Vol.# 293
Hello to my fellow dancers with Our Leading Partner, Jesus the Christ!
Just thought I would send a quick update on the activities over the past 2 weeks. In my previous update I alluded to the new campus site, and in the past week, we as a church went to literally clean the church, getting it in some semblance of order for the professional team to come in later. We gathered to pray and sense His leading over the core group who will eventually take over the running of this campus site at Dongkao.
The first picture is the group picture. It was a very hot day and my team (TEAM 1) was assigned to the lower floors, to clean the windows and sweep the floors. It has been a couple of years of dust/mice accumulations and the yard was overgrown, but the mango trees and other fruit trees were a lovely sight to see, and yes, to sit under for the shade when it got too hot! Pictures 3 and 4 show the view of the new house church on clean up day.
Pictures 5 and 6: We gathered upstairs to pray over the core group: Lokru Virak wearing the red short-sleeved shirt will be the new campus pastor. His wife and two kids were out picking up food for the team, so there are no pics of them as yet. The other team leaders were introduced to us so we could pray over them as a group. Lokru Samdy, our lead pastor was and still is in Seoul Korea for the Lausanne Congress, so could not be there. However we were all given a chance to speak blessings over them. This new location is near to the Killing Fields (you can Google this), one of the top tourist sites here, where so many died during the Pol Pot regime. Yet we prayed that this attraction to view death will be turned around to come to see the life that this church will bring to the community, the hope of Jesus and the introduction of free educational classes that will be taught at the church.
There are many layers of spiritual harvest yet to be reaped. Isaiah 58:12 talks about the rebuilding of ancient ruins, repairer of broken walls … I see this occurring through the establishment of His church, New Life campus site! More to come …
Pictures 7 and 8: This week is the Buddhist holiday of Pchum Ben, where prayers are made on behalf of the ancestors at the pagoda. Food is prepared and taken and prayers are made from early in the morning onwards! Many leave the city to go to their hometowns in the countryside as part of the Khmer tradition to go with one’s family members to the pagoda together to present food prepared by same family members. This can be isolating for those who are followers of Jesus when they do not go to the pagoda and some have to find the balance of honoring the family cultural traditions and being true to the Lord Jesus Christ. One of my younger sisters in Christ wrote to me of feeling dissociated and lonely spiritually since she is the only true follower of Jesus in her family. However, she has washed the fruit and cleaned the dishes when her family members return from the pagoda as her way of showing honor to her parents!
In between cleaning at the church site, I went to visit another Khmer leader couple who will go to the new campus site. I visited them at a clinic. (Picture #9)
Prayer request: Please pray that others who are younger spiritually will know how to balance honoring their family within their culture while honoring Jesus as their Saviour.
At church, we all brought in Khmer snacks for everyone to eat and enjoy after we worshipped our God at Sunday services, even doing traditional Khmer dance as part of our worship! We only had 2 services instead of 3 as many from our staff and congregation members were going to the countryside to spend time with their families.
Prayer request: My washing machine that was a third hand (not second hand, LOL) has broken down, so I am praying for either the right workmen to come and fix it or get another one at a bargain price! It is the holidays so all businesses are closed. I am praying for His angels to be sent to give me the right advice!
Thank you all for your continued giving towards me, in your time and finances, in sending my your prayer requests so that I can join you at our Master’s Feet to intercede and to give thanks to the One who gives us our breath and life!
Love, His Warrior and Disciple,
Submitting to be His Dance partner here in Cambodia,
Your sister, Vedya
