Children of Cambodia

The bags are unpacked, the jetlag is subsiding, and now I face the daunting task of going over 1000+ photos, hours of video footage, and my daily scribblings to somehow document my time in Cambodia. It's hard to believe it's been less than a week since we've been back.

All I want to do is sit with my eyes closed and think about those kids. Most of my time was spent at the NIBC Kindergarten Rainbow School. There are about twenty-five 3-5 year olds that attend.




A few things I miss already....

1. Their morning stretches - they begin each day with a Khmer exercise song set to a very catchy and repetitive tune and they are so darn cute doing it. Then they all take turns singing and stretching in front of the class.




2. Their 'hello song' - they don't understand a word of it but they proudly sing the hello song everyday:

hello, hello, hel-lo-o,
how are you?
i'm fine, i'm fine,
i hope that you are, too.

3. The way they always pose for pictures with the peace sign.






4. How they want to sing the same song over and over and over again.


5. How they want you to read the same book over and over and over again.



6. Their big eyes.




7. The simple joy they have as shown by their huge smiles.

8. How their little hands come together in front of their face when they say, "Awkun, necru" (thank you, teacher) when I give them a crayon, wash their hands or say good bye.

9. Lyno, Jolana, Sreyya, Eat (yes, that's his name!), Dawan, to name a few.

10. Their little blue neckties.

11. The serious way they do their connect the dots and how proud they are when they finish.

12. Snack time. This one is 'borrowing' milk from his friend! :)

13. The immediate trust and affection they show as they just sit right on your lap or give you a hug.

I see so much potential in these kids - and I see so much hope in this school.

Now, when I pray for the future of Cambodia, I have these faces to lift up.

Now, when I pray for the future of Cambodia, it's a little more personal.

Now, I pray for Cambodia.

-Connie

Bittersweet

We just finished our last day of teaching in Cambodia. Suffice to say, it's been a great two weeks for all of us, on many different levels. I think that our lessons went fairly well, and we learned a lot that can be used for future trips, God willing.

We might be having a bunch of different posts over the next day or so, since the only things left to do are pack, do some last minute shopping, and head out to SFO (arrival is around noon on Sunday. Yes, we have rides.)

We spent some time sharing with the three missionaries who are staff here, and a consistent theme was the need for workers and the desire to be walking with God closely. Rather than glorify the role, the emphasis was on being obedient to God's guidance, and de-emphasizing the need for skills or qualifications. God can be, and is, enough.

Our last day was spent with a normal time of lessons at the kindergarten and the village school. I wasn't at the village school, so I'll speak about the kindergarten. Well, it's not really a kindergarten, because they take in kids that are 3 and 4 years old, too. Connie, Christina, and I had the kids do some painting, make some puzzles, and watch puppet shows that taught them colors and numbers. While the previous sentence may convey order and sanity, I assure, there was little of both. I will say that the kids did learn to adjust to us and came to expect song time, story time, and game times, and were easier to manage towards the end of our time there.

Of course, these kids can't understand English yet, but our hope is that they felt our love for them and will remember that a special love exists at this school.

For the last afternoon, we spent our time at the English camp located in a nearby church. The English camp has been one of the most encouraging things for our team, and today was no exception. We taught English for an hour and at the end, gave them gifts of a English-Khmer dictionary and some school supplies. For the second hour, we led a praise set and shared a message about the Gospel and how it helps us get through the persecution. Most of these students are the only believers in their families, and it is mostly an unpopular decision at that. One team member was sharing that he was so moved by how much they consider the Gospel as a true gift. When they asked if their friend or family member was saved, they were genuinely happy and excited when the answer came back positive. They are paying a price for their faith and know how precious the Gospel truth is.

Thanks for praying for us. Many prayers were answered, and our health was largely held intact. No dengue fever. No malaria. We have 20 hours to go, but I trust that God will continue to answer your and our prayers. Now, we appreciate the power and absolute necessity of prayer than we did just 14 days ago. Thanks for helping us learn this lesson.

GC

NIBC - Not I But Christ

Sue’sday!~

Thank you everyone for your prayers!

We have really been experiencing the work of God each day.

