Saturday, 11/22, by Gary Adams. I am eternally grateful to God and my team for this incredible experience. We have had the opportunity to observe and experience what God is doing in this beautiful and vibrant community. As the team has posted some amazing observations about our encounters throughout the trip, I was fortunate to have my best adventure on the last day. I will attempt to share the experience with you in a way that will hopefully bless you in the same way as it did me.
We started the day by rising early (after 4 days I am still waking up at 4am), and encountered God by some quiet reflection in his Word and in prayer. This has been an unexpected blessing to be wide awake before others and have the time and resources to dedicate two hours to reading and meditation in God's word. We jumped in the car at 7am to make a prayer and praise meeting at the Phnom Phen church at 7:30. The spirit of the Cambodian Church led by Pastor Sokha was joyful and encouraging. We celebrated as a group the amazing unity that believer's share being children of God. We departed from the prayer meeting about 8:30 and went to breakfast as a group. I was blessed to hear Lois Kuffel, one of our Friend's missionaries, describe the many ways families have been changed by hearing the gospel and accepting Christ in their lives. Lois also translated the testimony of a local church member that has been through the trials of the Pol Pot massacre. Pastor Sokha then drove a carload of us about 40 miles to a remote farming village to worship and share the scripture with a community of believers. We were in an extremely poor environment materialistically, dirt floors, open fires, farm animals everywhere, and no public utilities of any kind. It turned out to be one of the richest moments I have ever experienced spiritually. The smiles and laughter were contagious, the singing was joyfully offered to God, and the scripture was shared with passion as all listening were clinging to every word. There was no nationality, language, or social/economic concerns as unity was celebrated in all being part of the family of God. The worship ended with Tuian, a PP church member, sharing his testimony of how coming to know Jesus Christ as Lord radically changed his focus on life.
On the ride back, I was blessed to get to know the heart and passion of Pastor Sokha for the ministry in PP. His enthusiasm and energy is enduring, and his desire to serve his God, his family, and his church was inspiring and encouraging. There are times when one can sense without a doubt in the anointing of the Spirit in an incredible work. I was blessed to participate in the outreach ministry and to meet this amazing man that God has selected to be used to further the Kingdom. To add to an already fantastic day, Pastor Sokha invited me to join him at this house for a Khmer lunch. His wife Semake made an incredible meal and we enjoyed sharing about our families, our hopes, and our dreams for the future. After lunch, I was offered a ride back to the mission home by Sokha's son, Vysal. This was a chance to get to know a sincere and talented young man of 22 years old. He is graduating from IT school and wants to use all his talents to serve God. He is a musician, a leader in the youth group, and a talented communicator. We even shared the biblical plan to find and select a partner for marriage. Can you imagine what God has in store for the Church in PP with this kind of commitment and passion to serve? I will leave Cambodia knowing that God is alive and moving in the hearts of his people. We can all pray for protection and blessing for this amazing family. Will God put it on my heart to come back – how can we support the ministry – who else will be called to participate? Great questions to ponder and seek God's will.
Saturday, November 22, 2008
Finishing Up
Friday Nov. 21
Friday was a day of shopping. We started with a trip to Phnom Wat, the largest and oldest temple of its kind in Phnom Penh. We walked around the outside and discussed buddhism and Cambodian history. Then, we all packed up and went off to the Cambodian markets both to witness the oddities – fried spiders, fried snake, and fried cockroaches (yummy!) to ten dollar Rolexes (I'm pretty sure they were fake) – and take advantage of the good deals like north face packing backpacks that would run over a hundred dollars in the states for less than fifty here (I'm pretty sure they were real). We met up with everyone (Everyone = Gary C. Harveys, Kuffels – including the ever elusive Stuart – and those of us in the team) for lunch and we had a great time visiting. After arriving home and packing our shameless tributes to the commercialist traditions of American tourists, we went to church. Phnom Penh Friends church is still being built (both the building and the body), but as you walk around you begin to get a sense of the potential of the place and it's really exciting. We had a youth meeting that evening and had great worship and fellowship with the young people there. I (Philip) shared a testimony. It was a great time and we were all blessed.
