Vol.# 265
Hello from my desk here at the office!
Everyone is listening to an online seminar on church history. This is relevant because in January of 2023 we will be celebrating 100 years of Christianity here in the kingdom of Cambodia!
I thought I would give you a few snapshots of what has been happening here since the last time I shared with you!
Snapshot #1: If you remember, I have been mentoring Oun Muylen who was at the helm of Prison Fellowship and had switched careers to BRAVE ministry where she has been an important advocate for those who are poor, and also reaching out to teach and disciple others in the province, including her home town. She had invited a few of us to celebrate her engagement to Bird (Yes, that is his name!), whom she met while she was at Prison Fellowship and their relationship grew during COVID even though it was online! Fast-forward 2 years and now they are engaged! What struck me about this special night was the fact that Oun Muylen called each one of us up to stand with her, and she told her mostly non-Christian family of the impact each one of us had made on her life!
Snapshot #2: You can see my sister Mel who is wearing a black off-the-shoulder dress in the group photo. It was Mel who saw Muylen’s potential and encouraged and mentored her into the role created for her by Mel at BRAVE, the NGO headed by Mel. I was struck by the change over Oun Muylen as I saw her standing there looking so beautiful and confident, so different from the timid, shy woman I had met so many years ago! She spoke so boldly of her faith in God and how God had brought her and Bird through many struggles, and the steadfastness and love of our Lord Jesus Christ! I was so blessed to be invited to be a part of this occasion!
Snapshot #3: Oh how exciting to see one of my mentees go off to the States for a 3-month leadership course! Oun Aly had been there before as a part of another leadership program by Raven’s Hope International. She had applied for her American visa, and we had prayed over the interview, and prepped her with responses. We prayed over her being released from her position here so that she would be able to go, and her leader Lokru Krong was so gracious in releasing her to be trained! She needed my help at the airport, so I dressed as if I was travelling and just walked boldly into the airport just holding my passport and the guards at the entrance let me in! She was glad I was with her since she was in the wrong line at first, and then I advised her to go and stand in line at the correct counter even though that counter was not yet opened. Within 5 minutes we had the longest line behind us (we were 5th in line) and Oun Aly was so glad we stayed to get her checked in for her seat etc. (Most of you are probably in shock thinking Vidya is helping someone else with this when most times she needs the help?! Well, experience with being in wrong line at the wrong counter in the past has taught me a lot!!!)
Snapshot 4: At the staff party with Oun Sreyleak! So proud of this young woman, she was my brightest student at Rescue, and then she came to work in the HR department at New Life Fellowship Cambodia. She was on the planning committee for our staff party and did an amazing job! It reminded me when we did our own events at RAC and the immense planning and then execution of that plan for the event! Oun Sreyleak had sent me a text 3 weeks ago saying that she had not read her Bible in such a long time and wanted to restart her time with God. She wanted to read His Word by studying the characters of the Bible. I study/read by using the yearly Bible schedule and then journaling when a verse/scripture stands out for me, but Oun Sreyleak wanted to use the personal stories as her way of getting to know more about the God we serve. With some help from Pastor Sunder who gave me some links to podcasts, I was more prepared to help her. So I asked her which character she wanted to study (Lokru Samdy has been preaching on the life stories of different persons each Sunday in our church services), thinking as usual that Ruth or Esther or David or even Paul would be the usual answers. Imagine my surprise and delight when she responded with Abraham! She was brought up at Rescue reading and accumulating information on the different characters in the Bible and now she wanted to go deeper and figure out why Abraham is called the father of faith! It has been exciting to receive texts from her late at night when God reveals something to her. It just affirms the FACT that when we take the time to sit at His feet, He will reveal Himself through His Word!
Snapshot #5 and #6: Missions Day. This was amazing for the fact that we were helping another church of the same denomination to clean up and prepare their new church facilities for this coming Sunday’s worship service. Now in Canada we would not have been ordinarily allowed to go while construction was still going on, but because they needed to get things done quickly, a call went out and I was so humbled to see ALL groups from within our church go to help and clean up for another church! It took some of us an hour to get there, others 2 hours since the location is so new that it was difficult to find on the Google map! We were divided into groups to work on the inside and then paint on the outside of the church. The landowners of the former location wanted their land back since last year, but in His grace had allowed the pastor to be able to get a new location! I may not be able to attend a service before I leave here on Dec.13th, but prayerfully in the new year I will be able to go to support them! Can you find Vidya in the group photo?
Snapshot #7: THE BEST!!!! After all that cleaning in very humid temperatures, I had enough time to get home to shower and change for the final football match of the 2 leading teams here in Cambodia! I mentioned in a previous update about Seon Powers, a fellow Trini who is the captain of one of these teams in one of my updates. Well, Seon gave us 6 free VIP tickets to go and cheer them on! The youth from the church here went with me. I was wearing the football shirt with No. 34 on it, which is Sean’s number, and a free shirt given to me by him, and we yelled and shouted advice to the referees (!) when it was needed and the match was filled with highs and lows. Unfortunately at the end we lost by one goal! However, that didn’t dampen our spirits as we continued to shout and scream just for being there! (Yes I am aware that Canada is out of the World Cup but I am still a diehard fan of my team!).
I was going to meet Sean’s family the next day but unfortunately could not make it, so…
PRAYER REQUEST: Pray that I would be able to get a time before I leave here for Canada to not only meet (or as we Trinis say, ‘lime’) with Seon and his family, but also that I would have the opportunity to pray for their little girl Mila who has epilepsy. She is only 2 years old and her mom Mali and Seon have been worried about her.
Prayerfully I will be able to connect with some of you on this trip, but I am aware of COVID restrictions and how I still need to be careful since I am with my dad and mom who are respectively 95 and 85 years young.
I thank God for your continued sacrifice of finances and time as you give and pray and send notes to encourage me over here. Please keep sending your prayer requests and tidbits of your life adventures with Jesus! Keep dancing with Him as I am. HE is the best dance partner!
Final snap shot: Guess who win the big prize at the staff party? Yes, ME! And I never win prizes!
Love, His Warrior and Disciple,
Submitting to be His Dance partner here in Cambodia,
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