Please view this video if you happen by our site before March 7th to help us win $400 to help build a school for some of the most at risk students in Cambodia.

-Buddy

when-jesus-calls

I am not the best at actually getting footage when I am on a trip or retreat. I like just experiencing the trip better than recording it. This video will give you an idea of some of what the people are up against in Cambodia. It’s neat to see how God is using the ministry that Paul and Ron are doing with the military families over there and to think about how God can use us as well. We are hoping to raise money through Stop Slavery to be able to provide a school for the guys in Unit 14 by April.

Today we are going to see the General at Special Forces Unit 14 where we hope to have a mission’s trip in the spring and raise money for a community development project as part of stop slavery. You can check out the plan here.

http://stopslavery.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/Unit-14.pdf

Our Escape Retreat went really well. We are heading back to Nakijin for the DYD High School retreat this weekend. Please be in prayer for us.

I have a home office. Waahoo! I am actually writing from there right now. There was an 8X11 plastic storage shed with two small windows that had been for sale for a couple of years outside the BX. It was missing a part so I asked if they would take $100 instead of $1100 since they are moving to a new BX and the manager said yes. I was starting to feel like the 1000 square feet we have in our apartment was getting a little small. I’ll have to take some pictures when it gets light out and post them here.

It looks like we are only a few weeks out from having a new youth worker out here to lead the Jr. High group. Mark Kellond is due to be out here soon. Pray that his last $320 a month of support comes in quickly.

I am stoked about the strength of our student leaders this year. We have 10 students that are doing a great job of reaching out to their friends, leading cell groups and loving those around them. We are making some changes this year as we start a non profit to combat human trafficking and taking a one year break from spring break to do a missions trip over that time. Please pray that God would lead us to the places that he wants us to serve probably either in Cambodia or Thailand.

Summer Paintball

We went paint balling this summer with our guys and had a great time. It was good to have some of our former students back this summer helping out with ministry.

Hiking with some of our students on the student leader retreat that we held in Northern Okinawa at Okuma.

Beach Wedding in Okinawa

It was really fun to be able to do a couple of weddings this summer for students that we first had as 7th graders. Craziness. Gach and Vince had a beautiful wedding on the beach in Okinawa.

Rachel and Paul were married in the Air Force Academy Chapel. I almost didn’t get to make the wedding because of a typhoon here but God really opened the door for me to get back when the airlines told me it would be 5 days before I could get out. It was really fun to see everyone at the wedding. I was originally hoping to see some other friends in the Springs as well but in the end after not even making it for rehearsal I was just glad to be able to be there for the wedding.

Here is some fun Engrish that one of our staff caught on a ferry. It doesn’t always sound right but usually you can get the point.

We just finished up our student leader retreat for this school year. We had a great week and I am excited about the team and some of our plans for this next year. Some of those plans involve you so you should check back in a few weeks to see the direction we are going this year.

Tomorrow marks my first normal day back in the office in nearly 3 weeks. Traveling and seeing old friends and new people is always fun. Retreats at Okuma rock but sometimes it’s really fun just to get back into normal life.