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