The Three Musketeers.......Here we are indulging ourselves in a Phnom Penh Spa, before we set out to Thailand & Laos. Mimi, Lane and Lisa. We all spent 3 lovely days in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, before setting out to the wild blue yonder. Throughout out journey, God gave each of us an opportunity to share a testimony and/or his word. It was great!!!!!! details to follow.I don't have pictures, but on our first evening in Chiang Rai, we ministered to a group of about 8 rescued girls at their house. It was such an anointed evening. We opened by giving the girls a foot scrub, and painting their toenails. That was a bit of fun and fellowship. Then we sang a worship song, prayed and Lisa shared part of her testimony and a word from the bible. Then we ministered some more to the girls in prayer & song. It was a special night.
Here at Destiny Rescue, Chiang Rai, Thailand. Here Mimi & I are with Heidi, and Kerry (male). Heidi is in charge of the rescued girls jewellery making program. They make and sell jewellery as an income to help support themselves. Kerry is the person in charge of taking care of visiting teams (amongst other things), which he is very good at. He's a lovely aussie guy, with a great aussie sense of humour. He was our guide for 4 days, and helped make our visit very enjoyable, as well as educational. 
This is a shot of inside the shed where the work gets done. I believe some of the girls come from the village, behind the Destiny Rescue property, as well. Lisa & Mim brought back a supply of jewellery to on-sell for them. I bought a really lovely bracelet that one of the girls had just finished. That will be my souvenier from them.
This is an outside shot of the same shed. This is a large block of land with accommodation, as well as a lot of outside area.
This is the other side of the shed where the sewing area is set up. They aren't using the machines at the moment, but have previously sewn dresses, I believe. They do plan to get it going again in the near future. It's all skill training for the girls, to create an income, both for them and Destiny Rescue, as these programs cost a lot of money to run. Destiny has just become legal owners of the property they are on. They purchased it approx 18 months ago, but have only just received the paperwork in their name.
I have a cuddle with one of the girls babies.
Sunrise Children's Home. Another of Destiny's programs. This property is on the outskirts of town. It is run by two Thai couples, who have a heart for children. Most of the children here come from very poor outlying villages. And they would not otherwise have the opportunity to go to school. They live here and attend school for the week and some go home on weekends. I believe some are orphans also. They are also introduced to Jesus, and almost all of them are Christians now. They regularly pray for their families, and some children's families are also open to christianity. 
This is an outside shot of the dormatory that the girls live in. About 13 of the boys live with the leader and his wife & children, in a modest size house (not pictured).
They raise pigs to sell also. Lisa & Mim are introducing themselves to one of the residents in the pig pennery.
Some of the little pigglets that will be fattened up and eventually sold. They are a good income creator, I'm told. And tasty too!!
This is the fish farm area they have just created. Eventually it will be full of water and growing fish. They, with the help of a visiting team, dug this out by hand. Well they did use shovels. 
"Lahu"- Hill Top Tribe Outreach... One afternoon we all piled into Kerry's little truck, 4 in the front and a family of 5 in the back, and headed into the hills to the village of the Lahu tribe. This is a fairly new venture, which they do once a month. As the Lahu people are quite shy with visitors, they start off by warming the children up with games and getting some of the mums involved as well. Then we were dinner guests at the local teachers house, and afterwards they have a music service of christian songs. It's not quite a worship service yet, as they are introducing christianity slowly. They also bring teaching, and films about the dangers of trafficking and drugs, sex education, aids etc. Most of the young people of this village have no future here past the age of 15, and end up in town either selling drugs or themselves. 
This is the stage set up. The leaders of our crew introduced all the team to the villagers, including us. Mimi had the opportunity to share part of her testimony and God's word on this occassion. She shared really well and it was very appropriate for that meeting. We could not do an alter call though, as they are not up to that stage yet. Much to our dissappointment, but we respect that.
We did go for a stroll around the village while the set up was still happening. This is one of the houses in the village. I was fascinated by the built in bench on the end of the verandah.
This photo makes me laugh every time I see it. here Lisa is refusing to be photographed with yet another pig. I can't understand why??? The pigs were as much a part of the community as the people.