Saturday Nov. 22
Today was a day of ministry. We went to church for an early morning Bible study and prayer time. It was a powerful time of fellowship and the Lord was present. After the meeting, we went out for a brunchish type meal, (Pho for breakfast, whatever you call that) which was delicious. After the meal, we headed off to our respective ministry places. Gary and Linda went with Lois to a ministry site close to Phnom Penh, while Alan and I went with Matt to a site a little further a way. Both groups had a fantastic time meeting with new Christians in fledgling Christian communities. We were very blessed.
Sorry, no pictures today. I have some but I'm tired and the internet is slow here so you'll get the rest of the pictures after we get back. We fly out tomorrow at arround noon. Please pray for a safe trip with no bumps.
Friday was a day of shopping. We started with a trip to Phnom Wat, the largest and oldest temple of its kind in Phnom Penh. We walked around the outside and discussed buddhism and Cambodian history. Then, we all packed up and went off to the Cambodian markets both to witness the oddities – fried spiders, fried snake, and fried cockroaches (yummy!) to ten dollar Rolexes (I'm pretty sure they were fake) – and take advantage of the good deals like north face packing backpacks that would run over a hundred dollars in the states for less than fifty here (I'm pretty sure they were real). We met up with everyone (Everyone = Gary C. Harveys, Kuffels – including the ever elusive Stuart – and those of us in the team) for lunch and we had a great time visiting. After arriving home and packing our shameless tributes to the commercialist traditions of American tourists, we went to church. Phnom Penh Friends church is still being built (both the building and the body), but as you walk around you begin to get a sense of the potential of the place and it's really exciting. We had a youth meeting that evening and had great worship and fellowship with the young people there. I (Philip) shared a testimony. It was a great time and we were all blessed.
Saturday Nov. 22
Today was a day of ministry. We went to church for an early morning Bible study and prayer time. It was a powerful time of fellowship and the Lord was present. After the meeting, we went out for a brunchish type meal, (Pho for breakfast, whatever you call that) which was delicious. After the meal, we headed off to our respective ministry places. Gary and Linda went with Lois to a ministry site close to Phnom Penh, while Alan and I went with Matt to a site a little further a way. Both groups had a fantastic time meeting with new Christians in fledgling Christian communities. We were very blessed.
Sorry, no pictures today. I have some but I'm tired and the internet is slow here so you'll get the rest of the pictures after we get back. We fly out tomorrow at arround noon. Please pray for a safe trip with no bumps.
Thursday, November 20, 2008
The horrendous trip to Phnom Basat ended up being entirely worth it, as we got to spent time with Pastor Khang (in the white shirt) and his wife, and we got to meet Mr. Jim (in the blue shirt) the new evangelist who is starting a new group of Christians in that area. They are only ten families at this point, but God willing, there will be many more soon.
The road to Phnom Basat was one of the worst roads I’ve ever seen. Despite a few small lakes and logs we had to move out of the way, we made it there. But the experience of driving for two hours through all this mess, and then walking the last two and a half miles that couldn’t be driven will be a story told for years to come (mostly by us unfortunately). (that's Gary Colfax's back btw, while he surveys the lay of the land he's about to drive over).
In Pray Svai we had a chance to hang out a little bit with the village kids. Linda (the member of our team) began teaching them English, which they were very adept to pick up and quick to use. One of the kids from the village (also named Linda, ironically) then began quizzing us on our Khmer numbers, which we of course failed at until she taught us. We spent the next half hour or so learning the numbers in Khmer (muy, buei, bai). Linda then moved on to throwing a number of fingers at us and demanding the Khmer value. We had a great time playing this game with the kids until we had to start getting ready for dinner.
This is a wider view of the pre-Angkorian Wat that we visited. It is about a thousand years old and has been essentially left to itself. Kids climb on it all the time, and tourists walk through it. I wish we had just a few monuments of cultural pride in the US that we could climb on and play arround.
Battambang
First off I have to apologize for not writing last night when I had a chance (I admit it, I have no excuse, I was just really tired). We're hoping to get some pictures up with this, though, so that might redeem me a bit.
