Take-off In T-4 Days...

4 days. The time is really winding down super quickly. It seems like last week my Cambodian friend at work was telling me, "One more month, Mallory!" Well, it's finally here, even against all odds.

It's really crazy how God works. If he wants something to work out, he makes it work out. I've really learned that this past school year what with friendships, housing arrangements, and this mission trip. It's so funny and awesome that this trip even worked out actually. I had just returned from Study Abroad and realized I did not really know anyone except for my Oxford friends so I thought it would be a good idea to get plugged into something to make some more friends. Ergo, SingSong. I joined SingSong and was quickly placed, because of my superior 5"5 height, next to Shanleigh Clinton and Hannah Beth Fugett. First impression was that these girls were crazy awesome and super funny. Awesome, my kind of people. After a few weeks in SingSong where we got to chat about random things and after hanging out outside of SingSong practice, I learned that these girls were on fire for the Lord and had a huge heart for missions. AWESOME. Hold that thought.

A few weeks before SingSong I had randomly gotten the thought that I wanted to go on a mission trip because I hadn't been on one in a while. I asked around at a local church here in Abilene and I just felt like I was told that I was really late coming in, it would be pretty expensive, and hard for me to catch up. Kinda felt like they were telling me. So, I thought that maybe I wasn't supposed to go on a mission trip that summer and I had come to terms with that.Then, one day in SingSong, HB says to Shan, "Ask her!!" And Shanleigh grudgingly looks at me and says very quickly, "Hey wanna go to Cambodia with me?" Me being me, I kind of laughed and was like, "Yeah, totally, let's go to Cambodia." Hannah Beth said, "No, she's serious." And then I was like, "Whoa. Okay, well tell me about it." That perked Shanleigh up a bit because apparently she'd been asking people like crazy to go with her because her mission director teachers told her it'd be good for her to have a partner and not go alone. After she filled me in a little bit about what we would be doing and why she wanted to go so badly, I couldn't help it, I was smiling. I told them about how I had been looking for a mission trip and that when I had tried to pursue one it fell through and I had just given up and then this popped up out of the blue.

After that and being on board with everything Shan said and being interested in the mission trip, I told her I needed some time to think and pray about it. After a while I said I think the biggest green light for me would be financially. I don't have close to 5,000 dollars laying around. So if I could raise that, that would be a great confirmation. Well, I sent out my donation letters, wrote my spiritual biography, and filled out all the other things I needed to have done. It was way easier than it should have been as I was so late coming in. Donations came in, added with a generous donation from an anonymous benefactor and I was all set. God provided just enough money for me to go on this trip.


I can't explain how excited I am to be able to go on this mission to love on kids and pour into people, especially since I get to do that with now one of my best friends. It is so exciting to get to do some real hands on work and fulfill Isaiah 6:8. This has been quite a ride, but I truly believe the Lord put Shanleigh and I together for a reason and I am so excited to get to do the Lord's work with her. Thank you all so much for your support and I would ask for you to continue praying for us even while we are there.
Peace and blessings.

Catch ya on the flip side (literally the other side of the world),
Mallory Jean

11 days until we cannonball!

Let the countdown begin! 11 days! I can’t believe it. My excitement continues to grow as I check off and add to checklist after checklist. I can’t wait to experience the Cambodian culture, to step out of my comfort zone, but most of all to grow in and spread God’s love. Sometimes I think “Oh so I leave for Cambodia soon...” and sometimes I’m like “How in the world did I decide to just up and spend two months in Cambodia?! I’ve never even flown across the ocean!” But THAT is what makes it exciting. THAT is what takes it out of my hands and forces me to place it into God’s. As much as I have to-do lists and want to make sure I’m prepared, I can’t help but feel a peace that it’s really going to be okay, well actually that it is going to be great! I know God is working through this. 