Lane & Lisa having a chat with a local dog. The people were quite shy, but they didn't seem to mind us wandering around. I suppose we were something different to look at. Getting home...At about 9.30 pm we all piled back into the another vehicle, this time I had the privilege of travelling in the back tray with some of the other family, for our one and a half hour drive home in the red dust and cold night air.
Just, Checkin out the pig pen in this village.....
Back in town.......We did meet Tony Kerwin and his wife for lunch one day. Tony is the founder of Destiny Rescue. He and his wife oversee all the opperations and are heavily involved in the rescuing of the girls. Also, on our last day we finally met Kerry's wife Di, and went out for coffee.
Here we are having a lovely time with our host Kerry and his wife Di. They took us to their favourite coffee house. Set up along the side of the road, amongst some greenery. They are a lovely couple, and very easy to be around. We were very blessed to have Kerry as our guide.
One of our projects during our stay was to paint the lounge room in the team house. The building is a very practical, 4 storey, brick building, with about 4 bedrooms, a lounge area and a kitchen & dining area, with a big roller door entry. It's practical, but it's not very homely. Some painting has been done already. But Kerry wanted to create a cosy lounge area for teams to relax and meet etc. So we went about choosing colours etc, and Mimi blessed them with by buying the paint and some extra brushes etc. Then we set about doing the painting job. It was fun and a real team effort. It wasn't quite finished when we left, but the remaining family and Kerry, were going to finish it off. By the time we had finished, a lovely blue lounge had also been ordered for the room and paid for as well. Kerry was very happy.
We were really blessed that particular weekend, as the outreach to the Lahu tribe happens spasmotically, and their regular church service only happen once a month. And they both fell on the weekend that we were there in Chaing Rai. On our last evening we went to church. It is held on the grounds of the Destiny Rescue property in the open air. I was asked to share at the service. So I shared on a vision God had given me in the first two weeks that I was in Cambodia. it was during a worship time with Heartland, in Kampong Charm. God showed me that He was bringing an army of reinforcements, from Australia and other countries, to soldier along side of the army of christian nationals that were already here doing a mighty job. That the reinforcements are not sent here to take over or say "we know better", but to stand with, encourage, and work along side them to help bring this nations of Cambodia & Thailand back to where they should, and can be. Also that the young people I was talking to were so loved by God that He sent me there to tell them. Some of them would be leaders in the country one day and would be able to change things at that level. But that ALL of them can change things in their own lives and circumstances, and environment around them. Because when you have Jesus in your heart, you carry Him wherever you go, and then Nothing is impossible. Amen.
I am now back in Phnom Pehn safe & sound, after my travels around Thailand & Laos. It was a great experience, but a little hairy travelling home. I left my girlfriends the bus station in Bangkok, after our overnight bus trip, as they were flying from there to Australia. I bussed it to the border, had to walk accross the border, being herded like cattle, with very litle explaination as to what the procedure was. Got ripped of by a corrupt official, buying another visa, he charged me $50 US, ($80 AU), but it should have been $25 US. Then got stuck on the other side in a little town called Poi Pet, because no busses went to PP that night. Had some guys at the bus station pushing very hard to convince me to take a taxi with 3 others. All khmer men, all the way to PP. The deal is, the foriegner pays $25 US to take a taxi, and the others get a free ride. No way was I putting myself in that position either!!! They were doing it to everyone. Mostly if you had other tourist going to the same destination, you could share a taxi. But they were all going to Siem Riep, and I wanted to go to Phnom Penh.
I prayed hard, in all the confusion and asked God to just get me home safely, and He did. Another fellow came along, after I prayed, who could speak english. He told me about the public bus system, which I had read a little about in a tour guide book. So I took a gamble and trusted him. He flagged down a passing tuk tuk, took me to buy the ticket and booked me into a guest house. I Spent the night in that guest house, locked in my room. Then caught a public bus for the 7 hour trip from Poipet to PP. I was the only foriegner on the bus, AND the only person who could speak English. But I made it. Praise God. Im sure it's all growing รก experience, and preparation for something.... Anyway, I hope you and your families are all well.
Love and Blessings to you, Lane.
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