We Serve a Big Big God

Wow!  I just want to start by thanking God for His provision over the past three weeks.  So so much has happened and God has provided for us over and over. You don't want to skip reading this one!

It all started about a month ago.  Micah and I were coming to the realization that we kept telling people we were going to be here for two more years.  Once the adoptions were finalized and we waited our two years we would be going home!  Well, it has been more than half a year and we are still waiting for our adoptions and for our "two years" to start... We had come to the understanding that our short term stay in Cambodia was no longer short term.  We are here for the long haul.  That being said, we were still living in the short term intern housing.  We were fine being there and had made it comfy but we still had the short term mentality.  We decided that it was time to start thinking about finding our own home.  We wanted to wait until the end of July after all the teams had gone home.  After talking to Mark about it we decided that if we did go ahead and move out there would be extra rooms for the teams to stay in. So we sent an email to a guy we had had previous contact with just to have him look around for something affordable and close.  Within two days he had found an apartment that was exactly what we needed.  We met with the landlord on a Tuesday and moved in the next Wednesday.  (Moving in is a story for another day.)

PROBLEM:

We didn't really have the money to move. 

GOD'S PROVISION:

God put it in Amelia Park's heart to have a garage sale to raise some funds for us.  The amount she raised was exactly what we needed to be able to move and equip our major needs.  (I realize now that Micah already blogged this part... bear with me.)  

PROBLEM:

We thought God was awesome to provide for our needs but after our deposit of three months rent plus our first months rent we were going to be squeaking by the rest of the month.  No big deal just a few sacrifices here and there.  

GOD'S PROVISION:

Our landlord came to our meeting on the day we moved in and said that rather than paying a three month deposit it was only going to be a one month deposit!  YEAH!  Then we got hit with a big expense.... 

PROBLEM:

We had forgotten about our visa's!  Micah thought they were for a year while I just completely forgot about them.  When our landlord asked for a copy of them for the paper work we realized they had expired in March!  AHHH!!!  What do we do? So we prayed.  God told us to just take it to our church families.  We called my mom on Sunday morning and asked if she could make a few calls.  We needed $1000 dollars to get to Thailand, pay our fees ($5 a day per person for 69 days, you do the math) and get our new visas.  We just told God that we were going with what ever He provided and hoped to find favor with the border patrol.  

GOD'S PROVISION:

Yeah, we have a big big God!  Over night, He supplied us (through our churches) with more than enough money to take care of what we needed.  Every time we thought God had already given us more than we deserved, He came through and provided even more.  Every time we thought there is no way God could give us more or that we had drained our options He pulled out a new trick.  WOW!
PROBLEM:
We didn't have a washing machine... there are places here where you can take your clothes to have them washed but I have only heard bad things about them.  They use the same water over and over and your clothes sometimes come out worse than when they started. (or so I am told)
GOD'S PROVISION:
With the extra money that was given we were even able to get a washing machine! (It took me two days to get caught up after two weeks of not washing anything but a few pairs of underwear at the Benz's.)

WE SERVE A BIG BIG GOD!

Little News...

