We aspire to be photojournalists.
After debating for a good two minutes as to whether "photo journalist" should be 2 words, 1 word, or hyphenated, I did what every good researcher does.
I Googled it. And when Google asked me, "Did you mean: photojournalist," I realized that yes, indeed, I did. Thank you Google.
Josh and I think and dream and pray about what life might look like for us as we prepare to transition home in August. Currently there are certain factors we know will exist, like staying with Tom and Ronda at first (and lots of late night rounds of "Fourteen," a Ferguson card game staple), spending time with friends and family who we miss so much, lots of good coffee (not so much for Josh but for me), hikes, Target runs, and getting to grocery shop and have english muffins and Life cereal for breakfast (my 2 love languages).
As we plan toward all of these things, we often joke (dream) about becoming photojournalists so we can have an excuse to travel while utilizing two things we love (writing and photography). So far no one has returned our phone calls asking for an endorsement and complete financial support, but we haven't given up yet (we're banking on Bono).
In an effort to further our career dreams, we submitted a photo/story for a monthly contest that Foursquare Missions International holds for missionaries out on the field. And the story below was chosen for March! So exciting. And good motivation to write :)
She holds tightly to my hand without betraying the fact that it is the hand of a stranger. The little I understand of what she speaks to her friends tells me that her eight year old intentions involve sneaking onto the bus with me when I leave. She has no reason for such trust, such instant connection to a person she’s never met before. I don’t know much of her story. Our limited time together reveals a young girl with a sweet, mischievous smile made broader by the “barang” (the word used for a Westerner, in this case me) attempting to use my limited Khmer vocabulary to communicate. She laughs when I try to repeat what she has just told me is the word for “turtle.” I choose to believe she is laughing at the fact that I have mastered the word with such ease.
I met this young girl at a church orphan home called Bar Kahn in the province of Pursat, Cambodia. I have met hundreds of children like her in the eight months I have now lived in Cambodia. Eight months also marks the amount of time I have been married to my husband Josh. He lived here for 10 months prior to my joining him in the role of coordinating missions teams who have a heart to both partner with and serve the people of Cambodia through Foursquare Children of Promise.
Cambodia is a country that has seen horrific tragedies with the rise of the Pol Pot regime in the mid 70’s. It marked a time of war, destruction, and the separation of families through cruel and inhuman tactics. The country is still in a period of recovery and repair following years of war, disease, and ensuing poverty, all resulting in high levels of loss of life and a daunting number of orphaned children.
However, what was meant for ruin has been given new life, what was intended for a legacy of destruction has been offered a second chance for restoration, for renewal, for hope. And I see the glimmers of this hope in the smiles of the children we encounter at each orphan home. They are living the beginnings of their future, one that brings with it the ability to have a childhood, to receive education, to grow within a family as they were intended to. There is a security within them that only Jesus can bring to any of us and it is a continual joy for me to be taken in as one of their “extended family” with each encounter.
I Googled it. And when Google asked me, "Did you mean: photojournalist," I realized that yes, indeed, I did. Thank you Google.
Josh and I think and dream and pray about what life might look like for us as we prepare to transition home in August. Currently there are certain factors we know will exist, like staying with Tom and Ronda at first (and lots of late night rounds of "Fourteen," a Ferguson card game staple), spending time with friends and family who we miss so much, lots of good coffee (not so much for Josh but for me), hikes, Target runs, and getting to grocery shop and have english muffins and Life cereal for breakfast (my 2 love languages).
As we plan toward all of these things, we often joke (dream) about becoming photojournalists so we can have an excuse to travel while utilizing two things we love (writing and photography). So far no one has returned our phone calls asking for an endorsement and complete financial support, but we haven't given up yet (we're banking on Bono).
In an effort to further our career dreams, we submitted a photo/story for a monthly contest that Foursquare Missions International holds for missionaries out on the field. And the story below was chosen for March! So exciting. And good motivation to write :)
She holds tightly to my hand without betraying the fact that it is the hand of a stranger. The little I understand of what she speaks to her friends tells me that her eight year old intentions involve sneaking onto the bus with me when I leave. She has no reason for such trust, such instant connection to a person she’s never met before. I don’t know much of her story. Our limited time together reveals a young girl with a sweet, mischievous smile made broader by the “barang” (the word used for a Westerner, in this case me) attempting to use my limited Khmer vocabulary to communicate. She laughs when I try to repeat what she has just told me is the word for “turtle.” I choose to believe she is laughing at the fact that I have mastered the word with such ease.
I met this young girl at a church orphan home called Bar Kahn in the province of Pursat, Cambodia. I have met hundreds of children like her in the eight months I have now lived in Cambodia. Eight months also marks the amount of time I have been married to my husband Josh. He lived here for 10 months prior to my joining him in the role of coordinating missions teams who have a heart to both partner with and serve the people of Cambodia through Foursquare Children of Promise.
Cambodia is a country that has seen horrific tragedies with the rise of the Pol Pot regime in the mid 70’s. It marked a time of war, destruction, and the separation of families through cruel and inhuman tactics. The country is still in a period of recovery and repair following years of war, disease, and ensuing poverty, all resulting in high levels of loss of life and a daunting number of orphaned children.
However, what was meant for ruin has been given new life, what was intended for a legacy of destruction has been offered a second chance for restoration, for renewal, for hope. And I see the glimmers of this hope in the smiles of the children we encounter at each orphan home. They are living the beginnings of their future, one that brings with it the ability to have a childhood, to receive education, to grow within a family as they were intended to. There is a security within them that only Jesus can bring to any of us and it is a continual joy for me to be taken in as one of their “extended family” with each encounter.
Comments