His ways are not my ways ...

 

This is my favorite verse because it applies to pretty much everything.

Back in March I had the idea to do a t-shirt fundraiser for my mom "if" she would ever agree to come. I thought it would go over really well, especially since the shirts are from a different country. Before the team left in June, I had to make a decision. Buy the shirts or not? My mom still wasn't saying yes at that time. God gave me faith and I bought them. From that point on I was mostly sure that she'd come, and I was sure that God was going to provide the way. However, I'd planned on Him providing through the t-shirts. After only a few shirts were taken the first month, I was a bit discouraged, but I knew I had to trust God. Again, I thought He'd provide through the shirts. Then my mom sent me a message to call her. I called and she started by telling me that my pastor made her cry. We both knew that pretty much anyone talking to her about me could make her cry. Finally she explained how the church was going to take care of the ticket! (From what I understand, someone or someone(s) from my home church offered to pay her ticket.) I smiled and said a big told you so! I said, "Remember? I told you God would provide!" And that He did, and then some!

The money given through the t-shirts is going towards some of the things she's bring for me and my co-workers / or her visa and other expenses.

THANK YOU to everyone who was / is involved in helping my mom come visit me. (This includes prayers)! I'm praying this trip has great eternal value!

She will be here soon! :-D

Bananas ...

Sunday when I came home from church, my landlord and his family was just getting home. They pulled their car in, then I pulled my moto in and we had the normal, "Where did you come from?" conversation. (This used to really annoy me, but now I like it!)

They had just come from some province (I don't remember exactly) and the landlord's wife gave me a bunch of bananas. By "bunch" I don't mean "a lot," but "bunch." :-D

Now, I DON'T like banana's, but what am I supposed to do? I said thank you and took them. Then I thought, "Well, I guess this means I'm making banana bread." If I make banana bread, I have to share it ... with my students! I could just randomly give my students banana bread and they'd be happy, but then I remembered we have a holiday on Wednesday!

I know! Let's plan a trip! So I got permission, talked to my class, and we will be going to the beach tomorrow (Wednesday)! And my banana bread just came out of the oven!

A long story of my thought process, all to ask you to PRAY!

Please pray for our safety and above all that there would be some kind of eternal impact from this trip. I don't know, and may never know exactly what that means, but God does! It may be just hanging out and having fun together. There may be spiritual conversations. There may be problems and / or amazing things that happen, to increase the believers faith, and / or show the "not yet believers" a glimpse of our Mighty God ...

We're renting a 25 passenger bus, so there'll be approximately 25 people going. (You never really know until you're on the van and out of the city. Oh, Cambodia!) There are a few believers, and the rest don't yet believe / follow our Lord.

Please PRAY!

God At Work ...

Please pray for this sister (same girl in all pics) & her family. 

 

Background: She's been studying at the student center since before I got here in January 2013. For most of the past year and a half, she's been in my evening class.  It was right at a year ago that she made the choice to follow Christ and was baptized in January of this year. She's been growing in her faith and stepping out of her comfort zone to serve and help others know Christ (including translating for me several times - pic below).

"Problem": Friday night, she was in a moto accident and may have brain injury. Several members from the church and a couple friends, and myself went to the hospital this afternoon. She looked completely normal and slept the whole time we were there.  Apparently when she hit, her helmet broke, which means it did it's job, and she still had bleeding from her head. She's been asleep for most of her time in the hospital. She'll occasionally wake up and look around. From what I understand, she'll talk some to communicate when she needs to go to the bathroom and they'll help her with that.

Though she's been a sister for a year, her mom still does not know about her faith. She's been trying to get up the courage to tell her mom, but still hasn't. Since she believed, her sister (not yet a believer) and future brother-in-law (a believer) have been going to the same church as this young lady. I'm pretty sure her sister knows about her faith.

I am confident that our good Father will use this "accident" to show us His power and work in the hearts of this young lady's family.

--> Pray for wisdom and healing AND that everything will happen in God's PERFECT TIMING!
--> Pray for her sister, Li-nah, her mom, and her other two sisters to have open hearts and seek the Lord!
--> Pray that her faith will become known to her mom at the right time!

Nicknames ...

I was talking with a young lady and for some reason I asked her what her parents called her. She said, "Jrook," which means pig.

Most Cambodians have their given name, which is their school name, and the name they've been called since they were babies. From what I understand, according to tradition, they're called their nickname immediately and they don't have a given name until their first birthday. Some nicknames are, "fat, black, big nose ..." whatever distinguishes them from average.

