Joy Fly's Cambodia Fund
Donation protected
This summer, I am going to Cambodia for a seven-week mission with an organization called Remember Nhu. The trip will cost about $3300, so I want to invite you to join me in mission with your money. This is scary for me, but I am learning that God calls people to participate in his plans in a variety of ways. Please consider if that might be a way in which He’s calling you to participate. Pray about it before you decide! I’m confident that He will compel you if it is, and that He won’t if it’s not.
Below is more on how this all came about and what exactly I will be doing there. Before I get to that, I also want to invite you to pray for me if you feel so compelled. I need it so badly! I have faith that God is orchestrating this trip in my life to coincide with events in others’ lives, and if that means you can partner with me through prayer, I would love that a ton. Specific things you can be praying about are:
- Protection against spiritual attack. As these plans come to fruition, Satan’s presence becomes more and more apparent. He plants fear in my heart, interferes with my passion about this and is just the evilest adversary. So, pray for constant reminders of God’s power over his schemes, and strength to recognize them and persevere through them.
- Protection from sex-trafficking for the children I will be working with. Preventing them from ever being involved in the sex trade prevents so much destruction in their lives and opens so many doors to success for their futures.
- My ability to keep focus on the reason I’m going. I know my time there is going to challenge me in hard ways. I will only be able to endure that with God’s mission on my heart, and not my own. So, just ask God to keep my heart aligned with His.
- That I will be able to plant seeds while I’m there that eventually bear fruit. This is God’s mission, not my own. My work can only be effective through Him, so ask Him to be at work in the things I’m doing.
- Continued trust that God will provide the means for me to go. This is mostly in terms of planning and funding. I’ve never travelled internationally so arranging the details of my airfare, visa, hotel, transportation, etc. feels slightly overwhelming.
Now. If you're wondering what the heck I'm doing this for, here you go:
I first heard of Remember Nhu from a couple that spoke at my church about two years ago. The organization’s mission is sex-trafficking prevention for children at high risk of being victims. Some of these children have no parents due to death or abandonment. Many are neglected due to drugs or gambling, are unwanted by a new spouse or boyfriend, or have parents that owe a drug or gambling debt. As Remember Nhu encounters these kids, they create a home of refuge and safety for them by meeting their needs for shelter, food, clothing, education and medical care, while also attending to their spiritual, social, and emotional needs. This protects the kids from ever having to be abused in the sex trade, while preserving their innocence and providing an opportunity for education and a future. As I learned of all this, I grew a burden of sadness for these kids. A short-term mission trip was announced that was being organized, and I was intrigued. I considered attending, but the timing was wrong. Although I didn’t end up going then, a desire to be involved with Remember Nhu stayed in my heart.
In the meantime, I gained a better understanding of God’s grace through Galatians 5:1 "It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery." I believe freedom is the essence of the gospel. Out of His love for us, God created us to live in freedom. His heart is for us to be free from the bondage of sin and able choose to live for him, leading to His glory and our life-giving joy. He showed His heart for that by taking the punishment for our sins and giving us the opportunity for freedom.
Last fall, I read the book of Philemon. In short, the book is a letter from Paul to his friend, Philemon. Philemon owned a slave named Onesimus, who had run away and stolen some of his things. That crime was cause for death if he were to have been caught. In God’s providence, Onesimus fled to Rome, met Paul and came to faith in Christ. Paul wrote Philemon to encourage him to forgive his former slave and to treat him like a brother, as Jesus calls. Reading this story planted a desire in me for people living in slavery to be set free. Jesus has rescued me from slavery to my own sin, and that makes me want others to realize God's desire for freedom in their lives too.
My Bible has a footnote that says the following: “The power of the gospel can exist in every context and at every human level. Paul’s words to Philemon help the church understand that in Christ there is a new value system. People are no longer defined by who they once were but rather by their status as children of God. When the church sees people the way that God sees them, it is empowered and emboldened to stand for slaves’ freedom. Humans are not property and should never be devalued in any way. Because every person bears the image of God, the church is called to be a voice for those who do not have a voice.”
I read this and felt compelled to look again into serving with Remember Nhu. The following Sunday the same couple was home from Cambodia and visited my church. The timing was obviously God, so I talked with them about available opportunities. After more discussion and prayer, we decided I would intern with Remember Nhu this summer, starting mid-June. I will be working with the kids to help them learn basic skills for success in their futures. This will include teaching them computer skills and tutoring them in English and core elementary subjects if they’ve fallen behind from broken family situations. Allowing them a proper education equips them to eventually sustain themselves with a regular job. God willing, this prevents them from resorting to sex-slavery out of desperation for income.
A child in sex slavery to another human is obviously a different form of slavery than a person's spiritual slavery to their own sin. However, I believe God's heart against spiritual slavery can be shared through prevention of physical slavery. My hope in working with Remember Nhu is to share His heart for our freedom both physically and spiritually.
Whew! I'm impressed if you're still reading. I appreciate you taking time to hear what God is doing in my life. I’m excited if that overlaps or intersects with anything He might be doing in yours! I look forward to seeing Him orchestrate this trip through all His people. And if you do pray for me, I would love to know about it! Unity in the body of Christ is so vital in this.
