Life for me right now

Hey everyone! I'm sorry I haven't updated for a while. I started a job in August, so unfortunately, I haven't had as much free time as before. :)



I am currently working full-time at Brethren Village Retirement Community as a housekeeper. It is a very interesting job to say the least, and God is constantly teaching me valuable lessons every day. The work I am doing is quite humbling, not just because of the tasks, but because of the low pay. My boss and I both agree that God brought me to Brethren Village, and I view it as more of a ministry than a job. I have had so many great opportunities to listen to residents and have had some fantastic conversations and interactions. Wednesday through Friday I work in the rehabilitation wing of the health care center, and I am finding it so easy to be able to use one of my giftings: encouragement! I love knowing that God is using me there, and I am often looking forward to going to work every day (which I definitely can't say for the job I had in Madison!)

One thing God has been teaching and showing me is the reality of death. I've seen several residents deteriorate rather rapidly, and even cleaned out one lady's room just a couple hours after she passed away... it was a very real realization that we truly can't take anything with us when we die. Another thing I've learned is how valuable the elderly are; as a teenager, I was very impatient and had a very poor attitude toward my elders. More than ever, I have such respect for them and their wisdom, as well as their kindness and patience. There is so much I am learning from the residents there, and I've even developed a friendship with a sweet lady named Louise. We go out for coffee every Friday and have great conversations about everything! I'm so happy God put her in my life. :)



Despite all this, I am aching to get back out onto the missions field. Last week, I realized how soon it's going to happen. School Of Frontier Missions begins at the end of March, which is less than 4 months away! Even though I'm really looking forward to SOFM, the past few days I have been feeling incredibly discouraged. It's frustrating me that my faith in God is so tiny, when He so abundantly provided for me last year through all of you! I am sure that you all are still behind me as partners/supporters, but I have moments where I am full of so much doubt and worry. If you could please pray for me, I would appreciate it so much. I love that God has called me to GO (after about 3 years of praying "Here am I, send me!" Isaiah 6:8) but as time gets closer, I'm actually feeling quite scared and apprehensive. It is a very difficult thing for me to think about leaving all of you for a full year, but yet I also know that it's worth it and this is what He wants me to do. Also, all I need to do is look at pictures like this and I am reminded that YES, I NEED to go!!!

"It has always been my ambition to preach the gospel where Christ was not known..." - Paul (Romans 15:20)

Human Trafficking

Hopefully you all have heard a lot about human trafficking. It is a horrible and serious problem in the world. I came across this statistic today...

"There are more slaves now than in the entire history of the transatlantic slave trade. There were at least 11 million Africans sold into slavery and exported to the Americas. Today, 200 years later, there are more than 20 million slaves across the world. Human-trafficking is modern-day slavery. It describes the transportation of persons into forced labour, sexual exploitation or other illicit activities. In other words, through the use of coercion, deception, and manipulation,
people are dehumanised into commodities."

I tried to find a reliable source for this statistic and came up dry for this specific number. However, I did find this from the U.S. Government's 2007 Trafficking in Persons Report:

"A wide range of estimates exists on the scope and magnitude of modern-day slavery. The International Labor Organization (ILO )-the United Nations agency charged with addressing labor standards, employment, and social protection issues-estimates there are 12.3 million people in forced labor, bonded labor, forced child labor, and sexual servitude at any given time; other estimates range from 4 million to 27 million.

Annually, according to U.S. Government-sponsored research completed in 2006, approximately 800,000 people are trafficked across national borders, which does not include millions trafficked within their own countries. Approximately 80 percent of transnational victims are women and girls and up to 50 percent are minors. The majority of transnational victims are females trafficked into commercial sexual exploitation. These numbers do not include millions of female and male victims around the world who are trafficked within their own national borders-the majority for forced or bonded labor."

As Christians, we must be informed and involved in putting a stop to human trafficking. There is absolutely no reason for us to remain idle while millions upon millions of valuable human beings are being exploited every single day.

But there comes a question... How can we help? Sometimes I become so overwhelmed with a situation that I don't even know where to begin. There is so much to change and stop, where do we start? I wanted to give you some hopefully practical links after I searched for a way to help myself.

