#198 - Magical wedding! Final Sunday!

Vol.# 198

The wedding was amazing! 

Thank you all for praying through the details. Here are some pictures for you to enjoy as we celebrate and welcome not only Sarah, but also her family into our family! 

PRESENTING NATHAN AND SARAH HENDERSON!

ACROSS THE POND AT MARSHALL FARM--MAGICAL WEDDING VENUE

GROOM WITH MOM AND DAD

BRIDE WITH MOM AND DAD

MY SISTER SAVI AND HUSBAND PHIL FROM ENGLAND

MORE FRIENDS AND FAMILY INCL. MY 2 BROTHERS!

WEDDING RECEPTION TENT

Just a quick reminder, this Sunday is my last one since I leave next week Tuesday on the 3rd! So prayerfully I will get a chance to see you at church! 

Love, His Warrior and Disciple, 

Submitting to be His Dance partner here in Cambodia, 

Your sister, Vidya 

#197 - A Heartfelt Thank You

Vol.# 197

As I looked out at all of the familiar faces, not only at the church services, but also at the Meet and Greet, I was struck anew at your faithfulness in prayers and financial support for such a long time, since 2011! 

I want to thank you for your sacrifice of time and finances, and for not only partnering with me, but more importantly with Him as I follow His directions in my heart country of Cambodia. 

As we prepare as a family to celebrate the wedding of my nephew Nathan to Sarah, I am excited for our family reunion here and I look forward to sending pictures after the 24th! 

I am very grateful for those who signed up to receive my updates/prayer letters and who expressed interest in contributing to my monthly support. The rising costs of living in Cambodia as was mentioned at the Meet and Greet means I must increase my support.The details on how to do this is are at the bottom of the email update or you can message me for the details. 

I am humbled by your acts of sacrifice on my behalf here! 

Love, His Warrior and Disciple, 

Submitting to be His Dance partner here in Cambodia, 

Your sister, Vidya 

#196 - Celebrating the Preciousness of Life

Vol.# 196

Celebration is the acceptance of life in a constantly increasing awareness of its preciousness. ~ Henri Nouwen

A dear supporter of mine sent me that Nouwen quote. It made me think of not only the meaning, but also the relevance of this statement here in Cambodia. The context of this statement was in relation to the announcement of not only the graduation of Nathan G from medical school but also that he was the recipient of the award of excellence in bioethics from the University of Toronto! It had not been an easy road but he kept his stance for Jesus Christ, not wavering from his faith amongst the skeptics in the secular academic world. He had parents who prayed for him and who allowed others like me to be part of a prayer chain along the way. I, for one, am PUMPED that there is another soldier for Christ in the medical field!

This announcement made me think of my spiritual sons and daughters here, my ‘boys and ‘girls’ from Rescue with whom I am still connected, and the newer ‘sons’ and ‘daughters’ that He has given to me since then. I think of ‘Yeang’ who is in two of my classes. He recently gave his life to Christ at a ‘Friendship Camp’ conducted by a team from Water of Life Church, California. I think of ‘Viriem’ and ‘Yon’ who also went to the camp and decided to go deeper in their faith, posting about their faith on FB. I celebrate them! 

 

STUDENTS FROM 2 CLASSES ON WAY TO CAMP

All of these students come from disadvantaged backgrounds, but they have a richness of spirit and grace that humbles, and I pray as Nathan G had many who encouraged, prayed and advised him, that I would be one of those blessed to walk with them through this season. I am grateful as a community that there are others who are also helping by discipling through small groups. 

Life here is not easy for these students with obstacles like lack of money and parental support without guidance in making the right choices as opposed to the easy choices. However, I celebrate their appetite to learn! I asked them yesterday, “So… on Fridays when I am not teaching at 8 in the morning, what do you all do?” And they said that they sleep in! And it dawned on me that 23 students do not have to wake up early to come to my class (it is free after all), but they get up and come to class at New Life Skills centre before going to work and then attend university evening classes! Two of my own (named above), go to work after my second class until 9 in the evening, and still do school work after that, but they make sure that they wake up early to come to my classes the next day! 