Back to Jrook. At first she said she had the nickname because she was fat as a baby. After talking about her sister, whose nickname is "lightning bug," because she has a bald spot on her head, Jrook told me the other reason she's called Jrook.

When she was little, she was always sick. For her family / village  if someone is sick, it's because of an evil spirit. Therefore, they give the child a "bad" name so that the evil spirit won't want the child, or will leave the child alone (it may or may not be the same for the rest of Cambodia). And that's why she's called Jrook (pig).

Even to this day, at her house she's called Jrook (pig), and her sister is called lightning bug. She even said that if someone were to ask for her by her school name, her mom wouldn't know who they were talking about. (This is very common / normal in Cambodia)

Here's a picture of Jrook, her cousin, and her sister (lightning bug)!

Please pray for Jrook. She's a very smart young lady and is currently interested in the gospel. Pray that:
           she would become more and more curious
           she would continue to read the Bible
           the LORD would open her heart (as He did with Lydia in Acts 16:14)

*Note: If you happen to know this young lady, please don't let it be know that you know her nickname, unless you ask her! None of her friends know her nickname.

A Workin' Girl ...

              
This next girl started coming to the student center toward the end of February. She started forming relationships with other students right away. Because she studied twice, she joined Mr. K's Bible study. The first term, she didn't really understand much, but by the second term she was starting to get it. She didn't show extreme interest in Jesus or the Bible, but she was willing to listen and learn. Then she got a job in the middle of June (while the team was here). I haven't seen her since (except for the one time she came - for the team's goodbye party). She also came to the afternoon church once.

Praise God that she was able to get a job right before completing her course work. Many of her friends are on the job hunt. (Since they don't have jobs yet, they are still able to study!)

Please pray that God would draw her to Himself.
Ask that He would give her a curiosity and hunger for His Word.
And that she would remember the environment at the student center and equate that (at least the good things) with Christ. Ask that she would have such a longing for that joy and peace that she would initiate a time to study God's Word and be with God's people!

The "workin' girl" is on the far right of this picture.

The other four girls are still studying (none of the five are sisters ... YET!)

Interested ...

  

This young lady started coming to the student center this May and was in my class. It wasn't until the middle of June that I learned she is the cousin of our new brother (the one who was baptized on Easter).

At CONNECT one night, someone taught about forgiveness and making things right. Our new brother, who at that time was not yet a brother, was convicted of his relationship with his cousin (the girl pictured above). They'd lived in the same house for a while, and even study in the same class, but something happened and they hadn't talked for a while. After the message at CONNECT, he tried to make things right. The next term she came to study.

One thing I love about this girl is her determination. For most people, when they can't say what they want to say in English, they give in and ask someone else or speak Khmer. Not her! She thinks patiently until she can formulate what she wants to say. I think even in Khmer she's a thinker, but it's encouraging to me that she doesn't give up.

Another thing about her is she's a confident loner. Now that might not be the best words to use, but let me explain. Most Cambodians don't like to be alone, simply because they're not used to it. They don't have the space to be alone (In most households, everybody shares a room). But this girl does things on her own, and doesn't seem to care too much about what other people think. She just does her own thing!

In May she studied 2:00-3:00 and 4:00-5:00, but when the team came she chose to study 2:00-3:00 and 6:00-7:00. The 6-7 class she chose was the Bible study with me. I thought, like many other people, maybe she was confused. She lived on the other side of town and it didn't make since to me that she would not study 4:00-5:00. When I talked to her about it, she really wanted to study the Bible. There was another girl present while we were talking, and this girl asked if there was a Bible study from 4-5. I said no, but then asked if they wanted one. They both excitedly said yes, so we started studying the next day along with two other girls.

While the team was here, she also came to church every Sunday. Though right now she has a class on Sunday and isn't able to join.

Please be in prayer for her! Pray as the Spirit leads you, but here are some ideas! Pray that:
- God would show her how much He loves her.
- She would continue to be hungry for His Word.
- she would seek God with all of her heart.
- God would protect her from the schemes of the evil one.
- God would prepare her heart to be good soil, so that when the Word takes root, it will grow and produce fruit through her life - 100x!

Svwah ...

Svwah means monkey. This next person to pray for, calls himself a monkey so I saw it fitting!


This young man has been studying at our organization for about 9 months. He's a fun, light hearted guy who wants to make everyone laugh. Lately he's become more interested in Christianity. He's been in Mr. K's afternoon Bible study for 2 or 3 terms, and has come to the afternoon church several times.

