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!!!