Tuesday Nov 18th
Tuesday morning we got together at the Sunrise Café coffee house down the street from the Holiday Guest House where we spent the night. This coffee house is making a great impact on families in our Battambang church by providing a sustainable income for nine women. After breakfast, we took a trip with some people from the church on little motor scooters. They drove and we rode on the back for about an hour or so until we all reached a pre-Angkorian period Wat (or temple). It fascinating to see this thousand year old Hindu temple that has gone through so much of this country's history. We met a fun group of boys there who were there collecting rhinoceros beetles and trying to pick up a little extra money by being helpful to tourists. Linda, Gary and I (Philip) had a good time meeting some of the boys, and playing with their Rhinoceros beetles. Alan and Pastor Po were able to meet some of the other boys and have good conversations with them about littering, and share the gospel. Later on, after we had already walked through the temple, we stood around with the boys and a local drunk came up to beg for money for alcohol. Alan used this opportunity to share with the boys about drunkenness and how alcohol can ruin a life. A while later, one of the boys threw some trash on the ground and Alan was able to use that to spark a lesson on caring for cleanliness in the earth, and we all picked up some trash around the temple. Then since we all did some work, we were able to leave the boys with about a nickel each for their labor and go back to lunch, again at the Sunrise Café.
Later that day we went down to the "bamboo railroad." Now all descriptions of this railroad tend to leave the listener confused, but with a little photographic aid, maybe you'll get all this. The idea is that the actual train is made of bamboo, but instead of being a full car, the train is really just a small bamboo platform that can run on a train track. When another bamboo train (or once a day when the real train) comes down the line, everyone actually gets off the train and they lift the whole thing off the tracks, and take the wheels off one at a time, let the other train pass, and reassemble the whole thing and get going again. Anyway, we had planned on taking the train out to Pray Svai and meeting with the youth that evening. But the train operator tried to swindle us out of some money, and after showing up, loading up, and actually traveling a couple meters, we got off and drove to Pray Svai.
That night we had a wonderful meal of curry and french bread, eating with pastor Khang and his family. After the meal we had a chance to meet with the youth group and pastor Khang shared his testimony to the group and Nai (a national youth leader of our churches here) helped to translate it for us into English. It was a fun time of fellowship. After the meeting, we got ready and spent the night there in Pray Svai with Pastor Khang's mother and some more of his family. Linda shared a bed down stairs with Nai. Alan and Gary slept in hammocks while I got to sleep on a bamboo bed. We all slept quite well.
Wednesday Nov. 19th
After getting up, we went down stairs and had a leisurely breakfast of cabbage soup, French bread, and dried meat. It was really good, I mean really really good. The undisputed highlight of this trip (outside of getting to know the missionaries and national brothers and sisters, and learning about the state of things here in Cambodia, of course) was this soup. Garlic, beef and cabbage, mmm. Anyway, after breakfast we all headed off with Gary Colfax, Nai, Khang and Mum (Khang's wife) to meet a new burgeoning church in Phnom Basac. Although the workers here do this trip rather regularly, it was a really rocky trip for us. We drove for two hours on roads that seemed impassible only to park and walk for another two miles up a road where the mud was so thick, at times it passed our ankles. It was a treacherous road, but despite coming close, none of us fell at any point (the hand of God was upon us). We enjoyed meeting Jim (the evangelist who is reaching out to everyone in his surrounding area, and leading this fledgling house church.) It was a real blessing to meet these people. We stayed and talked with Gary while they had an Evangelism Explosion training meeting. Gary, Alan and Linda helped some of the village children load a up a silo with dried feed corn, and Gary Colfax and I played some vollyball with some of the village youth. After a few hours, we walked back the two miles and drove back to Pray Svai, and then to Battambang (a little more quickly this time since the roads had a few hours to dry out in the sun.) In Battambang we washed up and enjoyed another wonderful meal with the Colfax family and Michelle. It was beautiful.
Thursday Nov. 19th
After waking early and hurrying to get to the bus, we all boarded and began the long trip back down to Phnom Penh. The trip was largely uneventful despite some minor bowel trouble and small lunches, and we arrived safely. Later, Gary and I took a quick walk through the palace (guided by Hiroa and Chiun Tai, two girls from the youth group), and a slightly less quick walk through toul slang, the infamous Khmer Rouge death camp turned genocide museum. It was a heavy afternoon. We all got together for dinner with the Harveys and the Kuffels, and we had a great time listening to stories and talking about things that wouldn't normally be talked about at the table in the US (great fun!)
