Trying to Make Sense of it All

Greetings from Cambodia

Today was the first day of the last week here in Cambodia for the Westhills team of twelve. Over the past three weeks the team has been stretched by God in many different directions. At times they have been laid out by illness. At others they have been stunned by the stark reality that life in America has been sheltered to say the least and insulated by materialism and the lie we call the American Dream for sure. At still others they have been stopped dead in their tracks, faced with suffering humanity, both past and present, so stark they have no categories for understanding or dealing with what they have witnessed.

By God’s grace they have also tasted the joy of fellowship in the Spirit of our Living God as He has encouraged them, under-girded and empowered them, held them up when they wanted to lie down, caused them to think when they wanted to just shut down, drawn them by His loving-kindness to rely and depend upon Him and taught them about Himself and therefore themselves and others. He has used them to shine for Him in the lives of so many from loving, caring for, teaching, singing and playing with precious little children living out in the destitution of provincial Cambodia or in orphanages taking in the multitudes whose parents have been killed or just can’t take care of them to high school age students from a variety of backgrounds whose lives have been ravaged by war both physical and spiritual. They have roomed with them at bible camp, led small group discussions with them about fighting for joy in Jesus, shared their faith in Jesus with them in the wee hours, listened to their stories with rapt attention, given their own testimonies, gone to church with them to worship God together, broke bread with them in the friendships that have developed, played games with them to the glory of God, befriended them and forged bonds with them, some of which will continue to prosper both our team members and their new found friends in Cambodia on into the future.

We have had to come to grips with the spiritual reality of this land and its people which is dark and evil. Buddhism, monks who take money for blessings and kharma, Hinduism and 1,000′s of gods, animism and worship of evil spirits inhabiting the creation, ancestor worship with spirit houses where family make offerings to dead ancestors in order to appease them so they don’t come back to haunt and do harm to them, the largest religious temple complexes in the world built in honor of men who would be gods, and a people and the oppression of a culture held captive to do the will of the evil one for all of the history of their existence.

All to say they have been very busy and have not communicated as much with friends and family back home as you all might expect due in part to the fact that they are just beginning to be led by God to gain some sense of why God brought them here in the first place, what He has been showing them while they have been here, and very importantly, what He wants them to do with their lives when they get back to America in view of all they have experienced and are still learning here in Cambodia.

We had a three hour time of contemplation, discussion, worship in song and bible study this morning. During that sweet, sweet time, God began to point out to their hearts and minds that in a week they are going back home. As well, He  poured out His Spirit on them as they proceeded to think out loud together led by God around the table as a team to some conclusions individually and more questions both individually and for the team as a whole. To our great God and King be the glory for He is faithful to show Himself to us, to grow us and draw us closer through the testing of our faith as we take steps of faith like living in Cambodia for 30 days. What an incredible experience each one has had. Same, Same, but different (common Cambodian saying that is so appropriate). We appreciate your support in every way more than you can know. Please continue to pray for the team. They do have another week to take more in and process through it with one another and with God who brought us here. They are trying to make sense of it all.

Know that you are loved and missed by us all.

Pastor Bob

Bible Camp& Angkor Wat

Hello!

Today is Kathy’s birthday and we have been celebrating in style! The ladies were treated to a salon visit where we all had our nails done. Andrea and her girls went too and it was very relaxing.

Right now I want to capture a little of what Bible camp meant for me and what visiting the temples was like:

Bible camp was interesting to say the least – I had three girls in my room ranging from 15 to 20 years old and I felt responsible to help them glean from this time of study and to grow in Christ. Each video we watched about fighting for joy in God was so rich, I found myself praying that it made sense to them. This teaching is crucial for these kids to understand – that their greatest satifaction is to be found in the wonder and beauty of Christ. To glorify God is to magnify Him and to be happy in Him. God was good to us in that we were able to discuss and encourage each other during our small group times. During camp, even the games were set up to help these kids learn the value of honoring Christ in our attitudes and motives. Also, I have never had so much seafood before that week. : )  We had squid in our curry soups and fish with the eyes still intact. The shrimp was wonderful and the fellowship was great during meals.

After our time at the beach, we all paired up with the same Asian Hope kids we had at Bible camp and went to Siem Reap – the city with all the massive temples. At 4:30 am we woke up and went to Angkor Wat to see the sunrise at the temple. It was too cloudy for the perfect sunrise, but it was nice to look around while it was cool. I was astonished that every giant wall was covered with carvings – stories of ”gods” and men. The stairs led us up and up to a statue of Buddha wearing an orange sash and there was incense scattered all over. It’s strange to see people worship a piece of clothing, thinking that it will bring them protection and a good day. How opressive it is to imagine living a life of fear with the idea that there is no Heaven, no one God, they just hope to reach the state of “nothingness”, of nirvana.

The best part of my temple adventure was when we all paused to read from God’s word. BJ read from Issiah 42 and 44 which talked about the futile desires of man to worship a carving and the hopelessness of idolatry. Surrounded by such a sight, it was a heavy moment as BJ read about God’s greatness and the sin of man to turn away from the Almighty Maker. We gathered together to sing “How great is our God” – a beautiful contrast to the wonder of seeing that temple.

