#189 - A Tribute To My Sister, Polly Buchanan

Vol.# 189

My sister, Polly Buchanan:

As I sit on my rooftop this morning reflecting on Polly Buchanan, wife of Frank, mom, grandmom and spiritual mom to many like myself, there are two things that are occurring now. The sun is rising and it is a beautiful magnificent sunrise, and I can also see and hear the sounds of a funeral just below my house a couple of houses down my street. In the Khmer culture, it is normal for a tent to be erected outside the home of the one who has died, and depending on how much money can be allocated to the funeral, it may last 2 or more days. I can hear the sounds of the chants coming over the airwaves, I can see people going in to listen to the monks, and food to be served is being prepared. Traffic is usually diverted to another street by chairs situated in the middle of the same street to the left and right from the house of mourning. So one can be speeding down the street and then come upon this sign not to proceed any further. No one complains. They just find another path to their final destination.

My sister Polly knew where her final destination was and is now in heaven. When I first met Sister Polly over 15 years ago, it was at a prayer meeting at our church. It was a Tuesday evening and I sat and listened to the seasoned prayer warriors intercede for others all over the world: Pastor Sunder, Miles Valley, Jennie Leslie, Frank and Polly, just to name a few, who would meet every Tuesday and Sunday evening before the church service! Polly, to my knowledge, never prayed aloud at these meetings, but came in to sit and quietly support Frank and all of us with her presence. I learned from her that it was okay to sit and listen and learn from others. She never made me feel like an outsider coming in to a ‘clique’, but always made sure to ask how I was doing and to give me encouraging words! 

The qualities that surprised me about Polly as I got to know her over the years were her quick wit and her way of getting to the ‘crux’ of a situation, being able to sum up a situation and then give an assessment! I remember one time when I, along with other volunteers, were setting up a table for snacks and thinking that we would not have enough for all who had come to the meeting at RAC. Polly, knowing this, said to someone who was filling up his plate with the goodies, “You know this is a snack and not your dinner, right?” I remember bursting out laughing and the tension and worry I was feeling just fled! That was Polly coming up with the one-liners that would make me smile! 

When I got the news from the Kerrs that Polly had gone to be with her Heavenly Father, I called Ruby I., who is close to them, and we shed some tears over the phone! Even now as I am writing this, I can picture Polly. For some reason I felt I had to give her a sky-blue scarf when I visited the last time. I think of her now, not wrapped up in that scarf, but in the arms of Jesus! I think of her as I see the beautiful sunrise. It is a new day, and a new morning, and even though we will miss you, dear sister Polly, you are risen with your loving Saviour! My love and prayers to all of you who mourn and yet rejoice over the passing of Polly from this world into the wide-open arms of Jesus! 

As I finish this, I turned to go downstairs and looked across to the balcony of my neighbour’s house. I saw a young woman, a new mom with her baby, as she cradles and looks tenderly after her newborn! 

That is our Heavenly Father looking after Sister Polly now! Thank you Lord for this picture of your enduring love! 

Love, His Warrior and Disciple, 

Submitting to be His Dance partner here in Cambodia, 

Your sister, Vidya 

#188 - Global Leadership Summit

Vol.# 188

As I sit upstairs on my rooftop looking at the beautiful sunset, I am amazed once again by the creativity and beauty painted by Our Master. 

 

Sunset From My Rooftop

Amidst the slight breeze and the smell of mosquito repellent, I think back over the last 3 weeks since returning to Kampuchea. You have already heard about the wedding. Right after that I was at my first meeting for the Global Leadership Summit which will be held here on February 15/16^th. We met to plan and form a committee, and assign responsibilities led by Pastor Leah. It is wonderful to have a chance to be a part of leadership training for Khmer. 

The John Maxwell model that will be presented is a business model that has done well in secular and non-secular organizations. We are a year behind the western world since it takes a year to translate the curriculum and the sessions by the international panel of speakers. This year Gary Haugen will actually be on site while the other speakers will be on the screen. 

 

First Global Leadership Meeting

Then in my second week, I was a sub for one of the Khmer teachers and taught 10 times and loved it! In my updates, I have spoken about my two Khmer sisters with whom I started a mentoring/discipling relationship, Srey Luch and Bopha. Both have finished their contract with New Life Church, and Srey Luch with her fiancé, opened a ‘coffee cart’ business at her parents’ home so I went to visit, along with the head of the Information Desk, Chetra, and we were both able to pray and encourage her as we visited. I will continue to meet with her for as long as we can. 

 

Trey Luch At Coffee Cart With Chetra And Tuk Tuk Driver

Bopha and I will decide next week on the frequency of our meetings since she is at home looking after her son, but I was surprised to hear from another teacher that she was happy that Bopha’s English language skills had gotten stronger and Bopha said it was because of Bong Srey Vidya! (LOL! My talking had a good result!) 

The classes I taught were English grammar for beginners, and Newspaper class for mixed levels. In the Newspaper class I printed out 2 articles from CBC news, the first on Canadian air traffic controllers sending pizza over to their American counterparts, and the second was on Martin Luther King Jr.! It struck me as so weirdly wonderful to be talking about Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr. here in Cambodia! 

