June & July Update

My Faithful Supporters: 

July is coming to an end, second semester has officially begun, & our time here continues to get shorter and shorter. These past few months have been incredible. God has done such beautiful things in Australia & in our hearts. 

June was full of excitement as Ryan & I were able to spend some valuable time with my parents. We had the opportunity to travel around different parts of Australia as well as show my parents everything that we have been up to so far at Hillsong. I could talk about our amazing trip forever, but overall it was incredible [especially having the chance to swim at the Great Barrier Reef]. We were so blessed by my parents & soaked up every minute that we had with them! 

As June continued we finished up our first semester of classes & jumped right into conference intensives. Classes this semester were incredible. I was able to take away so many practical principles that I will be able to apply into ministry one day. Conference intensives were a blast. I had the opportunity to work with getting things ready for all of our special guests that were going to be attending Hillsong Conference. By doing this I learned the importance of treating your guests like royalty. It is amazing to see all of the people who take time out of their busy schedules to be a part of conference so it was amazing to see what Hillsong does to make each guest feel valued & important. Ryan was a part of working with A21 where he was able to learn a little bit of how this incredible anti-human trafficking organization works. 

Hillsong Conference was an experience like none other. It was the most exhausting, challenging & rewarding experience ever. Our days began at 5:30 am and wrapped up around 11:30 pm. I think that we each learned how to rely on super natural strength.  I was involved in leading a hosting team & Ryan was able to interact with many of the delegates selling resources. The messages spoke were amazing. The conference brought the atmosphere of revival which has been stirring among the church sense the beginning of the year. It was an honor to be a part of this conference & hear words that were so in season. 

As soon as conference finished up we were preparing to jump on a plane to spend 16 days in Cambodia. I'm not sure how to sum up our time in Cambodia... besides the fact that it was incredible. God moved in ways that we couldn't even have imagined. We had the opportunity to visit some of the most amazing organizations which allowed us to dream big into our future. We also had the chance to have two of our dearest friends join us for the last week of our trip. The four of us were able to dream into the future & believe for break-through among a broken country. Among all of the incredible things that God did, one day touched my heart above the rest... We had the opportunity to go to an English class outside of the local garment factories. These girls are amazing. They work between 8-14 hour days and only make between $80-$140 per month. Many of the girls only have education up to grade 7. It is incredibly difficult for them to find jobs. After working at the garment factories for several months they hear about work at local KTV's (which are karaoke bars) in Phnom Penh and find out that they can make from $20-$30 a night. Once the girls start work at a KTV it is usually just the starting point to them eventually falling into prostitution. This organization found out that by knowing English you are able to remove yourself from working in a garment factory & are able to find other reliable means of employment.   We were able to sit in on one of their English classes and then had the opportunity to hang-out with the girls after class. During our hang-out session we were able to paint their nails, talk with them & practice English. The Lord had his hand over this day as we were able to pray with the girl on the right as she gave her life to Christ. I learned that even though teaching English is a significant skill to have the purpose of this class is for the girls to find everlasting peace and comfort in Christ. This organization helped change my mindset on how ministry needs to be run in Cambodia. I learned that there are many important skills that these people need to have but if Christ isn't working through every detailed part then something needs to change.  

As Ryan and I begin to look through the different options that God has laid in front of us for when we return to Cambodia we have realized that we must do something where the gospel is able to be worked out on a daily basis. Our heart behind returning to Cambodia is to share the love of Christ Jesus with everyone we encounter. Being able to go this July was truly a God ordained trip full of divine appointments & opportunity. Our vision is able to be cast clearer than ever before and we are able to take our soon to be official first step of committing to an amazing organization. 

Our last semester at Hillsong is going to be more critical than we can comprehend. We are able to step into this semester with goals set out, a language to learn & hearts open to hearing the details of our futures.  We cannot express our appreciation for all of your prayers & support. We are so excited to soon be updating you on what this next step of our lives is going to look like. Until then, we send you all of our love and thanks. 

With love,

Ryan Cooper & Kristen Hoffmeyer