The next two temples were very interesting. Seeing these giant stones piled up with such intricate carvings everywhere was so different. If you think about our country’s beginning and how a historical tour takes you to Washington DC and the like and then compare it to Cambodia, the differences are huge. The beginning of the Cambodian Empire with all these impressive architectural sites happened around the 10th century and earlier. The crazy thing about these temples is that all the stones came from some far site; there aren’t any quarries nearby. Most likely the elephants dragged these stones quite a distance. Even crazier is that some of the kings built about 10 temples during their lifetime, just for the praise of man and for their gods.

That’s all from me for now, till the next time! ~Monica Lines

Cambodia so far

Well, it’s Saturday morning in Cambodia.  We’re in our second week here and it’s been amazing! Most of you know that my family was here for a month last year… it’s so good to be back!

Sunday was an awesome day! Worshiping again with the people of Shalom Phnom Penh Thmei church, then joining them for their activities afterward…eating Pho together, playing soccer and volleyball, swimming in the pool.  And it rained! When it rains here, it pours.  It did not take long until we were completetly soaked…it was crazy and so much fun!

On Thursday and Friday, we visited the Hands of Hope Orphanage, and put on a kind of VBS program for them.  It was so great!  The kids there are so hungry for love and receive us so well.  There aren’t seat-belt laws here so we packed a bunch of people in a van and traveled over there. When we would drive up, they would come out of the gate, hug us and say “hello sista!” … “hello brotha!”  in their super cute, high pitched little voices. It was SO fun to sing and play with them and teach them about Jesus!!! I’m praying that God would use that time we spent with them to encourage those precious little kids and to remind them that they aren’t alone–that they are loved by the Creator of the universe!!!

Thank you so much for praying for us! Please keep on doing that! All of the people who were sick are getting better, and we’re all really excited for Bible Camp this next week.

Well, that’s all for now.

–Rachel

Not exactly what we expected

Well, the funny thing is, we have done a total of one thing I expected to do in this second week. We went today to visit an orphanage and put on a VBS. It was a blast, and such a blessing. But, previous to that, we did VBS’s in villages in the provinces. I didn’t know that was going to happen. And…we’re pretty sick. I don’t mean ‘sick’ as in ‘awesome’. I mean ‘sick’ as in ‘lying on the floor sleeping with a wet towel to our foreheads’. Yes, quite a few (last count was ten) at the same time. The ‘youngins’ headed up VBS today, none of whom are on the VBS team, and all of whom are becoming or have been sick lately. It was a challenge, but I’m glad we had the opportunity to flex and stretch out of our comfort zones.

There are some very interesting things about Cambodia. There are people sleeping on the sidewalk, even if it’s raining. There are cows wandering the streets. There are (very funny looking) chickens hanging out outside the shops. The sunrises and sunsets are incredible. The sky is huge because there are no hills or mountains. The traffic is incredibly crazy, but there are no accidents. There are brothels on many of the crowded streets. Every peace of land in Phnom Penn is being used or has the remains of a house on it. There are few old people, and even fewer ‘large’ people. The orphans smile and laugh when they see you. People smile and wave when they see a white face. These beautiful people are discontent with their tan skin and flat noses. They greet you with a smile and a ‘sampora’, the traditional Cambodian greeting.  The Buddhist watts are very grand and gaudy.

The Buddhist monks wear red, orange, yellow, or white robes and rob the people of peace and freedom in Christ. God loves this place and these people. He has not abandoned them. We traveled for a few hours out of Phnom Penn and found believers to sing and pray with. God has brought us here for a reason. Even though we are not doing what we expected, we are doing what God wants us to do. We will go wherever he wants us to go and we will lie around sick as long as he wants, all for the glory of God. He is good. We can trust him with our time in Cambodia. Please pray for us as we often find ourselves discontent with where God has us now.

We love you all and miss you! Thank you for persisting in prayer for us.     –Kyla*

What a blessing!

Luke 10:1 – After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them on ahead of him, two by two, into every town and place where he himself was about to go.

Here we are in Cambodia and so thankful for the Lord’s faithfulness to us in so many ways. He indeed has come with us and gone before us. After a tuk tuk tour of Phnom Penh yesterday, we went to the village of Andong and had the privilege of leading some very precious and yet very poor and destitute children in song and devotions. The team’s love for Christ and their diligence in preparation for the trip shined through their flexibility and willingness to minister in a moments notice as they did not expect but to observe some English lessons that were to take place. Instead, they were called on to share Christ with the children. What a blessing they are! – pb

Prep for Cambodia

Prep for Cambodia!
Things seem to be coming together as the day draws near for our departure to a foreign land. I’m part of the vbs team, and so far we have the lessons, crafts, games, and music all pretty much but finalized. What’s cool is the snacks were going to get, cause we will have the oppurtunity to buy from a Cambodian market.

Last night I sat in on the band practice for the Cambodia benefit concert. Listening to the sound and words just reminded me that God
is all I need and all I want. Take the world is such a fitting title not only for our concert but also for our trip.

My prayer for the team is that God would take the world out of our minds and hearts and fill us with Himself. Meaning I hope materialism and everything our culture says we need is stripped away as we see a world broken and in need of a savior. Keep us in your prayers as we will definetly need your loving support.

Sincerly a FFC

Cambodia 2010