 

Newspaper Class

SO I have been busy, and I am also back on the rotation schedule for the Information Desk here at the church! I was surprised by the welcome I received by my Khmer community here as well.


Today I went in to give in my passport and papers to get my visa renewed for one year. When you first enter the country you get a visa for one month, then after that you have to apply for a visa permit to stay and do volunteer work here in Cambodia, my heart country.  I asked Pastor Samdy and his wife Navy to pray over the invitation letter by New Life Skills Centre as we were about to send in the letter for the extension of the visa.

Prayer Request: Please pray as they did, that the letter would fall into the right hands, and that there would be no problem with obtaining the extended visa.

Prayer Request: Please pray that many organizations and individuals would come and be part of the Global Leadership seminar; that we as a team would gel and be able to use our individual giftings to encourage and help each other; that we would in fact be a model of John Maxwell’s teachings based on the Bible.

The video clip attached was made by Teacher Pov. The background info is this. He had messaged me to ask if I knew anyone in Toronto who had an extra guitar. I never seriously considered asking anyone because I knew how expensive it would be to travel with a guitar, so honestly I put it out of my mind! But 4 days later, I went to my friend Mary’s house and as we were leaving she casually asked if I knew anyone who needed a guitar! I just looked at her and kind of groaned in my spirit because I am thinking oh no, now I have to take the guitar! 

Buying The Guitar

So I took the guitar home but I thought I would get my nephew Daniel to check it out to see if it was in good condition to bring it back here.Yup it was! Now I am in a quandary! I would have to get a hard case to put the guitar in, plus I knew I was taking back an extra suitcase already and that is expensive! This is where Prem, my bro, came in! He suggested I sell the guitar here and with the sale proceeds I could buy a guitar in Cambodia! Oh so simple! SO after getting Mary’s permission, that is what he did for me. The video clip is from Teacher Pov expressing his gratitude! I just smile at how God orchestrated this whole thing! 

Prayer Request: Pray for creativity and energy as I teach.

Prayer Request:  I am praying into finding another home. I feel God saying to be still and this was confirmed when one of the congregants at church spoke on that verse in the Bible! Pastor Jesse also spoke on the season of growth within, of mentoring and discipleship, and that resonated within my spirit as I know that is why I am here at this time!

I know it is minus 30C there in Toronto now with the wind chill, so I am NOT going to talk about how hot it is here! I pray for His warmth to flow over you! I was so blessed to be able to live stream couple of days for Solemn Assembly with you. I am praying as move ahead together in 2019! MY word from God is ‘expectancy”! 

Love, His Warrior and Disciple, 

Submitting to be His Dance partner here in Cambodia, 

Your sister, Vidya 

#187 - Gratitude, Grieving and Celebration

Vol.# 187

The flight from Toronto to Hong Kong did not seem like almost 16 hours. I did not sleep much but I was able to be ‘quiet’. Amidst the tears of saying goodbye to my parents, siblings and friends , I know that I was blessed to have had the time to be with you all, for my soul to be refreshed and passion renewed for His plan for me here. I just want to say a special thanks for the blessing my parents gave me on my return here, and the special gift to be able to visit with not only my oldest brother in Florida and childhood friends in Georgia, but also my sister and brother in Toronto and high school friends in Trinidad and Tobago! To cap it off ,my neighbors from my hometown of Arima where I grew up were able to come and visit me at home here in Scarborough hours before I left!

Prayer: 

On a sad note, my housemate Channak, who was supposed to pick me up from the airport in PP and then drive the 3 hours or more to my former student’s wedding, had just found out that his aunt, who was like a second mom to him had passed away unexpectedly. He had to shift from celebrating for a wedding to grieving this unexpected loss. Please pray as his cousins and his family mourn this precious loss to their family. I had the privilege of meeting her many times when she had cooked our special order of seafood and prepared it for us when as a group we went to the beach. She always made this foreigner or as Khmer say ‘barang' feel welcome and included as we stopped at her place for refreshments!

But this did not take our God by surprise. 

I had received this sad news when I was at the airport in Hong Kong and was able by His design to have my former Tuk Tuk driver, who used to take me to Rescue orphanage when I worked there in 2011, to suddenly message me and I was able to arrange for him to not only pick me up from the airport in his taxi car, but he also helped to take my 3 large suitcases up 30 steps to my place (the poor man was breathing really hard!) and he also took me to the country where I presently am for the wedding! 

It is 3 in the morning and I am SO up! 

Reunited: The night before the wedding; 6 hours after landing in Cambodia and a 3.5 taxi ride!

Praise: 

God orchestrated all of this in the midst of the changes in plans. Tony De A (with support of wife M) had felt moved to give money towards transportation to the wedding not knowing of the changes in plans here, and I was able to sleep and relax after the frantic rushing around for the 2 hours I was back in PP! 

Love, His Warrior and Disciple, 

Submitting to be His Dance partner here in Cambodia, 

Your sister, Vidya