How then ...: March 2013

Monday, March 25, 2013

More, more, more ...

... Answered Prayers!!!

I am overcome with joy!

- PawLynn told me today that she now follows Jesus!!!! She shared that over the past several months, she has seen God answer different prayers and has seen His love in His children! The greatest commandment is love God. the second is like it, love others. Through this love, people (PawLynn) see God and choose to follow him! She wants to be baptized, but her mom will not allow it. Please be in prayer for this!

- I just found out a friend in OK is now a sister. I remember when two girls on my Leadership team with the BSU first asked for our team to pray for this girl on their hall. That she would open up and be willing to come to Paradigm. I think it was at the beginning of the spring semester last year that she started coming to Paradigm ... getting involved ... even inviting her friends to come. Many of us have been praying for her for a long time and now I can call her my sister!!!

- I am blessed with the most amazing friends! I am SO incredibly thankful for the technology of Facebook and Skype, and for their love, encouragement, honesty, openness, willingness to listen ... Praise the Lord!!!

> Another praise ... God has blessed in safety! I would not share other than God deserves the glory, and I don't want somebody to hear through the grapevines and over react :-) ... Today I was driving to language and there was a tuk-tuk on the right of me. He kept getting closer and closer, and I didn't have room to go left, and didn't think fast enough for the horn, so the tuk-tuk grazed my moto causing me to fall. Do not be concerned at all for me. I only have a 3 inch scrape on my arm and a small spot on my knee (smaller than the size of a dime)! I am so thankful that I was not hurt, no other vehicles or people were involved, my moto looks the exact same as before, and several people came to my rescue. A Cambodian guy on the street came and picked up my moto and my notebook. A foreigner (non-Cambodian) moved my moto to the side of the rode and encouraged me to wait and rest a minute. A Cambodian girl brought me some tissue, and after I cleaned the majority of the gravel off my arm, she proceeded to do a better job. It was so sweet! I was just going to go to language to wash my arm, then remembered that I'm just as close to my team leaders house, so I went there and called his wife. She took me in and gave me Neosporin, water, chocolate ...! I want to assure you that it is no big deal at all. It is no different from a kid running, falling, and scraping their knee, only it's my arm that got scraped. Praise the Lord for He is good!

Saturday, March 23, 2013

Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Ask ...

Jesus says, " Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you."

It is starting to get really hot here! Every day it gets up to 100*F, but feels much hotter. These past few days, I have been pretty exhausted without even having done anything. I don't have the desire in myself to do anything, and I am so tempted to sleep at every "free" moment, in which I should be doing language homework or something else. It's not only me, everyone is tired, even my students.

All of that to say, praise the Lord! I am learning how to rejoice in Him, even in this weather. This morning I had an unexpected "free" hour, most of which I spent in a half daze, contemplating if I can justify a nap. In that daze, I was asking the Lord for strength because I know that He is more than able to give it, I CANNOT do anything on my own power, I don't have the desire to want to overcome the tiredness, and I don't even have the strength to desire strength. (Pitiful right?)

I've been somewhat dreading this evening. Yesterday and today we were studying John 15:1-17. There's a lot of "meat" in there. There's so much I don't understand, and yet I am teaching it to others ... and English is not their first language, though their English is very good!

~ James 3:1 "Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, knowing that as such we will incur a stricter judgement." ... I have a responsibility to teach my students The Truth.
~Rom 11:33 “Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways!"

As we went over this teaching, God was at work in me! He definitely gave me the words to say, the strength I'd asked for, and the passion to want these people to know Him! Our last question was about verse 7, that says to ask whatever you wish in the name of Jesus and it will be given to you. Through explaining this to them, I understood it in a way I never had before. When we ask, it is for His kingdom. Though what we ask may benefit us, it is not for us. Yes I want to have energy, but ultimately I need energy / strength so that I can make the most of my time for Him! ... so that I can truly share Christ and His love with those around me. And it's amazing that I was able to tell all of this with my students (how tired I am, and praying for strength so that I can share Christ with them, because I REALLY want them to know Him). Praise the Lord that I have the freedom to share, and that I was able to be open and honest with them!

~John 15:5 "I am the vine, you are the branches;
he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit,
for apart from me you can do nothing."