Number one is, of course, to pray. Prayer does work and is absolutely necessary (I know you all know this!). Pray for protection, for slaves to be miraculously released, pray for healing, and ministries/organizations to begin to minister to the victims and also the ones who exploit. Prayer requests are absolutely endless in this. Imagine one of the victims being your daughter, son, niece, nephew, or cousin... wouldn't you be motivated to stop this?

Beyond prayer, there are more "practical" things you can do:

Inform Yourself
* Skim (or read!) the 2007 Trafficking in Persons Report
* Read survivor's stories. They are easy to find, just do some googling and you will come across them (there are often many at BBC News).
* Visit human trafficking sites to understand more facts and statistics. Here are some great links!
* Watch a Dateline special on trafficking If you're a Dateline watcher, you may have already seen this since they air it frequently (I've seen it a few times). It is powerful and motivating. You can't ignore the issue after seeing this and the children's faces.

Talk and Inform Others
Once you have information on human trafficking, make your friends and family aware of the problem! It is so important for people to understand what is happening in the world, even if the topic is depressing or hard to swallow. If you need help in this area, the end of James 1 always motivates me not to be passive!

Give financially
* There are a ton of organizations out there that are working to end human trafficking. I have gathered many that I know are reliable, to give you easy access to links:
* World Vision (monthly)
* World Relief (Choose "Anti-Trafficking Activities")
* Shared Hope International
* Village Focus International
* International Justice Mission

Write to your congressman
* It is always great to write personally, but if you don't have the time or don't know what to say, World Vision offers a message already prepared. You just spend less than a minute entering in your information: Click here

An acquaintance of mine in Oregon named Ro has started her own ministry called The Freedom Project. While teaching English in South Korea, Ro was struck by the enormity of the sex industry. She wanted to reach out to the prostitutes by teaching them English, but she was only able to reach them by teaching the pimps first. Her testimony always amazes me. She has committed her life to stop human trafficking and recently was all over Europe to investigate the issue there. Also, this past spring, she organized a rally in downtown Salem, Oregon to inform people of the issue. I invite you to check out her website and help her by prayer, encouragement, or finances.

Human trafficking is an issue that has been really close to my heart lately. While I was in Southeast Asia, I came face to face with the sex industry. My stomach churned every time I saw a single white male by himself, especially when his arm was around a young Thai woman. While we were debriefing on a beach near Bangkok, we even saw someone shooting images of pratically child pornography with some young Thai girls. It was so disturbing. Also, when we were in Poipet, Cambodia, we drove through the brothels one night and were told that the most popular brothels had prostitues that were 5 and 6 years old. How do you even process that? How?! (You will see faces like that in the Dateline link posted above).

There is just no way we can sit and let this continue on. Ask God what He would like you to contribute to stopping this NOW. Slavery needs to end!

Remembering Cambodia

I am up quite late, because I can't sleep. Tonight I watched the movie "Blood Diamond" and I simply cannot shake all of things that movie stirred in my heart. The movie depicts such horrors, not just in the violence and brutality, but selfishness in all of our hearts. I invite you to all check it out, although a warning that it is quite violent.

As I've said, my time in SE Asia is never far from my thoughts. In fact, I think about my experiences and the people I met at least 5 times a day. I just can't forget or ignore those 9 weeks. There's no way... it's not possible.

Poipet, Cambodia often comes to mind as I think about all of the poverty I was face to face with... and yet all the hope there is for that country and city. Recently I was looking at a Lonely Planet type book about Cambodia, and for Poipet it said something like: "There is absolutely nothing that would bring you to this dirty city, except for a bus layover or a chance to gamble in SE Asia". That quote made me so angry and sad. I thought about all of the children I held there... children who were dirty, hungry, in need of love. There is every reason for people to visit Poipet, if only to see how people live. I realize the book is directed toward tourism (which, we all have to admit, is primarily selfish), but it still greatly upset me. I pray for the children at the pre-school every day.