For a couple months, he wore a red string bracelet (which Cambodians wear for protection against evil spirits) on the same wrist as the bracelet that Christian wear or give to share the gospel (with the black, red, white, blue, green then gold beads). You can see them on his right hand in the picture below which was taken the last week of May. Shortly after that, I noticed he was no longer wearing the red string. Apparently it fell off and he hasn't put a new one on. You can see in the picture above that there is no red bracelet and it looks like the one with beads is on his left hand.

There's only ONE Oklahoma!

 

Please be praying for him. Pray that God would continue to open his heart and that he would know that following Jesus is worth losing everything! Then ask that he would obey Jesus' when He says, "follow Me."  Pray for this young man's heart to be soft and of good soil, to "bear much fruit."



--> For His glory!!!

Possible Person of Peace ...

 

This young lady was first introduced to our ministry while a group was sharing the Greatest Story Ever at one of the local universities. The group shared on a Saturday and she came to join classes the following Monday! (This is the first time I've personally seen fruit from evangelizing!)

 

She came to the student center about a week after that term had started and really got connected. She meshed well with some of the other afternoon students, got close with one of the girls on the summer team, brought several friends to study (1 of which has stayed around), has gone to church once or twice, and even invited all of the teachers and a few friends to go to her house (pictured below).

 



Please pray with me for this young lady!
--> Pray that God would give her a genuine hunger for TRUTH and HIS WORD.
--> Pray that her SCHEDULE would continue to be OPEN to study at the student center, hang out, and join the Sunday afternoon fellowship.
--> Pray for God to prepare her heart to be GOOD SOIL!

Ashamed and Afraid ...

*I'd originally planned on writing this post on the 4th, but completely forgot ... better late than never!
--> I still plan on doing the next one on the 10th!

Pray for this young lady
 

She has studied at the student center since before I got here in January 2013. I remember a few months after I got here, when she came up to me after class and wanted to buy a Bible. Then we had a long discussion about all of the people in Cambodia who have never heard about Jesus. She was concerned about her own people (which is great, especially since she wasn't yet a believer herself).

Over the past year and a half, she's increased in her curiosity and knowledge of the Word. She's joined the night Bible study class for two terms. Different people have mentioned how she has great insight into the Scriptures. And she has been attending church for at least six months.

Right after the team got here, she told one of the girls on the team that she was a Christian. She even wrote on her paper that she'd been a Christian for a week. After I found out about it, I told her I wanted to talk with her. She already knew what it was about. She said, "about what I wrote on the paper?" YES! :-)

She said that she believes and chooses to follow only Jesus. I asked if she'd told anyone and she said, "no." I talked to her some more and she explained that she's afraid and ashamed. I asked a lot and tried to understand. I could understand that she was afraid to tell her family, but why not other Christians??? She just is. Later she told me that she did tell another person. She'd told another girl, who's not yet a believer, and the girl basically said that this young lady believes sometimes, and sometimes she doesn't. (Maybe this discouraged her from telling others, I don't know.)

She's also a little hung up on the fact that she still sins. I explained that we will always sin while we are on this earth ... we're human. Our desire should be to honor God (not sin), but it's not possible. She also quoted 2 Cor. 5:17, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!" And she said how so many Christians say how God's changed their lives, but she doesn't notice a change in her own life.

Please pray for her!!!!

In Matthew 10:33, Jesus said, " but whoever denies Me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven."

Romans 1:16, "For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings slavation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile."

The Cost ...

Today we had a workshop titled, "The Cost of Following Jesus." This workshop was for students who are interested in following Jesus. We don't know exactly "how close" any of them are to surrendering their lives, but about 25 came, five of which are already our brother and sisters.

Several of these students have been coming to the Sunday afternoon church with the team. A few more plan on coming tomorrow (Sunday, 3am CST). Please PRAY that they will continue to meet on Sundays, even after the team leaves (in about a week). Also ASK God to work in each of these students lives!


Integrity - doing what's right even when nobody's looking or when it makes things harder for you
          Proverbs 10:9 "Whoever walks in integrity walks securely,
                                   but he who makes his ways crooked will be found out."

                                                                        Interviews

                                                                       Team work

                   The Bridge                                                                 Eating

   "The Cow Goes Up the Mountain" - do you see that "mountain" of cow (beef) and vegetables?

