Equipping

On August 6, we moved to Union Mills, North Carolina to attend a four-week “Equipping for Cross-Cultural Life and Ministry” training with Center for Intercultural Training.

If you have ever given to support our family and our ministry in Cambodia, then our time of growth and learning at CIT has been a gift afforded by you. Thank you for this gift! By no effort of our own, other than showing up with an open heart and mind, CIT has already proven to be a powerful experience of significant learning and growth - learning and growth that we believe will enhance our ministry and better our family, especially in our transition.

It has been a great experience to learn and to live in community with others who have also received this missionary call. We’ve made friends here from across the US - friends who are preparing to move to many, many corners of the world. Sophear has sang and swam, painted, performed, and played in the mud with new friends heading to England and to Ecuador. Chamnab is learning to walk with Hannah, a friend he made at WGM Orientation Camp a few weeks ago. We’re being taught by veteran missionaries who have decades of experience - from suffering to success. They’ve become vulnerable before us, investing themselves in our family and in our ministry.

We’ve talked about transitions, effective teams, mindstyles, culture and tools for cultural awareness, spiritual warfare, marriage and singleness, cross-cultural communication, worldviews, contextualization, and more. In our small groups - “Heart of the Missionary” - we’re equipping the heart and mind to be servants, dependent on the righteousness of God, stripping away our own self-righteousness.

As we live in community, we’re learning to be intentional about building relationships and practicing hospitality as we invite people into our home to share life stories. We’re practicing here and now because once we land and settle in Cambodia, hospitality will be a ministry to our neighbors.

On Friday afternoon, two of Sophear’s friends stayed with us so their parents could attend a worship service relative to their host culture.

On Saturday, we drove an hour away to Spartanburg, South Carolina to visit a Cambodian Buddhist temple. This was to fulfill a requirement for CIT. One of our classmates (Alyssa), a missionary to Thailand, met us there. Titus, Sophear, and Alyssa spent some time inside interviewing one of the monks, while I kept Chamnab out of trouble outside (pagodas are very far from “baby proof”) and toured the beautiful 6-acre property. It was a neat experience for us to see and interact with Cambodian culture here in the States!

Below is a group picture from Monday during the solar eclipse. Most everyone on campus is included - staff, facilitators, children’s teachers, children, and us (the new missionaries!)  In front of me and between Titus and I (front left) are Sophear’s two teachers and Chamnab’s two teachers. We believe God was smiling on us when he gave Chamnab a Filipina teacher and a Vietnamese teacher! These four ladies have been wonderful with Sophear and Chamnab and we are so blessed that they are here investing in our children so that we can fully participate in our classes.

Sophear's first "report card"

We’ve been here 17 days and have 10 more days. Thank you for praying for us as we learn and grow, and as we seek to be intentional in building relationships - relationships that we hope will last well beyond September 1.  Thank you for praying for our new friends - Marina, the Goods, Patrick & Tressa, the Hocutts, Catie, Michael & Carrie, Drew, Ben & Lauren, Shelby, Victoria, Joel & Mallory, Launa, Azlyn, the Meyers, Joe & Ladaere, Alyssa, Seth & Kayla, Cory, Clark & Val, John & Charlene, Logan, Bill & Amy!

To see Christ glorified in Cambodia,

Titus, Jewel, Sophear, & Chamnab

Thoughts on concluding a very eventful year

2016 was the most eventful year of our marriage, perhaps even of our individuals lives.

How God is growing our family:

As 2016 began, our sister, brother-in-law, and nephew were stuck in the Philippines for an extra two weeks due to complications regarding Aldean's Green Card. Finally, they returned to Indiana and we announced our pregnancy. I had horrible 24/7 morning sickness for almost six weeks. January 18-21, we attended Champion Migration Strategy orientation at WGM headquarters – a training that would launch us into support-raising. That same week, I started my online studies towards a master’s degree in Applied Biblical Studies with Moody Bible Institute. That same week, Titus and I both got a terrible case of the flu, which last five days and seven days respectively. While January 18-21 was definitely our craziest week, all 52 weeks required a high level of balancing demanding responsibilities – marriage, parenting, support-raising, working, studies, taking care of our home, our walks with the Lord, etc.

