Vol.# 239
It is a muggy morning here in Phnom Penh.
NEW A/C AS TEMPERATURE GOES UP TO LATE 90'S HERE, HOTTER WITH HUMIDITY!
The numbers keep going up for COVID-19, so much so, that we are under curfew from 8pm to 6am. Certain neighbourhoods, where the factory workers live in dorm-like housing and where some have tested positive for COVID-19, have been ordered into lockdown. Here it is taken very seriously with the police or the army coming in to stand guard at the entrance/exits of certain neighborhoods. Even now as we are celebrating the Khmer New Year from 13-16th of April, a time of travelling for most Khmer, leaving the city to go to the countryside or the beach, we have been ordered to stay in Phnom Penh (the city). No one can come in either from the other provinces. So it is a subdued kind of celebration. Yet in the midst of all of this, HE is working more powerfully and has gone beyond our borders into the far reaches of not only Cambodia but also to the rest of the world! How can this be, you ask? The internet and social media! More than ever, we have had to adjust not only our thinking of what is ‘church’, but how to be creative and BE the church to others!
Staff meetings are still on every Tuesday mornings from 8 to 11. Each ministry gives an account of how they have been connecting to our members while at the same time reaching out to others.
Prayer Request: Please pray that my concentration remains strong as it is all in Khmer and after an hour or so of focusing, my mind starts to waver.
One of the gems that has arisen out of this pandemic time is the need to reach out to those who need our help emotionally, mentally and spiritually. Normally ‘soul care’ is not a topic addressed here within the Khmer culture, but because of this time, seminars and FB postings from within the church community are being highlighted! I was blessed to join a 3-hour seminar on depression, anxiety, soul care and God’s perspectives on these issues sponsored by our church here and taught by 2 amazing Khmer Christian women!
OVER 75 JOINED IN THIS SEMINAR
Prayer Request: Please pray that those who need the help would have been released by this seminar to reach out. There is a negative stigma still attached to those who are having difficulty coping with the realization that now COVID-19 is not only about loss of jobs and financial stability, but also that one can die from this. Deaths have risen to 30 here, a small number compared to Ontario, but within the infrastructure here this is alarming!
Every Friday from 10-11(though sometimes it may go to 11:15 or so), I ‘meet’ with the Executive Director of Prison Fellowship online and we discuss the Bible, and pray. I get to listen and am learning how to ask the right questions so that both of us can grow deeper in God, of course with lots of laugher in between our conversations as well!
FRIDAY MORNING MEETING WITH EXEC. DIRECTOR OF PRISON FELLOWSHIP OF CAMBODIA
Global Leadership Network Cambodiais growing at a fast pace. On April 29th, we have a meeting online with our counterparts from this side of the ocean, home base being Singapore. On May 5th there is another regional meeting preparing us for a May 26th mini seminar online, and an onsite (we hope we can meet!) seminar on August 6-8th, where our team here will watch and rate speakers who are relevant to the Khmer experience, which we would like to present on our country seminar in September!
Sunday morning seminar:I am co-hosting with Bro. Pheareak. It has become apparent that it is not only good that we know and are able to understand from the Khmer perspective how they view Christians, but also how important to know where each one of us stands on ‘justification’, ‘sanctification’ and the importance of understanding His Word and seeing how the Old Testament is a continuum into the New Testament. As I listen, I realize that all of us do not have the same perspective on certain issues, which is problematic if we have influence over our Khmer brothers and sisters!
SUNDAY MORNING SEMINAR: KHMER PERSPECTIVES ON CHRISTIANITY
Prayer Request: Please pray that as Oun (younger brother) Pheareak facilitates, I am able to help him with class management/control via messaging, so I can help him to get to the main points of the lessons, and not have one or more persons take over the class to get their views aired! The Khmer are so gracious and will let a person talk, but we have to keep within the structure of the lessons and to respect each other’s time as we also have to join in one of the worship services as well.
Praise: God has shown Himself to be the God who will do things in His way. I went to the local Health Clinic here in my neighborhood to see if I could get the vaccine. Lokru (teacher) Krong, who is the Assistant Director to New Life Foundation, was going to come to help, but the night before, not only did his neighbourhood go into lockdown, but also the area surrounding the church! God allowed my tuk tuk driver to become my angel. He helped to speak with the guards and doctor at the clinic and was told what paperwork I needed. I relayed this to Lokru Krong and his wife Liep. Within an hour, we had a group chat established called ‘Vaccination”. HR from the church was getting someone to get the paperwork done in Khmer. Then my driver had to go to the lockdown area and at the ‘border’ of the neighbourhood, they handed over the document.
KHMER PAPERWORK FOR VACCINE
We headed off to the clinic where we found favor and I was given a number to get the vaccine. However, when I got there it was the vaccine Sinopharm that is for the younger ones because supplies of Sinovac and the Astra vaccine were finished. So for the next 2 days I got up early to go across town to different hospitals we were guided to by the government, but each time they were only giving the vaccine for the second dose! You may be wondering why I named this part ‘praise’? Well, the paperwork was accomplished IN LOCKDOWN, the group chat was made up of the leadership only from the church who were praying and encouraging me each step of the way as they themselves have already received the first dose of the vaccine, and my tuk tuk driver hopefully got to see me, the foreigner, respond and not react in a spirit of entitlement when I could not get the vaccine! I got to see my community here rise up to help me: FYI, the HR had given my name to Ministry of Health, but was told ‘in process‘ when they double-checked with them. In other updates from the government social media’s posts, they were saying I could go in myself to get the vaccine if I had the paperwork! So I wait for God’s timing for the vaccine that He wants me to get!
SO what does one do in this time where one is in lockdown/curfew and cannot go anywhere? One sends out cakes! Yes! I wanted to support a local Khmer bakery Coincidentally the young owners are from my church, and in collaboration with them, I ordered cakes and sent them out for Khmer New Year! I have included pics of them!
The yellow cake is a traditional Khmer cake design. I sent it to my landlady who was so surprised to get it as I was told that they should give me, the foreigner, a gift. But God told me no, that I should be gifting them.
I have seen the rise of COVID-19 rates not only in Ontario but the rest of Canada, and I am in prayer as lockdown continues there and in some areas intensifies! Please know that you are in my prayers! I thank you for your continued financial and prayer support for His work here. You are my dance partners here in Cambodia. We continue to send out ‘blessing packages‘ to those in need here, and I thank you for your sacrificial giving! I love hearing your stories as we do this dance of life together and I continue to be your prayer partner, so please send in your prayer requests!
Love, His Warrior and Disciple,
Submitting to be His Dance partner here in Cambodia,
Your sister, Vidya
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