Cambodia Training Meeting

We had our first Cambodia Training Meeting! All 21 of us were there and it was exciting to start to talk about the trip!

Car Wash for Cambodia

It was a great day for a car wash and we had a lot of great help. The three of us in tye dye mission shirts were the only ones raising money, but there were a lot of other helping hands! We washed a lot of cars and often had 3 lined up and going at once. Several people didn't even get their car washed but gave money to our cute sign holders =)








It was a lot of hard work, but it was fun and it was definitely worth it! Thank you to everyone!

Amber's Piano Recital

Amber did great at her piano recital! She is playing more difficult songs now with more harmony and it is fun to hear her practice =) We had a great night at the recital, they had soups from Olive Garden, salad and chocolate fondue. The best part was Garth Brooks was at the table next to ours. I wanted to take a picture, but couldn't bring myself to ask. It was very cool though =)
Amber and her two best friends (they are very good singers too).


She is getting really good about performing, doesn't even get that nervous it seems. We are proud of her =)

Booker

To "man's" (everyone's) best friend! Our 1st and best family dog! He will be missed and was loved by all. He blessed our lives for 9 years and lived a good 14 which is not bad for a big black lab.


I know that Shelby will miss him and we will never forget him.

Amber's Glasses

Amber got glasses last week =) They are pink with butterflies on the side and we both like them (hee hee). She has style =)



(FYI - Thank you to everyone who has helped with my Cambodia trip so far, I have raised half of the money and truly appreciate the incredible support from friends and family!)

Cambodia 2011

Two years ago our church teamed up with Steve Hyde to help build an orphanage in Poipet,Cambodia. (please read this incredible article which I have linked)

The goal was for our church to raise $45,000. We don't have a very big church (as you can see from the picture below), but we do have a VERY BIG God! When all the pledges and donations came in we had raised $103,074.50.
This summer we will be sending a Mission Team to Cambodia to help run a VBS for the orphans and several other children in the area (they are telling us to expect around 500 children). We will also be helping with painting and work at the school so we will be able to help in the community.

Yes, I said "WE" =) Typically, as the secretary at Freedom Church, I have been a part of most of the mission trips to Cambodia, only in the administrative sense; tracking expenses, making sure we had copies of everyone's passports, etc. I was able to be a small part of watching as groups would head out and come back and report on what God had accomplished. It was incredible, to hear about the hundreds of orphans and abandoned kids in dire poverty, then to see that we (Freedom) could make a difference as the orphanage was built. But this summer I will be blessed to be able to be a participant of the Mission Team and will get to go and help with the ministry in Cambodia.

We could really use your prayers (as always), but specifically:

- Cambodia and Thailand are sort of at odds right now. Please pray for peace and safety and for an end to all the conflict.

- Please pray for the entire team that will be going. Satan will be throwing all kinds of things at each of us to try to interfere with the spreading of God's love to the beloved orphans in Cambodia. Please pray for us as we prepare for this great adventure.

- Finally, although I feel blessed to have this opportunity, a trip like this requires financial support. Each team member needs to raise $2,200.00 for this trip. The only way that it will be possible for me to go is if I am able to raise enough funds. I hope that you can see the value in what will be accomplished by this trip and I would love to invite you to be a part of this mission through financial support and/or prayers.

Financial support can be done on-line at www.freedom-church.com. There is a button on the left hand side that is for "online giving". There is a section where you can note that the donation is for the Cambodia Mission Trip for Gyna. Or you can mail a check to Freedom Church 9602 N. 177th E. Ave. Owasso, Oklahoma 74055. Please make your check payable to Freedom Church and note in the memo line "Cambodia 2011 for Gyna". All donations are tax deductible.

While money is important it comes as a distant second to my need for your prayer support. Since prayer support is so important to the success of this mission. Thank you all so much!

I plan on adding updates on my blog and will continue to keep everyone informed as the journey has just begun.

P.S. - You can see the blog which was set up from the original trip in 2009 which motivated the entire orphanage project by clicking here.

Cambodia how it all started . . . .

This is where it all started . . . this was the orphanage and these were the incredible children/orphans who won our hearts
They are soooo humble and thankful for every small thing, even some bubbles brought huge smiles to their faces, how could you not fall in love with them, and want so much more for them.
Steve Hyde is soooo great with the children . . . . . .

They follow him like little ducklings . . . . .
The huts they live in are up off the ground, but it still doesn't keep the water from them in the rainy season. So with God's provision, we built some buildings . . . . . . . . .
There is a girls dorm and a boys dorm
Inside their huts look like this . . . . . . .


Here is a room inside the orphanage . . . . . .
This muddy pond was their main water supply . . . . . And now they have this . . . . . . . . . . .
Here is a picture of the orphans in the orphanage after it was just completed last year on our Mission Trip.

And this year we get to go back and run a VBS for the orphans and the children in the surrounding area. Last year they started with 150 kids in the VBS program and ended with almost 300. This year we hope for over 500! We will be reaching the children in the orphanage and the surrounding area.


Actually . . . . It really all really started with the ABKA - the American Bushido-Kai Karate Association. A few people from our church and the ABKA went on mission trips to Cambodia to tell the people about God, while demonstrating their martial art skill. the ABKA has a class at our church facility where they teach every week. Several members of Freedom have joined the ABKA, including our Senior Pastor Andrew Rankin who is now a black belt.

In 2009 our Freedom/ABKA mission group spent time at the orphanage shown above. And that is truly what started it all . . . .
The ABKA members of the team showing their skills . . . . .




They created trading cards to hand out to the children which had information about God and salvation on the back and a picture on the front