Men's Ministry Testimonies!

Hello everyone!

We have had a great week here in Cambodia, and I wanted to share with you some testimonies from our Wednesday afternoon men's ministry.

Men's ministry is a very young program that is being started very organically. We feel like the Lord has highlighted a specific slum that we try to frequent every week with the intentions of building relationship with men. This Wednesday we had the opportunity to go again and as always God is doing great things.

"Thomas"

I'll backtrack a little to give you the background on a young man we always look for when we visit, we will call him "Thomas". One of our team members met him a while back and he said he was having a hard time finding work and currently was collecting garbage to make ends meet. He said he knew Jesus and was a believer which is both very rare and awesome! After praying with him and blessing his business we continued with the outreach. Around a month later we happened to meet him again and he came running up to us with a big smile on his face. He wanted to let us know that ever since we prayed for him he went from collecting one cart of recyclables a day to at least three carts a day! Praise God! Talk about Kingdom multiplication!

Before we left we asked him how he was feeling, and he said he had not been getting much sleep because of all the work he was doing. I'm sure this was exausting working day and night but he was so thankful to have plenty work to keep him busy. Mark, a fellow XP team member, prayed for Thomas throughout the next few weeks that the Lord would bless his business in a way that would allow him to get plenty of rest and still have increase. It was a burden on his heart and he kept praying for him.

So this week! The first person we met when we got to the slum this Wednesday was of course, Thomas. We had not seem him in around 3-4 weeks and we were so excited when we saw him. After talking to him and asking how he had been doing he told us he no longer did garbage collection. He was now doing wood working and building beds as well as other small jobs people needed help with like working on mufflers for mopeds. He said he was making so much more money compared to the garbage collection and he now gets a full nights rest! God is so good :)

Getting to hear such great things going on in Thomas' life alone was more than enough to encourage us, but God had a lot more in store while we were there!

"Charles"

We kept walking down the train track, which this specific slum is built around, and recognized the home of an older man that I met when we first came on outreach in October. 

When we first met him in October we had a great opportunity to love on him, take time to speak with him, and pray that the Lord would bless him. He blew our minds when he told our translator that "Today God did not walk past me because you stopped to be with me. Today God has not passed me by." How humbling is it to realize the impact it made on him just to stop and pray with him letting him know that he is loved and cared for.

On Wednesday as we walked near his house I did not see anyone home. I was really hoping I would get the chance to speak with him again so I went almost to his door before I saw him looking out at me. He stood up and as he came out he said, "Your the one who stopped and prayed for me right?"

He got excited and came outside to talk with us and sat down in his favorite chair. As he came out he showed us a old plastic bag that had a tan hat in it, and he said "Last time when you came to pray with me you left your hat." He then said he had been saving it since October in case he saw us again.

Wow...

It hit me so hard to think that a chance encounter had left such an impact on him. We got to spend some time talking to him and asked Him if anyone had ever explained to him the gospel of Jesus Christ. I knew he had heard the name of Jesus and we had prayed with him before, but he said, "No, no one has ever taught me this." We asked if he would like us to teach him and he said yes! Our translator told him the simple gospel and he said he wanted to accept Jesus as his Lord and Savior! He repented of his old ways and asked Jesus to forgive Him of his sin. He believed with his heart and confessed with his mouth that Jesus Christ was the Son of God. He kept telling us that he is turning to God to give him strength. It was such an amazing opportunity. I pray that Holy Spirit continues to speak with him and encourage him through out this week and I can't wait to see him again!

If you feel led to pray for either "Thomas" or "Charles" please do so! I cannot wait to see more great things that the Lord does here in this slum and everywhere else we have the opportunity to serve!

Thank you for your prayer and support, you are very loved.
Ward Farrior

A New Way To Give

Many of you have asked us about online giving and up until now it hasn't really been an option. We are proud to say that there is now an easy way to support our missions by giving online.

We are so appreciative for all of the financial support that we have received for this ministry. So many have given one time gifts or have made monthly commitments and without your contributions the work that is being done here wouldn't be possible. We cannot thank you enough for your generosity which has enabled us to follow God's leading in our lives.

We are really excited to now offer a way to give online. If you would like to start making online contributions there are two options.

1) You can donate through Pay-Pal which will go directly into our personal account.

Donations made through Pay-Pal will be used for personal needs such as getting a hair cut, having a well needed date night, or being able to bless someone on our team or in our community by purchasing a meal or meeting another need in their lives. These donations are considered a personal gift and therefore are not tax deductible, but are well appreciated.

OR 

2) You can donate through the new Kingdom Builder's website which offers a new online giving option.

 By giving through Kingdom Builder's website it is a tax deductible option that allocates funds to ensure we have all of our monthly expenses met. This is where we receive the majority of our funding and it provides us with money for expenses such as: food, rent, and power.


Giving on either site is really easy, here's how:

Pay-Pal:

1) The quickest way to give through Pay-Pal is by clicking the link on our blog page. This link will take you directly to our Pay-Pal where you can log-in and donate.

For more specific directions see the "Give" button on our blog.

