Vol.# 159
As I sit on my balcony feeling the
breeze blow on my back, and hearing the sounds of construction from all around
me (never ending construction here!), I realized I am not distracted by the
sounds of the hammering. God in His goodness has been using those sounds as
‘white sound’, so that I can focus on my Khmer language studies.
These past 2 weeks have been busy with The Global Leadership Conference (2016, not 2017 since it took time to translate everything into Khmer). I was asked if I would volunteer to be at the registration table at the host church and to help with inquiries. Yes, I was the one in charge of the headsets ensuring that they were working! (Some of you are gasping in surprise or just laughing as you read the last part knowing my effect on technology!).
These past 2 weeks have been busy with The Global Leadership Conference (2016, not 2017 since it took time to translate everything into Khmer). I was asked if I would volunteer to be at the registration table at the host church and to help with inquiries. Yes, I was the one in charge of the headsets ensuring that they were working! (Some of you are gasping in surprise or just laughing as you read the last part knowing my effect on technology!).
I met many people from different
churches and organizations across Cambodia, and since the conference was in Khmer
and English, translation (or the real voices of the speakers) were via the
headsets, it was heart warming to see how many of the leaders here wanted to
learn more about leading their own organizations, Khmer as well as expats. One
of the main themes was giving value to your workers as God gave value to each
of us. It was sweet to see people putting that into practice on Day 2, ensuring
that the volunteers were affirmed in their work. When we did our debrief at the
end of the day, we were also affirmed by the head of Global Leadership Summit
Conference for Asia.
For me, it was working with Khmer
volunteers from my church here, New Life Fellowship. Usually we are so busy that
we just say hello, but God allowed me to spend ‘soul searching’ time with 2 of
the volunteers, and I learnt that one of them has been burdened to go to Africa
to share His heart! She is Khmer, but she has felt this urge in her heart for
many months now for the country of Africa. The other volunteer just kept asking
me questions about my journey here and about ‘life’! I was reminded of my role
here and my ‘influence’ on those I meet!
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| Birthday Celebration |
Right after the conference the
students and I were planning a surprise birthday party for my housemate Channak,
and that took secret meetings and phone conversations that had all of us
laughing and enjoying how God has brought all of us from the time I worked at Place
of Rescue in 2011 to now. Channak’s family were all in on the surprise and it
was heartwarming to hear each student say why he was important in their lives
and to have his brother who is a pastor do the opening blessing! The girlfriends
of some of the students are not yet His followers but wow, they came and they
helped and they wanted to have a connection with us!
Many of you have been praying for my fluency in Khmer language so I have to share this with you. Gateway to Khmer or G2K is my language school, and the Board had made the decision to offer Christian Studies free to those of us who were doing all 8 of the levels of language instruction. The process of learning how to share ‘my story’ and learning how to pray in Khmer has been an exhilarating and humbling experience! I have been practising my testimony, and my house helper who is of a different faith, has been listening to my testimony as I practise and edit my story of why I chose to be a follower of Jesus Christ.
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| My New House Helper |
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| My Tutor Rady, a pastor's wife and an amazing tutor! |
One of my 2 tutors is also of a
different faith even though she will ask me to pray for her family situation.
She was listening and trying to correct the content of one of the ideas I was
trying to formulate. I had talked about surrendering my life to Christ, but
that the biggest gift and most surprising gift was that Jesus Christ
surrendered His life for me. She immediately corrected me to say that no, it was me surrendering my life not
Jesus! So I responded, but that is
what Jesus did for you and for me. She stopped and softly repeated what I
had said the first time and just smiled!
I wish I could tell you that I was
deliberately mispronouncing the Khmer words so that my Khmer non-Christian
friends would stop me and correct me and ask me what I was trying to say so I
could share His heart, but that would not be true! (Sigh.) HOWEVER, the process
of even listening to 3 of my Khmer teachers share their testimonies as part of
my homework has made an impact on my tutors and my house helper. They get to
hear a Khmer talk about ‘real’ life and why they made the choice to choose to
follow Jesus.
Just this morning as a new tuk tuk
driver picked me up, I told him to please wait as I wanted to pray. (Yes, I
said that all in Khmer!) I prayed for safety on the roads and for him, and at
the end of the prayer, he said Amen!
It is always good to pray to Jesus!
In spite of my stumbling as I speak Khmer, the ‘curse’ of not being able to pick up the language quickly and speaking fluently has been turning into a ‘blessing’ for Jesus, because while others are helping me, they are also hearing about Him! Yup, God with His sense of humour is using me in spite of myself! So be encouraged.
In spite of my stumbling as I speak Khmer, the ‘curse’ of not being able to pick up the language quickly and speaking fluently has been turning into a ‘blessing’ for Jesus, because while others are helping me, they are also hearing about Him! Yup, God with His sense of humour is using me in spite of myself! So be encouraged.
If God can use me He can use you! Just
surrender your ‘rights’ and ‘pride’ and step out boldly, you will be surprised
by what He will do in you and through you for His glory!
I was so pumped for Advent and the recognition and celebration of Our Lord Jesus Christ that I went I went to a Khmer supermarket, Bayon Supermarket, and heard Christmas songs playing (Joy to the World). I just started singing and humming as I was walking down the aisle forgetting where I was for a moment as it is unusual to hear Christmas songs playing like that. SO, as we celebrate and think about the birthday of our Heavenly Father, let us praise Him.
I was so pumped for Advent and the recognition and celebration of Our Lord Jesus Christ that I went I went to a Khmer supermarket, Bayon Supermarket, and heard Christmas songs playing (Joy to the World). I just started singing and humming as I was walking down the aisle forgetting where I was for a moment as it is unusual to hear Christmas songs playing like that. SO, as we celebrate and think about the birthday of our Heavenly Father, let us praise Him.
Prayer Request:
The landlord has rented the lower
apartment to tenants who are opening a restaurant and bar!
The process of renovating the place has been noisy and my request is that I would be able to reflect His Spirit to the new tenants. I do not like the idea that my home, my refuge for past year, might be turned into a noisy, non-refuge-like place. One of my spiritual mentors reminded me that as in the past, God would give me His direction. So I am resting on this promise.
Prayer Request:
The process of renovating the place has been noisy and my request is that I would be able to reflect His Spirit to the new tenants. I do not like the idea that my home, my refuge for past year, might be turned into a noisy, non-refuge-like place. One of my spiritual mentors reminded me that as in the past, God would give me His direction. So I am resting on this promise.
Prayer Request:
On the 28th I will be sharing my
testimony in the Khmer language. I was going to share it last week, but I had a
cold so I could not. Pray that my ideas would be in order and that my
pronunciation would be clear. I pray that my heart would be heard in spite of
my pronunciation!
Praise:
My relationships with my Khmer
brothers and sisters are going to a deeper spiritual level!
Please share your requests so that I
too can go to Our Father on your behalf!
Please continue to send your pics of your Christmas decorations and family times! I love seeing them all!
Love, His Warrior and Disciple,
Submitting to be His Dance partner here in
Cambodia,
Your sister, Vidya
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