#67 - 5th Year in Cambodia

Gryphon and Joelle are in their new uniforms

Praise the Lord. We have now entered into our 5th year of mission work here in Cambodia. Personally, our faith, our Bible knowledge have grown tremendously and our relationship with God has become much more intimate, which affected our marriage, and our parenting. We can now testify that God is with us in all circumstances when we trust and obey Him. Gryphon had graduated from Elementary and entered Middle-School and Joelle is in 4th Grade now.

The Discipleship and Dormitory program has ran for almost 4 years now --- of course it is not perfect and we can think of many things to improve and change but one thing we know for sure is that our decision to focus on teaching the Bible and steered away from teaching English or computer is crucial.  We truly believe God's words have been planted in these students heart and God is working in their personal lives.

Concerns & Prayer Request for this year
1) Children's School:  We have increasing concern about the academic strength and the Christian value of the school especially as our children are in upper grades.   Our school has lost 14 of its international teachers/staff at the end of last school year in addition the Elementary Principal and her husband, the School Chaplain also returned to the US.  Total of 16 international staff left at the same time.  We pray that God will give wisdom to the school administration to continue to provide quality Christian education in Cambodia.

2) Ministry:  We are disappointed to see most of our older students did not rise up to be a stronger or better student leaders.  The laid-back culture and lack of self-motivation upbringing are very difficult to reverse.  A handful of students show significant growth in the past years and we will continue to help them to reach the next level.  We pray that God will bring up the next generation youth leaders to serve Him in the ministry and guide the young students.

Praises and Sharing -- Here's a few things God has continue to put in our hearts in the last few years:

1) After serving God full time at Pui Tak Center in Chicago and now in Cambodia, we know for sure we want to serve Him for life, especially in the mission field or related to mission.  We want to share our experience with God and encourage more people to give their lives to God as a living sacrifice as Paul said and the workers are few in the mission field.  There are plenty of people willing to GIVE things and do charity work but we need more people to teach His words.

2) We want to bring up our children to know God's words, to fear God and to love God but not to chase after successes in school, in extra-curricular activities or in their future career.  We have seen how Christian parents joined hands with non-believing parents in chasing after academic success, prizes from piano lessons, multi-lingual skills etc........ We pray that we can be a living testimony to our friends, that we focus on our children to know God, to fear God, to obey God, and to follow God for the rest of their lives.

3) We need to search our heart and see if we really have the love of God.  If we love God, we have to love His words. When we don't know His word, how can we live a life that is according to God's desire?  May you join us in prayers for ourselves and other brother and sisters to truly know His words?

#66 - Debt - Students' Personal Problems

One of our daily struggle is how to help our students' personal troubles. DEBT is one of the biggest problems and one of the most common we face.

We had shared about this "borrow money with my land" culture a year or two years ago.  But just like any other toxic and sinful things we had in our lives, it tends to sneak up on us without notice.  Recently, we found out more and more of our students' family or relatives are in debt and in the edge of forfeiting their home (land). These loan has an interest rate as high as 35% per year but they were advertised as the "savior" to help poor villagers to get money to pay for whatever they need.  

Consumer Loan (Micro-Finance) In Cambodia, it is getting more and more popular to borrow money to buy phones, motorcycle, and other things.  There is always a "payment plan" that make the young people feel comfortable and attractive to borrow money to buy what they want right away! 

So, in one of the Saturday fellowships, we taught our students about loans, interest rate, and payment.  After the exercises, we all found that the popular phone interest rate is about 20-25%  (per year) and the motorcycle is about 25-35% (per year)!  

Pray that God gives us wisdom how to educate our students and their families on the danger of debt.

Most students DO NOT know how to calculate basic percentage,
not to mention interest rate.

Giving example on interest rate

Students are amazed by the "REAL COST" of the US$99/month to buy a motorcycle.

THEY ARE IN SHOCK!

Giving more example on different kinds of loans.

An example to explain the "REAL COST"  to buy the motorcycle.

#65 - Marriage and True Follower of Christ

After almost 3 months, we finally finished the "This We Believe" sermon series.  "Marriage" is current our new theme beginning in March.  

Our students were excited as every one is interested in having a good marriage and they all knew many many people ended up in divorce or an unhappy marriage.  Although a bit shy and embarrassed about the topic at the beginning, the more they learn and hear from the Bible about marriage, they learned it is not just about 'not have sex before marriage'.  

They realized it goes back to a simple but very important question -- 

"Do I truly believe the Bible?"

