Wednesday, May 2, 2007

April Update

Friday fellowships at our house are always a highlight of each month, and this fellowship was not an exception. We had all of the students and the staff over to teach them a few more examples of the origami that they could use when they teach children. Here you are seeing one of the lighter moments of the night as Tiffany and some of the students tried on the hats that they had just made.

Here you are seeing Tiffany help one of our students Srey Lis with her origami. Being involved in these students’ lives and sharing evenings like this night make being here in Cambodia, serving God, a special privilege.

We celebrated Aleeyah Fernandez’s second birthday at the end of the month of February. We celebrated it in the real Filipino style of a big meal with many special foods and treats. Here you are seeing Resie and Aleeyah pose with one of those special foods, hot dogs topped with marshmallows.

It was great to meet all together to celebrate this special day. There were people from the United States, the Philippines, and Cambodia all joined together in unity during the special evening of fun and fellowship.

The students continued to conduct their children’s ministry projects. Here you are seeing two young girls praying following the story performed by our students. One of the most rewarding aspects of these projects is seeing young people being impacted by our students in such a powerful way.

A special prayer request for the ministry here in Cambodia is for the children. Many children here in Cambodia do not attend school, and if they do come to church, they come alone. Here you are seeing children walking away from the story time with out students, very alone, on the busy street outside of the Bible School. Pray especially for these children to feel the special touch of Jesus Christ on their young hearts so that they know that they are not alone.

We were blessed to attend the wedding of one of our pastors in T’boung Khmum. We were happy to share in this great day with our friend So Pea and his new wife Channa, and we were honored that they wanted a special picture taken with us.

One of the aspects of the ministry that I had not counted on was being asked to give blessings at the weddings of our pastors and students. Here you are seeing my friend Leak and I giving the blessing to the bride and groom.

On one other Friday Fellowship that we conducted, we went to a rally in the center of town. The rally was conducted by a local anti-trafficking organization and its purpose was to raise awareness of the human rights violations that are taking place all over Cambodia. It was a powerful night, and out students eyes were opened to the realities of this terrible practice.

Traveling in Phnom Penh is always full of adventures. Here you are seeing the student piling into the Tuk Tuk, a covered cart pulled by a moto, after the rally.

Tim spoke at the first Wednesday Night prayer meeting at the Bible School, and he gave his testimony. The message was centered around the proverb written on the board, “Every Christian has a past, and every sinner has a future.” The idea behind the message was to encourage the students to share their testimony with other people to give the realities of their salvation and to give hope to those who have not accepted Jesus as their Savior.

This past weekend was another fellowship at the Gallant house, and we began the night with a special time of praise and worship. Tiffany then gave a very inspiring message about fellowship and we had a time of giving praises and prayer requests. It was great to see the students opening up and giving honest prayer requests to each other, asking for help in living the type of life that they know that God is asking them to live.