With Jesus' love,
Joy Fly
Below is more on how this all came about and what exactly I will be doing there. Before I get to that, I also want to invite you to pray for me if you feel so compelled. I need it so badly! I have faith that God is orchestrating this trip in my life to coincide with events in others’ lives, and if that means you can partner with me through prayer, I would love that a ton. Specific things you can be praying about are:
- Protection against spiritual attack. As these plans come to fruition, Satan’s presence becomes more and more apparent. He plants fear in my heart, interferes with my passion about this and is just the evilest adversary. So, pray for constant reminders of God’s power over his schemes, and strength to recognize them and persevere through them.
- Protection from sex-trafficking for the children I will be working with. Preventing them from ever being involved in the sex trade prevents so much destruction in their lives and opens so many doors to success for their futures.
- My ability to keep focus on the reason I’m going. I know my time there is going to challenge me in hard ways. I will only be able to endure that with God’s mission on my heart, and not my own. So, just ask God to keep my heart aligned with His.
- That I will be able to plant seeds while I’m there that eventually bear fruit. This is God’s mission, not my own. My work can only be effective through Him, so ask Him to be at work in the things I’m doing.
- Continued trust that God will provide the means for me to go. This is mostly in terms of planning and funding. I’ve never travelled internationally so arranging the details of my airfare, visa, hotel, transportation, etc. feels slightly overwhelming.
Now. If you're wondering what the heck I'm doing this for, here you go:
I first heard of Remember Nhu from a couple that spoke at my church about two years ago. The organization’s mission is sex-trafficking prevention for children at high risk of being victims. Some of these children have no parents due to death or abandonment. Many are neglected due to drugs or gambling, are unwanted by a new spouse or boyfriend, or have parents that owe a drug or gambling debt. As Remember Nhu encounters these kids, they create a home of refuge and safety for them by meeting their needs for shelter, food, clothing, education and medical care, while also attending to their spiritual, social, and emotional needs. This protects the kids from ever having to be abused in the sex trade, while preserving their innocence and providing an opportunity for education and a future. As I learned of all this, I grew a burden of sadness for these kids. A short-term mission trip was announced that was being organized, and I was intrigued. I considered attending, but the timing was wrong. Although I didn’t end up going then, a desire to be involved with Remember Nhu stayed in my heart.
In the meantime, I gained a better understanding of God’s grace through Galatians 5:1 "It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery." I believe freedom is the essence of the gospel. Out of His love for us, God created us to live in freedom. His heart is for us to be free from the bondage of sin and able choose to live for him, leading to His glory and our life-giving joy. He showed His heart for that by taking the punishment for our sins and giving us the opportunity for freedom.
Last fall, I read the book of Philemon. In short, the book is a letter from Paul to his friend, Philemon. Philemon owned a slave named Onesimus, who had run away and stolen some of his things. That crime was cause for death if he were to have been caught. In God’s providence, Onesimus fled to Rome, met Paul and came to faith in Christ. Paul wrote Philemon to encourage him to forgive his former slave and to treat him like a brother, as Jesus calls. Reading this story planted a desire in me for people living in slavery to be set free. Jesus has rescued me from slavery to my own sin, and that makes me want others to realize God's desire for freedom in their lives too.
My Bible has a footnote that says the following: “The power of the gospel can exist in every context and at every human level. Paul’s words to Philemon help the church understand that in Christ there is a new value system. People are no longer defined by who they once were but rather by their status as children of God. When the church sees people the way that God sees them, it is empowered and emboldened to stand for slaves’ freedom. Humans are not property and should never be devalued in any way. Because every person bears the image of God, the church is called to be a voice for those who do not have a voice.”
I read this and felt compelled to look again into serving with Remember Nhu. The following Sunday the same couple was home from Cambodia and visited my church. The timing was obviously God, so I talked with them about available opportunities. After more discussion and prayer, we decided I would intern with Remember Nhu this summer, starting mid-June. I will be working with the kids to help them learn basic skills for success in their futures. This will include teaching them computer skills and tutoring them in English and core elementary subjects if they’ve fallen behind from broken family situations. Allowing them a proper education equips them to eventually sustain themselves with a regular job. God willing, this prevents them from resorting to sex-slavery out of desperation for income.
A child in sex slavery to another human is obviously a different form of slavery than a person's spiritual slavery to their own sin. However, I believe God's heart against spiritual slavery can be shared through prevention of physical slavery. My hope in working with Remember Nhu is to share His heart for our freedom both physically and spiritually.
Whew! I'm impressed if you're still reading. I appreciate you taking time to hear what God is doing in my life. I’m excited if that overlaps or intersects with anything He might be doing in yours! I look forward to seeing Him orchestrate this trip through all His people. And if you do pray for me, I would love to know about it! Unity in the body of Christ is so vital in this.
With Jesus' love,
Joy Fly
Organizer
Joy Fly
Organizer
Menomonie, WI