Vol. 33
Happy New Year to
everyone.
I apologize for the delay in
writing to you.
Christmas:
It was an amazing time at my church here, first with the older students at the
Youth party at New Life church. It was all in Khmer, but to see over 200 youth
come to celebrate Him, play games and eat together was a blessing. Pastor
Piseth, the worship pastor, told me that they did not expect such a large turnout
and many of the youth were non-Christian!
On Christmas day I met with a young couple that God gave me as my
‘tithe’. He is a youth pastor and his wife was on the worship team. They are a
Khmer couple and yes, they speak English well! As we were having lunch, Pastor
Piseth called them and invited us all over to his place to ‘lime’! (Yes, I
taught them that Trini word; we played games, ate and had fun!) Pastor Piseth,
his wife and two kids is another family that God has laid upon my heart to pray
and tithe towards at my church here.
Your Cold, My Cool:
I saw and heard about the snowstorm,
and in the midst of the beauty of the snow and the lights sparkling on the
white covering, I know that many of you were without power and heat. And I know
you are experiencing bone chilling weather right now. I was praying for His grace and provisions
for you all during this time.
Ironically, here in Cambodia, we are experiencing
cooler than normal temperatures which had me scampering looking for long
sleeved shirts and yes, a sweater! It is now returning to its normal hot
temperatures.
Accommodation and Adventures in Travel:
I have not yet found my place in
the city but God has been gracious in allowing me to be at Lois’ house. Lois
works for Crossworld and has been here for over 5 years. I had connected with
her when Lisa brought us over in 2009, and bless her heart, I can rent a room
here. I am learning a lot from her about having my own place and the expenses
which I would have to incur etc.
I have been tuk-tukking in each
day. I would be up early in the morning, racing to get a moto to go to Khmer
class (about 10 minutes away), then coming back to the house for 20 minutes to
gather up my cooler, bags etc. before heading off for the one and a half hour
trek to Place of Rescue.
In the midst of all of this,
there have been wide spread protests by the garment workers (85 percent of
Khmer are working in these factories), and at first they were peaceful, but now
there have been clashes among the government, the workers and the Opposition
party. Three times I have had to stop
and wait in the tuk tuk as the protesters have blocked the main road going back
to the city.
However, my intrepid driver has gone way beyond my expectations,
and since he is from the countryside, has proceeded to take me through back
roads in the countryside!
Bumpy, dusty, as we go and then we meet more soldiers
dressed in the green combat attire; they are tired and not very friendly and
motion for us to go another route! We finally get to the main road and I get a
chance to talk to foreign journalists covering the protests. They inform me of
the beatings of a couple of the monks and protesters earlier on in the day!
The second day as I am about to
leave Rescue, I asked one of my students to interpret the prayer so that the
tuk tuk driver could hear and understand. (I always pray each time going and
coming, he waits until he sees me stop talking!) I prayed and asked Jesus Christ to take us
safely, to open up the paths for us, and for the glory to go to Him when He
does that!
Well wouldn’t you know it, it took us the shortest time ever to get
to the city! It did not occur to me until after I got home that in the three weeks
or so since I have been commuting this was the fastest time we got to Phnom
Penh!).
I pray that he remembers what we prayed and to whom so that it would be
a seed planted in him by Our Lord.
New Years, A Cough, and God-Connections:
I have to admit that New Year’s
Day was the hardest one here.
I missed all of you.
I have been battling a cough
that moved into my chest so I had gone to the doctor (EXPAT clinic). The dust
etc. from going in was now too much and my puffer was not helping. I had taken
3 days off at separate times from work, (unheard of from me; in the one year I
had been at Rescue I was off for 4 days; now, in the past 3 weeks I was off for
3 days!) and the cough was keeping me from teaching. So off I went and $175
later, I had antibiotics and cough medicine. In hindsight, I should have
contacted Dr. Gamble! Same antibiotics I had before and no, the cough still
persists!
But God in His graciousness knew
of my ‘homesickness’, and that day I got a call from Heidi and Gregory
Whitaker! I had met them at my Missions Prep course in July, and reconnected
with them earlier on. Greg was sick, so Heidi wanted a date to go to an Indian
New Year’s Dinner! One of the congregants from the church they are pastoring
here, (Greg is an Anglican priest) invited and paid for the tickets so I was
her date! Awesome Indian food, and yes, I was wearing the only Indian outfit I
brought with me and yes, everyone kept talking to me in their dialect much to
the amusement of Heidi!
What was more
surprising was when we got to our table, I was introduced to everyone and this
couple looked familiar to me but I was not sure who they were.
All of a sudden
the woman says, “Vidya?”
How many “Vidyas” do we know? It
was Beth and Stephan from Prison Fellowship here. I knew them as they are one
of Ratanak’s partners and we have prayed for and with them many times! Beth and
Stephan attend Heidi’s church!
I was prompted by someone the
previous week to get in touch with them but my email had bounced back and here
they were! We exchanged numbers and I thought this was a God-meeting!
We left early and as I got back
to the house, I got a call from Channak saying the gang was going out, do I want to go? It was now around 11:20
or so. I quickly changed and Channak on his new moto (which was now truly
blessed since I was riding on it), Dong, and Simon (English chap in Cambodia
for 6 months working with Christian NGO) went off. The traffic was amazing.
Everyone was out, in tuk tuks, motos, cars. I loved it! And then all of a
sudden fireworks started going off as we passed one of the hotels. We stopped
and with hundreds of Khmer counted down the New Year!
I knelt on the grass
(trying not to think why the grass was wet!), and prayed and gave up the year
to Our Lord. Then I went to Simon, Dong, and Channak separately, and prayed a
blessing on each of them. They are my brothers here and part of my community.
A New Place and Challenges:
The transition has not been easy.
I am now moved into a place nearer Rescue.
It is basic: no toilet tank yet, no
sink to brush your teeth etc., which is a pain since the whole bathroom floor
gets wet when you take a shower! I can deal with all of that knowing I can go
back to Lois’ on Friday night until Monday morning. What is more difficult is
the lack of community. There is one Khmer teacher (very little English) who
lives in the floor below and our schedules are different. She is gone early and
is back before I come home!
Praise and Prayer:
Praise: I
got to watch the Livestream taping of the Tuesday Solemn Assembly. I was in the
city, so I got to be part of it until I had to leave.
Prayer
items:
·
No Internet
here at this place; Channak helped me to get a modem, but it is still sketchy. Pray
for it to work!
·
Relationships:
for His wisdom and for me to give Him my rights and to submit to Him with JOY!
·
Health:
still battling the cough; sleeping and eating have been disrupted by an
inconsistent schedule.
·
Learning
the language: now that I am here in Bek Chan, I have
had to reschedule my Khmer classes. Please pray for discipline and for my ears
and my tongue to be loosened to speak this beautiful language.
·
Unrest
in the country: soldiers everywhere, although no
violence yesterday. My heart goes out to the workers. Pray for the government
and opposition party. I am more of my mother’s child than I realized. We had
gone on protest marches in Trinidad, and here I am glued to what is going on. Many
expats are detached, but I find my heart crying out for the people here.
Thank you so much for being with
me on this dance! Please let me know how I can pray with you.
Dancing
with Him with a new song,
Love,
Sister Vidya
