Extreme Makeover!!

This week has been such a busy week, so much happening and we've had so little time to blog and tell everyone about it...in short God has blown us away and shown his goodness and power in amazing ways!

Laura and I are in the northern part of Cambodia at the moment called Siem Reap. We came here on Friday afternoon for the weekend to see the temples and some of the sights which many people speak about here as a must see. We're leaving all the sight seeing for tomorrow and using today for sleeping and resting to try and re-energise ourselves....especially after the 7 hour bus journey yesterday to get here.

Laura has been continuing to work with the girls during the week and now has developed some amazing friendships and relationships with them and the translators as they make the Jewellery. The girls at the end of last week had started onto the more complicated jewellery and had shown some amazing skills as they did this. Some of their pieces at the beginning were a bit "bling-bling" to say the least, but Laura has made a few templates for the girls which they now follow to make the jewellery. Much of this is now being sold in the shop to raise money for the girls themselves and the organisation. Continue to pray for her in the time that we have left that her relationships with them will grow deeper and that the jewellery business really takes off. Below are some of the pieces that they made last week.

I am continuing to spend much of my time working with the "Lady Boys" and it has been unbelievable to see God starting to change their lives. There are now 3 of the boys but two of them had been continuing to dress as girls and living their "normal" lives in the evenings which was disheartening. We have had many conversations with them and was starting to see a gradual change in them and the way they were acting etc. One day while I was sitting making some of the buttons with them, they were having a conversation amongst themselves in Khmer when the translator in the room excitedly nudged me to tell me what they were saying. One of the boys (the same boy who had been singing to God last week that he wanted to see him) had said that he didn't want to live life like this anymore and wanted to change back to being a boy. The other boy agreed that he wanted to as well. I started to speak to them both through the translator. The first boy began to say about how he had wanted to change for a while but because of the influence of the other lady boys (there use to be many more working at daughters) and the fact that he only had girl clothes to wear that he felt he couldn't do it. I assured them that while it would be tough, that God could help them. The next day Laura and I went to the markets and bought them both new clothes to wear. They were both so excited. We also bought the other man a new polo shirt as well. He hugged it for ages, saying that he had never owned anything new before! The boys then continued to chat with me more about looking to change their lives. They began to talk about how they didn't want to use their "lady" names anymore and wanted to have new boys names instead and so asked me if I could help them to choose new ones. This was such a humbling experience as I tried to help give these boys new identities. At first I tried to think of really manly names to give them so automatically because Mike McMullen considers himself the most manly man in Lurgan, I told one of them that he could call himself Michael. I'll never forget the expression on his face as he screwed up his face and said that he thought Michael was a girly name and it also reminded him of Michael Jackson. I laughed so so hard for a long time.

I then began to tell them the story from the bible of David and Jonathan of how they had a deep connection and friendship with each other and were there to support each other through hard times. I told them that this was the type of friendship they needed to have to be able to support and help each other to make this change. They agreed....they now call themselves David and Jonathan. They both now dress like boys and have their long hair cut and refer to each other in their new names. On Friday afternoon they stood up in front of the rest of Daughters to share their testimony of God had helped them change. David spoke of how he had prayed to God to help him and to give him new boys clothes. God has now answered his prayers. Please pray for them both that they will not be tempted to slip back into their old way of living and that this would just be a first step on a path towards them giving their lives to God to follow him. Unbelievable!

We have also built good relationships with all the staff in Daughters. One of the translators called Kolab has particularly become a good friend. She is a worship leader in her church and so we spend much time singing together and chatting. She asked us to a bible study in her dormitory on Thursday night. There are 26 members of the study and they all have such a deep love of Jesus. Laura shared her testimony with them and it was amazing again to worship with them all. They were all encouraged by what Laura shared about seeing themselves as God saw them and to realise the purpose that he has for them. Pray for this small group of believers that God would use them to reach the lost in their community and that their passion for him would be contagious and attract others to investigating life with God for themselves.

Sorry for how long this blog might seem, just so much to share. We are heading into our last week in Cambodia. Pray that God will continue to use us and reveal more of his will for our lives. Hope everyone at home is well. Thinking of you often.