This trip has been nothing short of extraordinary. Go to our team blog at phnompenhin2010.com to read about our trip and see some photos.

Once I get back I will upload the photos and begin working on a short film.

Thanks to all of you who prayed or partnered with us to make this such a successful trip.

This Thursday, April 29th I leave for my second trip to Cambodia. My anticipation is at nuclear levels. Getting away from American society and Atlanta will be a welcome and much needed reprieve. Rest assured I will be updating you from Phnom Penh. This year our team will be constructing a classroom at the orphanage there.

Our team blog is at www.phnompenhin2010.com. Please bookmark it or put it in your RSS feedreader. I will tweet quite a bit and take lots of photos and video. This year I will edit together a video in Final Cut that I will share with you all.

In other news I’m about to complete the P90X program. I’m halfway through the 12th week. The results speak for themselves. Honestly I’m getting comments from co-workers and friends on the changes. My energy level is always high. The workouts have yet to become boring. They are very challenging. I encourage you to get the DVDs and do it.

That’s all for now. I’ll be posting with more frequency.

I hope this finds you doing well.

As many of you know, I have attended Buckhead Church for nearly 4 years. I am writing to let you know I will be going on a short-term mission trip with my church to Cambodia this spring, April 29th through May 8th. Our church has partnered with the New Life Church in Phnom Penh. I have been so blessed and this is a way for me to give back. I feel the call to return to Cambodia this year and I am thrilled to be going back.

This year our team will be constructing a classroom for New Life Orphanage in Phnom Penh. Last year in Batdambang, Cambodia we built walkways for the orphans there. Here are some photos from that trip: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jamsmooth/sets/72157617640000670/

The reason for my letter is to create a support team who is willing to pray for our team, give towards this project, or both. We need wisdom as we travel to another culture and seek to meet their needs. Financially I need to raise $3,200 to cover the cost of expenses and airfare. I will be contributing at least $500 to this trip.

I will need all funds by April 9, 2010. Checks should be made out to Northpoint Ministries with Cambodia Construction – Phnom Penh – April 29 – May 8 in the memo line. Please write me at jam@jamsmooth.com if you would like to mail a check. All donations for this project are tax deductible. Also for tax purposes, please do not write my name on the check.

You may also donate securely online at https://ssl.northpoint.org/ssl/globalx/. Choose “Cambodia – Phnom Penh” from the country list and choose “Cambodia – Phnom Penh Construction – 4/29/10 – 05/08/10″ If you donate online then please type my name in the individual field. No amount is too small.

As I did last year, I will share each day of our trip through Facebook, Twitter and my blogs so that you may follow the journey.

Thank you for partnering with me in this amazing journey. If you have any questions please contact me.

James N. Staubes, Jr.

1. First time to Cambodia. This trip included with it many other firsts. First time: flying Korean Air, to Seoul, South Korea, seeing Angkor Watt and first time speaking Khmer.

2. First time getting laid off. In 2009 the economy hit home, at least for me. Thought I was safe. I thought wrong. However the experience was rewarding in many other ways.

3. First time at SxSW. Great time. Great music, food, atmosphere and city. Looking forward to going again.

4. Joining Toastmasters. I started Toastmasters in October with a bang. I’ve already given 3 speeches, been Toastmaster, General Evaluator, Timer and Ah-Counter / Grammarian. Toastmasters is going to benefit me in numerous ways.

5. Reading consistently. I’m a bit of a self-help junkie. For years I’ve listened to Brian Tracy talk about the importance of reading every day yet I never read. This year I did. I read for 30 minutes every day. In about 6 months I’ve read 14 books, just reading 30 minutes a day.

6. Cutting my own hair. This year I joined the “Balding Guys Hair Club.” I wanted to do this for a while but I didn’t know if I could rock it. My buddy Adam came over with the clippers and since then I’ve been cutting my own hair. The feedback has been nothing but positive.

