Broken in Bangkok

[Sunday, June 9]

Please don't be alarmed by the title of this post!

I was just inspired by my *attempt at* viewing Sleepless in Seattle on our last fight.

And also by the fact that my suitcase broke in the Bangkok airport. 

Why did my suitcase break?

Because life is never boring.

I was grabbing it off of the luggage thing and the whole wheel thing just snapped off. I laughed, Sarah laughed, the man next to us laughed... Then he said something and motioned for me to either get out of the way or throw the wheel away...

I'm not entirely sure.

Or last flight was alright; 7 hours wasn't too bad. Sarah and I are just exhausted and ready to be there. Honestly, I'm just really looking forward to bathing. Although, I have gotten to brush my teeth. So I'm not toooooo upset about the current state of my hygiene. 

When we got off the plane here in Bangkok we had no idea what we were doing. We knew we had to change airlines and go through customs. But we didn't know how to do all of that or where to go. So we basically asked every "official looking" person that we saw. We went through passport control and then security and then found our airline and checked in. Then we went through passport control again. And security again. And finally found our gate. Phew. 

So now we're sitting and waiting for our next flight.

Story of our lives.

Sarah is a pro at sleeping in airports... I'm so jealous.

Although I did get a little 20 minute nap in a little bit ago. 

I'm proud of myself.

Our next flight is only 55 minutes long. PRAISE THE LORD. After we arrive in Cambodia, we'll go through customs and passport control and all of that fun stuff. Then we'll grab our bags and hopefully find Sokhom somewhere in all of that. 

Everyone just say a quick prayer that Sokhom will be there.

You better believe that we'll be praying the whole 55 minutes there. 

Thank you all for loving us and praying over us. We absolutely feel it right now.

Blessings, 

Cassie and Sleeping Beauty  

Ps I'm having to post these whenever I get to wifi so the dates will all be messed up. :( 

Aloha Doha

Well good news y'all, we survived the 14 hour plane ride.

14 hours.

It was cruel.

But we are now *somewhat* comfortably settled into our airport seats in Doha, Qatar. 

It's 9:59 pm here.

It's 1:59 pm in Abilene.

It's 9:59 am in Cambodia. 

I'm slightly disoriented.

Twilight Zone episode worthy.

I HATE TIME ZONES.

Sarah apparently has no issue though.

She's just napping away.

Our plane ride was a little interesting. There were seriously more kids than adults on the plane. Maybe not, but it sure felt that way. There was always a kid screaming. Poor babies, they didn't know what was happening to them, I'd be screaming too! The movie selection was wonderful and included a ton of new releases that I have been wanting to see. The only problem was the fact that every time I began a movie, I fell asleep for random parts of it. Les Mis? Fell asleep as soon as the guy from the beginning stole the priest's silver. Beasts of the Southern Wild? After her house burned down I was gone. Amour? I didn't even make it past the airlines promotional message. I watched 2 episodes of The Big Bang Theory but I don't think they were from season 1... I had no idea who was who or what was happening. I was awake for the majority of Mulan though. Probably because it was daylight, or it might be because Mulan rocks. Who doesn't love a Disney gal who can save China?

Anyways.

Sarah and I kept waking up at different times and trying to make sense of what was happening around us. There were so many different languages and so many different ethnicities which was so cool. There was a family in front of us with a little girl that kept playing peek-a-boo with us. The man behind us was arguing with the flight attendant and the boy behind us threw up probably 50 times *slight exaggeration* but we all know how well Sarah deals with people vomiting. As soon as I heard him even move a tiny bit, I made sure Sarah had her ears closed or was asleep. Poor Sarah. Poor boy. 

We are now waiting for our next flight to begin boarding at 12:10 and then fly out an hour later. From there we will go through customs in Thailand and then board a flight to Cambodia. I'm so nervous about customs.. Oh well, we'll be practically invincible when this is all over. 

Thank you for all the prayers and support, we're almost there! 

Love you all!

