Vol.# 222
Was it one week ago when I got the flurry of messages on my phone at 4 in the morning?
It all seems a blur now. After checking to ensure that the messages were not from my parents or siblings (no crisis, that is…), I turned over and was beginning to fall asleep when I could feel the vibrations of the phone going constantly! Usually I turn off the volume but keep the ‘vibrate’ on just in case of messages from my parents/siblings. As I looked at the phone the messages centered on the unexpected death of one of our pastors from my church here. He died of a heart attack at the age of 39! He had gone to one of the provinces on a ‘missions trip’ with 3 of our other pastors and had complained of a stomach ache. He subsequently passed away in his sleep.
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| Bro. Lokru Vimien |
Bro. Vimien was an ‘odd’ one (and I know ‘odd’ since I am often described as odd!). He did not care what others thought of the way he dressed. He often wore a wool scarf around his neck at church and sang off-key really really loudly! However, when he prayed he was NOT off key! I had the tremendous honor of being part of a lunchtime prayer group with him as we prayed for Cambodia! Many a time I listened as he would pray sometimes all in Khmer or half in English. He understood his Father’s heart and wanted to see one million kids reached for Jesus Christ in his homeland. He had co-written children’s curriculum and was in the process of handing this out to all the provinces. He cared for the poor children and wanted them to know of the value and dignity they had in Christ!
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| His Children's Book |
As we all hustled into the office, the atmosphere was somber as arrangements were being made to bring his body from the province back to the city. Officials were hastily investigating the reason for his sudden demise before releasing his body. His family, including his mother, grandmother, siblings and extended family released him to us for his burial. His family is Buddhist and said that since he chose to be a Christian, he should be buried as one, respecting his wishes! Back in the city we could not find a place for his funeral since we rented our church place. The landlord did not want a funeral to be performed at the church since he thought this would bring bad luck to the church premises and surrounding shops in the mall where our church is located!
Then irony of ironies, the only place we could have the ceremony and the cremation was at one of the pagodas/woat/ in the Buddhist temple ground! Arrangements were quickly made. The funeral was slated to begin at 4, at which time Lokru Vimien’s body would be back in the city. I am still not sure how our leaders did it, but the tent was being erected on the grounds, the cooking team was ordered and assembled (since the funeral lasts 2 days, breakfast, lunch and dinner are provided for all who come), plus COVID precautions were being set up with temperature checks, hand sanitizer and masks! The funeral band (as I called them) that usually performed the Khmer traditional funeral music was hired. They were from the Buddhist temple and our own people getting ready to speak and sing on behalf of our brother Vimien!
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| Buddhist Band at Funeral |
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| Cover Precautions |
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| Funeral Setup |
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| Food Prep |
His body was brought and laid on the mats prepared, wrapped only in cloths. Part of the ceremony is when with curtains held up around the area where the body laid, the family washes and changes his clothes (things that the funeral home would ordinarily do in Western culture). Then on the second day, the family would put on white clothes or wrap themselves in white cloths and put on white materials on their heads and escort the body to the cremation site. If any of you remembered our first few Christmas banquets, carrying the tables, setting up the chairs etc., then it was just like that. I had prayed and asked God what could I do to be of help. I heard Him say, just as you feel My Presence now, I want you to be My Presence for your Khmer family there. So I just stood and hugged and listened and cried as many were still absorbing the fact that he was no longer here. Many of us had just spoken with him on the Monday, and now it was 2 days later, and he was no longer here! Then I got into the ‘busyness’ with everyone as we served together and distributed the food and beverages to all who came!
Prayer Requests:
- Even in the midst of this loss, I want to ask for prayer for those who did not know about Jesus, and got to hear about Him on the microphone as many spoke of Brother (Lokru) Vimien! When we were there, two other funerals were also taking place that were Buddhist and we had to wait our turn to conduct our own there. God’s Word will always bear fruit. Would you pray along that others who came to mourn their loss would have heard of the reason why we mourn, but are still not swept away by grief because we know we will meet our brother again in heaven!
- Pray for Lokru Vimien’s family as they would have seen his influence on us, and seen God’s love through us as we cared for him even in death by how we ‘sent’ him off. Pray that it would be another seed that would bear fruit of Christ’s glory!
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| Lokru Viviem's Family |
I cried as we sang Amazing Grace in Khmer at the beginning of each of the 4 sessions at the funeral, but as we all looked at each other we said, Lokru Vimien is now singing in front of His Saviour ON KEY, with all of his love!
Many approached me and remarked how much they appreciated the fact that I, along with one other foreigner, was with them working from early in the morning to late at night doing the menial tasks of setting up and cleaning up. I thought of the many hours of being trained to do this at RAC! Yes, nothing goes to waste. HE uses all of our ‘doings’ for His glory!
I thank God that through my friend Mel, who is the director of BRAVE ministry which reaches out to the poor and those in prisons, that I was connected with the new Executive Director of Prison Fellowship Cambodia, Oun Srey (sister) Muylen. I met her for coffee to hear her heart and we have made arrangements to meet and pray! She is the first woman director of Prison Fellowship, and even though she is small in stature, she has a big heart for God and for those in the prison system. I loved hearing her testimony and I will share this in a later update with her permission. Please pray that God will direct me how I can be of help to this precious sister in her new role!
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| Meeting with PFC Executive Director and Reps from BRAVE Ministry |
I know COVID-19 has restricted freedom of movement in Canada, and wearing masks hampers our daily way of doing things, but I pray for His Spirit to move freely over all of you as we grow in Him in this season, as we share His love to those who cannot venture out so that our relationship with Christ will grow deeper in spite of the pandemic!
Thank you for your continued support of finances, prayer, words of encouragement and yes, your presence!
Love, His Warrior and Disciple,
Submitting to be His Dance partner here in Cambodia,
Your sister, Vidya
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