The "program" (pics above):
- a team building exercise about integrity
- questions for a few of the believers
    1. What did you think before you believed?
    2. Why did you believe?
    3. What's been one / some of the most difficult things since you've believed?
    4. Why did you choose to believe even though you knew you'd face these problems?
- time in the WORD (Acts 26, which is Paul's testimony)
- break
- a team building exercise about team work
- "The Bridge Illustration"
- time in the WORD (Philippians 3:4-10)
... then we went to "The Cow Goes Up The Mountain" to eat and spend more time together!

Phil 3:4-10
³ for we are the true circumcision, who worship in the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh, ⁴ although I myself might have confidence even in the flesh. If anyone else has a mind to put confidence in the flesh, I far more: ⁵ circumcised the eighth day, of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the Law, a Pharisee; ⁶ as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to the righteousness which is in the Law, found blameless.
⁷ But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. ⁸ More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, ⁹ and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, ¹⁰ that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death;

1. What did Paul think was for his benefit BEFORE? (4-6)
2. After Paul gave up those things to follow Jesus, how did he feel about them? (7-8)
3. What is the most important thing to Paul NOW? (10)
4. If YOU choose to follow Jesus, what will YOU "give up"?

Some of the answers for question 4 were:
- my religion ("To be Cambodian is to be Buddhist")
- many cultural traditions (which involve bowing down to idols & giving offerings to spirits)
- relationships with friends and family (not always "give up" but usually that relationship changes)
and more...

Challenge:
Would you (the person reading this post) consider what it really means to follow Jesus? What did you have to give up to follow Jesus? Is there anything else that God is asking you to "give up"? What's number ONE in your life?

(*Note: There is no judgment here, and I'm ashamed to say that many times Christ is not first in my life. And though in my head and even my heart, I think He is, my actions and thoughts don't prove it.)

Here's a link to a song that would also be good to listen to and think about the lyrics. Can we sing this with truth?

Gladly Would I Leave Behind Me - Sovereign Grace

VERSE 1
Gladly would I leave behind me
All the pleasure I have known
To pursue surpassing treasures
At the throne of God the Son
Worthy of unending worship
Love and loveliness is He
By His precious death were millions
From the jaws of death set free

VERSE 2
Gladly would I give to Jesus
All affection, everything
For the washing of His mercy
Makes my ransomed heart to sing
“Holy, holy!” is the chorus
Rising up from those who see
Christ exalted, bright and burning
Full of pow’r and purity

CHORUS
Where else can I go?
Jesus, You’re the One
That I was made to know
What else can I do?
Jesus, You’re my all
I gladly run to You

VERSE 3
Gladly would I flee temptations
For their troubles fill my life
Turn and seek my God and Savior
For His goodness satisfies
Earthly treasures, all are passing
Thieves break in and rust destroys
But in God are awesome splendor
Love, and everlasting joys

TAG
Gladly would I give to Jesus
All affection, everything
For the washing of His mercy
Makes my ransomed heart to sing

Baptism ...

For me, after I made the commitment to follow Christ, I was asked when I wanted to be baptized. I may have been taught some about baptism, but not in a lot of detail. I had seen baptisms and I only knew it was something I was supposed to do. I learned more later!

In America (or at least for most of the people I know), nobody is going to try to stop you from being baptized, and a lot of non-believers simply don't care about it one way or another. Though many people are confused and believe that baptism equal salvation. BAPTISM IS NOT SALVATION! Salvation is repenting from your sin, believing and trusting Jesus as Lord and Savior, and committing to follow Jesus.

In Cambodia, there's also the confusion that baptism is salvation. This confusion is mainly because (for the most part), when a believer chooses to follow the Lord in baptism, he/she is saying, "I FOLLOW JESUS." Baptism around the world is a sign that you follow Jesus, but at least for here, a believer's family thinks baptism is a more serious statement than simply confessing with their mouth that Jesus is Lord.

Therefore, most believer's families "won't let them" be baptized. Many believers don't even tell their family beforehand, so that their family won't try to stop them.

After people believe, and sometimes before if they're involved in a Bible study, they are taught about baptism. They need to know how important it is, and that they may even be persecuted because of it.

The following is what they will study before being baptized.  Maybe you've seen baptisms where they ask something like this:

                         - Do you believe in Jesus?

                         - Have you accepted Jesus as you Savior?

                         ...

There are different questions for a Cambodian baptism, which you will find at the very end, followed by a few different pictures!