Cassie and Sarah

Live From the Bottom Bunk

It's midnight and we leave in 20 hours. 

That could be wrong... 

We all know how math is my best subject. *sarcasm* 

Anyways, the point is that we leave tomorrow at 8:20 pm. 

Whattttttttt? 

It seems like I just posted about our trip being five months away.

Time flies when you're having fun... Or slaving away in college.

So it's the night before we depart and I'm lying on the bottom bunk in the kids' room of the family beach house in Galveston, TX. I'm also currently wondering what on earth I've gotten myself into. I leave for a FOREIGN country tomorrow. For two months. TWO MONTHS.

[Imagine me making an absolutely petrified look] 

[Actually I can just show you.]

[Remember this is coming to you live from the bottom bunk... I'm looking quite rough right now.]

So that's basically how I'm feeling right now. 

If we're being honest.

There is no doubt in my mind that God has held me in his hands throughout this whole process. I'm an absolute worrier and a control freak to the extreme. This whole trip is out of my comfort zone and almost completely out of my control. Basically the only things I got to control were the ticket purchasing and the stuff that is currently in my suitcase, and even then, there were rules to follow. We can plan and plan and plan, but we have no idea what to expect until we get over there. And guess what? I have not had one worry about what will happen once I'm over there. Even with everyone (unintentionally) flooding my world with doubts and fears and their own personal worries for me, I've been able to remain confident and ecstatic. That is absolutely God-given comfort and I praise him for that! 

It's just tonight I'm feeling a little anxious.

Two months is a long time. 

I have no idea how Sarah and I will teach 18 preaching students English. 

I have no idea how we'll teach 25-30 children English.

Or put on a VBS for them. 

I have no idea how to communicate with anyone in this country.

[Minus Sokhom, his family, and a few others of course.]

But you know what? 

I absolutely love this.

I love the fact that I have no idea what I'm doing. 

I love that I will have to be incredibly intentional in my relationships due to the huge language barrier.

I love that my actions are going to speak louder than my words in most cases.

I love that I'm going to be able to be the hands and feet of Christ in another country. 

And I love this drowning feeling.

It's forcing me to rely completely on God.

And that's extremely hard for this control freak. 

So all that to say, Sarah and I have no idea what to expect.

And that's okay. 

We are SO ready to begin living our Cambodian lives. 

You all rock and we love you. 

Blessings,

Cassie and Sarah 

Bring On The Rain

Hello friends!

We are currently 11 days from leaving America!
WHAT?
We are SO excited and cannot wait to begin our adventure.

Sorry this post is full of scattered thoughts but that's kind of what our lives are like right now: trying to see everyone and spend quality time with the people we love, babysit all of "our" kids, and do a million little things before we leave.

MY MIND IS GOING TO EXPLODE.
*deep breaths*

We've been doing last minute things like mapping out our lesson plans for teaching english and getting all of our shots and pills taken care of.
One word.
TYPHOID.
My first typhoid pill KILLED my stomach. It was awful. It was horrendous. I ate crackers and drank ginger ale for 2 days and wrote my last will and testament. But I survived and tonight I prepare to take typhoid pill number 4. It's been a long road, but it was worth it. No typhoid for me. *knocks on wood*

Sokhom called me day before yesterday just wanting to check in and see how we were doing and if we had started packing yet (I haven't even gotten the suitcases I need). He told me that we will have 18 student preachers to teach english to during the week. He also told me that anywhere from 25-30 children will probably show up during the day. Whenever they see Americans they tend to flock due to their desire to learn english. He asked if we could possibly provide english lessons for the children in the evening and I gladly told him that Sarah and I would hold english lessons around 5:00 pm everyday for them. It will be crazy, but it will be absolutely amazing.


Now onto another thought.


"He comes to us like the rain."

