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.
~~~~~
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
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