Supporting my Missionary Wife in Cambodia

These past two weeks were spent supporting my wife’s calling in life. She is a missionary, working on an active Minefield in Cambodia. This isn’t a job for those weak in heart. Only fireballs like my wife, with the Spirit of God, could ever work in the environment she works in (thank your all your prayers concerning the Amoeba she just overcame).

People ask me all the time, especially in this first year of marriage, “how can you let your wife go halfway around the world and minister in such a dangerous environment?” I wish these people could see what I see.

Stepping onto the minefield village she is giving her life for, I had mothers hand me children and say things like, “This child should have been dead, but Amreitha and Lightbridge International came.”

I saw a fully constructed school fully operated by Christian Cambodian teachers and Principal. The impressive thing about this is that 3 years ago, the people in this minefield village had never seen a pencil and didn’t know the LORD. How could I not send my wife overseas when so many lives are being changed?

I also saw huge blue tanks that hold the first clean water in this area. Consider that over 70% of the deaths in Cambodia are due to water born illnesses.

I saw a self-sufficient busineses emerge and run by Cambodian women, so they didn’t have to prostitute themselves to provide for families. The Lightbridge team is making this business a success.

As I write this, Amreitha is hosting the first ever town hall meetings and facilitating a conversation where the Cambodians of the village can identify problems for themselves and develop viable solutions.

I am so proud of my wife. She is taking care of the orphan and the poor. It is my great pleasure to send her and support her as she fulfills her destiny. How could I not let her pursue her calling?

See more of my pictures here.

Also, if you would like to follow her blog, go to www.amreitha.com.

Final Post [Book Writing Blogrimage 30/30]

​This is my final post for this Blogrimage! By far, writing a book is the hardest 30 day challenge I've ever done. Being the first time I've ever modified my challenge mid-quest, I have to say this was difficult.

I'm not done writing my book, and I will continue to compose. I feel like writing consistently like this has helped me a lot. Thanks for following along, and pray for my journey. I hope my book impacts lots of lives!​

Final Excerpt:​

God changed my life. The man I am today is not possible. From the start of my life, I walked down a certain path leading to depression, suicidal thoughts, violence, apathy and discontentment. That is not the path I walk today. I’m not saying that I am a great person or walking down a noble path. My life is still full of mistakes and wrong decisions. The direction of my love, however, is completely different. Each day, I find myself growing, encountering greater love and passion, and hope. Each day I walk with purpose and wholeness—peace that God is for me and working things out. More than anything, I walk confidently knowing that I am son of my Father—the God of Heaven and Earth. It’s wonderful and so much different than the pain, loneliness and rejection I felt not too long ago.

Zoo School [Book Writing Blogrimage Day 29/30]

I hated school. In the early days, I didn’t mind elementary school, recess and eating “fireball” candies, but after my parents divorced, I couldn’t stand high school. This slowly changed when I decided to attend an experimental, holistic charter school at the Minnesota Zoo. This school had much smaller class sizes, zero tests, a 99 percent college placement rate, and met at a zoo. We did math and English—all the regular state required material. Meeting at the Zoo each day also opened up our opportunities a little more uniquely than other schools offered. I had a class where I was assigned to spend an hour with Japanese Snow Monkeys everyday. For another class, I slept in negative 15 degrees Fahrenheit weather without a tent. This school awakened my love for learning and I’ve kept that ever since. Because I started the zoo school due to a hatred of education, it showed in my class participation. Most students really wanted to be in this specific school because it was so rare, and the school rejected most applicants. Somehow I made it in, and at first, didn’t look to enthusiastic. One day, the founder of the school told me that I was not “zoo school material.” This challenged me to make something of myself, and I ended up being the class of 2007 speaker. That same teacher told me I had just given the best commencement speech he’s ever heard.

Physical Healing [Book Writing Blogrimage 28/30]

My dad taught me that faith healings are all hoaxes—just rich preachers pretending to alleviate people’s sickness. It seemed logical. People don’t just get better because someone touches them and prays to an invisible God. I had no reason to doubt him. That is, until I read Scriptures and heard sermons telling me that Jesus is still emotionally, spiritually and physically healing people. The first time I decided to try praying for someone to get better, it worked. The drummer in my band stuck out his foot to stop a boat from hitting a dock too fast. His foot broke, but we still had to play a concert in a few hours. This was the perfect time to test  out this promised healing power the Bible says we have. We, the band, circled around him, touched the cast of the broken foot, the doctor just put on, and prayed. Within a few minutes, he ripped off the cast and jumped soundly on both feet. Like I said, the prayer worked. God healed our drummer.

Purple [Book Writing Blogrimage Day 27/30]

Before I got into only wearing orange, I only wanted to wear purple during my middle school days. I’m not sure why I obsessed over wearing certain purple—maybe it was because I loved the Minnesota Vikings so much, but I never got into yellow. To this day, I still obsess over things. Sometimes it’s a new show, and other times it’s looking for the best deal on a motorcycle I never want to buy. As I child, I collected hundreds of Magic the Gathering cards. With my friends in the neighborhood, I traded, researched and got the best cards. Unfortunately, I never knew how to play the game. I had all the right cards—ones that made my competitors jealous—but did not know how to use them. My friends coached me through each games, and, eventually, I lost all of them in a game. These obsessions happened with clothing, music, colors, books and eventually Christianity. When I first became Christian, I couldn’t get enough books. I’d read through the New Testament in a weekend without meaning to. Somehow a preacher named Mike Murdock found out about my conversion to Christianity, and sent me a box filled with 30 books. I poured over those texts and obsessed over learning from anything I could. Some of those books happened to be purpose, by the way.

BFF [Book Writing Blograimge Day 25-26/30]

Looking back, the first times Ben and I hung out were very strange. I remember stealing our youth pastor’s car keys and listening to the Beatles in his SUV during a church service. The other early interaction I recall is going to a Five Iron Frenzy, Insyderz and W’s Concert. We both went in the youth church van, and didn’t talk—we didn’t know each other. At that time in my life, I obsessed myself with the color orange. My hats, shoes, shirts, and pants all had orange. At this concert, Ben wore an orange shirt, and for some reason I wore a brown Yankees Jersey. “Want to trade Shirts? I really like orange,” I said to Ben. In most cases this interaction would be a bad first impression, but not for Ben. We traded shirts that day and he became my first friend as a Christian. We’ve been best friends ever since, and work together as ministers in Michigan to this day.