I stumbled across this verse in Hosea the other day.
Weather in general has been on my mind a lot recently. Our hearts absolutely go out to the people of Moore, Oklahoma who suffered unimaginable damage and heartbreak this past week as the F5 tornado swept through their town. The pictures, stories, and news reports were heart-wrenching. Natural disaster has a way of bringing out the best in people though. My heart is always thrown into extremes in these situations. It's broken for the people who are hurting and doubting. But then, at the same time, it is absolutely full. Even as broken people, we are able to show God's beauty in such magnificent ways. We were created to love like our creator and this love is so apparent during times of trial and strife, when people just need a hand to hold. I sat and watched a homemade-storm-chaser-video-type thing the day after the tornado hit. The people who were videoing this horrific storm were all so full of compassion. As they watched the storm roll in, they began praying for the people in its path and after the storm hit, they stopped filming in order to begin helping immediately. It brought me to tears. The weather can do incredible things: lift up buildings, flood entire towns, and destroy everything in a split second. And yet it can help produce the most delicate flower. It can destroy an entire town and bring relief to an entire country.

Sometimes we feel God in this extreme way... Not in the sense that he goes around destroying towns and flooding houses. We just seem to feel his presence in what seem like huge downpours. Downpours that leave us with hands high and hearts opened. Other times he comes to us as a light rain, you know like when it rains and the sun is still shining? A rain that refreshes and rejuvenates us. One that allows us to catch our breath and turn our faces toward the heavens. Both of these instances show us how incredible our God is. He completely floods us with his mercy and grace. Drenches us to a point where all we can do is look up from our knees and declare his power. But he also refreshes and, like a spring rain, cultivates a growing spirit within us. It's a daily thing.

We just want to run out and spin around in the rain. We want to feel it and taste it. We want everyone else to experience it too. That's what this trip is all about y'all. It's about being eager to know God and awaiting his daily arrival. It's about having the desire to stand out in the rain. 

So sorry this post is all over the place. Like I said, that's just kinda how things are right now. Crazy. Basically all we're saying is:

Bring on the rain Lord.
We are so ready.

"Open your mouth and taste, open your eyes and see—
how good God is. Blessed are you who run to him."
-Psalm 34:8

Blessings,
Cassie and Sarah

Ps: Did I mention it's the rainy season in Cambodia? 

T-29 DAYS Y'ALL

We are so so SO close to being Cambodia!
It's unreal.

After much preparation and many hours of researching, we bought our plane tickets! Our flight path is a little bit crazy... Here's a quick look at the itinerary:

Leave from Houston airport on June 7th at 8:20 pm.
Fly 8,047 miles for 14 hours and 35 minutes.
Arrive in Doha, Qatar on June 8th at 6:55 pm.
Wait for 6 hours.
Leave Qatar on June 9th at 1:10 am.
Fly 3,287 miles for 6 hours and 55 minutes.
Arrive in Bangkok, Thailand on June 9th at 12:05 pm.
[Just in time for lunch]
Then hop on a little plane and fly to Phnom Penh.
[Super short flight]
Cambodia at last!
[Stay until July 31st]
Fly back to Bangkok.
Fly to Chaing Mai.
Attend Asian Mission Forum.
[August 3-7]
Leave August 7th.
Fly back to Bangkok.
Back to Doha.
Back to Houston.

THEN HOME.

It's going to be a whirlwind you guys.
But we are so ready.

We found out more details about what we will be doing while there. Sokhom's school is without English teachers for the month of June. So we will jump in on that when we arrive. We will be using material from the BEST program which teaches English through the use of the World English Institute material written by brother Dick Ady. We are SO SO grateful to have this program available for our use.

In July, we will be working with the children in the area and putting on a type of Vacation Bible School for them during the day. By providing this VBS, we hope to build wonderful relationships with the children and attract their families to the church for Sunday worship. It would be a lie if I said that we aren't worried about the language barrier. We are. But we know that God is good and that he provides. If Jesus could feed 5,000 people, I bet we can teach these kids about how GREAT our God is.

