Before Greg and Resie left for a short time in the Philippines to attend a discipleship seminar and for Resie to present her thesis to the women’s convention, we celebrated Resie’s birthday with our students and some of the National church leaders. As always, we served spaghetti and cake, and we had a great time of fellowship together.
In looking at the amount of smoke that appears in this picture, you might think that Resie, though she looks quite young, is well advanced in years. This is a misconception as she is only 28, but I have to admit that the picture does make it seem that should have called the fire department.
Wednesday nights are always a time for fasting and a prayer service at the WBI. Here you are seeing Vicheak and Pholla reading together from the Bible at the start of one of those services. Thus far in the prayer meetings, the students have been guided through the purposes of prayer and of fasting.
Tim led these services in the months of January and February, and the focus was fasting, and how to properly fast that we might please the Lord. Here, Tim is telling a narrative of a fictitious Hebrew youth named Ahban, who had just attended the Day of Atonement celebration in Jerusalem. The purpose was to educate the students in the initial purposes and the basis for fasting in an exciting way, other than just lecturing about the many facets of this celebration.
While Greg and Resie were in the Philippines, Tiffany taught a module on Storytelling in Christian Education. Her class centered around why we teach children, how stories can best be used to share Biblical truths, and how best to incorporate the children into the Bible lesson using games, crafts, songs and the story.
After teaching the story of Noah as a group, the students were divided into four separate groups to prepare their own lessons. They chose their own stories, some from the Bible and others made up their own parable that pointed to a truth in the Bible. Here you are seeing Tiffany work with the group that did the story of Jonah. After helping them break down the story, they discussed the Biblical principle that they wanted to teach to the children.
Per Resie’s request, Tiffany also spent time showing the students how to do simple, inexpensive, yet fun crafts that they could do when they begin teaching children. Here you are seeing Zanda, Tewe, and So Phol fold their origami boxes. They learned how to make stars, animal heads, fish, and even frogs.
The first group presented their story to the children who come to the Good News church on Sunday morning. First, they all sang songs together, reviewing the one that they had learned about Noah, and teaching a new song about the life of Jonah. This song, which can be loosely translated as, “Oh Jonah, where are you?” was a big hit with the children and the students had a great time teaching.
Here you are seeing Vicheak telling the story to the students. Vicheak is very ambitious when it comes to working with children, so he decided that he would play the part of Jonah, and tell the story to them as if he were the one who had disobeyed God and spent three days in the belly of a great fish. The children really responded to Vicheak’s story, and it showed that he truly has a heart for being a pastor and working with young people.
The second group taught that same afternoon. We all traveled to a new church plant in Ahreysadt, where they would be having their first church meeting. This is the same place where we did the final Operation Christmas Child that you will read about later. Here you are seeing Tiffany and Tewe strike up a conversation with a lady that was also traveling to Ahreysadt by the ferry.
When we first arrived at the church, we were expecting approximately 10-15 children. However, when the students actually began the lesson, we had over 40. Here you are seeing Srey leading the children in the song “Jesus is in my Heart”.
Tewe told a story about a young boy who was seeking after the Lord though a tough time in his life. It was amazing to see how she drew the children into the story using the pictures in her book, simple repetition, asking questions, and using emphasis in her voice. She, like Vicheak, has a gift for working with children, and we know that she will be a great pastor when she graduates from the Bible school.
As the students were working with the children, Pastor Poleak and I spoke to the adults. Pastor and Piep later pointed out that this time of year is very busy for the people as they are getting ready to harvest and they are also working very hard to bring water to their fields during the dry season. The mere fact that we had 10-15 people who were willing to stop work for about thirty minutes during this time shows that God is really working in this place, and we look forward to continued ministry in this location. In this picture you are seeing Tim tell the story of the Prodigal Son, and give witness to the enduring love of our Father in heaven.
After the service, we examined the fields surrounding the house. Tiffany spent much of the afternoon with this woman, and they walked and talked together as Tiffany asked about life in the country and working in the fields.
We were very privileged to be involved with Samaritan’s Purse and Operation Christmas Child this year. We had always filled boxes in the United States, but being here on the field and actually being able to distribute them to the kids was a great privilege. We traveled for about 2 hours by Tuk Tuk, a mode of transportation that is a covered carriage pulled by a motorbike. We also had to cross the Mekong River by ferry, something that is always interesting to do.
