Vol.# 192
Here I am squirrelled away in a corner at the coffee shop! It is around 10 in the morning and at 7:30 this morning the power went. The government has instituted rotating power outages throughout the province and usually we have no power either from 7:30 to 12 or from 12:30 to 6. For the past week the power has been going in the afternoons, so I was surprised midweek when they changed the schedule.
We are heading into the hottest season and month, April. Temperatures are already hitting the 90’s here. This morning when I went up to the rooftop to get some relief, the sun was so strong and already so hot that I decided to grab a tuk tuk and head to a coffee shop. When I got here it was so packed with no room to sit and then I heard my name! It was my former tutor. She invited me to share her booth and I knew this was a gift from God! It was wonderful to chat with her in Khmer and English and when she left, two other strangers asked to share my booth. Of course I said yes!
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| WITH TUTOR AND NEW FRIEND AT COFFEE SHOP |
My heart is full with what God has been doing in the past few weeks! We had a group from Oshawa and together we held a friendship camp for 2 days. I was blessed to be asked to lead in the prayer time on the second day, and even more blessed to see those who did not know about Jesus, accept Him when Pastor Pisit issued the invitation on the first night. We had 13 out of the 20 students who gave their lives to the Lord that night.
At the dinner table before the talk, I sat next to one student who did not know how to tell her parents about her interest in Christ. I told her, why not show them? I told her something that Pastor Sam had shared one day at youth group. Before he became a Christian, he never used to wash the dishes, but after he received Jesus into his heart, he began to help and wash the dishes. So I suggested that she ‘live’ out her desire to be a follower of Jesus Christ, and reveal the changes in her own life. At the service that night she was one of those who made a commitment to follow Jesus.
I noticed another young man listening intently to Pastor Pisit when he shared about the Bible, its origin and the need to read and to get to know more about Jesus. In the same way they would learn about a person they liked on FB, by following them and reading about them, they could learn about Jesus by reading about Him in the Bible. At the end Pastor Pisit gave out the Book of John in Khmer. The next morning I noticed this same young man as he sat waiting for his team at breakfast reading the book of John. When others were standing in line talking he was still reading it, absorbed in the words! I was moved to tears as I watched him hungrily reading His Word and I prayed in my heart that I would have the same hunger to read His Word each day.
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| PONLOK WHO LOVES TO READ THE BOOK OF JOHN |
What set apart this group from Oshawa for me (besides the fact that there were 2 Guyanese Canadians on the team!) was the word spoken by their pastor, Pastor Frank of Oshawa Community church. He reminded the Khmer that to live here in Phnom Penh was an honor since the city was being recognized as the new Singapore of the ASEAN countries! Many investors were looking to Phnom Penh and Sihanoukville as the two cities to invest and live in. He noted that as Khmer they should be sharing the wisdom from Acts 3:6, ...silver or gold I have none. But I can give you what I have in the name of Jesus Christ...’. So many times we think we have to give money or gifts to share the message of the Cross, and yes, in some circumstances that can be a bridge to the reason we are giving the gift, because of the heart of Jesus Christ. Yet we shy away from sharing about the significance of the Cross, of the real precious gift that He has given to us. I appreciated hearing that, rather than the usual ‘prosperity’ messages that some preachers impart to nations who are poor. Yes, it was an honor being a part of this team, and also exhausting with the team chants and games and staying up for most of the night chatting away!
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| OSHAWA FRIENDSHIP CAMP: CAN YOU FIND ME? |
When I got home, there was no power, so no air conditioner or fan. I had just been in a tuk tuk for over 25 minutes in the heat, with no wind, so when my landlady asked me to ‘contribute’ to the water pump machine/generator, I confess that my reaction was not good! She could tell from my expression that I was not pleased because I was thinking this is something that should be taken care of by the landlord. They should have foreseen this may happen as it often does each year and precautions should have been taken! So as I was grumbling in my mind about my tenant rights, I decided to pray and open up my reading the next morning. Well, lo and behold, in Deuteronomy 2:5-6 it says ...do not contend with them...you are to pay them in money for food and water to drink. Yikes! Who says the Word is not relevant and His voice is not current to our needs? It really was not the answer I was looking for, but God reminded me as I read the Lenten reading Pastor Sunder sent. Jesus gave up His rights, can I, Vidya, give up my ‘rights’ as well? So I went downstairs and I met the landlady and her son and I showed them the verse from the Bible, and her son read it out loud in Khmer; then the grandmother came and the grandkids and they heard the verses read aloud again. I wanted them to know that I had changed my view, not because housemate Channak had talked to me (she had called him afterwards), but because of what Jesus said in the Bible! I had asked God what sum of money I should contribute and I gave it to her this time without grumbling.
Prayer Request:
Tomorrow, which is Friday, there will be no power ALL DAY, so I pray for His energy and fresh ideas on how to keep cool!
Prayer Request:
Please pray for a new place. I know now, in spite of the landlady being so nice, that it is time to move. As I go up to the rooftop in the morning to pray north, south, east and west (those of you who know me know that I have no sense of direction, so it is right, left, front and back!) I ask God to show me the new location of my next home!
Praise:
I met with my teaching team and so happy to hear of the positive changes in the set up! I have my new schedule which would be teaching at 7 in the morning to 10:30 from Monday to Thursday. The afternoons will be for one-to-one interactions and I will still be volunteering at the info desk twice a month on Sundays.
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| PLANNING TEACHING SCHEDULE |
I am thankful for the new connections made at Friendship camp and the discipling that is going to happen.
In this heat still dancing with Him!
Love, His Warrior and Disciple,
Submitting to be His Dance partner here in Cambodia,
Your sister, Vidya
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