Greetings to all of our great supporters!
We have some news. Kelsi and I have found an apartment to move into! I know half of you are probably thinking "I assumed you already had an apartment" and the other half are thinking "why have you decided to get an apartment now?" So I am going to get you up to speed on our living situation and some things that God has been doing in Kelsi and I's hearts. Firstly, we have been staying with Mark and Rhonda in their intern rooms since we arrived in Cambodia. It has been great living above the school in which we teach, and also having Mark and Rhonda to fall back on every time we have forgotten to buy sugar or eggs. When we first arrived, we were only using one room. Then we thought it would be nice to also have a living room, and they graciously let us take another one of the small intern rooms to make our own, so we weren't cooped up in one room anymore. Then Abby and Lily came along, and after a couple of months living with us in our bedroom (and Abby sleeping in our bed for lots of that), we thought it might be better to get the girls in their own room. Mark and Rhonda gave us another intern room. And through all of this, Mark and Rhonda did not ask for more money than what we agreed upon when we first arrived--to help with the cost of electricity. Now I would like to explain why we are moving into a new place. When Kelsi and I first arrived, we thought we were going to be here for nine months. When God placed Abby and Lily into our lives, we knew that our plans were changed. We have posted on blogs and told, everyone who asks us, how long we are going to be here: "at least two years." With our lips we said the words "at least" but in our hearts we were really saying "two years." In reality, we are not certain of when we will have the adoptions completed and be able to come home. As we have been praying, we have felt like God was saying that we needed to just be content with where He has placed us for now, and not try to look forward to some future date of when we will go home. With this comes the reason why we have found a new home. That is exactly what it is: our home. God has us in Cambodia for as long as He wants us in Cambodia, and for the time we are here, we are going to treat it as our home. It is quite possible that we will spend the rest of our lives here. Recently, NTNI asked us if we would like to become ministers under Nation to Nation International, since our one year as a special project was coming to a completion. Kelsi and I decided that this was a step that God wanted us to take to show that we meant what we said: "we are here, until you take us home, Lord." NTNI represents missionaries all around the world and takes care of the administrative aspect of the ministry to ease the burden of the missionaries. With this switch in title from "special project" to "minsters with NTNI" I found myself coming to grips with the reality: "we are here, until you take us home, Lord." This is when Kelsi and I began to pray about moving out. Living with Mark and Rhonda has been great, but we have been living in intern rooms intended for interns. In our mind the word "intern" means short term. Living here in the intern rooms was a way that we were still holding back from trusting in God's timing, because it was the thought "we are only going to be here for nine months (now two years)" that led us to move into the intern rooms initially. After it was confirmed in our hearts that this was what we needed to do, we began looking for a place of our own, and within one day we found one that is right in our price range, has exactly the amount of rooms we need, and is close to BYKOTA House. Two bedrooms, one bathroom, kitchen, and living area--all connected by a hallway. Kelsi and I debated on if it was too small, but the words "I know and will provide exactly what you NEED" came into my heart. It is what we need, no more, no less. It would be nice to have an extra bedroom and a bigger living room, but those are things that we do not NEED. I find it funny that these are the words that came to me, because a friend of ours (Amelia Parks) recently had a garage sale to raise support for us, and it was based on the thought that she had too much stuff that she didn't need. The support from that garage sale amounted to $1,200, which is the amount we use monthly on things (as mentioned in a previous blog). What Amelia did not know is that in Cambodia to move into a rental, you have to have three months of rent as a deposit, and the first months' rent on hand. We did not have this, nor did we have the things to equip our new home. The funds from the garage sale are plenty to make the deposit and first months' rent and equip our new home with plates, dishes, beds, and such. It is being deposited sometime tomorrow, and is such a blessing and exactly what we needed, in the exact time that we needed it. God provides all our needs. He may not supply all of our wants, but I can state from experience that God ALWAYS provides exactly what we need.
BecauseHeLives,
Micah and Kelsi.

I will post pictures of the new home, as soon as we move in and get it situated :)

Abby and the Eye Doctor

Hello all,
As most of you know, Abby is blind in one eye. She fell when she was very young and lost her retina. We recently went to an eye doctor in Phnom Penh, and he recommended that her stitches might need to come out soon. Lately Abby has been rubbing her eye and it went red two days ago, so Kels and I decided it was time to take her to the specialist in Takeo province. We went today. Hired a driver because it was too far for a tuk tuk. Four hours round trip. Abby loved the car ride, because she has been asking to ride in the car again since we went to the zoo. As soon as we got to the eye doctor, she broke down crying... I guess hospitals only have one purpose in her mind: shots. When we got in to see the doctor, he checked her eyes and said her blind eye was looking fine (still blind of course). We mentioned about getting the stitches out and such, and he said that he wanted to wait until she was older. He gave us some eye drops and sent us on our way. So to add up our day: 4 hours in the car, $1.75 at the eye doctor for everything, and $80 to pay the driver... We will not be making that trip again :) but at least Abby got to ride in the car... Just a day in Cambodia :)
We are still praying that God will heal Abby's eye, and we would love for you to join in and pray with us :)
BecauseHeLives,
Micah and Kelsi.