It is easy to skim over this verse because we hear it so often, but it is SO true ... apart from Christ, I can do nothing, but He abides in Me and I in Him, therefore I can bear much fruit through Him, because He is the vine and I am the branch. If you break a branch off of a vine, the branch can do nothing, but die. The vine gives life to the branch, and so, Jesus gives life to me!

~John 10:10 "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly."

This post is definitely meant as a praise for our Father who answers prayer, just as He promises! I will also take this opportunity to ask for your prayers for me, my team, and my students, that God would give us strength even when the heat drains it out of us! He is more powerful than heat! For the rest of this month, and all of next month it is supposed to get even hotter than it is now.

Sunday, March 17, 2013

Righteousness?

(This is a long post, but please don’t let the length deter you from reading it!  it explains some about the culture, and a lot about what I’m going through right now.)

In most situations, I think, “What am I SUPPOSED to do?” or “What is the RIGHT thing to do?” This is not always bad, but I can be very legalistic, which is bad. I am sure I will be learning more about this for the rest of my life, but lately there have been a few situations that have brought up these thoughts.

1) Tear-E’s House
Last Sunday, my roommate and I were invited to our friend Tear-E’s house for lunch. (Yes this is the same Tear-E that I have written a lot about!) Before she even invited us, she kept apologizing and asking if it is okay that her house is very small, and there is not much room to sit. We assured her that it was okay, though I am sure she was still embarrassed about it. We met up with her then followed her to her house.

The front of her house is a barber shop where her dad, brother, uncle, and one hired man cut men’s hair. It is all one building where the barber shop is like the living room, then there is a door to a 12’x12’ room, with a doorway to a 12’x4’ room which connects to the 3’x12’ hallway. At the end of the hallway, on the right, is a bathroom about the same area as mine, but is rectangular, whereas mine is a square. Her uncle and one of her brother’s (22 years old) sleeps in the barber shop. Her dad, mom, and other brother (20 years old) sleep in the square room, and Tear-E sleeps in the tiny room. There are no doors except the door going outside and one separating the barber shop from the living part of the house.

We walked in through the barber shop and Tear-E’s dad was cutting a man’s hair in the chair closest to the door. I made the first of many mistakes by saying the wrong “hello.” I basically said, “Hey!” I knew as soon as I said it, that I’d said the wrong thing. 

Then we went to the house part and met her mom. Tear-E gave us the tour of her house, and kept saying how small it was. From what I know, it is the size of a typical middle class house in the city. Then there was that awkward, “do I help? Do I sit? … What should I do? What is culturally appropriate?” (I have close to the same feeling when visiting somebody’s house in America, so maybe it’s not that big of a deal.)

They stayed up late the night before to prepare the food. Tear-E and her mom brought the food to the square room, and we all (Tear-E and her mom, Crystal, and I) sat down on the floor around the food. Tear-E said, “We should pray.” Yay! I was so excited to hear her say that. Even among Christian friends in Oklahoma there is sometimes that awkward moment where everybody normally prays before meals, but nobody wants to mention it, which is very sad. This girl has been following Christ for just over a month and had no shame to thank our Father for the food with her Buddhist mom. (On a side note, she has told her parents about choosing to follow Christ! Praise the Lord for her boldness and that thought they do not agree or like it, they are “okay” with it so far!) Before we left we prayed for Tear-E’s mom because she has had some health problems. Please pray that God would heal her and use that to open her eyes to His love and power!

Everybody (all of the men, Tear-E, and her mom) had already eaten, but Tear-E still ate a little bit with Crystal and I, while her mom sat there with us. There was a little bit of conversation while we ate, but it was still pretty silent. One of Tear-E’s mom’s friends from work came over. (Her mom works at a factory. On Sunday’s the people at the factory don’t have to work, but they get paid a little more if they do, so Tear-E’s mom usually works 7 days a week. She took off that Sunday, just because Tear-E wanted me and Crystal to come over for lunch.) Another man came through the room while we were in there. Each time someone came through we said hello (the polite way ) and put our hands together (like prayer hands). I just kind of quickly brought my hands anywhere in front of me. Crystal whispered to me that they are supposed to come to my nose. Putting my hands lower says that I am above them.  Ahh, I heard that when I was here a year ago, but had forgotten.

