Hello from Chiang Mai

I think we are probably going to blog about our experience with Night Light eventually, but I don't know if we'll have time to do it in-country. I will say that we were able to speak with a girl who wanted a way out of the industry and we were able to show her how to get out. Please pray for her. Call her "Hope." Thank you to everyone who was praying. We could definitely feel it!


We arrived in Chiang Mai on Saturday afternoon and went to visit the girls at the "Garden of Eden." We had a blast there. They cooked us an awesome dinner, pumpkin curry! We've heard Stef speak a lot of Thai, but having her laugh and talk with the girls is our favorite so far. She's GOOD :-) There is a new girl who just came. Every time I see a girl who has been brought to a R Nhu home I think about what they've been saved from and it's amazing to watch them laugh, sing, dance, and play. Today we went to church with them which was sweet. While we are here we will visit Agape ministries which is a home AIDS orphans. We will also visit a temple and do a few other cultural things that really help understand some of the issues in the country.

Here you can watch Stef with the girls :-)

We are back in Bangkok! Yesterday was spent at a place called Chab Dai which is a Coalition for Christian organizations that exist to prevent the abuse of or do after care for abused children. We got to look around their library and were given a flash drive full of information that we (especially Sam) can use for Lifted.

www.chabdai.org

We also spent more time at the girls' home in Phnom Penh, and took the girls out for ice cream!

This morning we went to the river one more time to give fruit to the kids living in the slums. Today one of the children (a baby) that has been given over to the Enemy by their parents walked up to me so I was able to pray over her some more. These kids have absolutely nothing.

Tomorrow night we go to Night Light ministries at 6:00.

Please check out their website, www.nightlightministries.org

Today in my quiet time, the LORD gave me these verses. I'll leave you with them for now. He had been speaking these things to my heart and the next thing I knew I saw them on the page in front of me,

1 John 3:16-18

¹⁶This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. ¹⁷If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? ¹⁸Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.

Our day in Pictures

Today is very difficult to desribe in words without more time to really process. We spent time with the Vietnamese who live in the slums on the river. This is where Remember Nhu's children in Cambodia come from. Those kids stole our hearts immeditaley. Take note of the child with part of his/her hair shaved. Their parents call on spirits to enter and "heal them." of infirmities. We were handed two of these children today and we don't think it was an accident. Stef was handed one and Catherine another. We prayed over them a lot and are trusting God for their lives.

We also got to spend time at the R Nhu home in Phnom Penh today. Of course, we then fell in love with each of the girls we were able to play with. So here are some pictures from this morning and a short video clip of our time at the home.

Cambodia - Day One

We began our day at the Pol Pot Genocide Museum...

The Pol Pot museum in Phnom Penh is difficult to describe in words, especially since Americans are so unfamiliar with the tragedies involved in the reign of the Khmer Rouge (1975-1979). The museum is located in the jail, called S-21, which used to be the high school in the city. For approximately 3 years, 22,000 Cambodian citizens were brought into S-21 and tortured and forced to make false cofessions for the "purification" of the society under Pol Pot's power. Women, men, and children, as well as non-Cambodian individuals caught in the chaos, were tortured and the majority were killed on the grounds of S-21. These are the very grounds which we walked today, attempting to understand how greatly the terror of the Khmer Rouge affected, and is still affecting, the Cambodian people. The majority of the population of Cambodia died during this time; most were killed after they were led out to the countryside to become peasants. Because of this it is rare to find anyone here who is older than 25 or 30. Although there is no way to truly understand, visiting the museum provided a powerful insight to why Cambodia is the way it is today.

Meeting Dah for the first time at the AGAPE Salon brought a welcomed breath of fresh air. The salon feels lighter than the any other building we've found ourselves in here. Probably because it's dedicated to the LORD. The door says, "We'll love you and He'll love you." We could feel the Father's love as Dah welcomed us to her salon! It was a great time of fellowship as Dah took time to dye/cut all of our hair!

We did not go to the slums today, but plan to go there tomorrow. We will also spend time at the R.N. home in the city.