 

Important Points That We Need To Learn About Baptism

HOW TO BE BAPTIZED

1. Ask someone (you) to stand up and pretend that they (you) are in the water.

2. Hold your nose and hold your right hand
3. The person baptizing will put their right hand on your hand. The person baptizing will put their left hand on your back. Then you will fall back into the water, then stand up.
4. When you duck down into the water, you should bend your knees.

THE MEANING OF BAPTISM

What is baptism?

Picture / Symbol – Baptism is a picture / symbol to remind us of the resurrection of Jesus (Rom 6:1-11). When you were baptized it showed that your old sin died with Jesus. After you got up from the water, it showed that you have a new life with Jesus.

The Special Sign – Baptism is a special sign to show that we love Jesus and follow Him. When somebody gets married, their wedding is a sign to show all the people that they are getting married. When you follow Jesus, you would like to tell God and people that you love God and you belong to Him.

Why must we get baptized?

·        Jesus got baptized (Matthew 3:13-17)
·        Jesus commanded us to be baptized (Matthew 28:10, Mark 16:16, Acts 2:38, Acts 22:16)

Why do we get baptized?

·        The New Testament tells us to get baptized
·        It is a picture that shows about death, burial, and resurrection.
·        John 3:23 “it has a lot of water”

When should we get baptized?

·        After you believe in Jesus (You can’t be baptized before you believe in Jesus!)
·        All the commands in the Bible say to be baptized immediately.
·        In all the events in Acts, people were baptized immediately

BEFORE YOU GET BAPTIZED

Do you have other gods in your house? If you do, you should throw them away. Baptism is the sign of Jesus’ love and the promise that we will follow only God. If we still worship other gods, it seems like we are unfaithful to the Holy Spirit. It’s not God’s will.

If your husband or wife tells you, “I’m going to sleep with another woman or man, but only once a year.” How would you feel? Exactly, you won’t allow adultery, even for only one night per year.

In the same way, we can’t worship other gods even once a year. Because God is jealous. His Spirit will not stay in us if you still worship other false gods.

STOP WORSHIPING OTHER FALSE GODS OR STATUES THAT REPRESENT SATAN

·        Worshiping false gods is committing adultery against the Holy Spirit. (Look at Judges 2:17, 8:33, 1 Kings 5:25, Psalm 106:38-39, Ezekiel 23:37)
·        Remove all the statues from your house

If you get married and your husband or wife asks you, “could I take my ex-boyfriend or ex-girlfriend to live with us?” How would you feel? Maybe you can’t agree with this! Maybe you demand for the ex-boyfriend or ex-girlfriend to leave, and don’t allow him / her to return.  In the same way, you cannot receive fake gods after you belong to God. You must get rid of everything that has to do with fake gods in and outside of your house. You must get rid of your loyalty to them. Pray to God, that He would bless your house, and that it would be a place to worship only Him.

DON’T BE AFRAID

·        Satan can’t take away your Savior. The Lord has power over everything. The Bible promises that the Lord won’t leave us. However, Satan will still persecute us.
·        Pray about Baptism
·        Set the time for baptism as soon as you can.
·        Ask yourself four questions about baptism (look below) and don’t let anyone see. You must be sure yourself. Don’t have any doubts when you get baptized.

1. Do you believe that Jesus died on the cross to pay for you sin and three days later He rose from the dead?

2. Do you know Jesus forgives all of your sin?

3. Will you tell everybody here that you’ll follow Jesus and never turn away from Him?
4. When you have problems or when somebody persecutes you, will you still believe in Jesus?



My first Sunday in Cambodia, I got to see three people baptized in a big orange ice box
 

I've seen people baptized in the swimming pool at the Olympic Stadium (not pictured)

I've seen several baptisms in a kid's pool


I've heard of many baptisms in the river, at the beach, or in a public swimming pool. I think big churches probably have a baptistery like those in America.

After every group of baptisms, there is a time to lay hands on and pray for our brother(s) & / or sister(s) who've been baptized!

Angry birds ...

For those of you who've been expecting a baptism post, I'm sorry! It'll come sometime in the near future. I had some things translated, but lost the paper, so I'm getting them translated again. You'll understand when that post comes!

This post is about this girl here (The one on the left, with the glasses, wearing the angry birds shirt):

You may wonder about the title. When I first came to Cambodia on a Christmas team (2011-12), she wore an angry birds shirt what seemed like every day. And that's where I got the title!

For security precautions, I don't put names and pictures together, even though I usually give my phonetics of the name and not the way they actually write it.