This is Silyn, who I grew so attached to. I taught her english every afternoon, and instantly her and I had a bond. I can't even explain it, really. Yes, she was really cute and wanted to hold my hand and be held all the time, but it was something deeper. She had a real passion and spunk and was quite feisty and strong willed. I was so drawn to her and every break I had from teaching, I would try to invest my time especially in her and play with her and make sure she knew I truly loved her.

There were a group of girls that I grew really close to in the afternoon (Silyn was obviously one of them) and we would always play together. There was this one game that I especially liked, I of course don't know the name, but part of it involved a Khmer song and I loved hearing their little voices sing. The girls also loved playing with my hair and gave me some very interesting hairstyles (here's one example, although I had taken out 2 braids by this point):



On our last day at the school, I held Silyn as much as I could. I took a video to show the pre-school a little and display how the kids would climb all over us. I was holding her while taking the video, with two little ones at my knees, begging to be picked up, and even hitting each other at who got to be held next. Here it is:




Shortly after I took that video, I gave Silyn a card that I made her. I don't even remember what I said in it (I wish I had written it down for myself), but I just wrote blessings over her, encouraged her, and kept emphasizing that she is special, loved and created for a purpose. I hope and pray that Heng (her teacher) was able to translate the card for her. She was really excited to receive it, but oh my word, do I wish there was more I could have done for her... Here she's holding the card:



One last picture to show you. It cracks me up so much. I had been taking these really adorable group shots of team members with the children surrounding them, but as each picture went on, the kids grew more and more excited. I went last, and by this point, the kids could just not sit down. So, here is the picture that ended up being taken:



Those children were so beautiful and amazing. I can't help but think about their lives and the horrific things they've seen and endured, but I am so encouraged that they are able to get an education, receive a meal, and have a safe and clean place to be all because of MMF.

I think I will need to make another Cambodia post. That will come soon... :)

Remembering Watthana Nakhon

My time in Southeast Asia is constantly in my thoughts and prayers day in and day out, but it has been a while since I read my journal from that period of time. For Christmas, my friend Mike bought me a beautiful journal that I decided would be my "Thailand Journal". In 9 weeks, I filled the entire thing up, and I made a conscious effort to write in it every single day. I am so glad I did!

Today I was reading about our last day at the school in Watthana Nakhon. Watthana is in eastern Thailand, which was the first place we went to. It is an unreached part of the country, and we were privileged enough to teach english for 2 weeks at the same school, with the same class, and introduce them to Jesus! Here is the journal entry that affected me so. Don't worry, it's not that long! :)

1-19-07

Yesterday was such a great day. It was so amazing to put on a program for the kids and do dramas and songs and things like that. Even though we told them over and over, I hope and pray that they really understand what we said and why we came to Thailand. I think that one of the best moments was when were standing in front of all 100 of them and sang "Jesus loves you this I know..." It is such a huge thing. Most of them don't even know who this Jesus dude is. Have I effectively shown You to them? I so desperately want them to undersatnd. And then when the pastor was praying for them, all of the kids had their eyes closed and hands folded together. I started to cry. What if that was the only time that they'd hear about You? God, don't let that be so! Please don't let that happen... send more teams here to teach them. Keep them in the church here. Please keep speaking to them. Draw them to the books we gave them! Oh Jesus, they need to know You! They need to know Your love for them! How will they ever see it? Have they seen it? I pray that they have.

I remember that day when Dave had just finished playing "Duck, Duck, Goose" with them and he said: "Jesus loves you guys, you know that?" and I mean, they really don't have any idea what he's saying, because it was the younger ones, but that doesn't mean it's not effective. It's important to speak blessings over them. I found myself doing similar things yesterday, telling the girls that they're special and beautiful, that I love them, and so does Jesus. And I know they really loved us, too.

I know that seeds have been planted... I wish I could know what's going to happen. Sure, there's hugs and tears and love and they know a few english words, but what about eternity? I want their destinies to be changed. I want them to find their identities in You. I don't want any prostitues or abusive husbands out of our students. Oh God, reveal Yourself, show them who You are...

The last I heard, about 15 students were still attending church in Watthana (including the girl I'm going to talk about). But I honestly don't know what's happening right now. Keep praying.