When we arrived at the house, we were greeted by the smiles and laughter of over seventy children. It was great to see the smiles on their faces, to hear their words, and to talk with them in our broken Khmer. These are the children who benefit from your selfless giving during the holiday season. We just wanted to let you see them, for seeing their faces made us really appreciate all of you and how your giving spirits make so much difference in the world.
Tiffany was asked to present a story to the children, so she explained the salvation message using the bridge illustration. Here you are seeing a young girl being led across the bridge to God that Jesus formed when He died for our sins on the cross. It is always a blessing to see Tiffany tell this story, for her telling is simple yet it always hits home with the students and they really can begin to understand who Jesus is and who He can be in their lives if they accept Him as Savior.
This is a great picture that reminds us of the way that we pile the boxes up in front of our churches or in our foyers at home in the United States. That is always a very heartwarming sight because it is a testament to the church’s giving nature. Here you are seeing another stack of those boxes, yet they are now ready to be passed into the hands of children who probably did not receive any other gift for Christmas. Each package in those stacks makes a difference in the hearts of both the donor and the child who receives it.
To actually be passing these gifts out to the children, some like this one who needed help from his mother, was a joy that cannot be truly expressed.
Though it is not their custom to open gifts in front of other people, we encouraged them to open their packages, and it was a blessing to see their eyes light up at the different gifts of clothes and toys that were so loving placed in the boxes months ago in the United States.
Here you are seeing a small boy who made sure to thank all of the people who came to bring him his gift. What a blessing to see the joy in this boy’s heart.
The day ended with a relaxing afternoon on the farm and mango plantation of our friend Piep. He showed us the fields, the plants, served us mangos and a variety of other fruits that are grown there, and he made sure that we left with an entire bag of mangos. His heart for the children and for his family was a great testament to his faith in God, and we can see that God is moving in the hearts of the people in this place.
On a lighter note, we were able to watch the Super Bowl with our friends Amber and Lindy. Though we had to wake up at 5:00 in the morning to do so, we still ate the customary football foods such as breadsticks, pizza, Doritos, and soda. It was a great morning made even greater by the Colt’s great victory.
We also had the opportunity to have the students over to our house for a night of fellowship. We enjoyed a night of eating popcorn, drinking soda, and watching the cartoon “Over the Hedge”. It was great to see the students laughing so hard at the antics of the cartoon animals, and it was a great night of fun and fellowship together. Here you are seeing Nol, Vicheak, and Som Aon posing together before the movie began.
The Women’s Conference started several days after the Super Bowl, and we had our Area Directors Dr. Paul and Janet Turner as our guest speakers. The women came from all over the country, and it was a blessing to see them getting acquainted, sharing their struggles, and having fun together as a group of sisters in Christ.
Here you are seeing Tiffany presenting the morning devotions on the first full day of the conference. She is speaking about how God can use the women as his vessels for pouring love and care out to their families, yet they need to first focus on being a useful vessel and being filled by God’s love.
Once again, Tiffany was called upon to share craft ideas with the women, and they did a myriad of origami projects. Here you are seeing Srey, one of our WBI students, and Tawi, the young pastor whose wedding photos we showed you last month. It was fun to see all of the women working together, laughing, and enjoying a night of fun.
It was a special blessing to our hearts, especially Tiffany’s, to see her students from the Storytelling module, jump in and help the ladies when they were confused with the crafts. Tiffany had allowed these young students to have confidence in their abilities as teachers, and they enjoyed being able to help and show the women the proper way to fold the paper to make the craft.
Here you are seeing Tiffany, Resie and Janet Turner posed together after the final session of the conference. It was great to see these three ladies working and praying together for the hearts and lives of the ladies who had come to the conference. It truly was a great week, in all respects, and some of the women were already talking about next year’s conference as they were leaving.
This is a picture of Greg, Dr. Paul Turner, Janet, Tiffany, and I as we dropped the Turners off at the airport. Dr. Turner is retiring from his role as Area director, but he will continue to work with us as a consultant. Dr. Romy Carnigal, a former missionary doctor to Zambia and Nepal, will be taking the place of Dr. Turner as Area Director. We would like to thank Dr. Turner and Janet for their years of service, and their special gift of aiding and assisting missionaries in their area. It was a blessing to spend a week with them here in Cambodia as they encouraged our hearts and strengthened the ministry by sharing their wisdom. 