Money - Revealed

We had a contest going this past month. The contest was a video of me holding a pile of money. Everyone had an opportunity to guess how much it was... I am now going to reveal the results of the contest and the winner.

The pile of money that you saw was 20,000 riel. Which comes to a grand total of $5 US :)

The winner of the grand prize (that will be delivered upon our arrival back home) was....
Drum roll, please...


Pause for dramatic effect...


STEPHEN BERGEN!!!!! You are the contestant with the closest bid!
Stephen Bergen guessed: $3 and not only won by our contest rules, but also by the Price is Right rules...

He will be receiving a brand new CAMBODIAN, HAND MADE WALLET!

Ladies... if you had won, it would have been a Cambodian silk purse... just sayin...

We will try to post another contest soonish, and make sure to participate!

Walking with Abby

Hey everyone,
Something you might not know is that Abby spends the mornings are BYKOTA House for Khmer Pre-School with Hosanna. I usually walk over and get her after school, and on the walk home, she always has something funny to say. I think that Hosanna was gone this morning, so the back up is that Abby watches the Discovery Channel (I am guessing, could be something else), and for the last three days, she has been talking about the same thing on the walk home--the infamous "kmouse." I have literally had this conversation with her three times, and I finally decided to record it. So, enjoy a walk home from Pre-School with Abby.

BecauseHeLives,

Micah. 

Also, a huge thanks to everyone who has begun to support or continues to support us monthly financially. God is providing in a great way, and we are getting closer to our monthly goal. Continue to pray about becoming a financial supporter, and I pray that God blesses your day with the knowledge of His Word. 

March has Arrived--Support Letter

Hello Everyone!

It has been a crazy nine months. God has been doing some incredible things, and I can’t believe how time flies. Most of you know that Kelsi and I planned on coming home in March. That word “plan” is a funny word. There are so many verses in the Bible about how we make plans, but ultimately God is the one who directs everything. Part of that directing was bringing Abigail Roat and Lily Niet into our lives. Kelsi and I always wanted to adopt; although, we did not plan on adopting when we came to Cambodia—we planned and God directed. We have been blessed in the last nine months with much support both in prayer and financially. I echo Paul’s words to the Philippians:

          “I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now.” -Philippians 1:3-5 ESV

          Working with the children of BYKOTA House has been fantastic. I hope that everyone has had time to read on our blog the things that God has been doing, but I think when you boil down all the stuff, it simply comes to loving on kids and sharing the Gospel, everyday.

          This letter is an interesting thing to write. I have written support letters before, but none while on the mission field. Instead of telling you of everything we are planning to do, I simply want to direct you to read the rest of the blog...

Being here has some advantages: we must trust God. I would like to share our situation now with you, understanding that God will provide. We are in Cambodia, with two daughters, living with Mark and Rhonda Benz. Financially we have had amazing support and have been living on $1,000 a month. We had some savings when we first came, but now we have maybe $500 dollars in our savings for plane tickets to come home, and other expenses that go along with that. We are full time, volunteering, team members with Mark and Rhonda Benz. We are here until God says that it is time to go home—with the adoptions we are unable to give a date of return. We have had months in which there was plenty, and months in which we squeaked by until the 20^th (which is the date a large chunk of our support comes). Every time something came up in which we needed a little extra for some expense, there was support for it. God provides each month, and we do not starve—more importantly, Abby and Lily have eaten every day, and Abby’s hair no longer has the orange highlights of malnutrition. God is great and we are not worried about our needs, because we believe what Jesus says:

          “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

(Matthew 6:25-33 ESV)

          This is our plan, while we live in Cambodia. Kelsi and I plan on seeking first the Kingdom of God and His Righteousness, and understand that God will provide everything we need.

          Someone asked the other day how much we needed per month to live in Cambodia. I think that $1,200 is a good number. The girls have added some extra expenses, but mostly our expenses come to about that much. I could break down each expenditure; however, I will simply tell you that we have rent each month that totals to $300 and food varies wildly from $300-$600, based on the prices of each item (and whether we can find the item). It is more expensive to find food in Cambodia, if you eat American food, and Kelsi does all of our cooking. We eat Khmer food every once in a while, but being here nine months, the novelty of eating foreign food left the minute home sickness arrived ;) On top of those expenses are the unusual expenses of school, doctor, tuk tuks (transportation), and other random things that come up in a month. All in all, Kelsi does the budget and she says that $1,200 is how much we spend month to month.

          I have explained that we also will need plane tickets eventually to come home. These will come to around $1,300 per person, through a travel agent (which Mark and Rhonda suggest). Rather than doing a huge fund raiser when the time comes to return home, Kelsi and I would like to save the money slowly and have it when it comes time to buy plane tickets.

          When it comes down to it, we are trying to bring our monthly support up to $1,500/month. Whether God will provide that amount, we don’t know, but we do know that He will provide exactly what we need.

