You probably heard that we’re moving to Cambodia, but you might wonder how Cambodia even came onto our radar. Interestingly enough, it wasn’t anything that we saw coming. We had never even thought about it and still saw Uganda as home for some time to come, but now that we have 20/20 vision (hindsight), we can see that God first planted the seed for Cambodia back in February, 2017.
As I shared in a recent blog post, I have a heart for anti-trafficking. For years I have followed many organizations that work to stop human trafficking. As it is, most of the organizations I’ve followed were working in the US (it’s a much bigger problem than many people realize). I follow their blogs, read their updates, and just keep myself informed to pray for their various needs and perseverance.
Back in February, I was reading an update from one of those organizations. Well, you know how the lovely internet will give you links to suggested articles based on what you’re reading? I followed one link after another, just reading things that were of interest to me. After a few clicks, I came to an article that told the story of a girl that had been rescued and her testimony of recovery and reintegration to society with a successful small business using a skill that she learned as part of the holistic approach to her recovery.
As I reached the end of the article, I saw the logo of the organization that was responsible for her rescue, recovery, and reintegration. I didn’t recognize the logo, so I clicked on it. I began browsing all over their website. On their “About” page, they have a lot of information. If you scroll down, you eventually come to an area where they post specific volunteer positions that they need to fill.
Now, let me remind you, we were not looking for any new opportunities or anything. I was just reading about this ministry that combats sex-trafficking, and in some ways, other types of human trafficking as well.
One of the positions that they had posted jumped out at me because it specifically said that they were looking for someone with a Business Management degree. If you’ve looked at the job postings of most ministries, that is not a common degree that they need. You’ll see a lot of need for social workers, counselors, all sorts of medical personnel, accountants, pastors, church planters, and so on. Of course, there are frequently roles for people with business skills, but they just don’t usually mention specific degree types.
The other detail you should know is that Floyd has a Business Management degree. This did help him in certain ways in Uganda, but it wasn’t directly needed. So, in just a random conversation like couples frequently have, I said, “hey honey, this ministry actually has a position posted that specifically says they want someone with a Business Management degree.” He asked where it was and I said, “Cambodia.” His perfect response was, “Interesting but who would ever want to live in Cambodia?”
That was the end of the conversation. Or so we thought.
Over the next few months, we went back to Uganda, Floyd had his first back surgery, and life went on. But, every 3-4 weeks, there would be some random thing regarding Cambodia that crossed our paths. We still weren’t looking to leave Uganda, but Cambodia came up enough for us to notice. We thought it was peculiar and even told a few friends about this weird experience.
When June rolled around, we got really busy. The kids and I went back to Uganda and Floyd came in July. We were busy with normal life and Cambodia hadn’t come up since sometime in May. We really thought nothing more of it.
Fast forward to the middle of July. Our time in Uganda would be a month and then we’d head back to the US. Just a few days before our flights to the US, we realized that our work in Uganda was done. Now, this is a very simplified version of that situation because that isn’t the point of this post (you can read about that here). We came back to the US and shared with Pastor Rafe what we had realized. But, we had no idea what we were going to do next.
After a couple of weeks of making plans to close out our part of the work in Uganda and just taking time to accept this major life change, we were ready to start seeking direction for next steps. Floyd asked me to send him links to all the ministries that I follow. The logic was that if he spent a little time each day browsing through opportunities and ministry needs, God might make something jump out at him.
The first several things he looked at did not lead anywhere. But he did eventually come to the same ministry in Cambodia. As he browsed their website for himself, he saw that the exact same volunteer position that I told him about in February was still open. All the times that Cambodia came up earlier in the year came back into his mind. So, he started researching Cambodia. In many ways, Cambodia and Uganda are similar. Of course, they have some major differences and distinguishing characteristics, but they’re similarities are a bit surprising (politics, climate, and poverty to name a few).
After searching about Cambodia, he specifically searched for info about the ministry, Agape International Missions. Floyd has known about human trafficking for years because I’ve talked about it a lot, but he’s never really looked into it for himself. Second hand information does not enter our brain in the same way as a direct source. He came across a video sharing the story of one young survivor of sex-trafficking. To help you understand the reality, here’s a short simple version.
In a situation of desperation, this 14 year old girl was sold by her mother. Her virginity was auctioned off to the highest bidder. After returning home, she was not valued the same in her community. As the family’s financial situation worsened, they decided to sell her to the brothel. She’s in the brothel for 20 days when she gets access to a phone. She calls Agape for help. She gives them all the information on where she is and what’s going on. They tell her that they will be there within 2 days. After working with the police and using their own resources, they did get her out on the 22nd day. So, good news: she’s rescued and safe in the restoration home. Bad news: for whatever the reason, the brothel keeps records and it is documented that in 22 days this 14 year old girl was raped 198 times.
As Floyd hears this story, he does the math. That is about 9 times a day. This is a living hell. Now, he’s not a real emotional guy in general, but he can’t walk away from this story. Especially knowing that there are thousands and thousands of other stories in the past and the count keeps rising every day.