Tuesday Nov 18th
Tuesday morning we got together at the Sunrise Café coffee house down the street from the Holiday Guest House where we spent the night. This coffee house is making a great impact on families in our Battambang church by providing a sustainable income for nine women. After breakfast, we took a trip with some people from the church on little motor scooters. They drove and we rode on the back for about an hour or so until we all reached a pre-Angkorian period Wat (or temple). It fascinating to see this thousand year old Hindu temple that has gone through so much of this country's history. We met a fun group of boys there who were there collecting rhinoceros beetles and trying to pick up a little extra money by being helpful to tourists. Linda, Gary and I (Philip) had a good time meeting some of the boys, and playing with their Rhinoceros beetles. Alan and Pastor Po were able to meet some of the other boys and have good conversations with them about littering, and share the gospel. Later on, after we had already walked through the temple, we stood around with the boys and a local drunk came up to beg for money for alcohol. Alan used this opportunity to share with the boys about drunkenness and how alcohol can ruin a life. A while later, one of the boys threw some trash on the ground and Alan was able to use that to spark a lesson on caring for cleanliness in the earth, and we all picked up some trash around the temple. Then since we all did some work, we were able to leave the boys with about a nickel each for their labor and go back to lunch, again at the Sunrise Café.
Later that day we went down to the "bamboo railroad." Now all descriptions of this railroad tend to leave the listener confused, but with a little photographic aid, maybe you'll get all this. The idea is that the actual train is made of bamboo, but instead of being a full car, the train is really just a small bamboo platform that can run on a train track. When another bamboo train (or once a day when the real train) comes down the line, everyone actually gets off the train and they lift the whole thing off the tracks, and take the wheels off one at a time, let the other train pass, and reassemble the whole thing and get going again. Anyway, we had planned on taking the train out to Pray Svai and meeting with the youth that evening. But the train operator tried to swindle us out of some money, and after showing up, loading up, and actually traveling a couple meters, we got off and drove to Pray Svai.
That night we had a wonderful meal of curry and french bread, eating with pastor Khang and his family. After the meal we had a chance to meet with the youth group and pastor Khang shared his testimony to the group and Nai (a national youth leader of our churches here) helped to translate it for us into English. It was a fun time of fellowship. After the meeting, we got ready and spent the night there in Pray Svai with Pastor Khang's mother and some more of his family. Linda shared a bed down stairs with Nai. Alan and Gary slept in hammocks while I got to sleep on a bamboo bed. We all slept quite well.
Wednesday Nov. 19th
After getting up, we went down stairs and had a leisurely breakfast of cabbage soup, French bread, and dried meat. It was really good, I mean really really good. The undisputed highlight of this trip (outside of getting to know the missionaries and national brothers and sisters, and learning about the state of things here in Cambodia, of course) was this soup. Garlic, beef and cabbage, mmm. Anyway, after breakfast we all headed off with Gary Colfax, Nai, Khang and Mum (Khang's wife) to meet a new burgeoning church in Phnom Basac. Although the workers here do this trip rather regularly, it was a really rocky trip for us. We drove for two hours on roads that seemed impassible only to park and walk for another two miles up a road where the mud was so thick, at times it passed our ankles. It was a treacherous road, but despite coming close, none of us fell at any point (the hand of God was upon us). We enjoyed meeting Jim (the evangelist who is reaching out to everyone in his surrounding area, and leading this fledgling house church.) It was a real blessing to meet these people. We stayed and talked with Gary while they had an Evangelism Explosion training meeting. Gary, Alan and Linda helped some of the village children load a up a silo with dried feed corn, and Gary Colfax and I played some vollyball with some of the village youth. After a few hours, we walked back the two miles and drove back to Pray Svai, and then to Battambang (a little more quickly this time since the roads had a few hours to dry out in the sun.) In Battambang we washed up and enjoyed another wonderful meal with the Colfax family and Michelle. It was beautiful.
Thursday Nov. 19th
After waking early and hurrying to get to the bus, we all boarded and began the long trip back down to Phnom Penh. The trip was largely uneventful despite some minor bowel trouble and small lunches, and we arrived safely. Later, Gary and I took a quick walk through the palace (guided by Hiroa and Chiun Tai, two girls from the youth group), and a slightly less quick walk through toul slang, the infamous Khmer Rouge death camp turned genocide museum. It was a heavy afternoon. We all got together for dinner with the Harveys and the Kuffels, and we had a great time listening to stories and talking about things that wouldn't normally be talked about at the table in the US (great fun!)
