Here’s an excerpt:

A San Francisco cable car holds 60 people. This blog was viewed about 2,700 times in 2011. If it were a cable car, it would take about 45 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.

To kick off year 3, 10 of our partnering organizations gathered together to plan and dream about how God wanted to use this partnership to advance His purposes amongst the least reached.  We’ll had 25 reps from our partnering organizations and campuses attend.  Please continue praying for fruitful partnership, wisdom and discernment as we to work towards mobilizing the class of 2012.

Please pray for us and this great team of partnering agencies who are all committed to seeing these recent grads mobilized well this year.

About 2.8% of out time was spent hanging with these monkeys….

And these monkeys too…. (Julia’s nieces, bro and sis)

Then our travels took us west to climb Yosemite Falls the tallest waterfall in North America…

….sleep with the bears

…and celebrate Paul’s big 4-0!

What a busy, full summer full of everything but blogging here.  Sorry friends, we’ll try to do better!

Once the plethora of police cars, limos, and black suburbans passed, we got back on our bike to brave 98 degrees and crazy hills, east of the river.  We had a “final episode of West Wing” party to prepare for next. As we were riding our bikes in the circle, I attempted to follow Paul onto a little ledge of a curb. Unfortunately, I didn’t hit the ledge head on and my wheel kicked one direction and my body was thrown the other.  My face and a larger curb collided, and all I can say is that teeth, blood, and Obama’s SWAT team with the doc on duty appeared.  I got the best care I could have ever asked for until the ambulance came and took me to George Washington Hospital.

The Day After

All in all, it could have been worse…..I bit through my lip clean through and had several stitches, knocked a good portion of one tooth out and killed another.  2 root canals and lots of smoothies later, my mouth is starting to heal. Paul’s has taken great care of me too through it all!

So now you know why it’s been a month since I blogged….

Unfortunately, an image can also be used to prey on people’s emotions and give a false impression of a person, place or issue.   For instance, let’s look at this picture from my time in Cambodia:

What do you see?  Personally, I see a striking image of a girl on the streets of Phnom Penh.  Her face leaves me with the impression that she is unhappy- that life has stolen her youthful exuberance. She looks weary, possibly untrusting of her surroundings.  She makes me think of this statistic:  In 2009 it was estimated that the number of prostitutes in Phnom Penh ranged from 14,725 to 18,250.  The population there is just over 2 million people.

All of the assumptions of this girl could be true, and I could use this picture to raise awareness about the pervasive issues of human trafficking in Cambodia. I could perpetuate the stereotype that most of the girls in Cambodia are victims of the sex trade there;  however, my years of crossing cultures has begun to teach me to step back and be more careful about presuming too quickly.

While the sex industry is booming in Phnom Penh, not every girl is a prostitute or sex slave, and even though many of them are, that does not sum up the total of their identity.  By looking at this picture and making the assumptions that I have, I have diminished this girl to a statistic, before really knowing her story.  I’ve assumed first that she is unhappy and then therefore, she is unhappy because she is a sex slave.  I did not meet her personally. I did not sit down to talk over tea.  I just looked at her face and matched  it with a statistic.

How often do we get a tid bit of information about a people or a place and then use it to make sweeping judgments about them?  On a local level, how many times have we heard, Southeast DC, the neighborhood that Paul and I live in, and automatically jumped to the images of violence, drugs and poverty?  How often do those images influence my relationships with my neighbors and with the families in Lincoln Heights (the neighborhood that DayBreak is in)? Do I assume that I understand without really understanding?

As a budding photographer and writer, I want to capture stories. I want to share those stories with people so that their vision for the world is broadened and they are motivated to play a part in God’s global purposes, but I DON’T want to be the person who fuels the stereotypes that penetrate our culture.  I want to point people towards a journey of understanding and relationship, not presumptions and barriers as a result.  I want people to see a person first, someone created by God to be his image bearer.

So where do I start?  I think that I start by humbly realizing that there is more to the story than what my naked eye or camera is revealing.  I ask questions.  I build relationships.  I put myself in positions to get to know people not just the statistics.  I carefully reveal what I have observed and pray for God’s grace to communicate wisely.

BUT, the responsibility does not stop with me……you, as the reader must do the same.  Our photos and stories must only be a launching pad for our readers to begin asking good questions and building relationships.  Then and only then can you begin to profess to know something about the people or the issues.  We must all be learners, humble and teachable as we head into these difficult issues.

May God help us all.

Greetings from Texas (Paul here). I’ve been in Dallas, Longview, Waco and Austin in the last several days, meeting with key campus, ministry and church leaders in each location. It’s been a very good trip, with several very encouraging conversations, and I see some great potential here for GoCorps and our model to have some close, fruitful partnerships here! It’s been unbelievably good timing for a few of these conversations to take place, and so God’s continuing to build my faith and belief that we are doing what he’s called us to do! Thanks for your prayers for this trip!

Also, I had the opportunity to make a quick run for the border and visit Matamoros, Mexico, where I lived from 1998-2001. It was super encouraging to visit some friends that live there, and to see what God’s doing in the city I called home for several years, but is now struggling with some hard, hard times with the drug and cartel violence in the last years. I’m posting a couple pics – 1 of my good friend Rodolfo, and one of some of the yummy Mexican food I got to eat when I was there!

There’s an In and Out…..Cambodia style…….

They even have a double double……

At age 19, the owner, Mike, moved to America to escape the Khmer Rouge. He spent 30 years working mainly at the Post Office and most likely enjoying an In and Out burger on a regular basis. When he moved back to Cambodia, he couldn’t find anything like it so he set out to create the best imitation possible. Not too bad……

• half way cross the world……8898.5 miles from Washington, DC to be exact.  (I am looking forward to the bump in my frequent flyer status )
• caught up on some of the latest movies. What did people do on these long flights before personalized entertainment systems on the back of every seat?
• watching my legs deflate from the travel.  This time I wore compression socks and I think that the swelling in my legs, ankles and feet is better, but they still look like tree trunks.  Does anyone else have problems with this?  Have you found any good solutions besides drinking water and walking around?
• grateful for the smooth flight and entry into the country.
• Super excited about diving into life here for the next week tomorrow!

We both could really use your prayers……..

Please pray:

1. For safety as we travel- especially for Paul as he travels across the border in Mexico- the drug violence is still a threat there and while we are not too concerned, it is good to be aware and praying.
2. For our health as we travel- especially for mine as I travel across several time zones (I think there is a 11 hr difference). Please pray for the ability to sleep well on the plane and that all of the changes in climate, food and sleep patterns don’t leave me too run down. Please pray that the adjustment period is short and as painless as possible so that I can dive into life with the girls with a clear head.
3. For our time with friends and colleagues while traveling- I will be spending most of my time learning about ministry and life in Phnom Phen and then listening for ways to encourage and strengthen them.  Please pray for wisdom and discernment as I counsel and debrief.  For Paul-please pray for open doors with potential church and campus partners in Dallas, Waco, and Austin.
4. For spiritual protection- I will be heading into a country where there is much spiritual oppression. Please pray that I will stand firm in Christ and that there will be a hedge of protection around me as minister to these girls who are daily engaged in helping girls that are involved really hard and evil things. Pray that I will have a hunger and thirst for God during my time there- that I will stay close to Him.