How precious and sweet is that! That makes me work harder to be the ‘best’ teacher as possible for these students!

FRIENDSHIP CAMP WITH TEAM

 

Praise: The coughing has mostly gone away. The pic below shows my new normal! 

Praise: The discipline of getting up at 5:30 in the morning to spend time with Him is no longer a ‘discipline’ but an excitement as to what is Jesus going to share with me today kind of a feeling!

Praise: My friend Lauren and David are back in Cambodia with their new baby girl so my ‘community’ is back together again! Yay! 

Prayer Request: Please pray for wisdom as I prepare exams for my classes, and as I prepare my presentation for the 11th August, at the Chinese church at RAC and the 18th at the English church at RAC!

Thank you all and see you soon! 

Love, His Warrior and Disciple, 

Submitting to be His Dance partner here in Cambodia, 

Your sister, Vidya 

#195 - Staff Retreat, A Trini Visitor and Remembering...GO RAPTORS!!!

Vol.# 195

Well, I survived and pleasantly surprised that I did! 

I was invited to go along on a staff retreat where no mention had been made about the “Amazing Race’ style of team building games! My team came last, but boy! 

Did we have fun! 

BIG BRO AND LIL BONG SREY ON THE WAY TO RETREAT

STAFF RETREAT

GUESS WHOSE ARMS ARE UPRAISED AT BACK!

The Skills Centre was closed down for 2 days as we bonded and heard messages about unity and transparency, staying the course and growing together as a family. It was an honor to be invited as I am ‘volunteer staff’ and yes, I was the oldest one on my team to participate in all of the games! I got to see the resiliency of different members, old and young, as we all prepare to dig deeper and grow together for the purpose of telling others about God after the emotional upheaval which occurred 2 months ago at our church here in Phnom Penh. The recurring themes of unity and solidarity in Jesus the Christ and not in any one church or person, discipleship, and just having time to listen and pray together have been constant concepts we have been hearing as we pray together as a team and a church. I am very grateful for the Khmer leadership and their vow to listen and pray as they discern God’s steps for the future.

My classes have been wonderful with an average attendance of 25 students in the first class, and then 8 in our Office Skills class, which is a closed class for those with the English literacy level to understand the soft skills curriculum. Both classes are very different in character, the first being very informal while the second is very formal in approach and manner of communication! It was during this second class that the Raptors were playing and I had to role model self-control and NOT use my phone in class to peek at the scores! 

AND YES, THE RAPTORS!!!! 

I was screaming and shouting from way across here when we won in such a climactic way! And I will still be screaming and shouting when I come to visit in August! Everyone I came into contact with knew I was from Canada and that the Raptors were playing by my words and actions. This got me to thinking, does everyone, from the tuk tuk driver to the seller in the market, know that I am different by the way I act and by what I say? Do I emit the fragrance of Christ by my behaviour? 

Each person in my Office Skills class has to introduce himself or herself each morning by saying “Hello my name is Vidya Ramcharan (for example) and I am the Director of First Impressions of Vidya Ramcharan!" Then I get an opportunity to say what those first impressions I had of each student that morning and they get to state their impressions of me and report on how I conducted myself that morning! It is in the small things that we do that I found to be truly reflective of my role as His Child! The students often ask me why I come in early to prepare my classes etc., and I say that Jesus prepared for me by dying on the Cross, I prepare for them because HE gave His best, so I also want to give my best for my students. 

And this thought makes me transition to three people we recently lost at RAC:
Steve Gibson: when I first met Steve he told me that he was intimidated by me because he got to know me in relation to my community service work with the at-risk youth at the church, but then one day he heard me laugh and I snorted when I laughed, and he thought, hey, no way can I be intimidated by someone who snorts when laughing! He called me ‘Buddy’ and always wanted to know if I kept my relationships with the youth from back in those days, and he always wanted to know if the youth here in Phnom Penh were scared of me! Then he would laugh and then say, keep it up Buddy! 

