Vol.# 163
Mmm... I seem to be hearing the chirping of birds as my ex-students and their girlfriends, my housemate’s family and co-workers, all come to the house to celebrate Christmas!
Where are the birds?
Then I remember. Last week I went to my favourite ‘salon’ to give Christmas gifts of doughnuts to the girls who work there (some are from Hagar’s House), and to Jeri, who owns the salon. I have been building relationships with them for over 2 years now, and when I dropped by, they said they wanted to give me a gift.
It would be a hair colour since that is the most expensive thing to be done there. I was overwhelmed, so I said, "Okay, let us put red colour on a few strands, just a little bit, not too much!"
They said, No problem, big sister! Just close your eyes and relax and we will also give you a head massage!"
Yay!
However when I opened my eyes I was again overwhelmed, but for a different reason!
It was PINK, not just any pink, but a kind of FUCHSIA PINK, and not a few strands but CLUMPS!
As I looked at my hair and the obvious joy of everyone else in the salon, with the girls repeating, "Oh Bong Srey (older sister), we love it and we did it strong so that it would not wash out easily."
... All I could think about was, "What hats do I have to wear and I guess wearing red to church the following Sunday for Christmas was out of the question!"
Then again I looked at the faces of Jeri and the girls, and their obvious joy of giving me this gift of ‘colour’, and this time I just laughed and hugged and thanked them!
Hence the sounds of birds...because my ex-students think I look like a bird!
One of them changed the words to the song ‘Mary Did You Know’ to ‘Vidya, did you know that your hair looks like a parrot or a flamingo?’
Oy vey and sweet mama!
We were all just cracking up!
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| The pink clumps-side view |
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| The pink clumps-front view |
I also had an early Christmas breakfast with a pal who is an introvert and was wearing a hat when we met. I had to explain the reason for the hat because my pal does not like to attract attention. When I took off the hat, the waiters/waitresses (all Khmer) were like, "Bong, we love your hair!"
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| Even the hat or cap could not hide the pink flamingo |
On the 26th was the Christmas celebration with ex-students, their girlfriends, my housemate and his family and co-workers, and mutual friends from my church here. The highlights were the girls in my room wrapping up the gifts for the guys, and then my ‘couple’ friends from church in my room then wrapping up gifts for the girls. Then my housemate had a game in which you had to recount the birth of Jesus giving as much details as possible from the Bible within a certain time limit. His brother, who is a pastor, was the ‘judge’ to see who would win the prize. I was amazed that 6 of the guys put their hands up to play the game immediately (having a prize was an incentive I am sure!), and then the fun began!
It is amazing how 2 minutes can either be too long or too short to narrate a story! It was all done in Khmer, so it was fun for me to see how much I could understand from the narration. I think that was a great way to combine the heart of why we celebrate Christmas, and the get-together with others (The reason for the season.).
My housemate Channak and I also got an opportunity to present a gift basket to the landlady and her family, putting in a Khmer Bible Christmas story with stickers for the kids, and scarves and goodies for everyone else. We had presented the gifts in a basket, and two days after the basket was at my door, but this time filled with mangoes as her present to us.
The Bible Institute here published these books with stickers for the ‘kids’, and I got 3 extra ones for my usual tuk tuk driver and my house helper who has a 5 year old. I again wanted to give a little gift to pave the way to talk about the big gift of Jesus to you and to me.
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| 2 Guys and 1 Gal on a moto on the way to Christmas party at Rescue |
As I write from my rooftop area, it is actually breezy and yes, a bit chilly but not as cold as the temperatures you all have been experiencing in Canada!
As I look back on 2017 and look forward to 2018, I continue to be grateful for the support of my parents and siblings, and my RAC family and friends, as He continues to use me to be part of His plan of hope, redemption, and reconciliation here in my heart land of Cambodia.
Reflection:
I have had to change my thinking and expectations about celebrating Christmas here. My tradition has been to go to church on Christmas Eve; to help Mom with the baking and cooking on Christmas Eve; to actually sit down and eat together on the 25th; and to open presents and just have fun together as a family.
Here it was business as usual on the 25th.
Work and school continued, and many of my expat friends with their respective families and organizations celebrated together, or went back to their birth country or just went away on holiday!
I had to recreate Christmas on my own, but then I got a great surprise, because after the Christmas Eve service, which was fantastic, we had a party and dancing in the courtyard of the church which borders the mall! And of course, the 26th was set aside to celebrate with my ‘second’ family of ex-students and friends here.
Yes, the 25th is the date set aside, but I had to remember why we set this day apart and to celebrate the reason for the season. As I watched the fireworks and spent time with Him, I had to rethink about friendships and healthy boundaries; which relationships HE wanted me to focus on, and which ones regrettably I had to release. As I was praying about my last level of language studies which begins on Jan.8th and continues for 10 intense weeks, I asked God to open up my ears, but this time to not only hear the Khmer language, but also the ‘heart’ of those He has given to me: the unspoken language of needs and how I can be His servant and prayer warrior for those He has given to me and will give to me in 2018.
I have switched from being on the information desk at church as a volunteer to the connect team which basically is: you stand at the front of the church and pray with someone, then you go into another room to do follow up. We have little snacks in there, and we just continue the conversation with those who come up to ask for prayer.
The first time I hesitated to go up, but was urged by one of the leaders to come up and pray with this young woman. She understood English and was actually speaking in English to me. She said, I never had a father, I do not know who I am even though she was in her early twenties and unlike girls of her age who asked for a boyfriend or a husband, she asked for a job where she can earn a proper living for her siblings. “A Father’s Blessing’ was so needed for her. I remember when Pastor Sunder did a sermon on this, and how many people came forward to receive a father’s blessings, something they had strived for even though some of congregants who went up for prayer were in their 40s, 50s and 60s! I was able to pray God the Father’s blessings on this young woman, and I am thankful that God has used this to motivate me even more to learn and speak Khmer.
As I dance into the New Year, can I ask you to continue to ‘dance’ with me in financial support and prayer?
I thank you for your sacrifices on my behalf here in Cambodia!
Love, His Warrior and Disciple,
Submitting to be His Dance partner here in Cambodia,
Your sister, Vidya
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