#218 - A Comedy of Errors! Mercy and Justice!

Vol.# 218

“Bong Srey Vidya, I have been looking at you, and I live with some of your former Rescue students at the dorm here in Phnom Penh, and I think that you are simple...”As I looked across at the earnest expression of my co-worker at the Skills Training Centre, I decided NOT to get offended because in my mind I am thinking that he is saying ‘simple-minded’! But with the nuances in translation of meaning from Khmer to English, I waited to hear more! However, he did refer to my mind...yup ... still not getting offended... and then he said, “You are simple of the mind!” 

I said to him, “Can you explain what you mean?” 

He said, “My roommates like you. You can be strict but yet they call you Holy Spirit Sister Mr. Bean! I want to know why are you different than the other foreigner teachers? I can come to you with a problem and you pray, I can come to you with a praise item and you sing and dance. You think like us, you do not think as if you are better than us!”  

I did not know what to say. Well, I was relieved he did not mean I was simple-minded and then I was humbled to hear what he had observed! It dawned on me that my ‘sphere of influence‘ was not only with those in my immediate circle, but that it also extended beyond to observers as well! My walk with God is 24/7 not just confined to the classroom, the office or with a group of people. I am so notperfect, that is why I NEED to spend time with Our Jesus in the mornings so that in spite of myself they see HIM always.

With 2 Pastoral Care Leaders at Church

Finally Communion with Khmer Church Family After 3 Months!

In my last update, I told you I was thankful to be able to wash my clothes and linen and to have the space to hang them. Well soon after that the machine stopped working again, along with other incidences!

Washing Machine Guy!

And thus began a ‘comedy of errors’ on the way to getting things fixed here.

I called the repair shop across the road and two guys came to take away the part, saying rather vaguely when it would be fixed. At the same time two ceiling bulbs blew, and since it was so high, I decided to ask my landlord/lady to help with the replacement, knowing by now that when they come to ‘fix’ one thing, usually two things get broken in the process, since they do it themselves!  Well, they got right on it, and one hour later, both of them came up accompanied by the grandchildren to replace the light fixtures. First they brought a ladder all the way up the 25 steps, set it up, but then decided nope.

Landlord With Ladder #1

They needed to get another ladder! So down went the first one and then up came the shiniest silver one ever! They proceeded to try and put it up but it kept sliding down! Then the wife decided to stand under it to brace herself against one side so that it would not slide down. I was looking on and decided to take a picture, when all of a sudden the hilarity of the moment seized me, and I started to giggle! 

With Ladder#2 Fixing Fixtures

My landlord and landlady who always seem so tired and overwhelmed by life looked at me, and for the first time ever I saw them begin to laugh as well! The two grandkids were laughing too! During this time, my landlady had asked me if I was going to church, and then I said, “Well, it was beginning to start now online!” So I thought if they were going to be here, they might as well join in! So I put it on the IPAD and put the volume on high and was singing along to the Khmer worship songs! I figured the Word could filter through to a ‘captive audience’! 

Then I had to go outside to meet some friends who were delivering some items for me and I saw the landlord come running down to go across the street to the breaker fuse box! He had forgotten to turn off the power before replacing the fixture! Since I was not there, he did not go into my bedroom where the fuse box is located, so he went to the public box. I could hear him shouting to his wife who then began shouting to the grand children to ask them if the fan in the room went off or was still on! They were trying to figure out the correct fuse to turn off. I got this vision of them turning off the wrong fuse box and the whole street would be without power! Eventually the fixtures were replaced and power was restored! 

In the midst of this I had to send a message to my former housemate to say how much I appreciated his trouble shooting and ways of fixing things around the house! Troubleshooting is definitely not a strong attribute of my landlord. Then the door lock in the upstairs bedroom was broken and anytime it was windy and rainy the door kept flying open! So they went to look at it and after 5 minutes of trying the key, they said to me, “Bong Srey it is ...BROKEN!” Yup! So they went out to buy a new one to replace the old one! 

