#49 - Answer To Prayer

Vol. 49

Answer to prayer:

Last week I asked you to pray for my classes. In my Grade 1/2/3 class, the little ones were not doing their homework. I could tell by their reading! So with my translator, we stopped the class, and then took all 13 of them on a walk to visit their house moms! 

Can you picture this? 

They are all subdued because going to see the housemom usually signifies that there has been some trouble in the class! 

I asked each housemom to get one older brother or sister to sit and help each of their little siblings in their reading for that night. They had to spend 20 minutes or more on the reading. 

You should have seen the relief on the faces of each kid when they heard why we were there at the house! (Yes, I could have told them the reason at the beginning of the class, but where is the fun in all of that?!). 

The older brother or sister then had to sign the paper so that I could see that they were doing their homework! 

The kids do not know how to study. They do things by rote; so they would write out the passage 10 times not knowing what they were writing! 

The next day I was nearly in tears as each student sat with me and read about the fat bat that sat on the flat mat! Eight students particularly were never focused on their studies, so it was sweet to hear them read and look at the words and sound them out! 

Thank you for your prayers for creativity and your suggestions!

Together WE are teaching these classes!

Dancing with Him,  

Love, Sister Vidya

#48 - Water holes, Water slides, and Soul Food

Extremes:

The romance of riding in the tuk tuk is definitely over! At least during the day when it has just rained! You would think that with the muddy roads it would be better since there is no dust flying up in the air, and it is easier to breathe, but now, we have the holes filled with muddy water to contend with since the roads are softer.

So coming into Rescue was an experience. My driver, bless his heart, was focused on bringing me in, so he was driving into the holes so that I felt every bump! He was on the moto so he could not feel the bumps and pain! Then when I got into Rescue, I wanted to change into my rain shorts and yes, I forgot to shake them, and a huge cockroach crawled down my leg! It was then I started laughing, I figured the day could not be any worse and it must get better!

Answer to prayer:

I had asked for prayer for my six o’clock class at night. I had to kick one of the boys out that night but that had a good effect on the other four boys. Sambath (name of the ringleader) came in the next night before class to say he was sorry for being noisy. Two nights later when his class was finished and I was teaching my last class at 8, there he was in the doorway listening to the song, and trying to sing with us so I pushed the garbage can near the door. He sat on it and stayed there for half the class! The other 3 had fun with trying to push me down the water slide and dunk me in the water when we went to Water Park yesterday!

Food for the soul:

I went to a 3-day conference set up by my church here. The theme was Giving Glory to God. We had guest speakers and a music concert with our new CD being promoted here. The kids came in for 2 of the days, but I just sat and drank in what the Lord had prepared for my heart. 

I sat next to 3 old Khmer gentlemen who came in from the villages with their congregation, and I was humbled by their worship. They took off their shoes for they knew they were on holy ground and stood when anyone prayed. They shared the little candies they had with anyone sitting around them and their wives reflected such peace and joy! They were truly living in the glory of the Lord. 

The speaker,Pastor Dan, was speaking on the value/cost of worship; the sacrificing of self, time, talent and abandoning ourselves in His presence; having no other goal other than giving Him 100 percent of ourselves even when circumstances in our lives shout out that there is nothing to praise Him for! I was reminded that there was His grace, His mercy, His unconditional love. 
Then with some time of reflection, God gave real living examples of why I should give Him all of my worship!

Special gift from God: 

As we were praising Him and singing Jesus’ Name, I found that I was singing Preah Jesu (Jesus Christ in Khmer) rather than in English and singing holy, holy in Khmer rather than in English. It was more intimate and very sweet that I would sing this in Khmer. God was giving me the promise and this specific seed that I would learn Khmer.   

Praise God:

Praise God for Makyeay (Marie Ens), for the success of the operation. Her gall bladder was taken out and she is recovering back at Rescue now after being in Thailand. 

Praise God as He continues to help me wind things down here as my contract with Rescue comes to a close.

Pray for:

Pray for wisdom as I look into His next steps here in Cambodia. I want to walk where He is leading.
 
Please continue to pray for my parents’ health and the sale of our family home in Trinidad and Tobago. 

Dancing with Him,

Love, Sister Vidya

#47 - Quick Prayer Request

Vol. 47

Hi all!

Quick Prayer request:

As the mosquitoes come out earlier to eat me and the heat gets more intense, I am asking for His energy and patience for one particular class. It is the one taught at 6 to 7 at night. Class management has been going up to 80 percent and teaching 20 percent! My translator is a young 16-year-old girl, soft-spoken and good at translating, but too young to really help with behavioral attitudes. In particular, there are four students who take up my energy. 

Please pray for creativity on how to rein them in and get them to participate in a positive way! It would be too easy to give up and kick them out of the class (I do have that option), but these are the kind of boys, who, if I had them on my own and not with 19 other kids, (yes, 23 in a small size room), I would love to invest and see them grow. But I have to think of the whole class and not just the 4. Curiously, I let the class go early to prep the room for the next incoming class and these 4 stayed behind and just would not go! I am praying for rain today and for these 4 to be out on the court, so I can shoot some baskets with them and work on our outside relationships! 

Thank you for dancing each step with me. I am looking forward to seeing you all. Please pass on your prayer requests to me as well!

Dancing with Him,

Love, Sister Vidya