7. Sweat lodge. Before I left for Cambodia my pal Ginny invited me to a sweat lodge. We did 3, 20 minute sessions in the piping hot tent. It was one of the most relaxing and spiritual things I’ve ever done and I will definitely do it again.

8. Making Kombucha. Back in 2006 a friend introduced me to his homemade Kombucha. Later I saw GT’s Kombucha at Sevananda. I drank GT’s regularly and because of its high price, about $3.50 a bottle, I started making my own. The drink has numerous health benefits.

9. First job at the mall. I never would’ve dreamed I’d end up working at the mall. Thankfully I work at the best store in the mall. Since I love being around people and people watching I’ve enjoyed it.

10. First time tracking every dollar spent all year. My pastor, Andy Stanley, talked about how he and his wife have tracked every single dollar they’ve ever spent as a couple. His point is how can you track your spending if every dollar doesn’t have a name? Dave Ramsey says the same thing. This year I used my iPhone to keep track of cash expenses and Quicken to record where every dollar went. The only way you can get a handle on where you money goes is to name every dollar.

See ya 2009. You’ve been unforgettable but 2010 will pwn you.

I loved Kenya and I want to go back some day. Cambodia affected me in a much different way. The country reached down in my soul and stirred up a lot of questions and misgivings about America, or more specifically Atlanta. I just don’t want to be here. I don’t know where I want to be anymore. For so long I’ve talked about southern California. Maybe that’s where I’m supposed to be? What about Cambodia or even Singapore?

What I’m experiencing is normal. It happened when I returned from Kenya last summer. You come back to America and see the wealth, complacency, entitlement and the fast pace of life. You feel out of place and wonder if those around you realize how good they have it living here. You feel like you need to make big changes in your life. After a while you slip quietly into your old routines. You live by the clock and your calendar. Then you lose it, that feeling of grace and appreciation. Nobody wants to lose it but it happens.

Our Cambodia team leader John talked a lot about purpose leading up to the trip. He said, “Once you’ve tasted purpose it’s hard to go back to meaningless living,” or something like that. I’m experiencing that too. The past few days I’ve been fixing my laptop. It works. My phone is broken but I’ll fix it today. It seems so pointless. I love movies but I can’t justify sitting on my butt for 2 hours when I could be doing something else. Reading the news reinforces the soul-sucking purpose of the media.

Don’t mean to be a Debbie Downer. I know I’m painting with wide strokes and meandering a bit. This is where I am. I’m confused. The main thing keeping me in Atlanta is the house my brother and I have. It’s for sale. I’m not leaving until it’s sold. I want to be free and clear from any responsibilities here when/if I leave. The other things keeping me here are my friends and my extraordinary church.

I am reminded of the main point in Experiencing God, which is join God where He is already working. Is God working here in Atlanta? Absolutely. That doesn’t mean that my heart isn’t yearning for something new, for a new adventure. However, have I finished what God has planned for me in Atlanta? I don’t know. I guess no since this house is not sold.

Am I being a little hard on America? Maybe. Am I coming down from a mountain top experience? Most definitely. I’ve tasted purpose though. I worked with Cambodian orphans who taught me more about love and affection in 5 days than in my entire life. I will see them again. There is no doubt I want to return to Battambang and experience the love of Christ.

I’m not sure whose idea it was to place that obnoxious welcome video in Customs at the Airport. Why is it necessary to have this music with blasting horns and sweeping camera shots of the plains? This is how you want to welcome folks to America?

Anyway here are a few observations on Cambodia.

Cambodian Women
They are beautiful. Everywhere you go you see beautiful women. Not only that, they seem to dig me. One 24 year old woman, who works at the orphanage when she’s not in college, said I was handsome.

Smack
Cambodian people smack loud when they eat. Men and women eat with their mouths open. One day at lunch you you could hear the next table over smacking. I’m not sure if my brother could handle it.

Weather
Cambodia is hot and very humid. If you know me you know I sweat a lot. If I was outside I was sweating. Granted when we were working everyone was sweating a lot. We drank so much water. Which by the way is $0.92 a case in Cambodia. There are 2 seasons, wet and dry.