"Am I truly a follower of Christ?"

Because the "love ♥" God intended for marriage is so much different than the romantic love of the world.  

The marriage God intended is a "one" that points to Him and not to satisfy our own self.

"Who think they will get married in the next 5 years?"  Almost all the girls raised their hands!

In Cambodia culture, it is accustom for boys sit together and girls sit separately.

Demonstrating a life-long commitment of marriage.
The year from childhood to 20+ is just a short time
to prepare themselves to be a Godly husband or wife.

Facts about Marriage (some interesting & some sad) in Cambodia that we learned from our students:

• One of our students' parents oppose to her study and try to force her to get married repeatedly for the last 2 years.

• All of our girl students (almost 20 girls) think they will be married in the next 3 to 5 years. (They are only 18-22)

• Some of our students got married suddenly while they were still studying the 1st or 2nd year of university.  

• All of our students know at least one of their peers or cousins who has already divorced after they got married for a few years.  One said his friend divorced within 6 months.

... and in Cambodia,

• It is common to get marry when they are 18 years old, so the parents do not need to "worry" about their daughters, because it will be her husband's responsibility to take care of her, i.e. to provide food and shelter.

• It is very common for our students (between 18-22) to have a young nephews or nieces because many of their younger sibling are married and have children.

• It is common that our students' mother is taking care of one or more of their grand children while the children parents go to work in a factory in another province, so they only see their children every few months.

• It is common to borrow money to pay for the wedding banquet, usually costs a few thousands US dollars to over ten thousands.  The young couple incurred the big debt as soon as they get married.

During Sunday worship.  Topic of marriage - in God's way.

Please continue to pray for our students and our family in Cambodia.

Our prayer requests:
◪ Pray for our students to "truly" believe every words in the Bible
◪ Pray for our students to "truly" become the follower of Jesus Christ by obeying Him
◪ Pray for the health of our family

#64 - Burglaries, Thefts, Break-ins!!!! Armed gangs & staged car accident!! Safety Problems......

The roof of the Boy's Dorm.
The boy was sleeping outside because
it is cooler and left the door unlocked.

We knew break-ins are common in Cambodia but you never really felt how dangerous it is until it happens to you.  Last month, a few thieves broke into the boys' dorm – it was partially our students’ fault as some of the boys were sleeping on the roof terrance and left the door into the house unlocked.    But remember, no stranger suppose to be walking around the top floor in the middle of the night.  The thieves entered the house and stole a few cell phone and some cash from our students.  Around the same time, a "woman" tried to open the girl's house front gate during day-time and pretending to know someone in our house too.   

The covered area of the roof at the Boy's Dorm 

covered by tin-roof and tin-wall.

About two weeks ago, the girls who stayed on the 2nd floor were awakened in the middle of the night due to the noise of a thief shaking the balcony door violently on the 2^nd floor.  The door was locked hence after a few attempts and when the lights were on, the thief escaped. 

Few days ago, the girls stayed on the top floor were awakened again because they heard footsteps on the tin-roof and then they heard someone was shaking the entry-door on the top floor.  So they screamed for help and when the dorm leader and other girls came up and turned on the lights, the thieves ran away.

Additional barb-wire has been installed yesterday but the girls are definitely shaken and worried.  We probably need to buy some new, better, bigger pad-locks to replace the old ones.  We are considering if we need to install security camera, or even build a drywall ceiling on the top floor because anyone can peel open the tin roof and break-into the house.  But our budget would definitely not able to cover this kind of major additions.   

To make the matter worse, our students told us that there were also armed gangs in the area trying to rob car drivers by pretending to have a car accident at night.   Please keep the safety of our students, and our family in prayers.  Especially pray for Amy when she drives to the dorm by herself on week night.  

Top floor entry door on Girls' Dorm.  Someone climbed up from the back, crossed the roof, came down and tried to open this door.  It was locked but if the girls hadn't scared the thieves away, they could have broke the window on the door and unlocked the door.

View of the same door from the inside.

Tin roof -- we are now worried that a thief could have peel off the tin and climb into the house.

Girls' Dorm - 2nd floor balcony door

A thief tried to open this door about 2 weeks ago in the middle of the night

 but was scared off by the girls.

Back of kitchen -- when we first rented the house 3 years ago. 

We installed some barb-wire before the students moved in 3 years ago.

We have now installed additional barb wire (not in pic) to cover all the rails between our house and the neighbors from the ground floor all the way to the roof.  

