#288 - NLF 30th Anniversary on Resurrection Day!

 Vol.# 288

I am writing this in temperatures that are soaring over the 100F mark as you can see from the photo shown! April is usually the hottest month, yet this year seems to be hotter than ever! Sweltering is the adjective that comes to mind as I sit in the tuk tuk travelling or just sitting in my room. The air conditioner is squeaking out cooler air and for that I am grateful, but I will head to the church where the air conditioner is working! 

SE ASIA HEAT MAP

A BELATED BLESSED RESURRECTION DAY to all!

We have been busy with our own 30th Anniversary that coincided with Easter/Resurrection Day, with months of pre-planning. Last week was one of putting the plan into effect. The celebration of thankfulness for His steadfastness to NLF was held at an outside venue, Aeon Mall 3. This was the closest venue to the land that was given to us for our new church building, and the visit to the land and worship service there was planned for Sunday afternoon with tents being erected on the land for the first service there!

 

PREPARING GIFT BASKETS FOR DELIVERY TO VIP GUESTS' HOTELS

As I sat making gift baskets for the VIP guests that were due to fly in, I thought of my former team at RAC where we prepared for the big Easter breakfast and Friday night dinner not so long ago! Here I was part of a particular team and not part of the leadership team that was overseeing the whole event as I was at RAC, so the stress level was minimal. I got to enjoy meeting and getting to know new members of the church. Oun Sreylin pulled us together (she is the pregnant one to the left of the pic, with her husband). Even though the youngest, she was the most organized and gentle of souls and we had laughter and fun in the midst of transforming an empty ordinary room into a VIP room worthy of Jesus Himself! 

MY 30TH ANNIVERSARY TEAM. CAN YOU FIND ME?

Thank you for your prayers over this event. The actual onsite set up with the stage and lights began on Thursday, and we were not allowed to put on the air-conditioner because the room was so big and the doors had to be opened for the equipment and furniture to come in, so the sweltering was ongoing! At the end however, to see the Cross up on a stage in the mall brought me to my knees. Here was a symbol of the most sacred of holy days, representing Jesus choosing to die for us so horrendously, a gift that was of NO COST to us yet the most expensive cost because of His death, and then the RESURRECTION! The red and white cloths draped over the Cross represented His death and blood, and the white represented His rising from the grave. It was erected at a mall that represents so many ‘gods’ of expensive things that are of great costs to us! 

THE CROSS AT THE MALL ON RESURRECTION SUNDAY

It was wonderful to proclaim Jesus as GOD over what the mall represents with over 1000 people who came from the different provinces in Cambodia as well as overseas, from Australia, Brazil, USA, Singapore and Thailand! The reason for such a celebration was that Pastor Dooley and his wife Jennifer obeyed the first call to come to Cambodia to establish His church (they have since gone on to establish other churches in Asia). What a humble couple and it was a privilege to hear their story of being part of the foundation of New Life Church Cambodia!

NLF FOUNDING PASTORS, ERIC & JENNIFER DOOLEY AND CURRENT PASTORS, LOKRU SAMDY AND NAVY

Prayer requests:

 

-   It has been a whirlwind of activities and now this week there is the debriefing and inventory meetings. Pray for us as we try to coherently and honestly give the strengths and weaknesses of the event without any blame casting.

-       
We will be celebrating Khmer New Year from the 13-16th of April. Many will go to their hometowns to pray and give money to the Buddhist priests for their ancestors as well as to celebrate the New Year. Pray for safety as they travel and for Christians as they balance showing respect for their heritage with their values and beliefs in Jesus the Christ.

-       
Please pray for a place within the city to relax. With the extreme heat comes power outages, so the best place to be is a hotel over the holidays since they have generators and, yes, swimming pools! 

Thank you for ALL for your continued prayers for me here. Please send in your prayer requests as we do this life journey together, albeit at a distance!

HE IS RISEN INDEED! 

 

 

Love, His Warrior and Disciple, 

Submitting to be His Dance partner here in Cambodia, 

Your sister, Vedya