Then, I could not attach the new hose that I bought to clean the rooftop to the laundry sink. So I asked the landlord for his advice! Well after talking with his wife who was giving him different ideas, he said to me, “no problem!” That very sentiment sent chills through me because I knew there would be a problem! He inserted a piece into the water pipe so that the hose can be attached, and then turned on the water! Immediately the spout flew across the floor! The water pressure broke it or as my landlord said, it was broken even though it was new and not used! At this point as the water is just pouring out all you can do is say, Oy Veyand laugh! We were all laughing! But through all this I have to say thank you to God that things eventually were fixed and that in the process I pray that my landlord and landlady were able to hear God‘s Word through the songs and message and hopefully via my reaction to the situations!

I thank God for your support for me because I was able to give not only financial support to those who are suffering financially during COVID-19 season, but also to pray and be there to listen to their stories, the most important of which were from 4 of my former Rescue students. Earlier on as I had prayed on my rooftop, certain pictures kept popping up in my mind. It was of 2 of them. So I texted them to find out if they needed help after first confirming from another source that I should do this. I did phone and for the first time the former student said yes. He was ashamed to say that he needed help before, but I reminded him that we are family, and of course as their ‘Bong Srey’, how can I go to bed at night knowing that they were hungry? So this former student said ‘yes please’to receiving the blessing package. 

Blessing Recipient: Former Rescue Student

Blessing Recipient: Former Rescue Student Married With 1 Baby

Then one blessing package turned into three blessing packages that afternoon. One blessing package was for my former translator from Rescue. He is a new father, who with his wife, baby and his mother and 2 siblings, made the choice to live in one room to save money to pay down on buying a house for all of them. When I called him, he said, “oh what timing” because he was about to order a bag of rice as they just had eaten the last cup! I was able to give another package to 2 former students from Rescue who decided to room together to pool their resources together. Then while I was talking to the first recipient on site at the church, I asked him if there were any other of ‘our boys’ who needed help. Yes, there was. So a quick call was made and 30 minutes later, another blessing package was given. 

Some of you were wondering what a package contained: 25kg of rice, a box (not carton) of instant noodles, 2 bottles of fish sauce, 2 bottles of soya sauce, 2 bottles of peanut sauce, one bottle of oil, 2 packages of salt and sugar, 4 tins of canned fish, all accompanied with our prayers that like the miracle that Jesus did with the 5 loaves and 2 fish, that the groceries given would be multiplied for weeks to come!

Justice. A small word but this is what we are fighting for here, equality for education amongst the sexes, equality for the non-abled bodies, equality for those with no income/social status so that they too can have access to education and quality health care. The person we look to is Jesus the Christ, who by His life showed compassion and respect to man and woman alike, to those afflicted mentally/physically, unafraid to touch them or to speak up for them. He spoke against the religious powerful leaders who only wanted power and prestige for themselves and who forgot about the everyday person. 

I look to Him now as I try to explain what has happened with the murder of George Floyd in the USA. Only two Khmer have mentioned or talked about this tragedy with me. One was my former housemate who was watching the discussion between Pastor Steven Furtick and Pastor John Gray and sent me his thoughts. The other was my former head of the Skills Training Centre who wanted to know more about George Floyd. For those of you who have not seen the discussion, can I encourage you to go to the link [Be The Bridge with Steven Furtick and John Gray] so that discussions can begin. 

Changes have to be made beginning with me spiritually and then you as well! Yes, I am fighting against injustice here, but I also mourn and get angry at injustice in other parts of the world as well! THAT IS WHO MY JESUS IS. HE CARES for you and for me. Didn’t Ravi Zacharias not remind us of our GOD who cared for us so much that HE gave His own precious beloved Son in the person of Jesus the Christ to die for us SO THAT we would not only have eternal life but also life that is valued and esteemed! 

Love, His Warrior and Disciple, 

Submitting to be His Dance partner here in Cambodia, 

Your sister, Vidya