Monday, November 17, 2008
We're Alive!
Saturday Nov. 15th
The day that didn't exist
Sunday Nov. 16th
After twenty hours of travel, Alan, Gary, and Linda arrived in Phnom Penh tired, and needing sleep, so naturally they decided to go to church. Steven and Caroline Harvey and Michelle Murry took them to the afternoon ICF service (International Church Fellowship? I really have no idea. Sorry for those of you who need acronyms to stand for something). ICF holds an English speaking worship service on Sunday afternoon in Phnom Penh mainly for missionaries and Christian NGO workers who have been busy during their various morning churches, and need a chance to get together and worship the Lord in their heart language and culture. It was a good time to hear some preaching and witness the missions community in one place. After church they had a wonderful time just fellowshipping (or talking to keep themselves awake) with Michelle and the Harveys. Philip arrived later that evening unscratched (although not necessarily smelling his best) and Steve, Alan, and Gary picked him up at the airport.
Monday Nov. 17th
After an early breakfast (5:30, I'm not kidding, it's a good thing we've all got jet lag and can't sleep anyway) Michelle and we set off for Battambang. On the way we stopped off to spend some time meeting Nicolas and Luz Agustin, missionaries from the Guatemala Yearly Meeting who are working here in Cambodia. It was a real honor to meet these people who are such pioneers, not only pioneers in the sense of working with a fledgling church here, but also in terms of being the first missionary couple to come out of what was recently a missionary receiving yearly meeting. Please pray for them as they are having a rough time dealing with the separation from their children who have just returned to Guatemala to go to college. We also made a quick pit stop in Pray Svay and briefly met the church leader there, a man named Kang. We will be spending more time with him in a few days. This afternoon, we will be going to a youth service at the Battambang church which promises to be a great couple of hours. I'm really excited to get to know some of the people in our churches here. Then this evening we'll hang out with the Colfax family at their house after dinner. Please pray for energy for our team. With such a packed schedule, jet lag is bound get challenging as the week goes on. So far, I'm excited about everything I've heard in the last week.
Sorry, no pictures yet, but I'll put some up next time after I down load them.
The day that didn't exist
Sunday Nov. 16th
After twenty hours of travel, Alan, Gary, and Linda arrived in Phnom Penh tired, and needing sleep, so naturally they decided to go to church. Steven and Caroline Harvey and Michelle Murry took them to the afternoon ICF service (International Church Fellowship? I really have no idea. Sorry for those of you who need acronyms to stand for something). ICF holds an English speaking worship service on Sunday afternoon in Phnom Penh mainly for missionaries and Christian NGO workers who have been busy during their various morning churches, and need a chance to get together and worship the Lord in their heart language and culture. It was a good time to hear some preaching and witness the missions community in one place. After church they had a wonderful time just fellowshipping (or talking to keep themselves awake) with Michelle and the Harveys. Philip arrived later that evening unscratched (although not necessarily smelling his best) and Steve, Alan, and Gary picked him up at the airport.
Monday Nov. 17th
After an early breakfast (5:30, I'm not kidding, it's a good thing we've all got jet lag and can't sleep anyway) Michelle and we set off for Battambang. On the way we stopped off to spend some time meeting Nicolas and Luz Agustin, missionaries from the Guatemala Yearly Meeting who are working here in Cambodia. It was a real honor to meet these people who are such pioneers, not only pioneers in the sense of working with a fledgling church here, but also in terms of being the first missionary couple to come out of what was recently a missionary receiving yearly meeting. Please pray for them as they are having a rough time dealing with the separation from their children who have just returned to Guatemala to go to college. We also made a quick pit stop in Pray Svay and briefly met the church leader there, a man named Kang. We will be spending more time with him in a few days. This afternoon, we will be going to a youth service at the Battambang church which promises to be a great couple of hours. I'm really excited to get to know some of the people in our churches here. Then this evening we'll hang out with the Colfax family at their house after dinner. Please pray for energy for our team. With such a packed schedule, jet lag is bound get challenging as the week goes on. So far, I'm excited about everything I've heard in the last week.
Sorry, no pictures yet, but I'll put some up next time after I down load them.
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