A Glimpse into the Next Year

As I begin my second year here in Cambodia, my role with the school is shifting to some of the giftings that God has shown me that I have in the past year. I am going to be working with more of the special cases in the school, writing IEP's for the students who have learning disabilities, creating counseling and plans of action for our students being abused or trafficked, training our teachers on how to address abuse and trafficking when it comes up during the school year, and working with families to create a healthy environment for our kids to go home to as well. It is no small endeavor, but I know it is exactly what the Lord wants me to be doing- and He will equip me as I go. I am thrilled to be in Cambodia another year, to continue to build relationships with my teachers, our students, and their families. I've seen what investment in lives can do here, and the transforming presence of Christ. Lives have been changed in the past year, and God will continue to do so this year. 

But the thing is I need partners. I need people like you who want to invest prayerfully and financially in this calling, so that I can keep putting the most marginalized people in the world at the center of my concern. For the one. The one family that finally sees value in their child. The one child that finally doesn't have to go home to a place of abuse and neglect anymore. And the one who needs to be fought for, loved on, and valued that never has before. I need monthly committed partners and people that feel like the Lord is telling them to give, and partake in the restoration He is doing in Cambodia. 

Watch this video for a glimpse into what I'm doing here and if God is telling you to give, here are some practical ways to do so: 

This is the link to give through my Paypal:

Paypal Missionary Support

This is the link to be a monthly partner- Just put my name (Sarah Hendee)  in the spot with reoccurring  missionary support:

G42 Missionary Partnership

If you have any questions or would like to be a part of my monthly private newsletter please email me at sarah@aim4asia.org

One Year in the Kingdom of Cambodia

Monday will mark one year living in Cambodia. It’s pretty crazy to think of how drastically different I was a year ago, and that I really had no idea what I was getting myself into, packing all my things and moving across the world. Sure I expected a little adventure, for God to move, and to be a part of His work fighting for the trafficked and abused here but I don’t think I could have fathomed all He had planned for this past year. It has been a year of doing a lot of things I never thought I would do, diving deep into God’s heart in ways I didn’t think I could, and loving and being loved by others in a way that has redeemed a lot of what love is for me.

 In the past year, God has...

Given me an amazing staff of Khmer teachers to love and be loved by. 

Given me a Khmer family who treats me as their own, challenges me, and loves me more than they know, and I had no idea I needed that coming here a year ago.

              

\Given me great friends here to support and challenge me when things are hard, and when things are good.

Given me so much grace to learn more of how to love others and work for His Kingdom and purposes.

  

Shown me new gifts I didn’t know I had, and given me grace in learning how to use them well.

Shown me how to bring the Kingdom of God to the Kingdom of wonder.

Given me increasing responsibility of some of the hardest and best things I’ve ever done and will do in my life.

Shown me the power of sleepless nights full of prayer to partner in fighting for our sweet students.

Let me be a part of rescuing and restoring children’s lives here.

Given me a deeper respect and love for my family in New York, and grateful heart to be able to miss people that mean so much to me.

Dear Cambodia,

Thank you for letting me enter into your kingdom with such humbleness, hospitality, and love. You have given me countless laughs, tears, and moments of shear confusion in the past year, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. I have been left breathless watching the beauty of your people, and how they care for one another.

Your people truly are Kingdom people, and I believe that they will grasp hold of the promised land God has for them. They aren’t satisfied wandering in the desert, they are hungry for more of heaven to come down, and I believe God has been and will answer that hunger with His presence. See the Lord’s report for this land, what He is restoring and bringing to life from the dust here. Don’t believe those that are seeing only what’s in front of them and the negative of what they think the future holds here, because I am here to say it’s beautiful and greater waves of redemption is coming. The promised land is full of milk of honey- the giants will flee when you are ready to stand up for your land.

I’ve experienced with you some pretty broken places the past year and seen how a genocide can leave such beautiful people broken even 45 years later. I am here to tell you that there is hope and it’s here right now. I see it in the twenty something’s rushing back to the universities in the city hungry to learn. I see it in music emerging that is restoring what’s been lost and making it new. I see it in my staff as they bring life into the world and start to parent the next generation with love and value. Hope is here, and it is your people. YOU are HOPE Cambodia, not only for your future, but hope for the whole world when you are full of Christ.

Thank you for a beautiful year, and letting me truly be a part of you. I cannot wait to see what this next year holds for you- I know it will be beautiful in the messiest and most perfect way.

Love.

Sarah

**If you would like to partner with me this next year I am still in need of monthly and one- time partners. Hit the partner with me tab above for all the details!**

Simple Truths in Spain.