For those of you who don’t know, this trip has just fallen in place piece by piece in ways in which there is no denying are because of His mighty and loving works. From the start I just knew I wanted to go, to get out of my comfort zone and experience a bigger picture of God’s children and how He loves, literally, the entire world. I had no idea where, but I weeded through several places based on the type of ministry I thought would best line up with my passions. Not going to lie, I probably had a choice on each continent. But then I heard about this opportunity in Cambodia. It is a new destination for Worldwide Witness and wasn’t even a concrete possibility. But once I heard it was not only loving on kids, but feeding them I was sunk. I  emailed the Welches, talked to Larry and had him email them and started reading their newsletters. I pursued it and before even knowing if I would for sure be able to go there I was on the search for a partner. It became a redundant question “What are you doing this summer? Wanna go to Cambodia with me?” But of course its quite a commitment to ask someone to just up and spend their summer over 2,000 miles away from home. I asked my friends, my nutrition department advisor; it felt like I’d exhausted all my possibilities, and I was getting a little nervous. But then Sing Song practice started and a new friendship sprouted. My sweet friend Hannah Beth said “Hey have you asked Mallory about Cambodia?” Noooo, but I’m sure she is just as busy as everyone else. By this time the semester was already moving right along, deadlines were past, and many other teams were bonding, but Mallory took me by surprise that night in the middle of practice and said “Well tell me about it!” Well alright. And from there a lot more praying ensued. I found out my grandparents are friends of the Welches, I found out they wanted us to come, I found out Mallory wanted to come on this journey with me. And I found out God is working in my life to not only grow me, but to use me to love others. All that to say I’m stoked. And I want this experience to continue to be led by God and not by me. And I’m awfully glad that’s the case because I’m much too incompetent for something like this. (Check out 1 Corinthians 2 or the story of Moses to see how God uses His Spirit to work through us when we think we are just average, or even weak, pretty great stuff.)

One thought that has really impacted me as I prepare for this adventure is one from Bob Goff (who is incredible by the way). In his book Love Does he says that a motto he lives by is “Love God. Love people. Do stuff.” And I so want that to be my mantra. I want to move from just agreeing with Jesus and loving His people from afar to doing something about it- to hugging kids in Cambodia! How exciting is that?! Goff says to make a cannonball in this world we have to jump in- to get past the fear and accept the mess. So this is me taking that leap from being content with my day to day life in Texas to just doing something and just loving. So here’s to making friends, to being with new people, and to loving them! 11 days!

Blessings.

Over and out,

Shanleigh

The Cliché Pre-Departure Talk

Grab your cup of coffee, pull up a chair, and prepare to participate in the tales of our adventures in Cambodia.  Oh wait, grab a piece of floor. We're in Asia now. 

Well not yet. But we will be soon. In three months we will be headed to Phnom Penh, Cambodia to spend two months working in missions with the Welch family. The mission field we will be working in specifically is an organization called S.N.A.C.K, which stands for Supplemental Nutrition Aiding Cambodian Kids. Most children in Cambodia are labeled as "undernourished" which means they are not receiving the essential nutrients needed to grow mentally and physically to their full capacity. This organization we will be working with visits villages with food trucks and passes out a nutrient-filled peanut butter that is spread on bread and a milk-based drink filled with the missing nutrients that the children are not receiving through their regular diet. This snack (ergo the acronym) is not meant to replace the meals they already receive, but is meant to enhance them. In addition to assisting in enhancing the children's physical development, we will also attempt to enrich their daily lives by providing the mental and spiritual nourishment they lack. We will do so by teaching them about Jesus Christ and His love for them, teaching them about hygiene and health, and teaching them English through Bible stories. 

We will be living in Phnom Penh in an apartment together and will commute to the villages every day. We will have the opportunity to be completely immersed in the Cambodian culture and therefore, learn more about another perspective of life other than our Americanized view. THIS IS REALLY EXCITING!!! We look forward to being able to explore some of the things, places, and food Cambodia is known for while we are there as well. 

We would like to thank each and everyone of you for your support and encouragement you have given us. Please continue to keep us in your thoughts and prayers as we prepare to go on this adventure, while we are there, and when we come home. Please pray specifically for our safety, direction, strength, patience, a continued open mind and heart and that we would be able to build friendships and relationships that would last. We want to plant seeds that will continue to grow and flourish long after we leave. Pray that we will be the salt of the world and a light in everything that we do, say, and think. We so look forward to this opportunity to serve and learn and are thankful for your partnership in the exciting times ahead!

Peace and blessings.

Over and out until next time,

Shan and Mal 

PS. We will post again when the departure date gets closer, when we arrive in Phnom Penh, and then hopefully regularly while we are in Cambodia!