As we are making our last preparations for our lessons tomorrow at the Village and at the English camp, it's hard to believe that there are only 2 days left for us here in Siem Reap. Tomorrow is already our final day of teaching the children and many of us have a bit of apprehension in leaving as we feel that the work has just begun. Still, although we may be unsure of what may lie in the future for these children, we trust that the Lord used us in the time that we were here for His purpose and that the Lord will continue to do his work in Cambodia even when we are not here.

It’s amazing how God works at times. Many of us have been looking for opportunities to talk with people who have survived the Pol Pot regime, the communist period, to gain a better sense of how people perceive their recent past. We have heard stories of how the trauma still haunts the older generation, while the younger children are not taught in depth of what happened. The people we attempted to talk to could not express themselves fully in English, until today.

David Yang, the general manager at the place we are staying agreed to share his story with our team. A professor before Pol Pot, he is fluent in not only English, but in Khmer, Vietnamese, French and Mandarin. This is significant because most of the intellectuals were obliterated while Pol Pot led the country. Those who wore glasses, did not have calluses on their hands, and had toes that touched each other (because they could afford shoes) were considered to be educated or privileged and were killed. He shared of how he lost his mother and two sons due to disease and spoke in detail of his escape as he dodged bullets while sprinting from the rice fields. His wife and 2 sons later escaped by climbing over corpses that were victims of land mines’ explosions to be certain they would not share the same fate by walking on the ground. They were reunited in the U.S. two years later.

The gravity of his family’s experience is echoed across the country and the world as many Cambodians have relocated to other parts of the world. In California, Stockton and Long Beach are among the many communities dense with Cambodians who initially struggled to assimilate into a foreign society while trying to heal from the pain inflicted upon them by their own country. Many had reoccurring nightmares of life in communist Cambodia and even after 15 years continued to suffer from them.

However, now, almost 20 years later, these Cambodians have slowly started to come back to at least visit their motherland and are shocked to see how much has changed and struck by the potential their country can grow. This is why the work of the local missionaries is so critical at this developing/reconstructing stage.

The organization's vision is far greater than any of the members of the team imagined before we came here. They are not merely establishing a school and church, but rather, they have been commissioned by the Lord to change a generation. As mentioned before, there are few intellectuals to teach the future generations and so the organization is committed to nurturing students, both academically and spiritually, to become leaders in this healing country. What they need most are teachers to commit to the future of Cambodia. Please pray that capable teachers who are eager to share the gospel with this country will step forward.

The org's acronym stands for Not I but Christ. It is such a fitting name for this organization for only God could conjure up such vision and instill a passion in the missionaries for this to be achieved. We pray that we may live with the same passion for the Lord’s work in our lives when we get back to U.S.

Please pray for our last day of class!! And we’ll see you all soon! =)

First team photo(s)

First team picture in Incheon Int'l Airport.


Requisite silly shot. Ben was not silly.

More pics

Afternoon English Camp
Without exception, we have been more encouraged by the English camp in the afternoons than they are encouraged by us. These are our brethren in the faith, and they love God passionately. We are looking at some of the future faith leaders of the country. Please pray for them.



Playing games during English camp. These three were very committed to getting the prize.




Connie & Christina at work. The gentleman in blue is one of the local leaders and has been an encouragement to us. He translates for us whenever we need to address the group.



Ben and Joel having more fun than the students





Playing Scrabble with the missionaries



Hiking to the site of the future university




Picture of the kids at the Rainbow Kindergarten
Some more pics from the field. We have 2 days left. Please keep praying!

We have been sleeping less every night and the weather has been less favorable--the guys have been sweating through two layers of t-shirts (no joke). However, it is nothing to complain about because God has been blessing us abundantly and we don't know how many struggles and problems God is and has been protecting us from. It has been a very humbling and rewarding experience so far. Our time in Cambodia is slowly coming to an end and most of us do not want it to end.

We have come to realize how real the spiritual battle is. As we pass through impoverished streets, we see huge, adorned Buddhist temples and countless small spirit houses "protecting" the huts. Some parents of the children make them wear red bracelets because they believe that the bracelets have been blessed and will protect them from Christianity. At the same time, we meet devoted young servants of God in Siem Reap and we see that God is present here in Cambodia. In fact, we were told that there are over 500 Korean missionary families in Phnom Penh and 20 in Siem Reap. God has a plan here.