On February 4th, Sophear turned two-years-old and on March 16th, she had surgery to close a hole in her heart. It was a very scary time for us, but we felt so supported! There were people all around the world praying for Sophear and for us! During the days and weeks leading up to and following Sophear’s surgery, we were reminded in a very real way two important truths: 1) God is a big God and 2) He loves our precious daughter, His precious daughter. I’m reminded of the lyrical line “I'm no longer a slave to fear, for I am a child of God!!” It is with confidence in this truth that I am able to go to Cambodia.

In July, we attended Family Camp – a traditional church camp-meeting for all ages. It was our last week as a family of three (Chamnab was born Tuesday after camp), and we shared some special times together as a family living in a small cabin and staying up too late. We also enjoyed the time away from technology and other distractions, which allowed us to reconnect in fellowship with those around us. God gave us many opportunities that week to advocate for the unreached in Cambodia and we’re grateful for how our support team grew that week!

On August 2nd, our son, Chamnab Harvey, was born. As I’m writing this, I CANNOT believe that our Baby Bear (affectionately called Chamnabby as dubbed by Sophear) is five-months-old. We were so busy and the months flew too quickly… and yet, he’s thriving! He’s rolling, he’s sitting unassisted for short periods, he’s laughing, he’s playing… but HOW is he five-months-old?! Over the weekend, I built a blanket fort for Sophear and put Chamnab in the fort (per her request). I sat a few feet away, listening, smiling, burning into my memory what I was seeing and hearing. Sophear was making silly noises and waving toys and Chamnab was laughing until he fell over. Things won’t always be easy in Cambodia, but they will always have each other! We wake up and go to bed thanking God for our fun and beautiful duo!

On October 29th, we celebrated 5 years of marriage. I’m so grateful to go through life TOGETHER. The last five years have been full of adventure! We’ve pursued dreams of a driver’s license, citizenship, educational pursuits, extensive travels, and raising support for our ministry in Cambodia.

How God is growing our support team:

In April, we became connected to a small community of Cambodian Christians in Columbus, Ohio. We have been able to visit both churches on three visits, including Cambodia’s most celebrated holiday – Khmer New Year. It was a real blessing and encouragement to connect with some Cambodian families and to feel so welcomed by them. Our time with this Cambodian-American Christian community grew even stronger our desire to take the Gospel Message of Jesus Christ to reach the unreached in Cambodia. We believe that God allowed us to cross paths with these people for a great purpose!

On May 1, we spoke at our first church, located in Coleman, Michigan. I believe we will always remember the first pastor who had enough faith in us to offer our first speaking invitation! Our first invitation came from a former classmate who sat in front of me in Homiletics my senior year in college (Fall 2010). While some relationships have fizzled in 2016, it has been a blessing (and fun!) to reconnect with old friends and classmates as well as to build new relationships! As we have traveled, we have met some wonderful people –people that we wish we could have spent more time chatting with and people that we hope are not just a one-time-meeting!

In June, we traveled by faith to a small church nine hours away in North Carolina. This was our first time visiting a place that we had never been, where we knew no one (and staying in the home of people we had just met). Along with taking Sophear, I was already well-advanced in my pregnancy. We questioned, ‘Is God calling us to go?’ and ‘Are we sacrificing too much at the expense of our children?’ God was good to bless our obedience to accept His call to North Carolina. Three families/individuals from the little NC church started supporting us and one of the families has been especially loving towards us, even advocating for us!

In September, we began a very busy travel schedule which took us to 18 speaking engagements in 18 weeks. Our travels took us to Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky, New York, and North Carolina. Raising support has not been easy; in fact, it has been very hard, but God has been good to us! Very good! As I wrote earlier, we have met many wonderful people and we have also been blessed with opportunities to reconnect with friends from our past! We consider it a privilege to be sent out to advocate for the Great Commission, to advocate for Cambodia’s unreached, and to finally return to Cambodia and commit our days, our mouths, and our hands to winning souls!

To those of you who have “followed” our journey and to those of you who have not forgotten us, although we’ve been away, THANK YOU. Thank you Lord for being us every day, on every mile, and at every podium! We faced some challenges in 2016, but God was with us every step and every decision! We trust that God will be faithful to walk beside us as we continue our support-raising and eventually move our family to Cambodia in 2017!

To see Christ glorified in Cambodia,

Titus, Jewel, Sophear, & Chamnab