Recently, I've been discovering how amazing God is at being an operator, you know the operators that were used back in the day on the telephones? It's a little old school for me, but I do know what their purpose was. :) And like and operator standing by to help you reach someone, He knows exactly who you are needing to contact and simply provides opportunities. I was feeling anxious about the VBS and so I decided to Google "Cambodia VBS" and I happened to find a blog post from 2011. It was by a woman who put on a VBS in Cambodia on a mission trip. I read the post and loved it, so I emailed her and explained our situation. She emailed me back he next morning with the names of contacts in Phnom Penh as well as lesson plans and encouragement. It was an absolute blessing! Now do you understand my reference to God being an operator? He is such a mighty fine "connector."

Isn't God's kingdom incredible?

We are so incredibly thankful for the support, prayers, and words of encouragement that we have received. We love you all dearly and cannot wait to be back in the US of A. The stories are going to rock.

Blessings.
Sarah & Cassie

Sokhom's Story

Hiiiii.

Okay so I think it's time you guys get to hear the incredible story of a man named Sokhom.

Cambodia has had an incredibly violent past. The Vietnam War, civil wars, and rebellions are just a few things on the list of events that have shaped this country. It has been broken many times and is therefore, a fairly "new" country due to its lost heritage. One of the most known events in Cambodia's history were "The Killing Fields." This occurred during the "reign" of a man named Pol Pot from 1975-1979. He was a Communist leader who, when he came into power, began questioning and executing anyone that was "intelligent" and/or directly related to the previous government. Teacher? Executed. City official? Executed. If you wore eyeglasses? Executed. He had over 2,000,000 people killed durning those 4 years. Many were forced to work in labor camps, were then tortured, and eventually died. It was unimaginable.

Sokhom was directly involved in this genocide.

All growing up, Sokhom's father was the mayor and Justice of the Peace for their district in Cambodia. Sokhom grew up and began college. He was a student during the day and a Protector of the City (unofficial police officer) at night. When Pol Pot took over in 1975, Sokhom's father was interrogated and then executed due to his place in the previous government. Sokhom was brought in for questioning, admitted that he was a student, and was released. But a colleague turned him in for his night job and Sokhom was scheduled for execution. His life was spared due to his age and the need for his strength at the work camps. While Sokhom was in prison, he became malnourished and extremely sick from a blood infection. He endured unimaginable conditions and his life was spared many times. While he was moving to a different work camp, Sokhom escaped and went into hiding for a month while forming a sort of political resistance group. One day he went into the city of Phnom Penh and he came back to discover his apartment destroyed and his comrades killed. Sokhom was on the run again. He married Phaline in 1979 and they had their first daughter. They continued to hop from place to place until they decided to move to a refugee camp that was run by the UN. Sokhom and Phaline had to make the unimaginable decision to leave their daughter with friends due to the dangerous three week journey to the camp. They made it to the camp and stayed there for almost a year until they were moved to Dallas, Texas. Sokhom and Phaline were set up in a refugee community and began attending church at Highland Park Church of Christ through a refugee outreach program.

As they began their new life in America, Sokhom started to work on automobile upholstery and became one of the best upholsters in Dallas. He opened his own shop and was incredibly successful. By this time, Phaline had given birth to three more children and they lived a fairly comfortable life. But their memories and experiences from Cambodia stayed fresh in their minds. They began to learn more about the church's mission work and the Huns decided to take a two week mission trip back to Cambodia. They traveled back and had an incredible experience. They were reunited with their daughter and by the end of the two weeks, the Huns decided to move back and become full-time missionaries. In November 2009, they had moved back and had begun their mission work.

Since 2009, Sokhom and Phaline have started the Cambodian Bible School where they teach English and train student preachers. They also organize four mission trips a year and there is now a new medical clinic at CBS. They have had successful church plants and many baptisms. The Walnut Street Church of Christ in Dallas sponsors this family.

It's safe to say that God is using Sokhom and Phaline to do incredible things in Phnom Penh and that he is working in the lives of many through these amazing people.

Sarah and I CANNOT wait to be in Cambodia, working under this amazing couple and learning how to be God's hands and feet in a different country. We ask that you continue to pray for our journey as we prepare for this summer.

