Read the fine print!!

Wow, I can’t believe it’s already been a year! In a way, it seems like just yesterday we were riding the bamboo train with the kids, getting Ratha’s head un-stuck from that street vendor’s umbrella, and shelling out three whole dollars to buy her a new one! Boy, how time flies.

And yet on the other hand, it also feels like it’s been forever, so much has changed in the past year. Speaking of changes, we have a few new team members to introduce for this year’s trip: Vince, Tim, Emily, Timothy and Stephen.

We tried to warn them at the first meeting that they don’t realize what they're signing up for, that this isn't a one-time thing but a life-long, life-changing metamorphosis; but they insisted on coming along. Of course, we said the same thing to Sherry two years ago and she came back saying that we should’ve put a stronger disclaimer on the application. Then last year, we tried to warn Stuart & Kasey what they were getting themselves into; but you can see how well that turned out – they’re about to make their third trip to Battambang in 12 months.

I wish someone had warned me of the consequences of this place, of these kids, when I first applied. There are times I wish I had never set foot in Cambodia; my life would be so much simpler if I hadn’t. For example, in 10 B.C.* I'd completely forgotten about the Khmer Rouge and the 2 million people slaughtered in the killing fields; now I know survivors of that horrible genocide personally and call them my friends. In 5 B.C. my biggest concern was whether I wanted my new 50-something-inch TV to be plasma or LCD; now I’ve learned to appreciate what it means to have electricity period. In 3 B.C. I lived in my own little world – population: ME, but now I have 38 kids, three of whom (Takna, Sobin & Breuch) who call me "daddy." And in 1 B.C. I went to bed every night thinking I was a Christian, now I’ve been taught by 38 Cambodian orphans what it really means to be a follower of Jesus Christ…and my life has been altered permanently.

2012 Team Members:

John B.
Billy D.
Scott E.
Kasey J.
Stuart J.
Michael R.
Sherry S.
Tad S.
Tom W.
Vince W. ‎
Tim B.
Emily R.
Timothy A.
Stephen S.



*before Cambodia