This week I traded in temples, chaotic Phnom Penh streets, and rice for cathedrals, a view of the Med Sea, and rest in Spain. I was ready for a break from my busy life in Cambodia, and to have some sweet time with friends, family, and mentors. It's been so amazing to get a different perspective of my life in Cambodia, and to feel like I'm breathing some fresh air above the clouds. The past month in Cambodia was one of my hardest, and I felt like I needed to get out and above the clouds literally on a plane, and emotionally/spiritually as well. In the past few days of travel and time here I've realized a couple things, or more so have been reminded of some simple beautiful truths by God.

God has given me beautiful family all over the world.
As I sat on the plane about to take-off from Phnom Penh, tears started to flow. I thought about all the things I would miss in the next 6 weeks with my Khmer family in the village, my Khmer teachers and staff, and good friends and I could't help but cry. It's always been hard to leave my New York home but this was the first time I deeply felt the effects of leaving my Cambodia home. I'm so grateful that God has given me people that care and feel like family all over the world that I have to miss. I was also welcomed by great people in Spain, that are my tribe and family as well. It's a weird feeling going from home to home, but I guess thats what my life will always be when I find my home in the people I care about around the world.

Life is still all about a love affair, with God and with others.
It's always been about relationship and loving others while being loved by God. I realize that more and more everyday. Whether I'm in Cambodia, Spain, or New York its all same- love God and love people fiercely. I was welcomed into community in Spain, sat in on classes and was reminded again that a love affair has always been and will always be God's point for this earth. When I was flying into Spain, my last flight was from Italy and I sat next to this petit European girl. When you travel you never know who your sitting next to, where they are from, or where they really are at in life. I began to talk to her, let her in to my life and she felt safe enough to tell me all about her life as an immigrant in America, and how although she is going to a prestigious school now in NYC and her family is successful she has never had any friends. She just needed a friend. That's it, plain and simple. She didn't need me to preach the gospel to her, she just simply needed a friend to hear her and care for her. That's exactly what I did, and I know she felt Christ's love in those moments.

God really knows every fiber of our being, what we need, and then gives us abundantly more than we thought we needed. 
In the past couple weeks, I have felt so loved by God. He knows my every need and what I need in these moments to rest. I knew I wanted some rest in Spain, but he gave me so much more than that being here, and is continuing to give me great things as I fly out of Spain as well. Even when you don't know what you need right now, He does and He will meet those needs if you let Him. He is a good Father all the time and loves to give us good gifts.

We are always in process, and will always be in process. 
I came to Spain with the expectations of processing my whole last year in Cambodia in 2 weeks, and then prance off to New York. Well I was completely wrong in my thinking, and I now know to give yourself space and grace to be okay with always being in process. There are many things in the past year that I never got a second of time to let my mind and heart catch up with what I was seeing and doing- but that's okay. I'm learning to let my emotions enter into my daily functioning heart, but with a fast paced busy ministry life it's not always easy to do. But there is grace, oh so much grace that God gives me and will continue to give me as I stay in process.

My time in Spain has been so good and full of great friends and community, good food and wine, life being spoken into me, and sweet sweet rest with my Father God. I hop on a plane today to once again trade in my view of cathedrals, cobblestone streets and mountains for my New York home filled with loving faces, cheerio smell filled air, and beautiful parks and grass- expectant to see more of Christ in Buffalo, encourage the church with what God is doing in Cambodia, and have sweet sweet time with my family and close friends. Peace out beautiful Spain, you have been so good to me! 

Finding a home for Lucky

"Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." James 1:27

On Saturday, I packed a few things in a backpack, put on some sunglasses, hopped on my motto and set off for some time with my khmer family in the Kampong Speu province. I had no idea what I was about to step into, and that He had great responsibility of the kingdom waiting for me there. Waiting for Christ in me, the hope of glory to show up.

I stepped foot on the dirt in my Khmer home, and rested for barely seconds it felt like before my Khmer brother came to me, and told me I needed to follow him with a look of worry on his face. He had heard that there was a 2 month old baby with AIDs in the village that had been abandoned, and wasn't being fed. We ran down the dirt path, and came to a small wooden shack with a single hammock was strung up and the sweetest baby boy crying in it. I picked him up, held him close and saw the biggest smile spread across his face, as the tears stopped. We later found out later that as soon as the hospital marked on his paperwork that he was HIV positive after being born, his family brought him back home, left and never came back. For his first month of life, he was passed around the village- with random village members feeding him and them passing him onto the next. He eventually ended up at his grandmothers house- who immediately had someone scribble on a worn piece of paper that she didn't want the baby, got it signed by the village chief, and was ready to abandon him a second time before we showed up.

