JamSmooth.com

Dear Family and Friends,

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.

I admit it. I have an Internet addiction. I love it. I love writing these posts that are all first drafts!

I couldn’t let my streak of posts die so here I am writing on the iPhone. The Internet connection through Comcast is down.

Being defeated by technology is not an outcome I accept. You must adapt and overcome.

Truth is I love you guys. I love the community that truly exists on the Internet. My addiction is to the connection and the ability to reach others.

That is not a bad thing at all.

Friday and Saturday I attended the first annual Atlanta WordCamp. Check out my review on the Atlanta Metblog.

Happy 4th of July!

I started jamming with Ed a few months ago. I met him at Fusion, an environment at our church for singles, a while back. We immediately hit it off. We lost touch for a while but then we found each other on Twitter. Ed (@85lives on Twitter) tweets about as much as I do, which is a lot.

One day Ed asked if I wanted to jam. So he came over. It was just we 2, Ed on guitar and singing and me on drums. Ed’s music is a flurry of intensity. It’s a mix of Sonic Youth noise rock, straight up surf punk/rock and garage rock. Most of the time we jam it’s all free form. Ed goes from song to song without stopping and I just start playing. He plays his songs with lots of conviction, passion and enthusiasm. He believes in what he’s playing and he has a blast, dancing around and jumping.

For me it’s been a challenge. Many of Ed’s songs are very fast, speed metal fast. Admittedly my chops are a bit rusty so some days I am wiped out at the end.

Today Ed and I jammed with B. I just met B last Saturday and we hit it off. Ed and I both felt like we’ve known B for a while. It’s so cool when you meet someone and it’s so effortless.

Ed always records our jams in Garage Band and posts them on his site. The quality is not that good. It will give you an idea of what we’re doing.

I’m not sure where this project is going. We haven’t talked about plans and goals. Ed wants to play out and says he has connections to get us into some places. B called me after the jam today and said he wants to play again. We’ll see what happens.

For now you can hear some of the stuff on Ed’s sites: http://85lives.blogspot.com/ and http://scarrzz.blogspot.com/

I was thinking about that last post. I thought an example was warranted. So here it goes, an example of a tweet that would make me squirm.

“I can haz Holy Taco? The best fish tacos in town! So tired though will go to bed afterward. le sigh.”

Certain Tweets are like nails on a chalkboard. Allow me to vent please.

These are Tweets about:

Saying you’re tired.

Announcing you’re going to bed.

How great this restaurant Holy Taco is. It’s the most overrated, overpriced, mediocre, bland restaurant in town and for some reason people love it. Just because you have a patio does not make you a good restaurant.

Or Tweets using:

The words sigh or le sigh at the end of a statement.

LOLCATS.

I’m aware that by sharing this information with you I set myself up for more of these type of Tweets. Honestly I’m numb to it now, just like I’m numb to the way some people from the midwest laugh.

Hey everybody.

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.

It’s about 16 hours until our plane takes off for Seoul, South Korea. It’s a 15 hour flight. We have a 2 hour lay over and then board a 5 and a half hour flight to Phnom Penh. Hopefully someone will be there to pick us up. I’m kidding, well sort of.

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.