My heart breaks

A man living in a water village. He has to rebuild the bridge to his house everyday!

My heart breaks. My heart longs to help the people in this country. I can't stop thinking about the people I've met, the eyes I've made contact with. The face of an HIV positive woman, not much older than me. I met her through a new friend that had an NGO along the river. He told me that he found her sleeping on the railroad tracks. No one cared for her, but he took her in.  She was dying when he found her. Dying of starvation; dying of AIDS; dying of no self worth; dying of no one to care for her. My heart broke for her. She didn't have a single tooth in her mouth. I can't imagine the poverty she has been through in her 25 years of life, and that wasn't the end the of her story. As she walked out of her "house" to meet us she brought a sweet baby girl, not much older than my 2 year old niece. Thinking it was her child, I asked if she had more children. She responded by saying she didn't have any of her own children. She told me that one of her friends asked her to care for the child and never came home to get her. She had been taking care of the baby for over a year. This sweet girl couldn't even care for herself. The baby broke my heart. She was completely unresponsive, very malnourished, and had eyes that seemed to have been exposed to the entire world. It's so hard for me to just meet these people, and walk away. It's so hard to see the need and not do anything about it to help. It reminds me how incredibly blessed I am, and will be for the rest of my life. Even if I were to go bankrupt, I'd still be blessed compared to these beautiful people.

on our first bus to Cambodia. Can't believe we are leaving tomorrow.

The Blaine's

Our last few days in Cambodia have been filled with meetings and experiences. My head is overflowing with all the information that I have been given this past week. It has been neat to see how even after a long hard day the Lord always provides Amanda and I with a good laugh, meal, thought, or conversation. It has been such a blessing to travel with such a dear friend that has the same heart as I do. It feels like I'm traveling with a sister. We are such a great team. I tend to do more of the hands on work/interviews during meetings and she is the one that writes all the notes and emails. It's a great system that we have going on. We are both getting really sad about leaving Cambodia. We love it here. It's starting to feel like home. We have also made such dear friends. The Blaines, whom I've talk about in a few blogs, took us into their home with great hospitality. They treated us like family, and we are are so thankful for them.

Tomorrow we leave for Vietnam. We are excited to see what the Lord does with us there. Thank you for keeping us in your prayers. We have felt them throughout this whole trip!