Thankfully, those are all things that are forgivable because I am a foreigner, but I still felt really embarrassed. A few things I learned from this is that I can be better prepared next time I get to meet a student’s family, and I should be knowledgeable of the culture and try my hardest to follow it, but I also need to walk by the Holy Spirit and not be so completely consumed with only trying to not offend them.

After the mom’s friend came, the mom went into the small room. Tear-E asked us why there are so many eggs for Easter / what they are for. We had watched “The Rise of the Guardians” just two days before since it was a holiday (International Woman’s day) and all of the schools cancel class, so we had a movie night instead of regular class. This brought up interesting conversation about American holidays.

Many American Christians believe that since our holidays are not religious that it’s okay to celebrate them. Cambodian holidays are all spiritual and involve feeding spirits or worshiping gods … so Cambodian Christians are often told they should not partake in these holidays after they follow Jesus. I have heard this brought up several times, and wonder myself, “what is right?” Look at Romans 14!

-- Should Americans not put up a Christmas tree and tell their kids to believe in Santa? Seriously, as followers of Christ, how often do our conversations revolve more around Santa and other traditions than Jesus, Who is the REAL reason we celebrate Christmas, and the reason we are here on earth?

–- Should Cambodians not celebrate Khmer New Year, Pchum Ben … holidays that “all” Cambodians celebrate. It’s clear in Scripture that you shall have no other gods before the One True God and you shall not make any graven images, or worship or serve them. But what if they are not worshiping other gods. Pchum Ben for example, is believed to be the day that the spirits in the lowest level / worst hell are released for one day. On that day they come up and people throw rolled up balls of rice at the temples. They believe that these spirits don’t get food throughout the whole year and their mouths are so small that they can only eat these tiny balls of rice. People do not know if any of their ancestors are in this hell so they go feed them just in case. If they don’t go and they do have an ancestor there, then the ancestor will basically “haunt” them over the next year because they did not feed them. Some people say they don’t go to feed the spirits, but like to do it because it’s tradition and it’s fun to throw rice-balls at the temples. Should a follower of Jesus partake in this???

2) Traffic Laws
If you’ve ever seen the traffic in this city you would think there are no laws. On the contrary, the laws are similar to those in America, but they are not enforced very much. For example, people run red lights all of the time, drive on the wrong side of the road, don’t wear helmets, and I have yet to see a posted speed limit sign in the city … Apparently you only “have” to follow these laws if there are police around. There are often a few police officers who sit at different corners and wait to pull people over. I have learned the hard way that you have to stop behind the cross walk. (I’m pretty sure that’s a law in OK too, but in the town I’m from nobody walks, therefore nobody stops behind the cross walk, and it’s not enforced.) From others I have learned that it is possible to get a speeding ticket and that you are not allowed to drive with your lights on during the day.

I am very much a person that likes rules and wants to follow them … to the point that if it’s not breaking a rule, “it’s okay” and if it is breaking a rule, "it’s not okay". One danger in being a rule follower is it becomes more about following rules and less about the heart behind it.

So in these different situations, what is right and what is wrong? Is it even “right” to ask about right and wrong or is there more to it? Where do you go when you don’t know what to do? The only place where you can find truth, God’s Word! The following are some verses that I have found to help me with these questions, though I don’t have a black and white answer (and I may never have one). However, if you are looking for answers, please don’t take these verses out of context, but also read the Scripture around these verses. If I have said anything that does not line up with the Word of God, or if you know of other passages to bring light to these questions please send me a private message on Facebook or email me at Krystyn.hobbs@gmail.com.

