#132 - RAC community meets my Cambodian community!

Vol. #132

How blessed I was to have not one group, but two groups from Canada visit on the same weekend! 

The first group was of course from RAC, and I got to meet Pastor Wade for the first time, and reconnected with Dennis and Marcia Bergman, Mr. Muir, Tony de Almeida and Paul Stringer! PLUS, Betty George flew in earlier from the States, so I got special one-on-one time with her! 

It was short and sweet as I had the group over to my place so that they could meet my community here. 
They got to meet Channak, and Tony and Paul got to lift weights on Channak's exercise bench. They also met my students who came over earlier to prep the BBQ food and help set up the rooftop area. 

Vidya and 7 chairs in a tuk tuk

They also met one of my G2K teachers, Meng, who came with the purpose of not only to meet the group, but also to take a look at the rooftop area to see if it would be appropriate for a once-a-month worship time for students from G2K and teachers alike. 
And in case you were wondering, he said it was awesome! 

So I will keep you all updated on when we will be holding that worship time. One of the couples from my church was also able to come, Krong and Liep; he is the pastor of missions; planting churches. He had just come from the province and was very tired, but they still came up! 
I had also invited the couple who owned the coffee business in front of G2K, and they were able to connect with Pastor Wade and share their stories. The landlady and her husband came up, but had to go back to be with her Mom, but I am glad they at least came up.

RAC Prayer team

Channak's parents and siblings were also there as we all ate, and then had the opportunity to not only pray over the RAC group Khmer style, but to have the RAC group pray over us all! 

My brothers from RAC are also representatives from the Alliance Men and I had asked my students if we could sing the first song I taught them back in 2011, and one which God gave me when I first started to work at Rescue! Can you guess the name? 
Yes ...10,000 Reasons! 

Praise God:   
One of my students came up to me before the dinner began and said, "Cher (he is the one who calls me Sir!), I hope you do not mind," but one of his friends was feeling very lonely so he invited him to come over to dinner. I said that is why God has given us this place! I am humbled that he felt comfortable enough to invite this student over to God's place. 

Praise God: 
As we sang 10,000 Reasons on the rooftop, I looked up and saw this stranger come up to the rooftop and I wondered, "Who is this man?" He was an expat and the only expats present were those from RAC. Apparently he heard us singing, and was walking about trying to find the 'church', and met one of the students who was coming later to eat with us. So he came up the stairs with the student. He lived across the way from us and works with YWAM and wanted to come and join us! Channak gave him his card and he spoke a bit with the guys from RAC. I see God using this place as His meeting place! 

Valentine's Day: 
As many of you may have already seen the link that Lisa Cheong posted on her FB: https://www.facebook.com/safecitiesforwomencambodia/videos/1848216512123085/
For many Khmer women and girls, Valentine's Day is one where they are more vulnerable to be raped or coerced into doing something with their boyfriends! The government posted warnings, and famous female Khmer personalities produced a short video to say that forcing anyone to do anything against their will was unacceptable! 
Knowing this, I thought of my 'girls' at the salon. They so want to be that special Valentine. So I wondered how I could get them to watch this little video made by these celebrities. I know they would listen to these women, so I went to get my hair done on Valentine's Day. I bought them a cake and I showed them the video! 

Valentines Day at the hair salon

It was a good conversation starter, and I discovered who had a boyfriend, and I was able to ask if the boyfriend treated them with respect (Yes, I conversed in Khmer! ). 
But I thank God that in the morning I was able to say Happy Valentine's to my Jesus, and I am humbled by His unconditional love for me! 
Oh, when I went to the bakery to get the cake, I got a free rose, so I prayed and asked God to whom I should give it. I gave it to the young girl who works at the coffee cart in front of my school, and who is seeking the truth about God. She gave me the biggest hug. It was her first rose she had ever received! 

Finally: 

My Dad and I in Tobago

On the 18th of February, my Dad turns 90! 
I will miss celebrating his 90th birthday in person, but of course, I will call to talk to him. I just want to say that I am grateful to my earthly dad for teaching me grace and discernment; when not to speak, and when to speak! 
My 'Popsicle' as I call him (never 'Dad' but 'Popsicle'!) has a quiet sense of humour, (yeah, I know the quiet part was NOT passed down to me!) and when I am at home, he gets up early in the morning and makes coffee for me, because he knows I have my coffee time with Jesus; even before he makes coffee for himself! 
I love to watch cricket with him (Yes, the game), and love the fact that he would eat anything I cook no matter what it tastes like! 
And yes, believe it or not, we can sit in silence together comfortably without feeling the need to speak! 
Thank you, Popsicle, for your legacy of being a pastor back in Trinidad and Tobago and for being my earthly father! 

SO if anyone of you wants to call my Dad for his birthday since I am not there, please do!

I am hoping he gets 90 calls ! LOL! 

Love, His Warrior and Disciple, submitting to be His Dance partner here in Cambodia,

Your sister, Vidya 

#131 - Transitions

Vol. #131

As I sit on the rooftop, the sun is about to rise; the steam from my coffee is also rising, and my heart beats with anticipation to be with my Saviour, to hear what HE will say to me through His Word.