There was a student from my class whose nickname was "A" (pronounced like the letter!) that grew really, really attached to us, especially to my friend Darcey. On our last day at the school, she gave us each a note that she wrote herself on some beautiful stationery:



I remember being amazed at the note, because that day she had stopped wearing her Buddha necklace, and before we came, she had never even heard of Jesus! And here she is writing about Him! It's such a cool thing. Anyway, the blurred part of the note is her phone number.

After reading that entry in my journal, I was so compelled to call A. I wanted her to know that I still love her and still think of her constantly. As I was dialing the number, I was very conscious of the fact that this will be an awkward conversation (although it's happened with her before, because she kept calling us for the rest of our outreach!), but I quickly put those thoughts to rest. What is important is that she knows we still love her!

I think it was her mom that answered, so I said "Sawatdeekah! (Hello)" and then I just kept saying "A?" over and over, hoping she'd understand, and she did, and of course knew right away that I was "farang (foreigner)" which is expected of course since I don't have the Thai accents and tones down at all. :) She was yelling for A, and I could tell she was running around, and I felt bad, but was hoping A was there. And she was! I said "Sawatdeekah! Hello! This is Leah" and A goes, "Leah!!!" and she started giggling. We exchanged a lot of giggles, and I said a few times: "Kah toad kah, poot nit noy Thai" which is a very rough way of saying "I'm sorry I speak such little Thai". I told her in English and Thai that I love her, Jesus loves her, Darcey loves her, etc etc. I had goosebumps the entire time, because it just brought me back to so many times in Watthana, in class with her and her classmates, and just hanging out with her at the house we were staying at. I really miss her! Before I hung up, she said "I love you too" which absolutely melted my heart. As soon as I hung up, I started crying of course. Here's a picture of me and A (we're the colored ones):



I wish I knew more Thai so I could have said more profound things to her, but I know the bottomline was communicated: "I still think of you. I love you. Jesus loves you." And what more can I ask for, really?

My dream for Indonesia

I'm excited to say that I've decided to do School Of Frontier Missions next spring. It will be 3 months classroom in Malaysia, and 9 months outreach hopefully in Indonesia. I am really excited! Most of you know that I have a real heart for Indonesia and the people there. I wanted to share a little bit with you about what God has been speaking to me about what to do with my life.

First of all, I will tell you that Indonesia has the largest Muslim population in the entire world. In the past 10 years, persecution of Christians has become very frequent. The persecuted church in Indonesia is what first opened my eyes to the country and the people. Shortly after that, the tsunami affected the country. And now you can't read the news without some sort of natural disaster happening there. All the while, a flame has been growing inside of me...

Shortly before I left Salem in March, we were encouraged to ask God what "giant" He wants us to conquer. To me, it was crystal clear: Islam in Asia! Specifically for now, it is Indonesia. Here are some things I would like to do in Indonesia in my lifetime:

- Initial ministry will focus on Muslim women and children (specifically girls)
- Ministering to poor and needy (vague for now)
- Counseling/Healing ministry for persecuted Christians
- Outreach ministry to persecutors and terrorists
- Bring persecutors to justice
- Village ministry focused on ending animism-- teaching Indonesian people how to keep their culture and worship God in their unique way
- Ministry to prostitutes and those susceptible to human trafficking

So, that gives you a little bit of my heart and my dream. There is a poem I love that says "Jesus is the original dreamer" (which is so true, He is very visionary!) and I know He is excited about my dreams for the country. After all, He gave them to me. :) I hope you are as excited as me. There is so much to change!

Save a life for $10

Did you know that every 30 seconds a child dies from malaria in Africa? Did you also know that donating only $10 for a mosquito net can save a life? That's right, you can literally save a life. Please visit Malaria No More.

Also, why not write to your congressman about supporting a malaria initiative? It's free and takes about 10 seconds.

Please don't look at these as small things! They truly make a difference. You can save a life today. What is stopping you? :)

Southeast Asia Pictures!

In addition to the slideshow I linked a few weeks ago, I do have a couple facebook photo albums that you can check out:

Photo Album 1
Photo Album 2

Collectively, we took around 4,000 pictures, so it's impossible for you to see them all! :) The above albums give you a great taste, though. Enjoy!