To be completely honest, the month of February is annoying to me with all the Valentines Day hoorah and whatnot, but Cambodia, of course, has redefined the “month of love” for me. Our first ever Valentines Day was here last year. We had been married for exactly 1 month and a day so when Randy was informing us about how the Khmer “celebrate” Valentines Day, Curtis and I were still seeing big bubbly hearts and didn’t really think much of Randy’s information. This year is different. Curtis and I are still seeing big bubbly hearts, but we know a lot more than we did last year. Valentines Day is a dark day here. Every hotel and guesthouse is booked up and young couples are being overly affectionate in public, which is very very odd. Maybe it’s just odd to us because we know how the night will end. The Phnom Penh Post stated it simply, "Almost half of the Cambodian men surveyed in a new study about relationships admitted they are willing to engage in non-consensual sex with their female partners this Valentine’s Day if their advances are refused.” Somehow the “love” part of Valentines Day has been cancelled out. BUT the darkest of places make the Lord shine even brighter. Water of Life’s boys and girls understand better than the foreigners how things work here and they spend V-Day praying for their peers. How cool is that? The darkness can feel overwhelming…like you are a guppy swimming in the deep ocean… but then you see the Lighthouse shining brighter than you could imagine.
Water of Life has demonstrated to us what it looks like to love. Katherine, who is the mom at C O H, has been in the hospital for a week watching over a 9 month old baby that we didn’t think would live through the night. The Lord has opened doors for her to give this baby a fighting chance and he’s not even one of her kids! (Pray for him. He will be in the hospital for another 1-2 weeks) Not to mention she has 20 children at home who are thriving in school and in their home life.
The boys go to school full time but in their spare time they have started over 50 ministries going out to different parts of Cambodia to share the Word. Every single week. (please pray for their safety and that these people are getting fed) The girls home has recently started going out to the temples to witness and build relationship with prostitutes and even pimps. They want to start doing a prison ministry as well (pray that the doors would open for that ministry). There are many more projects going on all around Cambodia for the Kingdom. That is LOVE. These people put the love of Jesus into action. I pray that for the American church, that we are loving people with action. I pray that for my own lifestyle.
Curtis and I are encouraged and excited for what the Lord is doing. We want you to be excited and encouraged with us. If you ever have any questions or prayer requests PLEASE message us! We are all of the body doing different work. We love you guys and appreciate your support!