But somehow my fingers accidentally hit the wrong button on my computer and Passion 2017 pops up with Francis Chan sharing a message, and his first 3 minutes brings me to my knees where he reminds us of the wonderful amazing honour we have in meeting with Jesus Christ. As he kneels before God, so do I, as I am humbled by the fact that GOD has made it possible for me to come into His presence, to join with Him in prayer!

Then I look up to see the sunrise, and the clouds parting, and visibility becomes clearer from my rooftop; so it is when I meet with Him, and open His Word, and we read together. Very cool and sweet! 

I get my drumbeat for the day from my time spent with Him, and I am again very grateful to have access, to not only His heart, but to so many resources via the internet to feed my soul!

~~~~~

The transition to part-time study has not been easy.

I had built into my life a schedule for full-time study: go to school in the morning, which suited my learning time; and then study in the afternoon going into the evenings. Now my study time is in the afternoon when I feel sleepy, and then by the time I get home after 4, I have to switch my focus to do homework.

But it is usually so hot you want to take a nap! Full-time studies meant coming straight home and then diving into my work. I loved my mornings when I would get into school, talk with the owners of the coffee cart (yes, in Khmer), and then chat with my other mates. Now the routine and people are different.

My former classmates have already left school by the time I arrive and everyone else is off on lunch break. The receptionist and three teachers told me yesterday, “Bong, (term used to refer to older people) it is so QUIET in the mornings here! We miss your coming in and your singing with Teacher Meng on lunchtimes!” (Yes, Pastor Alan, someone actually misses my singing, LOL!)

~~~~~

BUT, as you all have prayed for me, God has been showing me new things:

 - My helper who comes in three times a week: I get to pray with her and practise some Khmer; I am learning patience because now that I am at home when she is here, I observe that she is not doing things the way I asked her to, so I am teaching her afresh about time management, and just looking and seeing what needs to be done (prioritizing).

- New routine, new friends to be had; new atmosphere to create! I go to the small restaurant right across from school to meet with former classmates so we can still get a chance to connect, plus I am getting to know the Khmer family who owns the home restaurant. For two dollars you get a full meal, and I love it that when I walk there I am greeted with, “Hello Bong Srey!” (Older sister!) The usual patrons also look up and smile their greetings as well! I look forward to see what God will do with these encounters!

- Lesson content: we are studying social problems in Khmer society. So I am learning the Khmer words for drug addiction, prostitution, gambling, domestic violence, human trafficking, discrimination and injustice, and I think how in God's timing He is bringing me back to the reason why He has me here to be part of His plan.

~~~~~~~

I got a chance to ask former students from my last place of work here, Place of Rescue (orphanage) what the main problem was in society from their viewpoint, and how would they fix it if they were political leaders. 

This happened at the half time at recent football game (impromptu invite last week; a very famous player No.11 from the Cambodian team was signed to Japan, so it was his last game!). So for the very handsome price of ONE dollar, I got to go to the game and do my Khmer homework at same time!

~~~~~

I cannot wait to see the RAC team this weekend when they return to the city, and also to meet up with the Ratanak International team who also will be coming in from Canada!

~~~~~

Prayer requests:

- Prison Fellowship still has had no agreement with the government over the issue of a fee to have an escort to go with us to the Correctional Centre and the prison centre. As I had written before, previously they never had to pay this fee, so we are now waiting on the outcome from that.

- Pray that I would speak with more confidence; that my ears would grow accustomed to differentiate the sounds.

- To be able to get a couch/sofa bed for living room here.

~~~~~

Praise God:

- My tuk tuk drivers all want to learn English. My regular one from the neighbourhood goes to class on weekends to learn English, and he pays 10 dollars per hour and a half. So I do pray in English before we go anywhere, BUT this means I cannot practise my Khmer. I told him that my church here gives free English classes in the mornings, but that is when he is working the tuk tuk and at nighttime he is a security guard for a NGO.

- I am a volunteer at the info desk at my church here. I had a meeting last week where the mission/and value statement was laid out and 10 of us shared a bit of our lives. It was all in Khmer and I understood 40 percent! Yes, I am praising HIM for that! I am the only foreigner, but I shared with the leader how I approach my volunteer time: to pray with my co-leaders; and then give up our space at the desk to Him as our church time; for God to give me His eyes to connect with at least one person as I am at the desk for 3 hours or so (you have to be at desk for the entire time even when service is on). So guess what? He asked me to be the leader for the expats at the info desk! I laughed because I am the only expat there! But he wants me to recruit members from church who are expats. The idea is to have one expat at the info desk at each of the 3 services. All of my info co-leaders want to practise their English but I have been bringing in Khmer work. So I have fun doing Khmer and English with them! But I get also to reconnect with former students who are now at New Life (my church) dorm and are doing internship/volunteer work at church!

  

- Thank God for having Channak here at the house; he gets things done with the landlord/landlady: getting invoices done and translated into Khmer. The students can now come over and work out on the rooftop. Pray for relationships with them to grow deeper!

~~~~~

I went to another wedding last weekend. One of the coffee sellers got married here in the city and I was the only student from the school to be invited. Very honoured!

Thank you all for keeping me in the loop with events in your lives! I am always grateful that you let me in and send me pictures and prayer requests!


Love, His Warrior and Disciple, submitting to be His Dance partner here in Cambodia,

Your sister, Vidya