God's timing is perfect, and when I spoke with the grandmother she told me how she was sick herself and couldn't take him either- that she was sorry, and then handed him to me.  I asked her what his name was and she didn't know. At this point a good portion of the village had surrounded us, and one of the older woman in the crowd said we named him Somnang which means lucky because we new something good was coming for him.

I met with the village chief, who signed the papers and left me the responsibility of taking the baby away, and find him a home. I immediately started making phone calls, searching for a home for this precious baby. I knew God had a specific plan for him- and that there was hope even in abandonment. After many calls and rejections, I finally decided to go back to the city and search more myself and research all I could online. Before going home, I stopped at the Catholic Church I have been going to and finding peace in. And The Lord knew I needed peace at this point. We sang all together "When I am in trouble, be with me Lord." Something so simple, but so profound when chaos seems to be surrounding- and I found peace. Shortly after that, I got a lead on a christian orphanage near the village- made a phone call and without a second thought they immediately said yes, we will take the baby. A day was later I was touring the orphanage with a friend, and feeling that same peace from the night prior in church. It was his home, and I knew that then.

Yesterday, I was so honored to be able to pray with the village surrounding me over baby lucky- and tell them how God has always had a plan for him even when his family was abandoning him. We drove away and I just looked into his eyes as he smiled and I smiled right back with so much peace and joy filling me. He fell asleep in my arms on the way there, and I think he knew that my arms were just the start of a home he is going to know he has in Christ. Somnang will know that he is not abandoned- but he is a son of the King of Kings, and will share in his inheritance of the Kingdom of God one day. I am so thankful that God put me in the right place at the right time, and said here take this responsibility and bring hope to this village again. Somnang is safely in his new home now, had his first check up- and is surrounded by so much love! He will grow in a a small community with other children who have AIDs, have the best education, and will have the opportunity to go to university. God could not have shown me a more perfect home for this loved baby boy!

The Discipline of Faith

"THEREFORE LIFT YOUR DROOPING HANDS AND STRENGTHEN YOUR FEEBLE KNEES, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather healed." Hebrews 12:12-13

AKA: Hands up, walk straight forward, into the unknown praising me.

I don't know about you, but walking a straight path is pretty difficult for me sometimes.  I feel like God has been speaking that He has me on the straight path but I keep running off the path into the surrounding forests when I think I see something up ahead that looks scary or unfamiliar. I always find my way back to the straight path, but I like detours way too much lately in the deeper places of faith He is taking me. So God's put up the railings along the road so to speak, and He's been training me how to walk forward, with my hands held high no matter what I think is in the road up ahead.

Perception seems to be something that has really encouraged my detours as well. A friend was visiting Cambodia this week, and they looked out over the city off our balcony, and said " If it looked this way back home I'd presume a storm was coming, but it's not here is it?" Our perception of even what a storm looks like up ahead, could keep us from walking that path. But the perception of what we see as a storm up ahead, isn't necessarily so.  I'm not saying that I would avoid a storm if God chose to put it in my path right now, but if I'm honest I'd be more apt to take the trail off of the road, and into the forest off of the path to take refuge for a bit. The forest isn't necessarily a bad place either, but you can't run and I find myself seeking refuge before I can even clearly see what was actually in the road that made me detour in the first place.

The truth is I have no idea what is in the path up ahead, but I know I can run the path marked out for me if I keep detouring in the forest. I was on a little getaway with some friends this past week to Angkor Watt, a beautiful old civilization of temple ruins- some of the oldest in the world. I fell in love with zipping my motto through the forests along the path exploring new temple ruins. But there were many little paths off of the main road that ran into the forest, that I really wanted to just take a quick turn down. But I knew If I did that I wouldn't be able to drive well through them and might get lost in the process. We were created for the straight path. It's okay to get correction sometimes, its a mark of being a daughter or son of the most high King- but there is a time where we need to learn to navigate that straight path with God, into the unknown with hands raised high. To walk into greater depths of faith and obedience to God.
I don't care if it's family issues, or fear of rejection up ahead. I don't care if it's a storm, or sunny skies. Walk, take a stride or two and praise the One who is worthy. 

Christmas Cookies and Jet Lag

It's 4 a.m. and I'm wide awake eating Christmas cookies in the light of the dimly lit Christmas tree. I'm sitting here jet lagged and thankful. Oh so thankful. I've been thinking about this season of advent, and how I'm experiencing Jesus in a whole new way this Christmas. Christmas comes this time every year, and I know the reason why we celebrate so what's so different this year?