Kingdom Builders Online Giving:
This is a brand new option and offers a way to give a one time gift but also has an option to set up scheduled monthly donations. 

1) To give through Kingdom Builder's simply go onto their website:http://www.kingdombuildersnc.org/ and click on the "Give" button.

2) Once on the "Give" page click on the link for "easytithe.com".

3) This will take you to page where you will need to create an account, click "First Time- New User Registration". This form will only need to be filled out one time, and in the future you can simply log-in and make a donation.

4) Once you are logged into your account simply type in the amount you would like to donate. Then change the destination to "To: Missions". Then simply fill out your billing information and hit Submit.

**** If you would like to give a donation on a monthly basis you can click "Scheduled Giving" on the left hand side after you log in. By choosing this option you don't have to remember to log in and donate each month but instead can choose a donation amount and schedule when it is given.


The ability to stretch funds in Cambodia is incredible. With many wages averaging around $2-$5 a day you can really make a huge difference with just a few dollars. In addition to our daily work with XP Missions, our heart is to be able to pour into people in our community by offering small odd and end jobs around the house, or even just being able to bless someone with a meal. Every dollar is going to a great cause and we thank you all for your continued help and support.


Love and Blessings,
The Farrior Family

Launching Everlasting Love

 God never ceases to amaze me and His plans for us continue unfolding every day. . .

About two weeks ago I was sitting on our couch trying my best to tune out the deafening sound of the construction that was taking place in the adjoining apartment. As I was doing so, God gave me a vision and talked to me about becoming the personal assistant of the leader of XP Missions, Andrea. I was a little worried about what Andrea would think about this because she had given us a list of available positions and this wasn't one of them. I was honestly worried and thinking "why would such an amazing leader want me as her personal assistant". However I wanted to be faithful to the vision the Lord gave me so I decided to mention it to her. After explaining my vision and telling her what I felt like God was saying she shared with me that she has been interceding for a personal assistant for a number of years and would love to have me in that position. Praise God! He always knows what he is talking about!

I know a number of you, if not all of you have experienced God coming through in the midnight hour, and this situation was one of those. Just as I said yes to becoming the PA for Andrea all sorts of huge projects started coming to a head, and she was called away out of the country. It's been a time of stretching for me but I know that God has me right where I need to be! I believe God is positioning me to learn how to be a better leader, and how to serve someone's vision other than my own.

 

One of the main projects that XP Missions is birthing in this moment is our Everlasting Love product line. Because of the poverty and lack of education that is so prevelent in Cambodia many women are forced to choose prostitution as a means of providing for their families. Everlasting Love is our women's program which provides jobs for women who want to come out of prostitution. It's a sixth month training and discipleship program where the girls are taught about Jesus, taken through spiritual and emotional healing, and are trained how to sew. We don't want these girls just to make cheap trinket items that aren't of any value. We are training them to make top of the line hand bags that are made from 100% Cambodian silk. Our goal is that the girls will grasp how valuable theyare as individuals by seeing how we trust and empower them to work with extremely expensive and valuable materials. Each EL (Everlasting Love) bag is handmade in our program and every single one is topped with a genuine Cambodian pearl in the logo. Not to mention each and every bag has been prayed over by the girls and has a special impartation depending on the bag! For example the "Joy Bag" has been blessed and prayed over that joy would cover and fill not only the bag but also the buyer!

I absolutely love this program. I can't explain to you the feeling that you get when you go to work and know that each woman you work with has been used, taken advantage of, and exploited in more ways than imaginable. But despite all of this, Jesus found each of these girls and brought them into our path. Each of them now have a well paying and dependable job, regular income, a safe work environment, a safe place for their children to go during work, and a community of people who love and care for them.These women have been on an incredible journey of transformation. Hearing the difference between their lives then, and now would absolutely blow you away and I am so blessed to say that I have had any part in it. 

Over the last few weeks I have had the privilege of being a part of the launching of this project. After six photo shoots and many long nights of editing, planning, and problem solving we are finally on the edge of the big day. The XP Missions team has been extremely busy getting everything together to launch this product line. Through all of the stretching and pulling Ward and I have really gotten to know our team. All I can say is that this team is literally the greatest people I have ever met, I have never felt so loved, cared for and supported. Our team has worked day and night to see this project be birthed and the day is finally here! The big launch takes place at Patricia King's Women On the Front Lines conference in Los Angelos on March 9th!

We are all extremely proud of the girls and of our products and would love to see lots of these sold all across the world. If you would like to support a great cause, buy an EL bag or place mat and coaster set. Absolutely 100% of the proceeds goes directly back into our program and we are able to continue helping these girls and even make room for more women in the future. If you would like to look at these beautiful products look at our brand new website here: Everlasting Love Store

Here are some of the products that will be available at our store soon!!! 

Keep checking the website! We have just wrapped up our final photo shoot last week, so as pictures are edited new items will be added to the site. I am so excited to see what God does through these products and in turn through the lives of the women involved. Please join us in prayer as we launch this product line, and join by purchasing your very own place mats or hand bag!

Blessings and Love,
Hillary Farrior