          We would like for you to pray about financially supporting us here in Cambodia on a monthly basis. I know that everyone receiving this letter is already praying for us, and I want you to know that the prayer is much more important than the giving. I also want to add that our giving should be based on obedience. When I ask you to pray, I am not just using nice words. I really believe that God will speak into the hearts of those that are meant to give. Just as Samuel said to King Saul,

          “Has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams. (1 Samuel 15:22 ESV)

          If you would take a moment and listen for God’s voice to lead, that would be wonderful. I pray that God provides for all your needs and that we will be a people who give out of obedience and joy. Thank you for your prayer and support these last nine months, and I thank my God each day for all of you and your willingness to be used by Him in the years to follow. God bless!

BecauseHeLives,

Micah and Kelsi.

If God has called you to be a financial partner with us, the following are the ways to donate:

Ways to donate:

             

            Online/Debit: Go to https://co.clickandpledge.com/?wid=45360 enter your donation amount in the box underneath “Micah and Kelsi Sponsorship,” then click “add to cart”.  It will appear in “your selections” (at right). You may then either select as a one time donation or select that you would like it to be a recurring donation and how many months you would like to donate the amount (because we are uncertain of how long God will have us in Cambodia, follow the Holy Spirit’s leading in deciding how long you would like a reoccurring donation to continue; however, we can cancel a reoccurring donation if necessary at anytime). The website will then take you through the process of making the donation.

Checks: Make check out to NTNI (Nation to Nation International) with 777-Cambodia written in the memo line. Mail check to: Here to Serve 422 W. Highland Ave. Carthage, MO. 64836

Lily Building a Puzzle

Party Outside

Here is a video of an occurrence from the other night...

Days of the Week and Months

Kelsi taught the boys about days of the week and months today, and let them do the teaching. They spent some time teaching her the Khmer for Sunday - Saturday and January, February, and March. They were very excited to be the teacher.
Here are some pictures!

Potty Training - Cambodian Style

Hey Everyone,
I just wanted to take a moment and mention one of the things that you would notice, if you were to come to Cambodia. Kelsi and I refer to it as NBS... or Naked Baby Syndrome. As you drive around in the tuk tuk, you will pass countless babies to young toddlers all with no pants on--and some just completely naked. At first glance you think, "these poor people don't have enough money to buy their children clothes!" But then you realize that they are simply genius parents taking advantage of Cambodian carpentry and architecture. The floors are all tile... everywhere you look, tile floor. So from the moment the baby reaches one and half to two years old, the mom simply carries him or her around stark naked, and when the baby starts to pee, you rush them over to the spot you want them to go, and they learn where they are supposed to go to the bathroom. Abby is was three when she arrived, and she was completely and totally potty trained. We are now attempting to potty train Lily, and it is a challenge. Just today, I put her on the potty, she did nothing, and the minute I put her big girl pants on again, she peed : / we're learning. I find that the Cambodian people have a much simpler potty training method, but I understand Kelsi's concern with having our daughter walking around without pants on... Anyways, I thought this fun fact about Cambodian Potty training might interest you guys. That's all for now :)
BecauseHeLives,
Micah.

Happy Chinese New Year!

Hey everyone, it is Chinese New Year, and in Cambodia, that is a big deal. In Phnom Penh, Chinese New Year represents a time to appease those that have passed and enhance your own Karma. The people have fires all over the place, and they burn money and toy cars, and even small doll houses, in order to pass them on to their relatives... While Kelsi and I were out today, we started seeing the fires all over the place, so we decided to video for five minute and see how many we could spot. Of course, as soon as we started the camera, they all disappeared--except for the twelve that we spotted. I through in a Khmer song entitled "Chinese New Year: Khmer Version." I say it in the video, but enjoy a tuk tuk ride with the Bergens, and enjoy the sweet sounds of Cambodia (and be grateful for not having the smells or heat ;) I apologize for the shakiness of the video... I filmed it in the back of a tuk tuk, and those babies don't have shocks! Enjoy! :)

BecuaseHeLives,

Micah and Kelsi :)

Cooking Friday

Hey everyone, something interesting that happens every Friday during School of the Nations classes is a cooking class with Kelsi. I decided to take some pictures for you of today's lesson. I did not get the in progress, so you will have to imagine the piles of onions, peppers, and pork loin. The kids made omelets in plastic bags. They put all the ingredients into the bag and then put the bags into a pot of boiling water: end result, bag of omelet. Super easy and super fun!

Yummy!

How Much Money is This!?

Kelsi was working on the budget tonight, and I thought of a great blog video idea. Yet again, Kelsi's lovely face is missing from the video... Hope you guys enjoy, and remember to email me with your answer for a chance to win a prize from Cambodia!

Updated February 8, 2013:

I am adding a picture of the pile of money, with a hint.

This is a stack of 100 and 500 Riels. Cambodian currency is LESS valuable than United States currency.

But how much less, is the question.... :) Happy guessing. I will not wait much longer before revealing the prize. Take a guess... You could win a prize!