#256 - Role Changes, Mangoes and Hair Influencer!

Vol. #256

Good morning from my rooftop!

I walked into a spectacular sunrise painting by our Lord Jesus Christ. I just sat and sipped my coffee and watched as the colours unfolded and became brighter and brighter! I just breathed in as His Presence surrounded me.

On Sunday I was able to reconnect with ManLy, one of my former students from Rescue, who had to stay in the province (countryside) during COVID-19. However, we had our Bible study together online as he also serves on the Info Desk Ministry. ManLy bloomed during this time. He became bolder in sharing his views and was the one in charge of the icebreaker games at the beginning of our sessions. So I had not seen him in over a year and a half! As things are back to normal here in the city, with school and church reopening, he is now back and staying at the dorm. The other person in the pic is Oun Theavy, who is another former student from Rescue and is the main receptionist at the office here at New Life Foundation church. Oun Theavy was in charge of all of us at the Info Desk Ministry, setting up the schedule and the Bible study content during COVID-19! I do miss our times together but I believe God used that time to build us up as a stronger team as our relationship deepened studying the Word together.

Prayer Request: Please pray for a job for ManLy in the city and that he would not lose that hunger for the Word!

 
Praise: Three days ago, as I stood by my window looking out at my landlady’s yard, I found myself coveting the mangoes! So I said a quick prayer, Lord, I just want some mangoes to eat! Well, the next day, what shows up at my doorstep? Yup, MANGOES! And so much that I was able to share with Savy, the tuk tuk driver’s wife!

On Sunday we had our local Christian Khmer station come to the church and put up a booth. They have been broadcasting Christian content for over 20 years. The head of the station is one of the elders, Lokru Makara, from our church. As we talked about the impact of radio out in the far countryside, we had visions of many listening to the Word either through sermons, guest speakers or music, and we prayed for His Word to be spread even further to the most isolated places in the Kingdom of Cambodia! I had a flashback to my childhood sitting by the radio in my home in Trinidad and Tobago listening to Billy Graham services!

 
Praise: We have the freedom to speak about God here. There is no censorship and I pray that this continues to be so!

 
One of the role changes here for me is that now I am mentoring a couple of the younger teachers at the Skill Training Centre that has recently reopened. I personally am not teaching a class. I am training the young teachers and the only times that I am in the classroom are to show the teacher how to use different methodologies and techniques. I get to pray with them and then discuss the various ways the curriculum can be communicated to the students. We all got together to eat and listen to Oun Pheareak speak of his vision and the mission for the students: leading them into a relationship with Jesus while teaching them English, Computer Skills, Life Skills, Thai, Chinese and Korean (some Khmer are leaving to go to South Korea for jobs) to get jobs which will help their families sustain a better life! It is exciting to watch this ministry as it reopens and takes off! The Director of Operations, Lokru Virak, asked me to mentor Oun Pheareak also as he is new to the leadership of the education ministry here. Thankfully, Oun Pheareak had asked if I could help as well!

 
Prayer Request: Please pray for His wisdom and discernment as I look at Khmer culture and help to train the next generation of leaders within the Khmer context!

 
And lastly, apparently I have started a trend here, one that my Mom might not approve of! Last week at the office we had 6 people change their hair colour to go with mine! It was funny because everyone kept saying, Ooh, you are now like Bong Vidya!

 
Thank you to those who have been sending in your prayer requests and sharing about your life with me. I am honoured to be able to take your prayer requests to the feet of Jesus! Please keep sharing your lives with me!

Love, His Warrior and Disciple, 

Submitting to be His Dance partner here in Cambodia, 

Your sister, Vedya 

#255 - Ministry Snippets: Teaching and Women's Appreciation Event

Vol.#255

 Good morning from my rooftop! 

It is an unusually cool morning and I am very grateful for the clouds giving me shade! I thought that I would send some pics to show you what I have been doing since I last sent out an update.

 
At the first staff meeting last Tuesday, as I walked in and various members of the staff rushed up to give me hugs (we all wore masks and sat in the required social distance but we were still hugging and fist bumping each other!), I felt this renewed sense of love and appreciation for all! I was immediately involved in focusing and concentrating on Khmer language for about 2 and 1/2 hours! 

On that same day, I had set up to meet with a Khmer teacher who was teaching English basics to a class filled with different literacy levels. As we sat and prayed and consecrated the classroom to Him and affirmed that teaching is one way of worshipping Him, and giving thanks for the opportunity to reach out to students at risk and who come from impoverished backgrounds, I decided, with the approval of Oun Uddom, the teacher, to stay so that I could get a better idea on how to help/mentor him in his teaching. Well, I ended up teaching the class for about 3/4 of the hour, doing pronunciation (yes, you heard correctly!) with them using Khmer sounds so that they could say the words in English! It was fun but a bit exhausting as I had started that day at 3 in the morning still getting used to being back here!

IMPROMPTU CLASSROOM TEACHING SESSION

 
On Friday last, we had a party for the women/girls on staff in honor of International Women’s Day, which is a public holiday here in Cambodia. It was a time of games and prayer and worship, again a time of reconnecting with the female staff and listening to their hearts and then to pray! I pray that with the pictures you not only get a sense of the community here, but also His purpose for me at New Life Foundation church.

PRAYING WITH YOUNG LEADER OF EVENTS, ALY

PICTURES OF WOMEN'S APPRECIATION EVENT AT CHURCH!

PARTICIPATING IN GAMES AND WINNING!

There was a power outage at a service but we still had church! The guest speaker shared on spiritual freedom. We lost power just before he came on. The impact of his testimony was so powerful!

I will be restarting my Bible study with Oun Muylen (formerly of Prison Fellowship but now part of BRAVE ministry), and I am looking forward to seeing which book from the Bible she will choose!

 
Praise: Thank you all for your continued prayers and financial support for His work here. You are all my dance partners and I am so thankful for all of you!

 
Praise: Thankful for the landlord/landlady for always being there ready to fix anything. They put a small screen back up on an opening for me when a HUGE cockroach nearly landed on me! Today they are fixing a leaky faucet for me while I am at work.

 
Prayer: I still have more administrative meetings. I ask for your wisdom that I would not say one word more or less, and that I would always be His Servant in His Spirit!

 
How can I pray with and for you? Please do send in your requests and also share your life stories as I am sharing my own with you! 

Love, His Warrior and Disciple, 

Submitting to be His Dance partner here in Cambodia, 

Your sister, Vedya