a new Building foundation in A Newsletter of the Williams Family

Romans 15:20

I S S U E

# 3

A P R I L

2 0 1 3

Join us on our journey to Cambodia! Don't panic, we aren't asking you

The Time is Near

It is April and that means that we are in the final days of our countdown to our survey trip to Cambodia. We are excited about this opportunity and cant wait to land in country. We have prayed, researched, planned, and prayed some more and now we get to enjoy the trip. We would like to give you a glimpse into what we will be doing when to literally join us we get to Cambodia. Our focus will be to survey the country. To learn. To see with our own eyes the opportunities that God will have for us when we move there. The first part of our trip will take us to the capital city of Cambodia. After nearly 38 hours of flights and layovers, we will arrive at the Rather, we hope airport in Phnom Penh and be left to navigate customs and pray you will partner that our e-visas work. A simple task? Maybe. But we are glad that we get to do it once before adding 2 more children (and diaper with us by learning about the changes) and about a thousand more suitcases. Once we clear customs we are in the hands of the experienced (a missionary family that we will be meeting there). This is the Khmer people, time for God to truly open our eyes to how we can live there. Navigating (and surviving) praying for their the traffic, hiring a tuk-tuk (taxi), shopping in local markets, exploring the local housing salvation, praying market, seeing the city, and experiencing the every day life of the country will be on our for Gods agenda as we experience Cambodia these first 5 days.
ministry there, and praying how as we embark on a journey to Cambodia.

Survey Phnom Penh

God will use you to further the ministry there. We are traveling almost 10,000 miles around the world to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ to a Kingdom that is in desperate need of hope. But we need your help to do so!

Survey Ratanakiri & Mondulkiri

Following Alecia, Hudson, and Havens departure from Phnom Penh, Blake and Dale will begin to prepare for the second part of this important survey. Our specific task is to explore which province God is leading us to eventually live in and plant a church. This journey will involve a 9 hour trip to East Cambodia to explore two provinces, their small towns, villages, and trekking through 2 jungles to meet several of the minority groups that live in this area. In Mondulkiri, we will embark on a 6 day, 5 night jungle trek that will allow us to interact with the local tribes through common cultural experiences including: elephant trekking (which includes bathing the elephant in the river with its Mahout caretaker), sleeping in hammocks at night in the open jungle, gathering wild vegetables, fishing in the streams for our meals, and visiting several hill tribe villages where more than 99% of the people have never heard of Jesus Christ. After returning back to the lodge for a night of good rest in an actual bed, we will take a two day trip to head north (with an overnight stay in the city of Kratie) as we reach the province of Ratanakiri. Here we will meet with a second group of guides that will lead us into a northern jungle through a 12 mile boat ride down the Tonle San River. Upon arrival, we will join the local people as they tend to their farms, hold regular village ceremonies, and many other daily activities. We will have the privilege to stay at a village home and closely interact with several tribal families.

When we first began considering applying with a missions organization, it was enough to send us into a panic attack that quickly kept us from taking that step. After much prayer, evaluation, and a little nudge from other missionaries, we found ourselves in the inquiring phase with an organization. This phase has involved a lot of paperwork. Applications, phone interviews, life history questionnaires, references, and a marriage evaluation have been on our minds as we have been in constant awareness that we are advancing in the process. With all of this paperwork stamped as received, we now await the last 2 items of the inquire phase. In the very near future we will sit and take a very lengthy

psychological test. Now before any of the jokes come, they are not evaluating how sane we are (they knew we were insane the minute we inquired about going to Cambodia). This test will simply allow them to assess how we need to be trained. We are actually excited and terrified at the same time. Once we return from our survey trip we will be done with our part of the inquire phase and will simply wait until we are moved to candidate status and begin preparing for future training. So that is where we are. We sit at the end of the inquiring phase and the panic attacks have subsided. We are excited for the knowledge, training, and support that we will receive by our missions organization. We will continue to pray for this process and know that God knew our needs before we did.

The Financial Stuff

2 months ago we began asking our family and friends to prayerfully consider partnering with us as we were embarking on this survey journey. It was definitely a chance for God to show us that we needed to trust Him and not ourselves. With every donation that was given we gave God the glory for leading His people to give. To those who prayed for this effort and to those who gave, we say Thank you! Also, for everyone who prepared food for the fundraiser dinner at Nazareth Baptist Church and for those who stayed to eat, we say Thank you! We are thankful for the body of Christ who believes in the purpose of the Great Commission. As of April 1, we are at 74% funded for this survey trip. In addition to being 26% away from our goal, we have also found that we neglected to budget for the vaccinations we needed which was $1,877. But we know that God knows our needs and He knows His supplies. So now we praise God in advance for supplying in these last days before our trip.
$2,830.74 26% $1,370 13%

Ways you can help

Pray, pray, and pray more for us as we follow Gods leading Prayerfully consider supporting us financially Provide a place for Alecia to sleep (and someone to watch the kids) following her return trip into Nashville Get excited with us about where God has called us to serve Him Surprise us with your unique way of supporting us on this journey

$6,479.26 61%

February Giving

March Giving

Support Needed

Our Contact Information Blake, Alecia, Hudson, Haven, Hadlee, Hunter Williams, & Dale Smith P.O. Box 461 Rainsville, AL 35986 Blake: (816) 898-3084 blake.livingforchrist@gmail.com Alecia: (816) 898-3083 alecia.livingforchrist@gmail.com Dale: (816) 489-2266
Visit our blog at: cambodiajourney.blogspot.com
If you would like to be removed from our mailing list or would rather receive our electronic newsletter, please contact Alecia at alecia.livingforchrist@gmail.com or (816) 898-3083.