Vol.# 240
In the midst of your third deadly COVID-19 wave in Canada and our first wave here in Cambodia, specifically Phnom Penh, I want to share some praiseworthy ‘tings’.
PRAISE: I had asked for creative ways to reach out, to connect with others here so that we can be His hands, His feet and most importantly, His heart to those within the church and to those not yet ‘in the church’!
- As we are in lockdown, we can travel within our areas, so with my usual tuk tuk driver as my sidekick, I did ‘tuk tuk drive-bys prayer and grocery deliveries’! I found out from some friends that groceries were needed, so when I went to drop them, I prayed with them, and I prayed over them.
STREETS DURING CURFEW IN THE CITY
- As I was going down the streets, I noticed that the police had blocked off the market area. This is where most Khmer bought their daily provisions and where the poorer Khmer earned their money from the sales. Well Khmer are creative. They set up tables in front of their houses, or little carts, and were selling the meat and produce from there! I marvel at this opportunity some took to not see the ‘door being closed’, but rather a new door being opened for them to earn a living!
DIGGING INTO GARBAGE TO GET RECYCLABLES TO SELL. MANY IN NEED!
- With certain areas entering the ‘red zone’ within which most of our congregants and staff at New Life Fellowship live, the leadership decided to invite all to join in a Friday night ‘connecting time’. This was set up 2 hours prior to ZOOM time, and over 100 people joined in. The people were so eager to connect and I laughed as I listened to their teasing and joking around. For me, a follower of Jesus Christ is all about relationships, my relationship with JESUS being the most important of all. That emotional and spiritual connection goes to the core of the soul. The leadership under Lokru Samdy recognized this, so on Friday 30th we are all invited to have dinner together online! I love it! I immediately thought of Jesus feeding the 5000, and here we will be ‘supping together’, not only physically eating (and comparing what each of us has prepared for dinner!), but also connecting emotionally and spiritually. We would then go into our break-out rooms to more intimately check in on each other!
FRIDAY NIGHT CONNECTION TIME
- I got a call asking me to drop a pin for my location on Google map (some of you will be VERY surprised to find out I can actually do that!). Imagine my surprise when I waited in front of my house to see this person coming on a moto bike and waving at me. When he stopped I realized it was the senior pastor from NLF! A member of our church owns a food delivery company, and since only food deliveries are allowed to come through the barriers, Lokru Samdy asked to be a volunteer worker, so riding on the company’s motorbike and getting an ID, he is able to travel to get deliveries out to those who need it! CREATIVITY INDEED! Again he along with the HR team and others have been working tirelessly to serve their community and I have been blessed to be a part of this!
LOKRU SAMDY DELIVERING FOOD SUPPLIES
- Since I am part of the elder portion of the community here, it is usually expected for me to be the one to reach out. Again this was turned around by one of the ministries I am involved with. My younger sister not only is making sure we are okay by daily sending out messages enquiring of our health etc., but this same younger sister is from Rescue, the orphanage where I first worked at back in 2015! This makes me smile but I realize once again it is all about connecting, not just waiting to connect but reaching out to connect with someone especially when one is feeling isolated!
BLESSING PACKAGES: YOUR SUPPORT LEADS ME TO SUPPORT OTHERS!
- “Bong! Bong! Are you home?” I was startled because well, where was I going since we are in lockdown? This was the question on the phone to me. It was my tuk tuk driver. He asked me to meet him downstairs at the door. He came on his bicycle to bring a watermelon that his wife had bought for me! He knew that I had wanted that but on Saturday when we went out we could not get any! I was touched. I asked how much it cost because I wanted to reimburse him, but he said, “No, Bong Srey, this is our gift to you!” He was touched when he received a surprise cake from me 3 days prior from the bakery! I could hear his whole family laughing and chatting in the background when he called to say ‘thank you’! It was the first time they received a gift like that from a foreigner!
- “Vidya, Vidya where are you?” NO, it was not Jesus calling me as he was calling Samuel, but Sister Liep and Bro. Krong dropping by to check up on me escaping from their area! Well, they were allowed through, but it all depends on which police are on guard and whom you know! So after 20 minutes of chatting and quick prayer, they were on their way again with extra groceries and food. I had doubled up on praying and hoping they would not be in any trouble with the police! FYI, here the police are carrying ‘whips’ and some of the people who have broken curfews have been beaten!
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| BRO. KRONG AND LIEP'S IMPROMPTU VISIT |
Prayer Requests:
- Please pray that I would be even more disciplined in my morning rooftop time with Jesus. This time it is more crucial than ever to be in intercessory prayer mode. Most of the leaders are getting tired with ZOOM calls and having to be ‘on’ 24/7. Before, your hours of work were clearly established. One of my roles is to be their support and I can only do that when I myself meet with Him to hear His voice. Please pray that I would not say one word less or one word more than what God is leading me to say.
- As of last night my area is now designated ‘red’. So I pray for God to show me how to truly be His within this red zone. I am blessed to have a fridge with food stocked up, and a place where I can go up on the rooftop to get a reprieve. However, many who live in dorm-like conditions, or with multi-generations do not have that space, and in a red zone even going out on the streets to walk and exercise will be curtailed!
- Pray for favor even as I go within this area to buy vegetables from the local vendor. It is a win-win when I can support them, give money to the tuk tuk driver for his family, and be able to tuk tuk prayer for many!
FYI: coming soon on a worship service near you! I was officially commissioned by the pastoral /elder leadership of RAC on ZOOM. I had asked my accountability team and community here to be a part of this, so the senior leader and his wife from NLF church, Pastor of Church Planting and his wife, the Director of Bible Society Cambodia and his wife, the Exec. Director of Prison Fellowship Cambodia, my expat community, and the Director of BRAVE ministry were able to join. The Country Director of Global Leadership Network Cambodia was in the USA in quarantine and could not join in time, but I wanted to show those I am accountable to here to those I am spiritually accountable to in Canada! Thank you to all for your precious time and Bro. Ken Hassanally for his amazing prayer and charge over me, and also Bro. George Repetski for his prayer over my Khmer leadership here!
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| COMMISSIONING |
I know how exhausted many of you are in back in Canada with things worsening there. Please know you are all in my prayers. I pray for you to know that His Presence is on you, next to you. He goes before you and is behind you. In the midst of it all I dance here in spite of visible reality, because I know that my Dance Instructor/Partner is the One Who is in charge of it all!
Love to you and please continue to 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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