The more personal spiritual battle is seen through our personal testimonies of our trip so far. The Holy Spirit has definitely been working in each and every one of us. We have become more transparent with one another and our brokenness before God and each other allowed us to hear God more clearly. It's ironic how we come here, with the intention of helping others to see and know God, but we end up seeing him and realizing that God has not been a priority in our lives for most of us. Meeting young Cambodian Christians who have so much passion for God has been very humbling. Missionary Kim told us an analogy: A poor person who loses a quarter will look for it with desperation but a rich person would not even notice. In the same we, we have to love the Gospel and seek God desperately. We need to remind ourselves that though Grace is free for us, it cost God his one and only son--God's grace is precious and costly.

More pics

Typical Cambodian Street


Yummy Authentic Khmer Food. Tasted good going down. Some people had problems with it later though.


Whayoun and Jarunee sharing their testomnies with us. We were blessed to hear the journeys they took up until now.


Shopping for hardware in order to fix an unsafe railing at the school. We got the right parts, but got the wrong nails.


Christina shows them some string games. She helped clean, too. Really.


Some of us picking up the garbage that we just picked up. Little did we know that it's common for families to dump their garbage in one place so they can burn it later. Some of the kids thought they were helping us by emptying our garbage bags into the rocks. It was humorous to say the least.


Cleaning the village school on Saturday. We had the kids help, since they were already there. We worked, too. Really.

Day 1, Week 2

Jiem reap su! We just finished the first day of our second week here. Our schedule is getting progressively busier, but we're finding many blessings in the midst of them.

We spent Sunday with the Cambodia church at the organization's center. Though it would normally be a tedious affair to go through a worship service in 3 languages (Khmer, Korean, English) but it wasn't too bad, and the message struck many of us.

I think the thing that most of us are moved by is the humble obedience of the people we're meeting. Many of these people who are giving up their lives for reaching this country have resumes that would impress most people, including us. But as they share their testimonies with us, it is abundantly obvious that they care not for the worldly accolades and don't share these things to toot their own horn at all. They readily confess that it is not them, but Christ, that lives and does the work.

In a weird way, our team is comprised of working people, as opposed to the typical short-term missions team, which would normally have an abundance of college students. Not to shortchange the college students on the trip, but it really hits home for those of us who have worked at our careers to hear the testimonies, because we are in the middle of running the rat race, and yet these guys would readily have given up their entire lives for the pursuit they have undertaken now, in the latter chapter of their lives. Though they acknowledge their lives haven't been a waste and is useful to the work they're taking on now, they still do feel that they got started on the most important work a little later in life than they would have liked.

Today (Monday), we spent our usual time with the kids at the village. Each day is a new challenge, but we're getting used to the trek and the energy level required to teach lessons and show love to these kids. Today, Joel and Kevin did their puppet show of Daniel and the Lions Den. We gave it an A- and the kids were captivated. After a quick lunch of kimbap, we dived into our afternoon English lessons, since it was the first day of our afternoon lessons. (Due to scheduling conflicts, we couldn't go on Thurs and Fri)

I think I speak for most of the team that we were humbled from the get-go with the afternoon group. We are going to this location as an encouragement to this Cambodian church, and oddly enough, we were the ones coming away with the encouragement and blessings. We came a little early and sat down just as they were staring their prayer time. Boy, their prayers are *passionate*. As we settled into groups and started our lessons, we found that they pray passionately because they are passionate for God. Period. One team member said that one student asked how much do they read a day, and he thought the question was about reading in general, but it was actually about the Bible. The person who asked the question said they loved reading the Word and reading 30 - 40 chapters a day. That's just one example of the passion they had for God, not just for knowing him, but for reaching their fellow Cambodians. We came away completely humbled and rebuked. The Holy Spirit worked through our experience with them to convict us of our lazy attitudes towards our faiths that we take so easily for granted. Suffice to say, we're looking forward to spending more time with them, as we mutually encourage each other throughout the week.