Rest now in His Arms, Buddy Steve!

Peter Wood: I got to know Mr. Woods when he volunteered at the church and then later when he helped to paint one of the apartments I lived in Toronto. He had quick wit and a story to tell. He loved his family. My heart goes out to Linda and her family now. Thank you, Peter for your act of worship through your servant’s hands.

Jacqui: You never forgot someone’s kindness when you are new and know no one and they come up to you and greet you not only with a smile but also a hug! That was Jacqui, Roberta’s sister! I got to know Jacqui when she sang with the worship team so many years ago at RAC, and remembered her genuine smile and offering words of welcome to a new immigrant to Canada! I was introduced to Jacqui even before I met Roberta and I got to see her love for her kids! Thank you Jacqui for showing and being Jesus in the flesh by welcoming me into the church each time you saw me. I was not part of any group but you broke the ‘clique’ lines and showed me in Christ there are no ‘cliques!’ My prayers and heart go out to all of you who are grieving Jacqui’s passing into the arms of God.

This past week God gave me a hug and a kiss in the form of an old schoolmate from St. Joseph’s Convent Port of Spain Trinidad and Tobago! Giselle and her husband were here for a few days and I got a chance to ‘lime’ and hear that wonderful Trini accent! Giselle and her husband still live in Trinidad and they are the first TRINIS to come here to Cambodia and I AM PUMPED! Thank you Giselle!

GISELLE AND I

I look forward to seeing you all in August when I return to celebrate my nephew’s wedding! 

Prayer Request: I have had a cold now for over a week. I got meds from the clinic but will go back today. Everyone at work is sneezing or coughing and then we all share the same pens etc. Please pray for a correct diagnosis from the doctor!

Please let me know how I can pray with you all! 

Love, His Warrior and Disciple, 

Submitting to be His Dance partner here in Cambodia, 

Your sister, Vidya 

#194 - Rainy Season Giggles, Teaching Time, And Thank You to Annette!

Vol.# 194

The rainy season has begun and the power has been on now all day, everyday, for the past week and a half. New challenges and giggles have come with the rainy season! 

So there I was wearing my raincoat in the tuk tuk because the rain was still coming in from the driver’s side. In addition, the seat was wet before the driver put down the side panels/curtains. Then, whoosh! A big truck passed by and it was like a wave of water flying by us! 

(Photo Credit: Sotha Tourism Cambodia)

There is no scheduled time when it rains, so you have to be ready at all times, which means your clothes may never be dried if you have to hang them out on the rooftop. My housemate came up with a solution and put the clothes line in the room and hung all the clothes there. If I did that, I would probably forget it was there and get up in the middle of the night and walk right into it with a boomerang effect of me flying backwards! I am grateful however for the rain and the water refilling the ponds and reservoirs around Cambodia.

It has been a combination of hectic and restful times. Semester 2 has begun. I had tried to reason with Jesus and told Him that since I have to be up early to go in to teach, then ‘our times’ together would have to change so I could accommodate all the things I needed to do. 

Yeah, that did not work! 

I have learnt that I cannot do without my Bible time and prayer time BEFORE my day begins. So my day begins at 5:30 in the morning. I sit and we read His Word together, then it is prayer time! I have found that Jesus releases time when I have spent time with HIM. 

The time that I thought would be spent in traffic is lessened, and I have been getting to my work by 7:15. I have time to arrange the desks in the classroom, get my attendance sheets and pray over the students and the room before class begins at 8.  I have time to even change my lesson/prep before class begins. I usually have 30 minutes between classes that decreases to about 20 minutes after meeting with students after class before dashing up to the office area to say hello to fellow teachers and staff at New Life Skills Training Centre. 

 

Coffee Time With Fellow Teachers

A couple of days ago I was stopped by one of the interns who said slowly in English and then rapidly in Khmer that he was asking around the office for people who would want to pray at lunchtime for the Centre and the church and that he was told go to Bong Srey (Older Sister),Vidya. She loves to pray! Seriously, I thought he was going to say I was the most animated one in the office area (translation: the loudest!), or the one with the original ideas for classes (translation: the craziest!), so I was taken aback! Then one day later I was asked if I would lead the teachers’ group on the topic of Discipleship: Relationship Building with Students in the June staff meeting.