Traffic and Transportation
There are virtually no stop lights. At intersections people yield but never completely stop, never. You drive on the right side like in America. However that doesn’t mean that you won’t see someone driving the same direction as you in the left lane. Horns are what keep things moving. People honk horns constantly and always when passing. The speed limit is about 30 km/h. There are mopeds everywhere. If you need gas, you can get it at a roadside shack which line the streets everywhere. They sell it glass Coke bottles. Overall traffic laws are merely a suggestion in Cambodia.

There are no street signs anywhere. I have no idea how you know where you are. I didn’t see a street sign anywhere in the whole country. There are a few big Interstate type signs saying Phnon Penh this way with arrows. How you’d find those I don’t know.

TukTuks are very cheap taxis. They’re 4 person wagons attached to the back of a moped. You can go anywhere you want for $2 or $3. It’s exciting to be in the mix of the traffic, to feel the breeze and smell the air.

Food
Most Khmer food falls into the rice food group. I like rice but we had it practically every meal, white rice and fried rice. There’s lots of hot spices. We had our best meals at the orphanage. They prepared lunch for us every day which consisted of fried chicken, fried rice with vegetables, omelets and fresh, delicious mango.

For some reason restaurants in Battambang couldn’t get service right. Our dinners took at least 2 hours, sometimes 3. It’s not like that everywhere. In Siem Reap, the tourist part of Cambodia, you’d get your food in a reasonable time.

Language
Khmer is an intriguing language, well to this American. The older kids at the orphanage spoke English well but the younger kids knew very little. It was hard to hold back tears when these younger kids said, “I love you so much,” on the last day. Seriously the manliest man couldn’t withstand that.

Hopefully you’re following me in Cambodia on Twitter and at our team blog. The links are in the post below.

There is so much to process and think about already in the short time we’ve been here. I think it’s safe to say that everyone on this team is getting wrecked by these kids.

I just wrote a post about how these kids shower us with affection all day long. Go check that out and see what the other team members have written as well.

Thanks again for all your support and prayers. More to come.

From there we have a bus ride to Battdambang. Depending on the weather it could take 3 hours, it could take 7 hours. It depends on the conditions of the roads and if there is a road at all.

I’m almost packed. All the batteries in the cameras are charged. All the cables are packed. Got a stack of books to read. However I’ll probably watch more movies on the plane than I’ll read.

I’ve reviewed some Khmer phrases. It’s a challenging language and hopefully the native speakers will teach me a few things.

This will be the longest journey I’ve ever taken, 20 hours on a plane, literally halfway around the world. I’m so excited the time is here.

Our leader said there are a few Internet cafes. If all goes well there will be daily updates. You can follow the trip on: http://cambodiamaytrip.blogspot.com/ and

http://twitter.com/jamsmooth.

If you’re my friend on Facebook you can follow there as well. I’m going to install the Twitter app so everything is synced.

Thanks to all who contributed with money and prayers. You’re on this trip with us. Without you this wouldn’t be possible. I’m thrilled to be given such an extraordinary opportunity to serve.

Admittedly I’m not well-versed in CCM (Contemporary Christian Music). I rejoined the church 3 years ago this month and my exposure has been limited to what is played at our church. I don’t know much about The News Boys, Stephen Curtis Chapman, Third Day or DC Talk, but they’ve got a ton of music out there.

This past Saturday I led worship with Michael Ruddell, a friend of JB. JB is leading our team going to Cambodia. We had one last meeting before we leave for Cambodia on Thursday. Michael sang this Casting Crowns song accapella and the lyrics and melody just struck me. Such a great song expressing what it’s like to be in a relationship with Christ.

Hey everybody. I made this short video introducing our team. Isn’t the quality of the Flip Mino outstanding? You can tell I’ve been at Buckhead Church for a while because the video is influenced by their production style. I’m getting better but I’m happy with how it turned out.

I’m so excited to be going to Cambodia. Thanks to all who have contributed and prayed.