Hi everyone! Just want to take this opportunity to wish all of you a Blessed Christmas and may our Lord Jesus Christ brings great joy and love in this season for you and your family! Ps: I'm currently back in Malaysia with family and friends. Hope to put up some post soon.
I was on a trip down to Phnom Penh recently and we made a stop at Svay, a town that is about an hour away from Poipet where I lived. As we were waiting for the passengers to board the bus, I saw this boy. This boy is probably about 15 years old. He was bare footed and wore only a pair of long pant and a jacket to keep himself warm from the cold weather (It’s winter now at Cambodia). Instead of being in school he was begging on the street.
It was very heart breaking to see the ways he begged. I saw him kneeling for at least 10 minutes in front of a man hoping that the man will give him something but he was being ignored. Another time, he followed and hanged on to a person, but was being ridiculed and later being pushed away. The last time I saw him, he was knocking on the window of a taxi hoping that the passengers in the taxi would show him some kindness, but the taxi just droved away.
This is just one example of kids begging on the street. At where I lived (Poipet) you can see little children begging on the streets everyday. Some of them are really poor therefore begging is one of the ways to survive. Some of them are being exploited and made a beggar.
When I see them, honestly, I just want to take them home and also wished for someone to take them home or help them in some ways. There are just so much needs around, so many children and families to help but always there is a lack of laborers.
Matthew 9: 35-38 said:
Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”
I don’t know how you feel after seeing those pictures and read Matthew 9:35-38. But I pray that you will be the worker in wherever you are to touch and changed lives.
The teacher said to the two boys: "You need to go back to Kindegarten because you don't know your Khmer alphabets"
Me: Oh! No! (saying in my heart after hearing the comment)
Chanda & Vaan said to me: But English alphabets are easier to learn.
Me: *Double oh no!*
The conversation above just illustrated an interesting encounter I had recently with two 1st Grade boys. In the midst of helping the kids to have better opportunities in the future through learning English, it had somehow made them feel less interested in learning their own mother language. This is not good. Their mother tongue is their culture, it's their identity.
The above encounter triggered some thoughts in me as I reflect my journey as a Christian. I’m sharing the following from the perspective of being a Chinese.
When I was a young Christian, fellow believers told me that now that I’m a Christian I must “change” my name, meaning to have a Christian name (by the way is there really such thing as Christian name?). The explanation given was that the Christian name reflects that I’m a Christian. How silly! The Bible said people will know that we are Christian or disciple of Jesus Christ by our fruits, our lifestyle. For the Chinese, names (which also include the family name) are very important, you don’t simply change them. In that name is one’s identity. In that name one could tell whether a person is a Cantonese, Hokkien, Teow Cheow or any other Chinese ethnic groups.
Now, if you wonder why I still called myself Christine that’s because I realized too late that I don’t have to “change” name and “Christine” is kind of stuck with me now. LOL!
I use to also hear people making comment saying “If I became a Christian I have to live like a Westerner, eat with fork and spoon and use only plate.” (No offense to any Westerners just that typical Chinese view Jesus as the westerner’s God).Why such comment? Because they were told that they must change to identify themselves as Christian.
May us be very careful with what we taught and model for others through our lifestyle. Certain things are just cultural. People don’t have to change what is cultural to identify themselves as Christian. It is good to let them keep what is cultural ‘cause that’s what makes them unique.
So, what happen to the boys mentioned earlier? They have to start learning Khmer and we have three older girls who are more than happy to teach. 
Sokkhan using the flashcards to teach.
Games time with Tina
Why is Jesus hardly in the church but was always with the people and at different villages? Apart from him loving the people, I think another reason could be because he really wanted to understand them and by understanding them he could communicate effectively with them.
One of the best ways to get to know or even to understand a person is when you visit their homes. I find this very true for myself.
Yesterday two of us visited the homes of our kids at their village. It took about an hour motorbike ride on the highway to arrive at the village. The first home we visited was Kim Sung’s home. It is a nice simple wooden house by the paddy field. We met her parents and family. During our conversation they never stop praising God and sharing testimonies on how God has been so good to them. Then we head out on the bike for another 20 minutes to visit another girl. This village that we went to is called Bon-lit.
As we rode into the village I saw many youngsters and little children. It is the Cambodian All Soul Day (something similar to the Chinese’s All Soul Day – Qing Ming. During this time the people will visit the temple with offerings (food) to offer to the ancestors.). There’s a BIG temple located in this village and because of the celebration many people gathered at the temple, some to perform their religious duty and some especially the children and youth gathered to have fun. As we rode further in I saw men and young people gathered in groups blasting loud music and playing snooker.
Then we arrived at Imm’s home. Her house is a simple wooden house on stilts. Comparing with the houses around hers, you can tell that they are not very rich. We sat and chit chat and they began to share how their neighbors would laugh at them for being Christian. But still they never stop believing in Jesus.
As we were heading home, we made another stop at Ramorn and Sokvanah’s home. Their parents are church leaders and they work as paddy farmer to feed the family. During the conversation, they kept praising God for the good things that He has done for them especially for their son, Ramorn. When I first knew Ramorn, I couldn’t understand why he is such a challenging boy. I was told that he used to smoke and drink and was thinking how is that possible. But now that I’ve seen the environment where he grew up I begin to understand. In this village, young people gathered together for fun, and in the fun there were smoking and drinking. So, it is very easy for young children without proper guidance to follow what the majority is doing.
It was a worthwhile trip although riding on the bike under the hot sun for an hour and having to ride through some VERY bumpy roads were no fun at all. The trip gave me a glimpse of another side of Cambodian community and helping me to understand them better.