As you know by now, this young lady has been studying at the English center for a long time, over 2 1/2 years. She's always excited about teams! Both times I came on a team, the other girls and I got to go eat a snack multiple times with this girl. When I came for my longer term, it was harder to get time with her, and many other students. (That's one great things about teams. They're only here for a very short time, so it's now or never. And teams are just more exciting!)

So this young lady was not the least bit interested in the gospel for a long time. Finally, God got ahold of her and she initiated studying the Bible with Crystal (back in October or November). Her and one other girl studied with Crystal every day after class for a few months. Since January we've offered a Bible study class in the evenings and they've joined it, along with several other students.

With the team coming, I've been wondering if I should teach a Bible study class with the group we have, or if they should split up, study with the team, and make connections with other students. The community they have is great and I hope for them to keep that community. It would be wonderful if they, being "old students,"  would welcome and even reach out to new students, especially during the CONNECT time.

All that being said, I talked with this young lady yesterday before class. I asked her if she thought we should still have the Bible study class when the team comes. She said yes. She thought many students would rather study with the team, but she'd rather study the Bible. AMEN!

I asked why she wanted to study the Bible and why she's not a Christian yet. She replied that she's very interested in the Bible. She wants to know more. She thinks it's wonderful / amazing and she wonders about it, and is surprised as she reads.

One obstacle, like for every Cambodian, is her family. They won't let her go to church, especially her dad. They have no clue that our organization teaches about Jesus. They just think their two children (this girl and her younger brother) are going to study English. They are, but they're learning so much more than English. I asked if she reads the Bible at home ( I know that in the past, she's read through the whole Bible, but I wasn't sure if she was still reading it). Her response ... if my parent's aren't home, yes. If they're home, no. She keeps the Bible hidden in a bag, so they won't see it.

Pray for both of these girls! The blog is about the one in the middle (with glasses)

Khmer New Year In The Countryside

Khmer New Year is the biggest holiday in Cambodia. Most people get at least a week off, and many students get (or take) two, or three weeks off! Those with family in the province will leave the big city for at least a week, and stay with their family.

Last year Crystal went with Chan-na to her province. Since Crystal left before Khmer New Year, Chan-na asked me to join her. We were supposed to ride together on her moto, but her brother and a few other guys visited the city, so we all rode on a bus together. We left at 6:30am and got to her house around 9am.

Typical Day
(I always leave somewhere wishing I'd taken more pictures. I don't know if that'll ever change. I feel so awkward taking pictures) So I don't have many pictures :-( Some of the pictures I do have were stolen from Facebook!
This is a picture of the house last year. (Since then, they added a room / kitchen to the back, right of the house,  behind where the table is)

As we walked up to her house, I "joom reap sua'd" everyone (translation - I said hello). Then I sat down and was mostly quiet (my normal self - English or Khmer).

I was there for 3 full days (Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday). Each day there was a water fight, napping and T.V. They also played cards / gambled and drank - traditional Khmer style. The "kids" / teens gambled with change. I think they gave about thirty cents every time they lost.

I spent at least 3 hours, or more per day watching Thai movies dubbed in Khmer. ( I realized how poor my Khmer was, when I couldn't even understand one full sentence. It made me want to try to listen for practice, but at the same time, it was easy to just watch and sometimes think about other things.)

   watching Thai movies                                        water fight                             

The first two days, we played traditional Khmer games in the afternoon, and went to the school yard to dance in the evening. This family (like most Cambodians) loves to dance!!! There is a traditional Khmer dance, that many people tried to teach me, but I could never figure it out. It's not difficult, I just can't dance. Chan-na and her cousins taught me. I can finally do it!!! Well, I can do the feet, but can't do the hands at the same time. But this is coming from the girl who can't clap and sing at the same time either. :-) Traditional Khmer dancing is just doing the same thing over and over again, while moving in a circle (like around a round-about). None the less, it was pretty fun!

dancing (It's dark, but you can see me watching the feet of the person in front of me)

Tuesday, we went to see some guys fishing for eel, and maybe other fish too.

fishing

The Family
From the very beginning, the grandma talked to me the most. I think all of the young people were intimidated and only a couple knew English.

