 Angels' Attic - Upscale Retail |
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1635 W. Northwest Highway Hours: 10-7 Tues - Sat Send email to Angels' Attic |
Hope Cambodia Two of us from Angels' Attic (Pat Quirin & Leanne Clift) were invited to go to Cambodia with Joyce Meyer's 'Hope Cambodia" mission trip. We had quite a surprise waiting, as Joyce Meyer's team had arranged for us to attend the opening dedication of the Community Center that Angels' Attic had funded. To be able to pray over Hope Center was an emotional experience. Over 70 children were already registered to attend school at the Center. To share this day with the children and families who will be so impacted for years to come was such a blessing. Upon our return, women of the White's Chapel Methodist Church decided to make a quilt for each of the orphans to send to Cambodia!  Our trip started out by seeing the devastation of the Killing Fields, where the Khmer Rouge killed more than 2 million Cambodians from 1975-1979; anyone who was "different" in any way (ex: educated, wore glasses, soft hands, etc.) was brutally murdered in his horrendous genocide. As we walked through one of the largest killing fields, we were walking on clothes and bones that literally rise up from the ground each time it rains (thus perpetuating the agony associated with this horrific time in history). Cambodians are primarily Buddhists, and Buddhists have no peace about death unless a family member is property buried, so there's a lot of grief associated with the state of their family's spirits. We spoke to a little Cambodian woman (through an interpreter) who had lost her husband and 10 children during this reign of terror. Our team prayed over her, and while she didn't know what we were saying, she just sat among the mass graves and cried and cried, as did we all.  Then we visited the city dump in Phnom Penh, where 50+ children regularly "work" at the dump (some start as young as 2 years old) and rummage through feces and all the garbage; they carry little sticks to dig through the garbage in order to find anything that might be of value. They work in the day, as well as the middle of the night (among the rats) when the new truckloads arrive. The conditions are unspeakable; the stench is indescribable. When we arrived, the children came running from all directions to greet us. They were filthy and barefoot....some had very sad, hopeless looks on their faces; others had great big smiles. Leanne gave one small boy a protein bar and as he put it in his bag, Leanne said "no honey -- that's something to eat". The little boy said that he was saving it because he couldn't eat until his break. Joyce Meyer's ministry is working to pay the parents in order to get these children out of the dump and into the school and feeding programs.  Just as sad as the trip to the dump was our visit to the "slums" of Phnom Penh. Joyce Meyer's Ministry was kicking off a feeding program in this area (as in many other areas of Cambodia), and we got to witness what it could do in such an area. The ministry handed out food to families that lived in absolutely nothing.... barely even shelter in extreme heat....no bathrooms, no food, no nothing, not even a place to sit. There were dead rats on the ground. And yet they smiled and waved and posed for pictures, and were so thankful for anything you could give them. When the food was handed out, they weren't the least bit greedy with each other; the older kids would make sure that the younger ones were taken care of first (and many of them probably had not eaten in days). The kids were particularly thrilled when someone would take their picture and show them the image on the camera LCD screen!  Seeing the poverty and hopelessness was almost too much to bear. Thankfully, we were able to participate in some of the hope-filled activities occurring in the country. The Hope Center will provide necessary food and shelter, as well as education and sharing the gospel. The people of Cambodia have been so let down by Buddhism and are ripe for the Word of God, even more than we've ever seen in our country. God is literally changing the face of Cambodia through the message of hope. We also visited local churches in the area where the spirit of God was more alive than anywhere we've ever seen. The Cambodians aren't there for the "30-minute worship" and then they're out the door. They can't get enough of Jesus Christ! The church service could have gone on for days and they would have been rejoicing all the while! We'd lke to thank Joyce Meyer's ministry team for allowing Angels' Attic to be a part of this wonderful message of hope! We'd also like to acknowledge all the hard work from the volunteers at Angels' Attic. We were so blessed to see the "fruits of our labor" in person and to understand how God can take our efforts and multiple the results! Pictures from Hope Cambodia Trip
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