What a Ride - July 9, 2010

I'm terribly sorry for the delay in communication. Internet & phone access are still skitchy, but God's working it out.

I departed from Indy June 30 & arrived in Phnom Penh late July 2. It was a looooong trip, but God was amazing all along the way.

From Indy to LAX I rode with a young Cambodian woman who was born in a Thai refugee camp during the war. Her family was sponsored to the US when she was a little girl & to her family's dismay she's been reluctant to visit Cambodia. By the time we landed however, she was excited to make plans with her husband to come over & learn firsthand of her country's history & to help improve its future.

God showed me extraordinary favor in LA. I should've been trapped there & missed my connection all together, but ended up being escorted past security to the front of the line for my flight. From LA to China I rode with a young Chinese man who was returning home for disappointment in the lack of opportunity in the so-called Land of Opportunity. Poor fella' is so tangled up in desire for worldly power & pleasure that altho' he made the flight, he's really missed the boat. He was not at all open to hearing any good news, let alone The Good News, so the best I could do for him was pray & squat in my seat to give him more leg room.

While in China for 14+ hours, very strange things happened-both pleasant & downright creepy. I'll stick with the pleasant here. I'm still wondering what could have provoked an old Cambodian woman who speaks no english to approach the only white person in the place for help. My family likes to tease me about having a sign on my forehead that says, "Tell me anything, I'll listen." The best I can reckon is that that sign shines in mutiple languages & says, "Tell me anything, even if you can't actually speak to me, I'll listen." Hahahaha! She sat down next to me & in silence handed me her passport, her travel itinerary & her boarding pass, then just stared at me. Long story short, with a lot of God's grace & a lot of hand-holding she ended up at the right place at the right time to make her flight to France. We ended up hugging & kissing & offering each other food (western comparison for offering food: offering each other thousands of dollars).

The best thing that happened in China was making the acquaintance of an extremely bright & compassionate young man from Terre Haute. Yes, the Terre Haute that's just down the highway from us in Indiana! If I've had to travel to the other side of the planet just to speak with a man who lives less than 100 miles from me, the trip is absolutely worth everything it costs. He is at a pivotal point in his life & is taking some time off to recover a bit from a devastating loss & to evaluate his life's direction. By the time I hugged Kenny goodbye & promised to pray for him, he was open to asking God for direction. Hallelujah! This is the Kenny on the prayer list. Please pray earnestly for Kenny because God loves him & the world can benefit tremendously from Kenny's beautiful heart.

Then things got really exciting. The flight was late, my luggage was missing, no one was at the airport to pick me up & I was thoroughly exhausted. If the Phnom Penh airport had a suggestion box, I would surely suggest public phones. It was after midinight by the time I got a moto (small motorcycle taxi) to the only place I know how to get to from the airport-Chiva's Shack Guesthouse. There I was able to call our "Cambodian Son" for help. Our son Jame was in such a hurry to get to me that he showed up in his pajamas. Unable to get ahold of Ruth, he woke up a guesthouse owner near Ruth's. He got himself a room as well "just in case Mom was scared." I sat on the edge of the bed praying until morning. Once at Ruth's, sick with exhaustion, she put me to bed for the day saying, "Aw Beck, just rest. And, don't worry about the luggage, we'll just pray it back." (Yeah, she really prayed my luggage to me. Ruth's cool like that. She has such authority because she has the humility to back it up.)

Ruth had just returned from a respite in Australia, her homeland, a couple days before I arrived & was immediately thrust into difficult challenges, so both of us have spent the last several days recouping & regrouping. I've settled in well with my roommate Muffin, a sweet & sassy yellow cat, & am now hopeful that I'll be able to send out messages (maybe photos too!) about the people & events here two or three times a week. [Note from Kelly: Becky wasn't able to upload the picture of the cat this time... maybe later :-).]

***

7/9/10
Praise God for...
• wonderful connections made with people along the way here,
• safe travel & returned luggage,
• a lovely haven to live in.

Petition God for...
• His loving wisdom for Kenny,
• salvation of lost souls,
• an increase in LIA staff.

A big honkin' thank-you to:
• Mike & Shirley for keeping me at the top of the prayer list!!
• the Turners for committing to support this adventure with prayer & cash,
• Di Hester & Toni McKinney for financial donations,
• Deb for the Veema rehydration mixes,
• Tom & June Gourley for the probiotics,
• Kelly Stanley for managing the blog.

Personal Notes:
• Lisa Turner, read it & my heart's all kinds of jacked up now. Thank you, dear sister.
• Sherry Warner, eat doughnuts!
• Isaac Roe, I love you more than everything.