Sorry, this post is getting kind of long and it's pretty scattered. Our evenings are going to be spent with the local missionaries, Ju-Hwan, Wha-youn, and Jarunee. Tonight was a blessed time to share some testimonies (Joel, Angela, Christina) and some personal prayer requests. We really felt the Holy Spirit move and touch our hearts and we're praying for more times like that. It was apparent to us that God had been speaking to our hearts over the past few days regarding our sins and need to be more transparent with each other. Please pray that will view each other not just as teammates, but as true brothers and sisters in the faith, sharing our joys and sorrows. Pray also for our eyes to be open to the work God is doing around us. Pray also for our health to hold up. We're pushing pretty hard and some (internal) body parts are starting to wear down.

Ah-kun. Lei-hai.
(Thank you. Good bye)

First week in Cambodia

Greetings from Cambodia! It's been almost a week since we have arrived here and the weather has been very bearable so far. Thanks to all your prayers!

This past week, most of us had spent time with the kids at Kontrak village and many of us also had the opportunity to serve at the rainbow school. Yesterday morning, we also got a chance to clean and do a little safety inspection of the facilities at contract village. As you probably expect, there were many cut corners in the building of the facilities (according to Joel... and myself). As of now, we have come up with some temporary solutions for the safety problems. Please pray that the missionaries here will find the right people to provide a more permanent solution and also pray for the safety of these children. In the afternoon, we had the opportunity to spend the entire afternoon fellowshipping with a couple of the missionaries here - Jarune and Wha Youn. They shared with us their testimonies and the visions that God has given them here in Cambodia. It really was a blessing and encouragement to all of us. Today, we finally performed, for the first time, a song in Khmer during their service. I will not expose the title of the song in case we perform it for you guys after we head home (however, this is not a promise of any sort...)

Tomorrow we will be going back to the Kontrak village and rainbow school for our last week of ministry. One thing that has been a great encouragement to all of us so far is how eagerly the kids anticipate our arrival every morning (even for the clean-up yesterday). Most of them would actually run along side or behind our van as we pull into the village. I sincerely hope that it is not for us that they eagerly await, but that it is the seeds that God has planted in their hearts that is eager to be watered and fed.

I have also had an opportunity to hear the testimony from one of the local missionaries (his name is Pinath). He has grown up in a Buddhist home. However, he had always felt unsatisfied by it. There were many questions in his head that Buddhism simply could not answer. When he finally heard the Gospel for the first time seven years ago, he finally found what was missing in his life. I was deeply moved by his testimony. It seemed as if God has prepared his heart fully and all he was waiting for is someone to come and tell him of the Good News. I wonder how many others here are like that, just waiting for us to come and share our faith with them. I wonder how many we will meet during our stay...

Praise God for all that He has shown us so far! Please continue to pray for us, the missionaries here, and the children of Cambodia!

Pictures of Ministry

Family on motorcycle heading towards the Rainbow School. No helmets!



First day teaching at the Rainbow School.



Second day at the Jesus Village School. 1/4 mile muddy walk to the school, hand in hand with barefoot students.



70+ children eagerly listening to the Bible lesson on Jesus' birth.



KCPC team presenting the birth of Jesus in English and Khmer.



English lessons taught to older children on the lower level of school.


Children in need of God's love.


Kevin throwing a victory sign with his student.

Understanding the bigger picture

Greetings from Siem Reap! Praise God for everything He’s shown us so far here in Cambodia. It is truly amazing to see God’s work at hand! The team has been teaching the children at the two locations (the organization's central office and the Jesus Village School) for two days now. The children are so eager to learn.

Thursday of this week was our first day of teaching. Over 70 children, ranging from the ages of 3-20 showed up for school at the Jesus Village. There are only two long-term missionaries teaching at the Jesus Village, Borean and Wha-Youn. With over 70 children, there is a strong need for more teachers to effectively teach and guide the children. This is certainly one of the biggest needs of the ministry here – “Send us good teachers!”

By being amongst the children, our team is constantly reminded here in Cambodia of how abundantly God has blessed us in all aspects of our lives. The children are barely properly clothed. Some children attend school wearing nothing at all. Yet despite these circumstances, the children are excited and eager to learn. Their eyes gleam and their mouths smile. They are filled with laughter every day while they sing “God is Good” in their local language. It has truly been a blessing being able to spend a few hours a day with these children. We can only hope to give them a glimpse of God’s love through our lessons and interactions with them.