This past week we have had 3-day holidays and next week we will have Monday and Wednesday off.  It is a bit frustrating as we just began our new term so, these ‘little’ breaks make planning and then implementing the curriculum that needs to be taught to a certain level by the end of the semester a bit difficult. So may I please ask for your prayers?

Prayer Request: 

Please pray for wisdom and discernment as I choose which parts of the lessons are practical and crucial to their learning. My two classes are Conversational English and Office Skills. The first class has 15-18 students at 8 in the morning, whilst at 9:30 we have just 5 for now. The level of English required for the second class is higher and the textbook that is being used has an Intermediate Level of English. The students I have are at a Low Intermediate Level, so I have to plan my lessons in Khmer and English and have to be creative in writing our role plays for this class in Khmer. This class is challenging as it is has become the more rewarding when I hear of the students’ dreams of learning how to be professional in the business world and what they want to accomplish in this field. Their presence makes me ‘up my game’ and I have to do my homework! My laptop, IPad and phone become necessary tools to accomplish this. One has the curriculum on it, the other has the Khmer keyboard, so I write my lessons on it and the other device I use as my translating dictionary. When I return to Toronto I have to make sure I get them all ‘cleaned’ up and fixed and ready for my next semester of work.

Praise: 

I had asked for prayer during a difficult transition time here at my church. An answer has been the call to prayer at lunch time by the staff that I previously mentioned. I have seen certain individuals step up to take part in leadership roles and a bonding between others. Thank you for your prayers!

Prayer Request:

“Everyone wants to be an influencer, but are they making an impact, a positive impact on others?” I heard this in a talk show and it struck a chord within me. I want to not only BE an influence but also HAVE an impact on my heart country, on my Khmer brothers and sisters. I ask for your prayers for wisdom as I intentionally seek to do this for His kingdom.

On a personal note, I want to say thank you to a friend, a former teacher and fellow Canadian whom I met while working at Place of Rescue. Annette has served God faithfully teaching at other organizations and is a true connector of hearts. She has been serving here for the past 5 years and God is leading her back to Vancouver where He has new plans for her. We had an opportunity to spend time together this past week with Channak, the ‘three Musketeers’, reminiscing of our times at Rescue and life here in Cambodia.

Annette and Channak

Annette and Vedya

Well done, Annette! You have been a faithful servant here and I know your family is looking forward to having you back there full-time! Thank you for your care, laughter and friendship where we can be ‘real’ with each other!

See you all in August when I come for my nephew Nathan’s wedding to Sarah! The countdown is ON...! 

Love, His Warrior and Disciple, 

Submitting to be His Dance partner here in Cambodia, 

Your sister, Vidya 

#193 - Fluctuating power; a trip to Vietnam; and a Saturday faith!

Vol.# 193

HE IS RISEN! Blessed RESURRECTION Day! 

This greeting may be late after the official dates, but this is what I awake to each day, thanking God that HE not only chose to die for me (in spite of who I am when nobody else is looking) in order to give me access to Him and everlasting life, but that He also chose me to be part of His plan on earth, thus giving me purpose and value! Yay! That is why I can dance with Him!

I just spent 45 minutes looking for a ‘cool’ uncrowded place with power! This morning the power went one hour earlier than normal. Usually if it goes, it will go at 8:30, so I plan accordingly. We lose power every day, but it changes from no power during the morning one day to no power on the afternoon on the consecutive day. Yesterday was the worst for me. I had left home by 7-ish in morning so I did not know whether or not we would have power. I had my meetings and lunch with the teaching staff, only to return home to find no power and the water in the shower so hot that I could not shower!