He says, “God, I don’t want to live in Cambodia but, I do want to serve you. I’m going to take a faith step and apply for this job. If this is where you want me, we’ll go.”
As I shared in a recent blog post, I have a heart for anti-trafficking. For years I have followed many organizations that work to stop human trafficking. As it is, most of the organizations I’ve followed were working in the US (it’s a much bigger problem than many people realize). I follow their blogs, read their updates, and just keep myself informed to pray for their various needs and perseverance.
Back in February, I was reading an update from one of those organizations. Well, you know how the lovely internet will give you links to suggested articles based on what you’re reading? I followed one link after another, just reading things that were of interest to me. After a few clicks, I came to an article that told the story of a girl that had been rescued and her testimony of recovery and reintegration to society with a successful small business using a skill that she learned as part of the holistic approach to her recovery.
As I reached the end of the article, I saw the logo of the organization that was responsible for her rescue, recovery, and reintegration. I didn’t recognize the logo, so I clicked on it. I began browsing all over their website. On their “About” page, they have a lot of information. If you scroll down, you eventually come to an area where they post specific volunteer positions that they need to fill.
Now, let me remind you, we were not looking for any new opportunities or anything. I was just reading about this ministry that combats sex-trafficking, and in some ways, other types of human trafficking as well.
One of the positions that they had posted jumped out at me because it specifically said that they were looking for someone with a Business Management degree. If you’ve looked at the job postings of most ministries, that is not a common degree that they need. You’ll see a lot of need for social workers, counselors, all sorts of medical personnel, accountants, pastors, church planters, and so on. Of course, there are frequently roles for people with business skills, but they just don’t usually mention specific degree types.
The other detail you should know is that Floyd has a Business Management degree. This did help him in certain ways in Uganda, but it wasn’t directly needed. So, in just a random conversation like couples frequently have, I said, “hey honey, this ministry actually has a position posted that specifically says they want someone with a Business Management degree.” He asked where it was and I said, “Cambodia.” His perfect response was, “Interesting but who would ever want to live in Cambodia?”
That was the end of the conversation. Or so we thought.
Over the next few months, we went back to Uganda, Floyd had his first back surgery, and life went on. But, every 3-4 weeks, there would be some random thing regarding Cambodia that crossed our paths. We still weren’t looking to leave Uganda, but Cambodia came up enough for us to notice. We thought it was peculiar and even told a few friends about this weird experience.
When June rolled around, we got really busy. The kids and I went back to Uganda and Floyd came in July. We were busy with normal life and Cambodia hadn’t come up since sometime in May. We really thought nothing more of it.
Fast forward to the middle of July. Our time in Uganda would be a month and then we’d head back to the US. Just a few days before our flights to the US, we realized that our work in Uganda was done. Now, this is a very simplified version of that situation because that isn’t the point of this post (you can read about that here). We came back to the US and shared with Pastor Rafe what we had realized. But, we had no idea what we were going to do next.
After a couple of weeks of making plans to close out our part of the work in Uganda and just taking time to accept this major life change, we were ready to start seeking direction for next steps. Floyd asked me to send him links to all the ministries that I follow. The logic was that if he spent a little time each day browsing through opportunities and ministry needs, God might make something jump out at him.
The first several things he looked at did not lead anywhere. But he did eventually come to the same ministry in Cambodia. As he browsed their website for himself, he saw that the exact same volunteer position that I told him about in February was still open. All the times that Cambodia came up earlier in the year came back into his mind. So, he started researching Cambodia. In many ways, Cambodia and Uganda are similar. Of course, they have some major differences and distinguishing characteristics, but they’re similarities are a bit surprising (politics, climate, and poverty to name a few).
After searching about Cambodia, he specifically searched for info about the ministry, Agape International Missions. Floyd has known about human trafficking for years because I’ve talked about it a lot, but he’s never really looked into it for himself. Second hand information does not enter our brain in the same way as a direct source. He came across a video sharing the story of one young survivor of sex-trafficking. To help you understand the reality, here’s a short simple version.
In a situation of desperation, this 14 year old girl was sold by her mother. Her virginity was auctioned off to the highest bidder. After returning home, she was not valued the same in her community. As the family’s financial situation worsened, they decided to sell her to the brothel. She’s in the brothel for 20 days when she gets access to a phone. She calls Agape for help. She gives them all the information on where she is and what’s going on. They tell her that they will be there within 2 days. After working with the police and using their own resources, they did get her out on the 22nd day. So, good news: she’s rescued and safe in the restoration home. Bad news: for whatever the reason, the brothel keeps records and it is documented that in 22 days this 14 year old girl was raped 198 times.
As Floyd hears this story, he does the math. That is about 9 times a day. This is a living hell. Now, he’s not a real emotional guy in general, but he can’t walk away from this story. Especially knowing that there are thousands and thousands of other stories in the past and the count keeps rising every day.
He says, “God, I don’t want to live in Cambodia but, I do want to serve you. I’m going to take a faith step and apply for this job. If this is where you want me, we’ll go.”
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