To witness the teachers’ passion and love for the children of Siem Reap has also been such a blessing to our team. We are so encouraged by the work God’s already done and will continue to do here in Siem Reap.

There is a window of opportunity right now to share God’s word and to restore the people of Cambodia. It is an honor for our team to be a part of God’s history making. Those involved with organization here and the new university being planned have shared with us their passion for God’s kingdom and we feel so privileged to be able to first-handedly witness and partake in such a great movement. From a satellite view, Cambodia is one of the darkest countries on our planet due to the lack of electricity. In a similar manner, Cambodia is a country suffering from spiritual darkness, but the temples of the false idols, like Angkor Wat, have fallen, and the light of God has already begun to shine in the province of Siem Reap. Praise God for the new organization's mission center, the university being planned, and all His great work here in Cambodia!

Some pics from first few days

Team Meeting

In front of famous tree featured in Tomb Raider.


In front of Angkor Wat

First few days in country...

Thank you for your prayers, friends, family and church.

We have arrived in Siem Reap all 13 of us safe with our max. 26+ luggages filled with your donations and gifts.

Our first humid day in the city was an educational and eye opening experience. Most people visit the area to see the famous temples in the Angkor Wat complex and to take advantage of the cheap economy of the region.

We were able to experience both. Angkor Wat, orignially bulit for Hindu worship is surrounded by a beautiful moat and is easy to imiagine in its orginal splender. This large complex (1.5km x 1.3km) of which we were only able to see a tiny fraction is now in ruins and is still visibly degrading today. We were told it was meant to last 1000 years yet it only lasted 300 before it was in ruins. What man builds, God will break.

Our team was then taken to see a bit of a "village" a little aways from the city. There are no paved roads in Siem Reap. So our bus ride was quite bumpy in the muddy roads. We arrived to see the brown waters of Tonle Sap lake where locals live in floating houses. Here we literally saw the daily lives of the locals, as they bathed, washed dishes, did laundry and ate meals out in their open houses made of dried palm leaves. There were many small children, in fact i dont think I have yet to see an older generation of people-most we have encountered are young men and women under 30. Children here in this "floating village" are naked or dirty by our standards. Many of the very young ones look at us curiously and wave "hello" in english. And many more of them attack our boat with trained faces of desperation begging for money or a dollar to buy a soda or banana. If I told you of the aggressiveness of the kids, your heart would break at their plight in such a young child. Yet this is what they depend on. The parents sell the faces of their children to anyone who has a heart. We are told that our boat driver makes a wage of about one dollar a day. So you can imagine what a dollar would be for a child selling trinkets. In fact much of the city's economy depends on our tourism. And by "our" I mean anyone visiting who has enough to spare one dollar. It is quite shocking to find how much one dollar is worth here.

All this you can see in a day, as we appraoch the week, I pray that God will show us more depth and more of how He is already working in this land.

Day 2, we were privileged to be able to attend the opening ceremony of the NIBC center of so far, buildings including a preschool, english school, computer lab (thank you for your laptops) , dormitories and a chapel. Many leaders, supporters, pastors and locals alike all were present for the morning worship service. Translations were in three languages as NIBC was founded by the korean university sudents of Han Dong : Korean, Cambodian and English. Even George got to say a few words as we and prayed for the buidings of this center!

Tonight we have just finished our lesson prep for tomorrows first day at school for us. We met with the local teachers and missionaries to discuss tomorrows schedule and we are ecxited to meet the children of Kontrack Village. At the same time, I know that I am a bit fearful at the condition of the children we will see tomorrow. We have been told that the outskirts of this province are in much worse conditions.

The condistions here look very poor to us and it is obvious the country had suffered much through many wars. Yet as Pastor John points out to us. there is much hope here in these young people. They learn fast. ( their english is very good!) And they hunger to make money. It is obvious that there is great potential here. and in these english schools that are built on chirstian foundations with God s firm hand, we are excited to see what God will show us next.

Tomorrow we go the schools with humble hearts. Please pray that we let go of our preconceived ways and trust that God will lead us to serve him in his plan for this country. Today we are more aware of the christians in the world, at home serving as well as abroad and I do not consider oursleves more worthy than you reading this at home. but we go with the gospel hope that we all do everyday and feel blessed to be here.

Thank you for your fervent prayers.