I've been reading through different blogs and  a devotional on advent and taking time each day to just read and meditate on what these days leading up to The Messiahs birth meant and still means today. I want to share a piece that really grabbed my heart this morning and helped me process why I feel even nearer to Gods heart these days.

"Someone told me this advent feels more like a lent- a grieving.
How in the world does a weary world rejoice?
We may not know why God doesn't stop all the different suffering-- but we definitely know it's not because he's indifferent. God is so moved by our being entangled in suffering that He moved himself into our world and entangled himself in the suffering with us. God with us.
Christmas is the end of division. Christmas is the beginning of the end of all suffering. Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.
This is what His glory does- like a river, His glory in the highest runs down to meet us who are at our lowest, those left out in the field who have lost our flock, lost our way, lost our hope. His glory in the highest always runs down to meets us at our lowest. This is what lets us sing like the angels did. "

There is such exquisite beauty in knowing that my comforter and Messiah has been born- the beginning of the end of all suffering. The beginning of the end of all suffering my students, and teachers have to endure in Cambodia and the suffering I've endured in my life too. In being enveloped and entangled in suffering of some of the most beautiful people I have ever known in Cambodia, I've really been entangled with Jesus' heart. This is exactly why He came to earth- to suffer for the suffering. I understand better than any time in my life why that little precious baby in a manger meant so much because I'm communing so closely with the broken, hurting, and suffering. It
makes every difficult moment in the past 4 months living in Cambodia worth it to know that I'm closer to my Fathers heart, and entangled in suffering with my Messiah.

I don't know where you are at in your life on the other side of this screen, but know that if you are suffering or are communing with the suffering this advent season Emmanuel--  God with us is coming and is near. 
"Comfort, comfort my people says your God" 

They don't need your pity, and they sure don't need mine.

A couple weeks ago I hung up a FaceTime call with a good friend from back home, very frustrated. It wasn't her fault for not understanding what I tried to describe as my life now here in Cambodia. I described my day to day, and what I really am doing in Svay Pak on a daily basis and her voice changed to one of pity as she said "it just sounds so sad the way your living and what your doing." Those words felt like a punch to the gut.

As I was letting my frustration rise with someone I loved feeling pity for living my life the way I am here, I heard God's whisper speak don't pity my people here in Cambodia either. Some days I can get caught up in the whirlwind of an abuse case at the school and without realizing it place pity on those kids and their families. But the truth of it is that my student going home everyday to abuse and poverty is really a daughter of the king- one whom is fully loved and accepted by her Father God. A daughter that God is very intentional with in his pursuit after her and purpose for her life. Her present suffering does not define who she is, or what God wants to do with her life. That's the truth of the matter.

In Cambodia the winding roads that lead back to my students houses consist of some big wide national roads that are crazy and filled with whirling people, mottos, food carts, brick trucks, honking cars, and you name it-it's on the road. But off of the large road are these tiny narrow pathways, ones that look like a small alleyway that would lead nowhere. But if you turn onto one of those narrow pathways you will find hidden villages filled with life and joyful smiling people living with little to nothing often times in shacks, and it's beautiful. And truthfully they don't need your pity, and they sure don't need mine.

I remember hearing the verse that says "enter through the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is narrow that leads to life, and those who find it are few." and was taught and scared into thinking that it was a small chance that I would be one of the few that that found that narrow path, and I felt pity for those who didn't find that narrow path. I don't think that's what God was trying to get across to us in these verses at all though.

These verses scream kingdom and bringing it to earth. I think it would be very easy to live life as a Christian, and be still bringing destruction to the earth instead of the Kingdom of God. I think that narrow path is the one that you turn down off of National Road 5 here in Phnom Penh or the barefoot dirt roads in India as you see beauty in brokenness and need from people hungry for the Kingdom of God to come.  I think few people are willing to turn down it because it's dusty and messy, and the unknown is around each corner you turn. But once the dust clears, and navigating the unknown becomes a faith filled adventure with the Holy Spirit there is so much beauty to behold its unfathomable. There is so much waiting for the faithful servant willing to turn onto the narrow dirt filled path, so much Kingdom to be had right here on earth. If we are a people filled with the Holy Spirit, and Christ is formed in us then we are the gate and there are people waiting for Kingdom to come through us.

Is there brokenness, pain, and suffering down those dirt roads? There sure is, but nothing worth pitying. God brings life and kingdom to the suffering, not pity. And neither do I any longer. I'm here to climb mountains with people, and watch them come to life when they never even thought they could leave the valley in the first place.