Chan-na told me that for Khmer tradition, when you bring something to the family, you give it to the grandma and she prays or says a blessing for you. (I think it's for most Asian cultures, but when you go to someone's house you should take a gift, and in Cambodia, that gift is usually food.) I took a box of fruit and some candies, so Chan-na took a picture of me "officially" giving it to the family / grandma.

me and the grandma

After that, the grandma wanted me to take a picture with Chan-na's sister, Chan-tah. I'm sure glad she did, because otherwise I wouldn't have it. By the third day, Chan-tah and I would talk a little bit and I really liked her! In September Chan-na's two younger brothers, and this younger sister are supposed to move to the city to go to university. Please pray for this family to know The Way / The Truth / The Life!

me and Chan-na's younger sister

I got to talk a lot with two of Chan-na's cousins, Be (F) and Pe-ro (M). They both live in the city, and I may get to hang out with Be sometime when she has free time.

Things I learned:
- HOW TO WASH CLOTHES (by hand) - After all of the water fights I was worried that I wouldn't be able to make it to the last day with the clothes I brought. I debated on what to do, looked for Chan-na, but she was busy, then saw Ve-sna. (Ve-sna has studied at the student center for over a year, she was my student last semester, and she is one of the shyest girls I've ever met.) I saw this as an opportunity, so I asked her to help me, because I'd never washed clothes with my hands before.
- HOW TO WASH DISHES (Khmer style) - It's the same as washing clothes (minus the scrubbing board)
- HOW TO KILL / PREPARE A CHICKEN - I didn't actually do it, but I watched Chan-na do it twice, and I think I could do it :-)  ( I ate FRESH chicken and fish everyday. Even the rice we ate was grown by Chan-na's family)
- HOW TO DANCE - explained above
- ACCEPT PEOPLE FOR WHO THEY ARE - Tuesday, I talked to Pe-ro for a few hours before dinner. He asked several English questions and we just talked about random things. I looked at all of Chan-na's family and saw how they seemed to get along really well. (*Note: Chan-na's mom is one of six children. I think all but one or two of them were there with their spouse and children. There were also a few other random people, like myself. Everyone stayed at least three nights too.) In America, it's very common for one part of the family to be angry with someone else and there's a big fight one year, then the next year they don't come ...
     I asked Pe-ro how they got along so well / didn't have big fights were people quit coming. (*2nd Note: Cambodians are very non-confrontational) He said that they just know how everyone is and basically move on. Then he gave an example of one guy who was there. This guy was drunk (drinking=happy, according to many Cambodians) and he was talking to me too much. He didn't do anything wrong, but it just wasn't right either. One time, Chan-na started pushing me away make an excuse for us to go up-stairs, away from him. So, Pe-ro said, "Like that guy who came with my uncle, we don't like what he did, but nobody will say anything."
     If we could take this advice and just learn to accept people. No, we always want people to change because "we have to do more work," "they're not doing enough," "it's not fair," "They've wronged me, so they need to make it right" ... We don't necessarily just have to be passive people, but if we're really followers of Christ, don't we HAVE to forgive others as our Father has forgiven us? (Matthew 6:12, ) Really, how often do we sin against God? - everyday. How often do sin against God and not even know it, not confess it, not ask for forgiveness ...? - everyday. If our perfect Father forgives His sinful children, then us sinful people should forgive our sinful brothers and sisters(Mt 18:23-35)
      This is something that we will always have to be a work in progress, but we need reminders. So here's my reminder and here's your reminder. We need to forgive and most times, that requires time at the Father's feet (In His Word, and in prayer) asking for His help, because we just can't forgive on our own.
- DON'T BE AFRAID - There were several times that I contemplated, do I try to help, or do I stay out of the way? If I stay out of the way, that might be better, but that also means they have to do all of the work and it could make me look lazy. Many times, I'm afraid of getting in the way or not being wanted / or helping and doing it wrong so I do nothing at all. I don't know that I've learned this lesson, and there were many times I did nothing, but there were times that I chose to take a chance and did something instead of nothing.
- NEXT TIME BRING SOCKS - I got ate up by mosquitos. Apparently the spray was not enough. We slept under mosquito nets, but before bed was dinner time (for the mosquitos). I joked with Chan-tah that my blood was delicious. She said my blood was sweet.

                                                         proof of my sweetness ;-)
The monk's blessing:
On the third day of the Khmer New Year celebration, they have the monk come to the house. He throws water on people, and "blesses them." I felt extremely awkward taking pictures, but Chan-na said it was okay, and Crystal did it last year too. Here's a couple pictures and a video.

    Before it started                                                        People were starting to sit down

Notice, everyone has their legs to the side. It's disrespectful to sit with your legs crossed "Indian style" or "criss-cross apple sauce"

I was a little afraid that the monk was going to throw water on me even though I was sitting about three feet behind the group.