Just a day after the "dog episode" (you can read from the post entitled "Don't mess with the Cambodians", a cat came by hoping to look for food, but it ended up being the food! Once again, animals in Cambodia must learn not to mess with the Cambodian.
Rest – What come to your mind when you first read the word “rest”?
Naturally our understanding tells us that to rest is to cease from doing whatever work that we are doing and come into a state of being inactive.
On the other hand, we read in the different parts of the epistles, where we were being asked “to be watchful”, “stay alert”, “continue in prayer”, “do the work of ministry with perseverance” and even Jesus said that he must do the work of Him who sent him while it is day (John9:4).
The thought of it already makes one feeling exhausted and tired. Now, how do we strike a balance between what is mentioned above with Hebrew 4:8-11?
Hebrew 4:8-11 says:
For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken later about another day. There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his. Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following their example of disobedience.
Sabbath-rest – Does it means a day rest of doing totally nothing? I’m not a bible scholar neither a bible school graduate so I won’t try to sound impressive here with clever explanations. But just want to share with you what I felt the Holy Spirit is saying to me with regard of what I had experienced recently.
It had been for a while that I was feeling tired physically and mentally with the work of ministry.There were times I knew that I had kept going on with my own strength. Sometimes, things turned out pretty well, but I knew deep inside it feels lousy. I am reading the Book of Hebrews lately and came across Hebrew 4:8-11 and the one verse that spoke to me was verse 10.
It says: “for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from his own work…”
“…rest from his own work…” This really makes me re-evaluate my heart. The works that I do might seem good and profitable to the recipients, but are those works being done out of knowing that it is being guided by God or just my good ideas? And the thought “In God there is life” came to mind. This thought helped me to see the difference between works done through the inspiration of God and works done through human effort.
Works that are inspired by the Spirit of God will naturally bring life because God is life. This life not only flows to the recipients of the good works but also to the person whom God used as the channel. It refreshes both the recipients and the servant. Hence, the servant does not need to strive trying to achieve good results for good results will come naturally because the life of God is there to bring forth good fruits. We find rest even in the midst of carrying out the works.
However, works that birth out of human effort exhaust not only the servant but also the recipients. When the servant is worn out, naturally his flesh takes over and we know that anything that is done out of flesh just doesn’t glorify God, and remember, the works of the Kingdom of God is to touch lives. Those lives are precious to God and may we always handle them with much care.
This simple revelation encourages me a lot and had helped me to come to a place of finding rest (in God) even in the midst of doing works that demands lots of energy. I hope this simple sharing encourages you too. God bless!
In the recent week, we have strange thing happening at the girls’ dorm. The girls informed us that there were blood stains on the floor of the bathroom as well as the floor at the bedroom area. It happened on two different days in the week and the girls also told us that they heard voices during the night and noises of people splashing water in the bathroom.
Being in Cambodia where the activities and manifestation of spirits are common, our first thought was could this be another spiritual confrontation again. I said ‘again’ because this is not the first time adults or children told us that they hear “voices”. Through our pass experience, we knew that this place is not “clean” in the spiritual realm.
Now, back to the story of the blood stains, we prayed with the kids, encouraged them through the word of God and exhorting them to not be afraid but trust in the power of God. Meantime the adults had a discussion. We decided to monitor the situation for a few days to see whether the same thing happen again.
Two days ago, we noticed that one of the female dogs was bleeding and it left spots of blood stains on the porch at one the buildings. (Now is the mating season for the dogs, so the bleeding could be due to that reason). We think that the blood stain at the girls’ dorm could be from that female dog. So, wanting to be sure that it is from the dog and not something spiritual, Buna, the director of the children center here decided to slaughter the dog!
This morning, that female dog was slaughtered and guess who had a party? The Cambodians!
(Note: To all the animal lovers out there, don’t ever let your pets mess with the Cambodians, they will end up in the pot!)
Now that the dog is gone, we will see whether the blood stains still appear. Main time, we appreciate your continuous prayer for us and the work of ministry here. 
Dog curry with bread - how yummy!
A big pot of dog curry. Want to try? They said it taste better than chicken!
Sokpi enjoying the meat!
The little ones loving it too!
And to the dog - we will see you in heaven!
It is almost about a month since the Malaysian team was here, yet the kids are still practicing their group cheer every now and then. Some of them even came up with their own telematch games and each time when there's a winning team, they will shout their cheer!
Today, Samnang - the youngest in the center gave me the best laugh of the year. I was busy wrapping some story books, Samnang came by to sit with me as he always does. So, he started to pick up the books and look at the pictures. There were other kids in the room as well. At one point I over heard Samnang telling the others "This is me, Do we look the same? Same right?" Then the rest started laughing.
Being curious, I went over and take a look, immediately I burst out laughing too! It was a picture of a monkey!!!!!!!! Now, let me tell you why Samnang said that the monkey is him.
Samnang was in the Monkey team in the camp organized by the Malaysian team. He is so good that untill now, he can still recite the entire group cheer. Being at this young age, he tend to associate familar pictures with himself, so anything related to monkey he will be very excited and will feel that he is part of it. Hence, when he saw the picture of the monkey he said that it is him!
Two big eyes, two big ears, rounded face just like him!
So, it is very important what we impart into the children because they have memory like an elephant. They never forget! So, always remember to impart truth and love!
Note: I've been busy with teaching and we have new kids joining us. Sorry, if you have been waiting for an update. I'll write about the new kids who had joined us in another post. Thank you for being patience :) God bless! 
We look alike!