--> TRUTH
Rom 11:33-36 “Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways! For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who became His counselor? Or who has first given to Him that it might be paid back to him again? For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen.”
Rom 3:10 “As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one”
Rom 3:28 “Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.”
Rom 3:31 “Do we then nullify the Law through faith? May it never be! On the contrary, we establish the Law.”
Rom 4 - Faith is credited as righteousness
Rom 5:9 - We are justified by the blood of Christ
Rom 5:19-21 “For as through the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous. The Law came in so that the transgression would increase; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, even so grace would reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
Rom 6:1-2 “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it?”
Rom 7:4-6 “Therefore, my brethren, you also were made to die to the Law through the body of Christ, so that you might be joined to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God. For while we were in the flesh, the sinful passions, which were aroused by the Law, were at work in the members of our body to bear fruit for death. But now we have been released from the Law, having died to that by which we were bound, so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter.”
Rom 12:2 “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”
Rom 12:9 “Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil; cling to what is good.”
Rom 13:1 “Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God.”
Rom 13:5 “Therefore it is necessary to be in subjection, not only because of wrath, but also for conscience' sake.”
Rom 13:8 “Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law.”
Rom 14 Read the whole chapter!
Rom 14:10 “But you, why do you judge your brother? Or you again, why do you regard your brother with contempt? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God.”
Rom 14:13 “Therefore let us not judge one another anymore, but rather determine this-not to put an obstacle or a stumbling block in a brother's way.”
Rom 14:14-16 “know and am convinced in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself; but to him who thinks anything to be unclean, to him it is unclean. For if because of food your brother is hurt, you are no longer walking according to love. Do not destroy with your food him for whom Christ died. Therefore do not let what is for you a good thing be spoken of as evil;”
Gal 1:10 “For am I now seeking the favor of men, or of God? Or am I striving to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a bond-servant of Christ.”
Gal 2:16-21 “nevertheless knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but through faith in Christ Jesus, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the Law; since by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified. But if, while seeking to be justified in Christ, we ourselves have also been found sinners, is Christ then a minister of sin? May it never be! For if I rebuild what I have once destroyed, I prove myself to be a transgressor. For through the Law I died to the Law, so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me. I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the Law, then Christ died needlessly."
Gal 3:23-25 “But before faith came, we were kept in custody under the law, being shut up to the faith which was later to be revealed. Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor.”
Gal 5:13-14 “For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole Law is fulfilled in one word, in the statement, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’”
Psalm 119

Wednesday, March 13, 2013

7 weeks ...

I've been here seven weeks now! It seems like it has been a lot longer. I say that as a good thing. Life is pretty similar to life in the states, in that I have a schedule and days can easily blend together. For this reason, it makes updating harder than I thought it would be. There are definitely exciting times, just like in the states.

When I was here last summer, we went to different college campuses and shared the Gospel at least Monday through Friday. Now things are a little different. Most of the focus is on the students we already have contact/relationships with (ones that are in our English classes). I am hoping to be able to start a Bible study with some of the students we already know. I am not sure yet, which students to approach about this. Between the 2:00 and the two 5:30 (higher level English classes) there are 60-75 students, some of which have NO interest in the Bible and come only to have fun and learn English, but some are genuinely seeking to know Truth! Please pray for wisdom and guidance for me, as well as interest and availability for the students.

I had the opportunity to share the Greatest Story Ever with a girl last week, and use some Khmer I had just learned. It is always exciting when God gives obvious opportunities to share His truth, especially when He has just equipped us for THAT opportunity! I had never met this girl before. Apparently she used to study with our organization, but like many students, got busy with her college classes and quit coming. I'm still not sure what her motives were for coming that day, but God had a plan for her to hear more about Him! I was talking with her and felt like I should share with her, but felt really awkward, mostly because my team leader and roommate were about ten feet away (within ear shot)playing chess with a couple students. It is so sad that that would hinder me from sharing the most important message ever, but it did, and after a few minutes, I finally asked her if I could share a story with her.
I was trying to explain about God telling Adam and Eve that they could not eat the fruit from one tree. She did not understand. :-( Then I remembered that I just learned the word "can," which is "bahn," and I already knew he/she, eat, and fruit, and my notes were right in front of me! I looked up "can," then made a sentence. I said "he not can eat the fruit," in Khmer. Later I understood that I should have said, "he eat not can the fruit," but it's okay, she understood my broken Khmer! I was able to share the whole story with her, and half way through, my friend Paw-Lynn came in and also listened to the end of the story.
I don't know what God did / is doing with that, and I have not seen that girl since, but His Word does not return void. Most days I do not give a full gospel presentation, but in class we do read from the Bible and discuss it. I pray that God is opening up the students' hearts to understand His plan and desire to have a relationship with them!

On a separate note:
A couple days ago, I learned the written word for "can," which is aaatch, with a silent "ch." When I said the word, I said "atch" with a silet "ch," which really sounds very similar to the English word, "at." Apparently, the longer, softer sound is "can," but the shorter, stronger sound, "at," is "poop." LOL, I'm sure you wanted to know that!?! I think I will stick to using "bahn," for "can!"

