We just got off a Skype call with Kit for our final preparations as we get ready to board the plane on Sunday for the first leg of our trip. We are very excited and humbled by this journey ahead of us. As we have shared lots of people have had good questions and we try to answer them as best we can. A few of the same questions have been asked multiple times so I will put those in our blog in case you might curious too.
The most common question is how did we meet Kit and Ream Carson at A Greater Hope Orphanage in Cambodia. The answer is through the internet :) Like that commercial where the girl says her boyfriend is a french model she met on the internet. Just kidding! Actually, before we started our adoption journey for Anna, I felt the Lord start nudging me in the direction of orphans. So Alfven, being very supportive, suggested I do some research on the internet on international orphanages. I read many articles and blogs but happened across Kit and Ream's blog. I found it very interesting so I reached out and struck up a conversation. We exchanged e-mails and even tossed around the idea of traveling over to Cambodia. I can remember saying that my Dad was quickly declining with his Parkinson's and I wasn't in the position to travel at that time. A little later Alfven and I prayed and started our adoption journey for Anna. Through the years, Alfven communicated with Kit via e-mails and we did some things to help support their ministry.
It is pretty cool how the Lord works though. Alfven and I both have hearts for missions as well as the Asian culture. And looking back, I had been blessed to be involved with a mission trip as a high school senior to inner city Boston working with Cambodian refugees leading VBS. It was an amazing trip that left a big imprint. We had already started planning this trip when I found a little journal book I had kept during that week.
So when Alfven and I really felt the Lord calling us to a family mission trip we got excited and started really praying about the whole thing. At first we really felt the Lord was opening doors for us to go to Kenya and work with Cathie Burke at Amani. We tried to go there but the Lord kept closing those doors. We prayed and Alfven reached out to Kit to see if Cambodia might be a place we could go. It was the first step in this adventure!
We would like our kids to learn to love and serve people from all different walks of life. When we learn to love like Jesus does then we will want to share His life and love with others. As our pastor would say, we are aiming our arrows.
The second most common question probably would be, are we paying our own way for this trip or is the church paying. The answer is that the Lord has blessed our family with the funds to be able to pay our own way. Taking a family of six to the other side of the world is not cheap but He has given us the call and the funds. This is not without sacrifice if you want to look at it that way. But we think the giving up of luxuries (especially luxuries in 3rd world countries!) is worth the chance to serve. It is sort of like that verse in 2 Samuel 24:24 when King David would not give to the Lord what was given to him at no cost. That verse reads "But the king replied to Araunah, 'No, I insist on paying you for it. I will not sacrifice to the Lord my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing.'"
The other question that is very common is what will you all be doing over there. We will let this blog answer as the trip progresses :)
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