June Wrap-Up and Special Request

The month of June has flown by. Most of you are in the loop as far as what has been going on, but just in case you were out of it, let me give you a wrap up.

Beginning of June:
As we were preparing for one of our busiest months of ministry with the largest amount of short term volunteers I have ever seen, our directors received a call from the states with devastating news. This sparked a mad dash to get plane tickets and transfer responsibilities to Kels and I. Within a three day period, they trained Kelsi and I on the tasks that they normally handle, and left for the states. Because Sarah and SJ are in the process of adoption (just like Abby and Lily), they are unable to travel, so they stayed with Kelsi and I. Half of the volunteers for the month showed up--a world race team of ten girls, with the addition of one more in a couple days.

Middle of June:
We spent a week with the world race team being awesome, as they usually are. We had another team of five arrive, and another single person, bringing our total volunteers up to eighteen. That is a lot of volunteers! The team of five people came from Liberty Church, who sponsored our computers at school, before I came to Bykota House. They were great! We went on field trips with the kids, and they did a special sewing and business class. They also took Kelsi and I out to eat on several occasions--the world race team baby sat on some of (most of) those nights, so Kels and I could have a meal in peace and quiet... sigh. We had another volunteer come towards the end of the Liberty trip.

End of June:
The Liberty team left (they'll be back... I can always tell), and two days later, the world race team left--leaving us with the two volunteers that came separately and by themselves. They have been holding down the fort at Mark and Rhonda's house and taking care of baby Leah. One of them is also doing preschool this week. The Benz's will be coming home tonight, and the month will be over--the month that only God could have worked together. We could not have made it through the month without the abundance of help that we had. Looking back on the team meetings that we had leading up to June, I remember thinking about how many volunteers were coming and wondering what we were going to do with all of them, but God knew all along, and He worked everything out in the end. I just look back in awe and give Him the worship and glory that He deserves.

Special Request:
During the month of June, because I had four pre-schoolers to transport in the morning, we had to take tuk tuks every day to school. I worked out with Boo Sovon to pay him at the end of the month for the tuk tuks, so that I wouldn't have to make sure to have the money every day. Boo is amazing. When I was gone to the states in January, he gave Kelsi tuk tuks for free the whole three weeks I was gone. I know that he is in the process of paying off a home loan, and he could use a blessing, and I thought I would throw it out to all of you. We can gather the money to pay him the normal amount for this month, and do the math, but I would rather bless him and his family with extra. I will tell you that the normal cost would be about $120. Like I said, we can pay him that, or we could double or triple it! He has been an amazing blessing to our family, and I would love to bless him back. If you would like to give towards this, please go to our "Support Us" tab, and go through the online process, and then email us at micah.kelsi@gmail.com to let us know how much you gave and that it is for Boo.

BecauseHeLives,
Micah.

 

Fasting for Foster Care [UPDATED 9/1/2014]

If you have been following our blog for the last few months you will know that we are in the process of getting foster care for the girls.  We have finally finished gathering all the paper work and now all that is left is the waiting game.  First we are waiting for our friend to take the papers to the ministry, he is waiting for the ministry to tell him he can come, then we will wait for approval.  We really feel like this is the track God has us on and we have done our best to seek His will all the way.  We don't want to just sit back and wait.  We are tired of just waiting!  So we have decided to take action the only way we can...prayer and fasting.  We are asking you to consider praying and fasting with us.  How it will work is, we will choose something to fast from until we have foster care for the girls.  I, Kelsi, am choosing to fast from chocolate.  This doesn't mean I am just not going to eat chocolate until it is done, it means every time I think about or want to eat chocolate I will pray for our foster care to be finished.  So you have to option to fast from Facebook, chocolate, pop, or something else of your choice.  Let us know if you want to join by sending us your name and what you are fasting from in our email (micah.kelsi@gmail.com)  so we can keep you updated on the process and specific prayer request regarding our foster care.

UPDATE:
On the 1st of September, we received a call from the ministry, and our foster care was approved. Read about it in the post entitled "Foster Care: God Provides"

Volunteers and The Mission Mindset

Working on the field, we have many short term volunteers come to Bykota House. I have noticed that, just as the body of Christ is vastly different, we too have different types of teams and volunteers. Overall, there are two types of teams that come to work with us. There are the teams that come alongside and lift the burden off your back for a time, so you can take a breather, and also teams that come alongside and till the field with you, so you can accomplish five times more work. Both are great. I enjoy when we have teams that come and take over the school, so I can have an afternoon off, or that babysit, so Kels and I can have a date night. I also am so glad that we have those that come and give us the opportunity to take the kids on field trips or plan big, elaborate activities for the kids to do, with my supervision and help. Some people think that if you prefer one, that the other must not be good, but I disagree--every team is a blessing. Within the teams, there are also different kinds of volunteers. Some people come and want to do, do, do. They just want you to put them to a task and work them to death on something. To that I say, "Awesome! Here are some things that need to be built/organized/painted." While other volunteers want to be relational and hang out with the kids and get to know them, and to that I say, "Great! I have some amazing kids that would love your attention!" There are even those who come just wanting to do whatever is needed, and I am not going to lie, I think that this is a fantastic attitude, and I appreciate flexibility, so to them I say, "You are my favorite..." Not really, but you get the idea that we have all kinds of volunteers, and they are always such a blessing, but there is one thing I notice has almost ceased to exist in missions. When we come to a ministry, our attitude is always, "What can I do." We want to be useful. We must have a purpose. I do not think that this is a bad attitude to have. We want to be as helpful as possible, during the time we have set apart, but I also think that this attitude sometimes stems from pride. We must have something to do, so that we have validation for coming. We want the pat on the back that comes from a job well done. I understand that most people spend thousands of dollars for the plane ticket alone, so I know why they want their time to be productive, and I agree, but there is a form of missions that I think we have forgotten about, and that is the missions of encouragement. Do we remember that Paul sent people with his letters? In most every case, those carrying the letters came to the churches in those cities and just encouraged the believers there. They weren't there to build a wall or teach in a school. They didn't need a purpose for being there, except that there were believers who needed encouragement living in that city. We mostly think that we should be encouraging, while we are doing other things. Could you ever imagine going on a missions trip just to encourage the believers in that area? To come to a ministry and simply make it your aim to pray with the missionaries on site everyday and live life with them. To speak words that would build them up and have a meal with them. Yes, and be willing to help in anyway. Being on the receiving end of short term missions trips, I have to be honest it is difficult to find things to do sometimes, but I am always encouraged when I am able to sit down and talk to people about what God is doing in their lives, and just have time to talk with other believers: doesn't that always build you up? The reason we do not consider this missions is most likely because we can't take a picture of it, but if you want my opinion, we could use a lot more short term encouragers--who make it their aim to be helpful in any way necessary, but also will just spend time in genuine fellowship with other believers--those that understand this to be missions work just as much as anything else that we could be doing. We have had many encouragers on the teams that have come through, and I am always energized by their presence and able to keep on with God's work, with new life, because of it. So, my encouragement: build your wall, teach English, love on kids, paint some rooms, but remember that being busy is not the goal of a short term missions trip. Spend some time with the people you are serving alongside and be an encourager, and you will bring a blessing to them in a way you could have never imagined.
BecauseHeLives,
Micah.