Sunday, March 3, 2013

Follow by email ...

A couple people had asked about subscribing to my blog / getting emails when I post something. I just added the option to "follow by email." Scroll down to the bottom of the page and you should be able to find it! There is an empty white box that you can type your email address in, then submit. If you try it will you let me know whether it works or not!

Just a reminder: You can tell other people about my newsletters and my blog. You can even give them the blog address, but please do not post a link to this blog anywhere on-line, so please do not share it on Facebook! Thank you!

I pray that this helps you to be involved in what God is doing here through you, me, and others! As always, if you have specific questions or words of encouragement ... please feel free to send me a message on Facebook, or an email!

Language

If you are wondering what my language study is like, here is a picture. I go to a place that specifically teaches Khmer to English speaking foreigners. Most of these foreigners are here for the purpose of furthering His Kingdom! I study one-on-one with two different teachers. This month, I study two days with each teacher, one or two hours each day, for a total of seven hours per week. There is no great purpose to having two teachers, except that one did not have openings every day, though it is helpful to get different styles of teaching! From the picture it may look like you'd be distracted by the other students and teachers, but all of the sound kind of blends together ... though there was one time that I studied the same time as my roommate and I could definitely hear her voice! :-) I just figured out that it is approximately 4 1/2 kilometers or 3 miles, from my house to where I study. It takes about 25 minutes by moto and 30 minutes by bicycle, to get there!

I have been learning a lot through studying Khmer. [If you are not sure what "Khmer" is, (pronounced "Kuh-my" or "K'my" ... that's right, no "r" sound! It's a silent "r"?!? :-)), it is an ethnic group and language of Cambodian people. You can refer to the people as Cambodian or Khmer. The language is called Khmer. Also, the country is called Cambodia or Kampuchea, and I sometimes hear people call the country Khmer as well.]

Anyways ... I've been learning:
1. Khmer! :-) hahahha
2. patience and grace with myself, my language teacher, and my students who are learning English
3. God's provision in giving me a desire to learn the language, but I could definitely have more of a desire! Even when I came on the two trips, I wanted to learn. That's ALL God! I could care less about knowing another language on my own.
4. some about the culture, for example: When buying clothes at the market, you first ask to look at the item (if it's not in reach). Second, ask the price and bargain. Third, ask to try it on. Fourth, you buy the item, or don't. If you want the item in a different color, or size, it is okay to ask at any point. This may all sound unimportant, but I was informed that it would be offensive to try on a shirt before bargaining. You also don't ask the price unless you have strong intentions of buying it!
5. humility
6. I cannot do this on my own. I NEED God!
7. about my own character

In some ways, I have been holding myself back in thinking that I'm not as useful since I don't know the language. I kept thinking that once I know enough to carry on a normal conversation and share the Gospel, THEN I will be valuable and able to do something for God's kingdom. I don't know how I can even partially believe those lies. I'm sure a lot of it is caused by my own insecurities and fears.
1. GOD is the ONE who is able to "do anything and everything" to further His kingdom. He is SO much greater than language, AND He lives in me and wants these people to know Him much more than I do!
2. I've seen Him work through me and others while I've been here, three times now, not knowing the language. Many people speak some English, and even with those whose English is so poor you can barely ask "how are you?" ... "good" ......... and that's it, God can and is still working. God's love is universal!
3. My identity must be in Christ, not in anything I can or can't do, or what any other person thinks.

God has been so good to open my eyes to this, and put people in my life who have encouraged me and prayed for me in this!

I was really encouraged by something a friend posted on her blog that she just started. She wrote, "I keep thinking to myself “nobody wants to hear what I have to say!” While this may be true, I just had to get over my insecurities and trust that maybe my unique position in life has given me experiences and insights that I could share to inspire or encourage others, so that is why I decided to take the plunge!" There is so much that I am insecure about and often don't do things because I am afraid of doing it wrong, or because I care about what other people think. It is never good to be led by fear, especially when we have the Holy Spirit to lead us!

Funny side note: I was asking one of my students something in Khmer, and after repeating it two or three times, she said, "in English." :-) What makes it even better is the girl that said this had mentioned to somebody else before that she came to the student center, either thinking she could speak English, or not caring so much about English, then I talked to her when I first came and she just nodded and didn't understand what I said, and this made her more excited to learn English! :-)

How then ...