Pictures from the orphanage in Cambodia

Here are two great pictures a good friend of ours, Rachael Walkup, took while she was at the orphanage in Cambodia in July.

Cambodia in December

If you would like to help fund our team, you can give securely through http://globalxm.org/ (it's tax deductible :))

Yes, I'm off on another short-term mission trip :). This time I'm headed to Cambodia! I've been asked to lead a team of nine people to the town of Battambang in December. We'll be putting together a Christmas event at an orphanage North Point Community Church supports. I’m so excited to have another opportunity to lead an international trip, an area where I feel God has gifted me, and I can't imagine anything more fulfilling than serving at an orphanage. Gina and I have been blessed with the time, resources and support to help children in Peru, Bosnia, South Africa and India, and are grateful for another opportunity in Cambodia.

Cambodia is a country with incredible needs. A communist revolution in the 1970s resulted in the death of two million people and untold hardships on millions more. Hundreds of thousands were executed between 1977 and 1979 alone. A peace agreement was reached in 1991, but free elections weren’t held until 2002. The country is trying to reach some kind of normalcy, but is far behind the rest of the world in almost every area.

Decades of war and famine have left the people of Cambodia with few resources. Weak government institutions have allowed abuse and corruption to go unchecked. Children have been particularly impacted. Cambodia is listed as a leading location for child slave labor and sexual abuse. There are few places in the world where children need help more than in Cambodia.

The orphanage in Battambang is unique in that it only takes in about 40 kids and cares for them until they have completed secondary educations. North Point sends three teams a year to help with its three-part mission: take care of the children's immediate needs (food, shelter and love), educate and train them in marketable skills, and lead them in a growing relationship with God.

North Point hopes to build lasting relationships through these trips. The kids of Battambang will be the next generation of leaders in Cambodia and will have a tremendous impact on their community and the country. In a place with so many needs, imagine what God can do through spiritually and emotionally healthy people who have a desire for him and a desire to help others.

I'm writing you because you have been so faithful to support my trips in the past. Thank you! You have made a difference. Travel expenses for this trip are $2,900. We are leaving on December 4th and returning on the 14th. If you feel led to give, I've included information for online giving, and return postage if you prefer mail. Our team appreciates anything you give and will be praying that you feel very much a part of our team. You will make a difference in these kids’ lives!

If you don't feel led to give (please don’t feel obligated), I hope you will pray for our team, for our preparations here and our time there. I would also love it if you prayed for the children of Cambodia. Pray that God will continue to meet their immediate needs, to protect them from terrible abuses, and to use organizations like North Point to educate and prepare them for adulthood.

Thanks again for your prayers and ongoing support of my mission trips (this will be my fifth!). I'm so thankful to have family and friends who support my desires, who pray for me and love me, and who are willing to help others.

Talk to you soon!

Jason

Blanca Peak and Ellingwood Point

Chad and I had a successful trip to Colorado. We made the summit of two of the three 14ers on our itinerary. We were able to climb Blanca Peak and then traverse the connecting ridge to Ellingwood Point. It was a great climb. There was a little 4th class scrambling, which I really enjoyed. We got ourselves into a place where we had to pull off a small section of probably 5.6 or 5.7 moves, no problem except we'd been on our feet for about 6 hours, were at 13,000 feet and had been at sea level 48 hour earlier! Oh, and we didn't have a rope for that warm snuggly feeling I like to have when a fall could result in something getting broken or dead.

We had planned on climbing Little Bear Peak as well, but called off the attempt after reading more about the objective dangers and talking to a few people coming off the mountain. Our guidebook said Little Bear was the most dangerous standard route 14er in Colorado (I somehow missed that when planning the trip). That info, coupled with reports that one of the more difficult sections of the climb had running water on it from a late melting snow pack, gave us pause. A nice thunderstorm the night before we'd planned to do the climb, which would have made the route even wetter, sealed the deal for us. We decided to wait until another trip. It looked like a terrific challenge. This is going to be one of those mountains I want to go back for (I already have that regret feeling, that I should have tried/what if I never get to go back feeling).

I would give you some info on the route, but there are already some great resources out there. I'll let my pictures and the brief timeline below be a supplement. We did everything standard. We got most of our info from Gerry Roach's book, Colorado Fourteeners, from www.summitpost.org and from www.14ers.com.

Here's what we did:
Route: Blanca/Ellingwood Combination - Ascend Blanca's Northwest Face (Grade III, Class 2) then descend Ellingwood's South Face Route (Grade III, Class 2). 15.1 total miles and 6,900 ft of elevation gain. Low point - 8,000ft. High Point - 14,345ft.

Day 1 - Fly from ATL to DEN, drive to Lake Como trailhead and camp at the car for the night. We left ATL at 8am (local) and arrived at the trailhead at about 6pm (local). The drive from DEN took about 4 hours. In addition, made stops at REI, for grocieries, dinner, etc.

Day 2 - Lake Como trailhead at 8,000ft to Lake Como at 11,740ft - 5 miles and 3,740ft of elevation gain. It took 5 hours. Probably the roughest, rockiest trail I've ever been on. Brutal. I'll blame the slow time on coming from sea level and fighting a head cold.

Day 3 - Lake Como to Blanca Peak via Northwest Face, down Blanca's north ridge to the saddle between Blanca/Ellingwood, to Ellingwood's South Face Route. Descend Ellingwood's South Face Route - 5.1 miles and 3,160ft of elevation gain. It took 9 hours (9 hours - 6 up/3 down).

Day 4 - Lake Como to trailhead - 5 miles (3 hours). The bad thing about all that elevation gain is that you've got to go back down. With a 40 lb pack and the rockiest trail I've ever been on, it was one of the longest 3-hours of my life.

Day 5 - We did a little detour to Colorado Springs on the day we were going to do Little Bear. We visited Garden of the Gods and drove up to Pikes Peak (does that count as a 14er?).

Day 6 - Fly back to ATL.

Here are pictures from the trip. That's me on the summit of Blanca Peak - 14,345ft, the 6th highest point in the lower 48 and my 7th 14er