Vol. # 241
As I sit here listening to the sounds of the traffic at half past six in the morning, the street food sellers with their taped messages blaring out what they are selling, and the ever present sounds of construction mixed with the dogs barking, you know that my neighborhood is back to normal! We are out of the ‘red zone’ where we were confined to our home street block and not allowed to go beyond a certain region. The police had barriers up and were stationed there to ensure we stuck to our boundaries. Yet the curfew is still on between 8 at night and 3 in the morning, alcohol sales are strictly forbidden (penalties range from a fine to jail time) and any foreigner found to be breaking quarantine restrictions were sent back to country of origin! Many of the Khmer were vaccinated within the red zones, tents being set up to accommodate within the restricted area! Yet schools, churches, and any other non-essential businesses are still closed. The poor here are affected the most, so many churches and NGOS are partnering to have ‘food/blessing packages’ sent out to the most vulnerable.
Initiatives by New Life Foundation Church:
- We had ZOOM communion services together. It was good to see many on screen, the next best thing to seeing each other face to face.
- We had staff dinner online, each one showing our ‘feasts’ we had prepared, not just the main church in Phnom Penh, but also our church plants from the different provinces were also invited.
- The Next Generation Youth had an online Bible challenge where they had to read certain Bible passages and then explain what they had learnt.
- Self care ongoing prayer ministry. We posted the ZOOM link and many joined in to pray and to ask for prayer!
STAFF PRAYING FOR EACH OTHER
I had sent out an urgent prayer request (thanks to my sister Sita who sends these updates out on my behalf) for the wife of the Head of HR department here. She was in a motorcycle accident. Her hipbone was fractured and so was her wrist. Thank you for your prayers since she is at home now and beginning the recovery process. Her home was the ‘warehouse’ for the food packages and they were the ones coordinating the delivery of the packages. The youth leaders who live in the same red and orange zones then took up the responsibility. With their own motorcycles they helped in the preparation and distribution of packages! Yay Youth Team!
Tuk tuk prayer time and delivery of packages are still ongoing when I am able to go out. With the restrictions being lifted, many even though they are vaccinated and wearing masks still do not practice social distancing! So we do not stop, but as I travel, I pray (like prayer walking but instead do tuk tuk prayer!) and God usually will urge and say when to stop and what to do!
LATEST CAKE FOR PASTOR AND HER HUSBAND; AMAZON IS A COFFEE BRAND
Global Leadership Summit/Network Cambodia: We had a 3-hour seminar where we were taught how to switch from meeting onsite to online. This was based in Singapore and for the GLS Asia countries. The plan is to have a mini summit online on May 23rd.
GLS CAMBODIA: USA AND CAMBODIA
Prayer Request: Please pray for the logistics of this meeting. Here people are on survival mode coming out of lockdown and to go online for a meeting is not a priority. So we are praying for His wisdom on the timing of this event and how to market it effectively! I have seen clips, and meeting others from Singapore, Philippines, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, India etc. has been exciting! From the 23rd to the end of May there will be pre-meetings for the seminar, then online for the event and then post-meetings to discuss how it all went. Having access to internet that will allow things to run smoothly is a big request!
Prayer Request: I was just asked to join this class online, the only foreigner. Please pray for me:
Praise: I had asked for opportunities to spend time with my landlady in the midst of this lockdown. I got a call over a week ago early in the morning from her asking if I wanted to buy some vegetables! She remembered that I had said I needed to get some but the market was shut down. A vegetable seller was coming down our street with his cart so I quickly got my mask and some money to go down. I thought at first that she was there to buy vegetables also, but she stood with me and told me to wait until the seller came by the house and not to go to it since there were more than 6 people around the cart buying vegetables and she did not want the COVID-19! So as we stood she talked about the neighborhood telling me stories about each house with her mask on and in Khmer! I understood about 80 percent and did not have to respond much since she was chatting away! (It made me wonder what ‘stories’ were being told about me to others!). When the cart finally came there was nothing I saw that I really wanted but NOW I had to buy something since we waited so long. She picked up some limes and said, “Bong?” meaning that I would pay for it! I laughed and said sure! Two hours later there was a bag of mangoes at my kitchen door! I had prayed for mangoes and I got them! Yay Jesus!
AS I MEET WITH JESUS ON MY ROOFTOP, LANDLADY DOES HER STUDIES
The online Life Guide seminar on Sunday morning at 9-10 is going well. We are learning how to share about Jesus within the Khmer context. Last week we focused on sharing about original sin. Our Khmer teacher, with whom I pray with before and do a debrief later on in the week, has been good in telling his story and allowing us to have meaningful discussions on how to share about Jesus amongst our Khmer family.
Praise: Usually it is the older generation who plays the role of chief caretakers within the family. Here I am blessed to get a call during the week from a younger sister, who was at Rescue (the orphanage I first volunteered at!) and who is one of the co-leaders of the Information Desk ministry at which I am a volunteer (when we used to meet on site), asking if am okay, what I needed! In addition to this call, we meet online after my LG class from 10 to 11 where Scripture is read and we share what is going on in our lives and then we pray for each other.
Praise: Lokru (Pastor) Samdy and the leadership staff have created discussion /break out rooms after each sermon in order to build up community and to keep connected with each other. I got a message from one of the leaders saying thank you for my presence online, as it is showed my support even though I did not have an active role in that particular session. God reminded me then about His loving Presence and that sometimes the most active thing I can do is being present!
Praise: My guys from Rescue reached out to me and it is good to connect with them being the initiators! We cannot wait to meet again on the rooftop at my place!
Prayer Request: I am still waiting to get the vaccine. We only have access to the Chinese vaccines here now. We had access to Astra Zeneca but supplies ran out. So I wait on His timing to get the right vaccine, the one that will allow international travel recognized by Canada.
I know that the lockdown has been extended in Toronto. I am praying for many of you, especially my own parents to have a ‘community’ even online / phone calls etc. I thank God for my siblings who are able to help my parents when they are able to travel beyond their zone. Please pray for their health!
I love receiving your prayer requests and messages. Please continue to send them as we do life together dancing with Jesus!
Love, His Warrior and Disciple,
Submitting to be His Dance partner here in Cambodia,
Your sister, Vidya
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