I had gone on a 4-day tour with my friend Annette to Vietnam thinking it would be refreshing and a retreat. But hey, the word ‘tour’ means you are on a schedule and on a bus surrounding by people 24/7! The 3 families we were with were Khmer and wonderfully boisterous and entertaining! Once I readjusted my expectations I was able to join in the experience that I knew that God had provided. However the first day would have been rated a 0 on the travel experience on the second leg of the journey. However, once I voiced my opinion to ‘said’ tour guides, I was good to go! In fact, I became ‘big sister’ to the Vietnamese tour guide, Mr. Hae and our Khmer tour guide, Mr. Bopha. 

 

TOUR GROUP TO VIETNAM

It was on the third day when one of the young girls from our tour group came up to me and asked ‘Are you a Christian?’ I said yes. She said she attended a Christian school in Phnom Penh and had received Christ, but she was the only one in her family! Her parents and the parents of the other families wanted to know where we taught so that Annette and I could be their teachers! I had a few “God conversations” with this young girl and the rest of the group who spoke in Khmer and English. However, because I was trying to understand what they were saying in order to communicate, I did not get a ‘break’, so my mind was not rested. However, I am truly grateful to have shared this adventure with Annette who so generously provided this as her gift to me!

My heart goes out to my brothers and sisters in Sri Lanka over the bombings and the killings there. I pray for His grace and strength over all of them as well as to my Sri Lankan community in Toronto.

Praise: We have had some upheavals in our church here, but through this God has brought about ‘real’ conversations about trust in God and not in man; about accountability; and about being able to honestly talk about feelings. This goes against the cultural experience here, a legacy from the Pol Pot regime about not being vulnerable and open with others. The church is going through a ‘shake-up’ that can only lead to a deeper relationship with God

Prayer: The heat is sometimes making it impossible to focus. Please pray for His refreshing breath to be upon me so that I can be creative and focused. Semester 2 begins on May 2^nd, so now we are preparing lessons and doing placement tests. My schedule is that I teach in the mornings starting from 8, which means I leave home at 7 to beat the traffic. I have 2 classes in the morning, which were created especially for me to teach Conversational English and Office Skills training. I am praying for God to breathe life into the content so that it will excite the students and enable them to learn. 

Prayer: I am still on the lookout for new place to live. So please keep in persevering prayer for me please! I just had to get all 3 air conditioning units cleaned and fixed up but other things need maintenance here, and the landlord is not responsible for this. In our rental contract it says that the tenant has to pay for all things here even though we did not break it. The landlord came to fix the tiles and in fixing it they broke it, but in the end the tenant is responsible for paying for it! Channak, my housemate, knows repairmen, so he has to call and get them to come in to repair etc. I am blessed to be here at this house for a season, so I will wait upon Him for the next suitable ‘home’!

Last note: 

I have been listening to many speakers via YouTube, notably Nabeel Qureshi who so lovingly spoke of his relationship with Jesus but who now is seeing His Saviour face to face. My faith grows stronger and I am in awe of how Jesus draws each one of us to His heart. For Bro. Nabeel, it was in his dreams and then through the love of a university roommate. Then one other author talked about the day between Good Friday and Easter Sunday; the day when it is anti climatic. On Friday they were witnessing and grieving Jesus being crucified with the adrenalin and intense emotions of suffering. Then Saturday comes and it is when you become drained emotionally. Your hope seems to have gone. Do we still trust in God? Do we rest on our emotions and use our emotions as a basis to make unwise decisions? I had never thought about the ‘Saturday’ before. My focus was on Good Friday and then Resurrection Day! I thought about the ‘Saturdays’ we are experiencing here with the ‘shake-up’ and Saturday really being our testing of faith time. I am grateful for His Word that keeps my faith strong. I am so humbly grateful that I have access to His Word in so many translations, but more than that for His Holy Spirit who is the ultimate interpreter and translator of words and feelings! 

 

Love, His Warrior and Disciple, 

Submitting to be His Dance partner here in Cambodia, 

Your sister, Vidya 

#192 - Critical Prayers Needed for New Place and Unbearable Heat

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!

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. 

 

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! 

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.

PLANNING TEACHING SCHEDULE

Praise: 
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