Operation Extreme Love, Thailand, and Operation Extreme Justice, Cambodia

Here is a bit of info about my trip to Cambodia and Thailand – I leave early tomorrow morning. 

I have had a heart for children caught in trauma for most of my life, and I hoped to work with them, but it seemed that God asked me to raise children of my own instead. 

With time, I thought that I would not be directly involved in this kind of work after all, and instead I got busy with the home education movement. 

But during the last 2 years, this vision has begun to stir in my life again, and suddenly there are opportunities to learn and participate in projects that are working with orphans and hurting children. It has been quite amazing how I have been meeting people already working in this field, without even looking for them! 

Looking back, I know that I was not ready to deal with wounded children until I had raised whole children. Since October 2011, God has been, in a very tender and gentle way, teaching me what it means to be a daughter in His house. This fresh awareness is equipping me for the task in a significant way. Sadly, I did not have a proper picture of what a father – daughter relationship should look like, and it has been very healing to see how deep His fathering goes. It is His unconditional love that heals our hearts and that makes us healers in our turn.

Last year, in May, Ivan and Isabel Allum came to England, and Ivan prayed for us. Amongst other things, he said he could see "Thailand all over us". I was puzzled by this as I had never had any kind of interest in visiting Asia at all. My initial response was "No, I don't think so...." But as I began to pray about it and ask God for clarity, I did feel Him asking me, gently but persistently, if I would consider joining Him in a project of His in Thailand. I still didn't know what it was. Soon, by seeming co-incidence, someone who did not know me or the questions I was asking at all happened to send me a link for an organisation called Love146. Love 146 was founded in response to the tragedy of child brothels, and reading their website was my introduction to a subject we would all rather not know about, but one which we can no longer afford to ignore... 

Soon after this, my friend Ingela Larsson Smith, herself involved in a children's project called Horses for Orphans, mentioned in passing that I should listen to some CD's by a lady named Patricia King. I went onto the internet to do some further research, and the very first page I read told of an outreach and school in Pattaya, Thailand, called Operation Extreme Love! Somehow I felt I was on the right track... all the pieces were connecting up together nicely!

Craig and I decided to sign up for Operation Extreme Love in Pattaya, Thailand, at the end of May.

In February I went to a conference in Devon where Patricia King was a speaker. On the last evening she shared about the work with at risk/’rescued’ children in which she is participating in Cambodia, and I don’t think there was a dry eye in the room by the time she was finished. I accepted a fresh challenge to be an advocate, a voice, and a defender for children. 

A while ago I read a book, titled ‘The Light Belongs in the Darkness’. So often we just shine our light in places where there is already light. But the light is supposed to shine in dark places – that is where it is needed. One outcome of reading this book, and of hearing Patrica King speak in February, is that on Saturday I leave for Poipet, Cambodia, where I will spend a week on an outreach to vulnerable children and families. The following week I go to Pattaya, Thailand, to participate in an outreach to prostitutes in a city that is an epicentre of what is called ‘sex tourism’. The two outreaches are part of wider projects, one called ‘Operation Justice’ – Bringing God’s justice in unjust situations, and one called ‘Operation Love’ – Bringing God’s love in unloving situations. 

This will be predominantly a learning and discovery experience for me, but is hopefully also a chance to bring some light, one incident at a time, one individual at a time. I don’t know if there is a darker place for a child to be than caught in prostitution. Everything in me revolts against the very idea, that a child should be used in this way. And yet the statistics are tragic, confirming that a high percentage of Asia’s prostitutes are children under the age of 15. Few, if any of them, willingly chose it, and those who did often did so because of family pressures, expectations and needs. Estimates are 30% - 35% - which translates into a lot of children. 

More about the projects here: http://www.xpmissions.com/training.html and here:
http://www.xpmissions.com/cambodia_operation_justice.html
There is a lovely song called ‘Homeward Bound’ by Kristene Mueller. Listening to it a while back, I realised that is completely sums up my heart with regard to this new thing that is happening in my life. These are the lyrics: 

I will run, I will run this race, and I will do it all for love.
Your love compels me forward,
Your love controls my heart, 
And I just can't, I cannot get away.
So I will fight this good fight of faith, and I will do it all for love.
You are my great reward,
You're so worth fighting for
And I can't wait to see Your face.
I can’t wait to see your face.

Many of you have asked how you can support me during this time.

A few suggestions follow:
• Pray for my safety – going into unknown situations and contexts, there are many potential hazards to face
• Pray for health, that I will be physically strong and able to participate in all the activities
• Pray for wisdom, sensitivity and love as I interact with people
• Pray for me to meet up with the right people in terms of finding clarity about whether or not I should be involved in a medium or long term basis, and if so, in what context?
• Pray for provision of everything we need to do this project and potential projects in the future...
• Pray for my family back home in England, that it will be well with them, and that they will not miss me too much...! As I said to the children, they are giving up their right to have me mother them for these 2 weeks, so that I can be released to go and mother some other children. In this way they are co-participants in my activities. 
• Anything else that comes to mind.

And if you are not the praying type, just keep me in your thoughts!

Thanks for all your love and support.