Thank you for your support. We are incredibly blessed.
Blessings,
Sarah & Cassie

 

5 Months To Go.

Guess what guys. Sarah and I are going to Cambodia.

CAMBODIA.

Lucky for you I have included this handy dandy world map and I will now share it with you. 

So here it is on the BIG map. PS it's the red thing.

Annnnd here it is up close. 

So that's precisely 9,105.8 miles from Dallas, Texas y'all. Making it a whopping 9,278.8 miles from Grand Ol' Abilene. The farthest I've ever been away from home was on my trip to North Carolina. When I was 3 years old. The only thing I can remember from that trip was having to chew spearmint gum because my ears were popping. 

That being said. This is a very new experience for me. Sarah has had the privilege of traveling to Thailand before and LOVED it. I unfortunately have not and I am SO excited.   

What the heck are we going to do there? Well lemme just tell you about it.

Abilene Christian University started an incredible program in 2001 called WorldWide Witness. This is a program that has sent over 400 university students abroad to work under experienced mentors and help spread God's kingdom. It is a two month internship that allows students to deeply experience missions while being mentored by incredible missionaries. Students typically stay with their missionary hosts or a local family while they are there. Pick a continent and go. How about Africa? Asia? Somewhere in the South Pacific? Latin America? Europe? Or even the USA? Basically, you can go anywhere and learn, firsthand, how to actively love God and his people. IT. ROCKS. 

I've always wanted to go to Africa. For two years I was dead set on attending Harding University; one of the main reasons being that they had a study abroad in Africa. I was at a block party my sophomore year and I told a neighbor that if ACU had a study abroad in Africa, I would be more open to going to school there. Little did I know that I was talking to one of the leaders for WorldWide Witness. He explained all the details to me and I nodded politely and pushed it to the back of my head. Tadaa, I'm at ACU and five months away from my internship with WorldWide Witness. GOD IS SO GOOD. 

As I was deciding which country to go to, Africa was of course my first choice. Why wouldn't I choose it? I've always dreamed of going to an orphanage there and holding babies and just LOVING on them all day. But as I sat and listened to all the countries and continents and opportunities, I was instantly flooded with new feelings and suddenly, Africa seemed to be bumped down on my mental list. I heard about an opportunity in Latvia that seemed to stay in my thoughts for several days. It was a program that worked with girls that had been sold into sex slavery. I would have the chance to go out on the street and minister to these girls. How crazy, scary, and absolutely incredible is that? I was dead-set on Latvia. 

Then I found out I couldn't go because I was a freshman. 

It makes absolute sense, but I was still so upset. I was so confused. I was going to do God's work in an extreme environment and one that was completely out of my comfort zone. Why were all of these doors being shut in my face?

I looked back at my list and realized Cambodia was one that I had expressed interest in. I had just jotted it down because it involved working with kids. I had no idea where Cambodia even was. Plus, no one knew too many details in the meeting because it was a brand new site, as of this year. I talked Sarah (who was also struggling with deciding on a location) about it and we decided to go seek the wisdom of our fearless leaders. As we sat and talked about our predicament, the idea of going to Cambodia became more and more exciting. We listened to the story of the couple we would be working under and the more we listened, the more we fell in love (more on their story and the work that I'll be doing with them later). We left the meeting feeling absolutely at peace with our decision and completely ecstatic about what was to come.  

So with all that being said, We'll be leaving for Phnom Pehn, Cambodia in early June and returning sometime in early August. We'll be keeping a blog starting right now and it will continue throughout our internship. It won't be an everyday post while we're here in the states, but you better believe we'll be blowing up this page with stories while we're 9,000 and something miles away. The dates aren't for sure yet, but we'll keep you posted. All I know is that we get to go and experience a culture completely different from our own, work under some incredible missionaries, learn life lessons, impact kids' lives, and share God's love with an entire country. 

GOD IS SO GOOD.  

We cannot wait. 

Blessings,
Cassie & Sarah