them.

More to come soon! Thanks for your prayers!

Meet the team...

What do you think of the team!! I think we are a pretty good looking group!  From the top left we are Lisa, Mike, Stuart, Kristie, Saegye, Dominick, Tammy, Elloa, Noelle, Anna, and Zach.

Kristie

Hey All!  My name is Kristie and I have to say I am ultra excited about this trip!!  My favorite time of year is Christmas so the fact that I can share the miracle of Jesus' birth with the children in Cambodia as well as the people of the surrounding community is very exciting for me!!  How much do I love Christmas??  Well, other than the fact that it's when my Savior was born, I also have 2 Christmas trees up in my 1 bedroom apartment and they have been up since Halloween.  Don't hate, you know you're jealous!

What else do you need to know about me in one paragraph or less?  Well, I'm probably the high maintenance one.  I was the one who asked about my hair dryer when we were talking about packing.  Yea, I'm that girl.  My roomie will be Lisa and we will have a blast.  I manage the employee computers at Buckhead Church and I heart my job.  I just got a papillion named Preston this year and my parents took him up to Michigan to watch him while I'm gone.  And I have the most amazing family and friends in the world.

Thank you all so much for prayers and financially partnership, we seriously wouldn't be able to do this mission with out everyone who helped out and I am forever grateful!!

Cambodia, here we come!!!