We hope it will discourage any thief to climb up thru our neighbor's fences 

and get into our balcony or roof.

#63 - Lessons learned from our students

Putting God first in our Lives  
➽ Lessons learned from our students:

↪In our week-night bible classes , one of the students always come to class on time, pay attention, answers questions and participates in discussions (let's call her Jane). In our eyes, she is a good diligent student with good Bible knowledge.  However, girls who live with her at our dormitory don't like her because she always "show-off" (in the little things she does) consciously or subconsciously hence everyone thinks she is not humble and no one is willing to ask her for help, be-friend her, etc....

☝We all know our God is the all-knowing God that He knows our heart, He knows all that we do and our motives.  But somehow God is always not on our radar during our wonderful lives.

It reminded me of many lunches we had with fellow church-goers after Sunday services around the world.  One thing in common around the world, is what we talk about? We usually talk about ourselves! We are always proud of ourselves with the wrong things, e.g. our accomplishment (e.g. certificate in xx, joining the famous Bible-study, etc.) or our children accomplishment (e.g. 1st place in piano competition, ballet, or what university to attend etc.).  We always put our effort in the WRONG and WORDLY things; and tried to impress our fellow sinners.

We need to focus on God; and how God sees us --- our actions, our thoughts, our motives. We need to be worthy to be called God's children, we need to give our Father the Honor He deserved.

In James 4:6 said,...“God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”

↪When we continue to hear the story, other girls at our dormitory compliant about Jane when she translates from English to Khmer for us in front other students. The students said that Jane did the translation well but they didn't want to listen to her, and hence they didn't want to listen to what we teach from the Bible or listen to the sermon.

☝Our first reaction is our students should focus on God no matter who is translating, love and forgive others.....  But the incident also remind us of our-old-selves.  Back twenty years ago, we used to complaint about why our church are so old-fashioned, why not have better church activities, why not sing a nice modern christian praise song at church.  Yes we had the same problem as our students.   We value ourselves higher than God.  We put our own pleasure before the Glory of God.  We only want a more enjoyable time at church instead of a true and acceptable worship.

*BTY, we are teaching our students to appreciate traditional hymns with biblical truth and compared them to many modern praise songs with 20 words. 

↪In recent weeks, one of the boy students has stepped up to be the translator during Sunday sermon. His English is not the best among the students, but he has a strong serving heart. He would prepare the translation ahead of time, so that he knows how to translate from English to Khmer for certain Biblical terms.

☝His attitude reminds us our attitude when we serve at church. For example, singing in choir, collecting offering, preparing PowerPoint slides, teaching Sunday school or even playing piano. We should examine ourselves:

• Do I serve at church because I am ”good” at it? 
• Do I serve because I have some ”free time”? 
• Do I serve because I have been doing it for my last 30 years? 
• Do I serve because I think ”if I don't do it , nobody will do it?” 
• Do I serve because it looks good in front of my friends? 
• Do I serve because my children is in the Sunday School, so I should contribute some of my time to the Sunday school too?

How many of us serve with the right heart and right mind when we are serving God? How many of us serve to seek glory to God but not to seek glory to ourselves?  Are your worship acceptable to God?

Let's remind ourselves from the book of Romans how should we glorify God everyday.

Roman 12:1-2
I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Our prayer requests:
➺Keep our students in your prayers for them to open their hearts to know about God, confess their sins, and believe in Jesus Christ as the Savior.
➺Pray for our dorm leaders' spiritual strength to lead other students in the dormitory
➺Continue to pray financially for our dormitory's operation expenses as living expenses are increasing significantly in Cambodia in recent months.
➺Pray for our family health as we are still recovering from a cold from recent weeks.

Worship 2 weeks ago during Chinese New Year.
(many students left to visit hometown because their schools were closed)
Amy led the music worship.

Gryphon and Joelle are listening during worship.

Sunday worship a few week ago. Students led the singing.

One student leading the corporate prayer.

Prayer time.  Many students went to their hometown to visit family,
because most schools have holidays during Chinese New Year.

Students are prayer for our hometown church, our dormitory, and Cambodia.

Thomas shares at the sermon and leading the prayer.

Over half of our students has good understanding in English,
so the sermon is needed to be translated to Khmer (Cambodia language).

This student is a bit shy when translating,
 but he served faithfully to translate during worship.

Another Sunday during singing.

Another student translating for Thomas.  This student's English is not
the best among others, but he serve faithfully.