Needs

I just feel like crying out..."I NEED COMPASSION LORD!" Guys, my flesh just sees what's before me, for me. I don't know what other people feel, what they need. How do I love the little child who lives next door who is being beaten by her mom right in front of our eyes? How do I care about the moto taxi drivers who work so hard to secure the job of transporting us, often receiving 50 cents pay or less for their efforts. Or tonight, as I left the supermarket, a little child and two women upon the steps, asking...I searched my bags and found 3 yogurts. Yogurt: so simple, so smoothe, something I really enjoy, esp. in the morning with muesli. But this cry for compassion has been growing louder each hour, and I think the Lord allowed me to taste the gift of sharing the yogurts I had just purchased. Not really much at all, compared to the needs present all around me and my own need to grow, to confess and surrender and be filled with satisfying life. But nonetheless, I feel like in the simple act I was able to experience deep reality. I want greater compassion. I know this is not found in me. Please pray that I would taste and see that the Lord is good, that HE IS MY ALL, that He has called me to obey and live fully. From the sermon this morning, "In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith - more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire - may be found in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen him, you love him....I Peter 1:6-8

Tomorrow we're heading back out to the province (called Kompong Spew), probably for the last time this visit in Cambodia. Not sure if we'll stay the night or not, but if we do, we'll certainly heare the roosters around 4am! I will be spending time talking with Sonn, the Christian lady with the vision to start this kindergarden in her home village. I hope to learn about how God has brought her into His family when all her family is Buddhist and how He has called her to share the gospel with her community. My aim is to write a story that we can share with prayer warriors. This village needs prayer. They need to know the true life. Sonn needs strength for the upcoming battles. She needs protection, as the village can be a dangerous place. There are strongholds. But our God is Strongest! We have the authority of our Savior Jesus Christ. Paul urged us to "be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might." Ephesians 6:10ff - this will be meditating material over the next several days.

Jordan and I will fly back to Singapore on Thursday, have a few days there, and then head to Banda Aceh early next week. The "going" is good, and I see that there is purpose. Much around me is transition. I am uncertain about distant plans, and even things 'before' me seem vague. But shape is coming, and there is peace in the trusting.

Goodnight from Cambodia!

Living Fields

I'm in Cambodia and found this book at the market...Title: Killing Fields, Living Fields. The book tells the complex story through the lives and testimonies of a handful of strategic Christians. From the back cover: "The Cambodian Church was first planted among the rice farmers of North-West Cambodia in the mid-1920s. Growth was slow and painful. Then fifty years of nearly fruitless toil culminated in the incredible decade of the 1970s, when joyous spiritual awakening was juxtaposed with indescribable devastation. Communist rule forced the massively depleted Church underground in Cambodia, drove it across into Thailand's crowded camps, and scattered it across six continents. At that time almost all the mature leadership perished under the Khmer Rouge. The camps are now closed; the Church is free; the time is ripe for growth and development."




Yesterday Jordan and I went to Tol Sleng: S-21, now a museum but between the years of 1976-1979 it served as the Khmer Rouge mass concentration camp and interrogation site. It was sickening. We just walked through the place in silence. How could these things happen? What did the people feel and think? How is God revealing His healing and power in this and its aftermath? What is the Cambodian Church now? Pray for the believers here. Pray for their witness in this heavily Buddhist country. I think back to Aceh and what I saw...devastation, opening to life. Pray for the living fields!

Let me tell you who Jordan is! She worked with MTI in Aceh for 6 months last year and has just joined me this month. We will be traveling companions for the next little while - she's from Knoxville, TN, is 24 years old too, and is supervising our construction projects in Indonesia and now Cambodia - she's just great and is becoming a dear friend. I praise the Lord for the provision of sending us "out" as a pair!...

I arrived in Phnom Penh on Monday and then went straight to the province (about 2 hours away) with Jordan and Mary Joy (from the Philippines!). The three of us stayed there overnight, hosted by the family of the Cambodian lady who has had the vision to take the love of Christ to her village (she is the only believer in her family and there is no Christian witness in this Buddhist village). We are working on a preschool for the lady to develop into a place of ministry and training...cultivating young hearts!). While there Jordan monitored the progress of the construction and the three of us ran a little "kids club" - 40 + kids came, accompanied by their mothers. It was amazing to just begin to be present with them, to pray for them while we laughed and played. Pray for these children, many of whom haven't heard of Jesus. Just 15 minutes after the children went home, it poured in a torrential storm - we're told storms this big only happen once a year! But it was refreshing.

...there's more to share...about the kids program in PP...just returned this afternoon from doing basic first-aid in the local community - putting medicine and bandages on the children's wounds. They get scrapes and bites that become infected quite easily.

I've been thinking to myself how many of my "wounds" are just sanitized before I even know they're there. I've been learning a lot - the Lord's been dealing in my heart of hearts in great ways. I look forward to sharing more with you when I'm next able.

-Grace and Peace from the Living Fields

I miss you, my "Casper" Trainer

Tracer, YOU'RE 12 Now!!! I miss you a lot...Mom's been keepin' me up on all the celebration. I took these pictures of a skate park I saw while I was in Indonesia - it's called "Skate Park Tsunami"...of course, I thought about my brother who taught me how to do "Casper" in our living room (for any, who, as I was, may be unaware of this term, it signifies a horizontal rotation on the board affected by twisting the body (okay, this is not a "Pro" definition) - Trace, you can comment on this post and give us the real facts!!! Do you think if I dream hard enough I can learn to grind? [Laughing] It was fun to talk with you tonight. I sure love you.

Waiting

Hi my friends! I have much to share...I think I'll try to post some pictures today and hope to write more soon.

Puji Tuhan (Bahasa-Indonesian for "Praise the Lord!")! I have been discharged from the hospital and am trying to heal quickly. Many of you don't know that I was hospitalized last Saturday, about 24 hours after I returned to Singapore from Indonesia. We decided to go to the hospital after I collapsed and then blacked out. It was such a weird feeling...I thought I had been sleep-walking or something, then I heard people trying to help me but I couldn't really even move. Thankfully the illness didn't take effect until I got back "home", since the medical facilities in S'pore are exceptional; after running several tests the doctor determined my condition to be the result of a bacteria infection - I figure those little guys were looking for a free ride to Singapore! But they sure put me out-of-commission for awhile - dehydration and the works! I still feel very weak and am suffering from severe headaches. Thank you for your prayers. I had to postpone my trip to Cambodia, and I'm still hoping to go. But the Lord has us wait sometimes.




Here are some more photos from Banda Aceh:

Local Fish Farms

Our Team House Dining Table

The white-tiled floor building is the Kindergarten we have just completed...I'll be painting the outside with colorful pictures during my next trip to Aceh.