Abe, Jill, and Easton Sobczak

“Jesus I believe in You and I would go to the ends of the Earth, the ends of the Earth.” Those lyrics sound familiar? It was a popular song from Hillsong a few years ago. Every time I sang it, I thought about Battambang, Cambodia, where Abe and I served a year as interns. I had always considered it my “ends of the Earth,” until this week . . .

(View in XK)

Because of the Lao New Year being celebrated this week, we’ve been on holiday break from language school. We took advantage of the time off and went upcountry to Xien Khouang (XK), where we plan to move once our year of language school is completed here in the capital city. I just THOUGHT I had seen the “ends of the Earth” in Cambodia! XK, which is about 8 hours away from the capitol up a crazy mountain road, felt like an empty, tumble weed, Wild Wild West town where pretty much anything goes. This 2 street town is by far the biggest city around and home to the Plain of Jars, a World Heritage Site. It is an absolutely beautiful place with green lush mountains everywhere. The constant cool breeze and actual PINE TREES make you ask yourself repeatedly, “Am I still in Southeast Asia?”

Only about 50 miles from the Vietnam border, XK and the Plain of Jars were a huge part of the “silent war” during the Vietnam conflict. From 1964-73, U.S. planes flew 580,000 bombing runs over Laos – the equivalent of one every nine minutes for ten solid years. Per-capita Laos is the most heavily bombed nation in history. We visited the Plain of Jars and I must say I’ve never had such a feeling of death and darkness. It was just as strong as the Killing Fields in Cambodia. You can literally see huge craters on the sides of mountains where planes bombed the area. Signs mark caves and trenches where Vietnamese soldiers dug in to hold their ground. Yes, this area is littered with huge, inexplicable, ancient vats. It was difficult to stand in awe of these ancient jars because I was so overwhelmed with the feelings of death, war, spiritual darkness, and war in the heavenlies.

(Plain of Jars)

Abe and I left the Plain of Jars asking ourselves, Can we really do this? Is this what God is really asking us to do? Move our family to this dusty 2 street town with little more than 3 Lao food restaurants and an open-air market? Is this really the place God had in mind where it feels like the ground is literally crying out for justice after so much persecution, war, and bloodshed, just as Abel’s blood cried out from the ground in Genesis? I must admit the remoteness of this city – closest grocery and medical care is about 10 hours away in Thailand – and the darkness of the air were making my head truly spin. Then we met the most wonderful children . . .

(Girls Eating "New Years" Lunch)

Our STL vehicle pulled up to the ministry center for street children and immediately the air felt lighter for me. We went around to the back of the building and there on a concrete floor covered by a tin metal awning sat about 70 kids ages 5-14 years. They were excited about their special lunch of noodle soup and ORANGES – treats for the Lao New Year holiday. Some of these kids are true orphans with no extended family to take care of them. Others have simply been driven down from the surrounding mountains and dropped off in the city, left to fend for themselves, because their family cannot afford to take care of them. At the center, they have a place to eat breakfast, eat lunch, receive tutoring in the afternoons and take a good bath. Every evening, they go to a foster home type family to sleep for the night, which the director of the center set up for them.

Looking into the faces of these kids reminds me of why in the world I’m here. Why would God ask us to come to a place that in many ways feels like the ends of the Earth? Because each one of those children matter to our Heavenly Father. He knows them each by name. Somehow I hope that we can be used so that each of them will soon know Him by name as well. And that’s the reason I would go to the ends of the Earth.

(Mountain Road to XK)