100%

Yesterday, we had a day trip for those who came to the Kynome Chngall Nah workshop. Before we left for the trip, Mr. K shared with them about repentance ... and asked them to write on the card what percent they believe. (Here students often give a percentage of how close they are to following Christ). 50% means they're interested and seeking the truth, but aren't really sure. The card also gave an option for people to check if they had free time and wanted to study the Bible. Please pray for those who are interested and for Bible study leader(s).

Today Maum went to LS church. They had communion and she took it. She said that yesterday she wrote 75%, but after she thought about it last night and today, she decided to believe 100% AND she wants to be baptized. Tut-se-ah, Sa-Rye, and Choon-E have all been going to LS for at least half a year. The first two believe already, but Choon-E has yet to. Today Maum told Choon-E that she was next! :-D

PLEASE PRAY for Maum. Pray that she'll really understand what it means to follow Jesus. Pray that she would not forsake the assembling together as brothers and sisters in Christ. Pray that she'll understand the importance of the Body of Christ and her role as a member. Pray for her to be wise and bold about sharing her faith with friends, co-workers, and especially her family.

Pray also for Choon-E to see that following Christ does mean giving up everything, but also that she'll know that it's WORTH IT!

Praise God, for He's GggggREAT!

Praise / Pray ...

In my December Newsletter, I wrote about how I don't understand why Cambodians decide to believe /  follow Jesus, but they don't tell anyone. They wait until they're asked, or until something brings it up. (This is not true for all cases, but I've found it's very common)

I'm the kind of person that likes to know a lot of information / details ... (some things I could care less, but if I do care, then it drives me crazy until I know). I'm having to learn to let that go (from this situation and many others) and I'm far from "learned." 

In the March Newsletter, I gave a list of names of people who've said they believe / follow, but haven't or aren't ready to be baptized. One that I've forgotten about is Vwa-dtie. She's studying with Crystal from 6-7 and at the beginning of the term she said that she'd believed for a few weeks. Her aunt, who's my age, has believed for 5-6 years and has been taking Vwa-dtie to church for a long time.  ***  Just today when another student from her class asked if she was a Christian, she said "she doesn't know God yet." Pray that she would truly know God!

Today, I was talking to Sah-vwahn, and after talking for a little while, I asked him what he thought about Jesus, Christianity ... "Oh I like Christians! They never lie. They have love ... " Before he always blew off people who invited him to church, or talked to him about Jesus, but now he thinks it's good...
- Then I asked, "so you think it's good, but you don't follow yet, right?"
         > He said, "no, I follow."
- You believe Jesus?
         > Yes, but I'm not baptized yet.
- Have you told anyone? Does anyone know?
         > I don't know / no
- Does Sa-Rye know?    (Him and Sa-rye are/were best friends.)
         > (With a not sure look) Sa-rye ...uhh, I maybe no.
- Do you want to be baptized?
        > Yea, I want ... but, not yet.

I shared Romans 10:9 "that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved." I explained how Christians still lie, still sin ... We're still human. I also said that after a person believes and chooses to follow Jesus / they confess Him as Lord, that means they say He is Lord. They should tell other people that Jesus is Lord and tell them about Jesus ... The conversation was not all of this verbatim, but -ish. I hope it went more smoothly than how I'm typing it out (what I remember).

After that we started talking about other things. I don't know where Sah-vwahn stands (whether he's truly given his life to Christ, or if he's just really, really close) & it's not necessary that I know, but please be praying for him!

Pray for his friend, Sa-rye, who's believed for about 9 months and was just baptized about 6 weeks ago. Sa-rye is a naturally fun and crazy guy, but he's been a little extra crazy lately. Maybe it's good, I don't know. Even during the Bible study class, he plays around a lot.

Here's a few pictures of Crystal's 6-7 Bible Study class. Please be praying for them. A couple have been brothers and sisters for a while, several just in the past few months, and several not yet!

Crystal leaves in a few days. I'll be teaching one of her classes. Another class has been split, and half have joined my class and half Brandon's. That leaves the group pictured above. Please pray for a leader to teach that group. There is someone Mr. K has in mind, but please pray for wisdom!

I'm looking forward to the day that we can call all of them our brothers and sisters! Pray for protection against the evil one. Any of them could get a job, or something else happen that would pull them away from continuing to learn and be in God's Word, with God's people. Pray that those who've yet to surrender, that they'll really seek after THE ONE TRUE GOD!