Thank you so much for your prayers and support. Please stay connected here on the blog for the next couple of weeks.

-Sam & Cat

Vision Trip Day 1

Having only stayed in Bangkok 12 hours, I don't know if either Sam or myself (Cat) can describe Thailand's capital city. Here's just a taste: a picture of us at the Alliance Guest Home in Bangkok, home of Stef May (a missionary with Remember Nhu). We will stay here a few more times after returning both from Cambodia and Chiang Mai.

Stef, Sam, and I met up with Annie, an intern with Remember Nhu at the Bangkok airport before flying to Phnom Penh. She's visiting Cambodia for the first time, and I think I can speak for both Sam & myself when I say it's already been sweet getting to know her.

We arrived in Cambodia this afternoon & could immediatley feel a difference between the two countries. In the words of Stef, "these people have a sad story to tell" We'll be learning more about that tomorrow as we visit the Pol Pot museum to hear about the terror of the Khmer Rouge and as we visit the slums on the river.

Already both Sam and I are beginning to see some of the reasons that the LORD has us here right now, and are anticipating much more from Him. Both of us will be blogging somewhat regularly during this 2 week trip, and we hope that this blog is a place for you to come for information about our trip and to see what the LORD does in our hearts. This is a "vision trip", that we are praying will fuel Lifted's ministry to "Inform and Ignite our Generation to Combat the Emergency of Global Sx Trafficking". We hope you'll stay connected here whether you are a friend or you were directed through the Lifted site. We pray that it is not a source of confusion for anyone who happens on to our site, but that you'd be blessed, informed, and ignited by it as well.

I'll leave you one last photo ( L to R is Stef, Sam, and Annie) from dinner tonight. True Fellowship is so sweet.

Stef May's Blog

www.stefmay.wordpress.com

Please check out Stef's blog. Stef was one of my (Catherine's) first connections to Remember Nhu and to the issue of sex trafficking. The LORD allowed her to play a pretty big part in my Spiritual upbringing as one of my mentors and dear friends. I know she did the same for many others. Stef's influence on our lives was a MAJOR factor in the beginnings of Lifted & she remains one of our key advisors!

Stef has been helping us plan our whole trip, and she & Carl Raulston will lead us through Thailand & Cambodia. We can't wait to see her :-)

Stef is a missionary with both Remember Nhu & The Christian & Missionary Alliance & is in language school in Bangkok, Thailand.

Thailand/Cambodia Trip

Catherine Walker and Samantha Crowder (cat writing here) are representing the LIFTED team as we visit Stef May to see what Remember Nhu (www.remembernhu.org) is doing in Asia and will spend time doing quite a few things including visiting the Red Light districts, the Pol Pot museum in Cambodia, going to the slums in Phnom Penn, visiting a temple, spending time at an orphanage for kids with AIDS, and will spend time visiting several Remember Nhu homes in both Thailand and Cambodia. This blog will be a hub for us while we are there to update you on whats happening as well as include prayer requests. You can look forward to pics and hopefully some video.

Just to let you know, here is a schedule of when we will be going where:
(keep in mind that we will be 12 hours ahead of you!)

Friday January 22-Fly out Friday morning from RDU
Saturday January 23 Arrive in Bangkok, Thailand just before Midnight
Sunday January 24th-Fly to Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Thursday January 28th-Fly back to Bangkok, Thailand
Saturday January 30th-Fly to Chiang Mai
Thursday February 4th-overnight train back to Bangkok
Saturday February 6th-fly home and arrive in Raleigh on the 6th as well.

Of course there are a lot of thoughts going through our heads right now, and we're pretty busy. I don't really know how to summarize everything I'm thinking now. Stef just visited with girls in the bars last night in Thailand and gave us an update. Reading her update both gave me joy and a sense of even more of the seriousness of what we are doing and how I feel called to go. We know we're in the Lord's hands & are truly trusting him to do things in us that we know we can't do on our own. We're also trusting the LORD to do some big things in us especially to dispel our fears and replace them with His Love.

Please pray for us and pray that the rest of our funds come in. We still need a few thousand dollars more.