Phin Naro

Come and meet Pastor Naro. Pastor Naro is one of our oldest friends in Cambodia. We me him during our initial 6 day visit when we attended Christ Lutheran Church of Phnom Penh. We really got to know him when we returned in 2012. Pastor Naro has been a friend ever since and because he is located here in Phnom Penh with access to reasonable internet, he has used Skype to “keep in touch.”

Pastor Naro (and his wife Kanhchana in the photo) have three sons, and we are proud to call the entire family friends. They pray for and with us frequently and are willing to assist us whenever we need help. Besides being the Pastor for Christ Lutheran Church, Naro also mentors two young men who are about to complete their pastoral training through the Luther Institute of Southeast Asia (LISA) and be ordained in March 2016. Pastor Naro is also the Director of Lutheran Hour Ministries of Cambodia and a frequent author of many of their local devotional series. It is always our pleasure to help Naro with proofreading and English.

His wife Kanhchana is the Cambodian director for CWEF out of Hong Kong, a job she had on our last deployment as well. She is a lady full of wit and laughter at any given moment. She struggles with English at times, or so she says, but she never gives up trying.

As busy as he is, Naro always has time to help us too. When we were in the United States raising support, Naro was always on Skype reminding us that we were destined to come back, and asking us if we had any news about when we would return. We are proud to call Naro a friend and mentor.

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A Modern Day Paul

This is Pastor Dynes. If you ever want to find something in Phnom Penh, all you have to do is ask Pastor Dynes. Dynes knows everyone and everything in Phnom Penh. You can see from the picture that he is not a huge man, but he is strong and wiry. He is also very handy with repairing things.

Pastor Dynes reminds us of Paul. Paul was a tentmaker who when money was a little tight, was not afraid of working in his field of being a tentmaker. Pastor Dynes also supports himself and his family of a wife and two sons by driving a tuk tuk, a small trailer that holds four Americans or a dozen Khmer people and is pulled by a motorbike. Pastor Dynes has modified his tuk tuk to use a drip cooling system. He has a large reservoir that looks like at one point held cooking oil which he fills with water. Then, he has scrounged some clear tubing that provides a constant drip of water on to the cooling fins of his motor bike’s engine.

A bible is always somewhere near Pastor and his tuk tuk. If you hire Dynes for the day, he will give you his phone number and ask that you call him when you want to go somewhere else. But, when you call, he will not answer, but will show up at the appointed rendezvous point with a big smile on his face in just a couple of minutes. While you shopped, Dynes was under the shade of a large tree reading his bible and planning his next sermon.

Dynes speaks some English, but cannot really understand a real deep conversation. He works hard and we wish that we could talk more with him, but because he lives some distance from the office, and works hard at driving his tuk tuk, we need to limit our contact to situations that can help him make money to support himself and his family.

But, if you come to Cambodia and want a romantic tour of the capital maybe you can hire Pastor DyDynes and his tuk tuk to take you around town.

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Cambodia for Jesus Christ

We were discussing Khmer Christian music for devotions in the morning and on our third look we found this. Mind you this is not the norm here, but those so privileged to live in the city and be exposed to somethng as fine as this is amazing. Only a slight few outside the big cities even have electricity yet and we are still working on safe water and sanitary conditions. However, we were awed by the expressions of some of the students here who were obviously singing from deep inside, as well as the conductor who was very pleased how God was being told here. Amen.

Please click below to view the video. It was too big to put in this site.

https://www.facebook.com/EmpoweringLCC/Cambodia for Christ

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Traveling in the Kingdom Day 3-4 ~ A Trail Between the Bridges

Stroeng Treng is north and east of Phnom Penh. It touches borders with both Laos and Vietnam because of a spectacular juncture where the Mekong Falls are situated. Actually in this area we are told that there are over 4,000 islands out there terracing the landscape. Viewing leads me to believe that some of their presence to the viewer is relevant to the rainy versus non rainy season.

In this area there is also the ability to see the Mekong Falls. While I’m not into waterfall dialogue a whole lot and I’ll leave this to George to elaborate on later if he wants, I will admit that it was a spectacular sight. For one, I can’t compare it to Niagara Falls. This area was a series of cascading drops and stair stepping water rock formations with an almost canyon event or two. The water in itself takes on a greenish hue and because of forever warmth, it has a certain odor with it, even though it looks clear.

Until recently travel in this province meant using a ferry between areas as no bridges existed. Whew, we are happy to hear that there are two new bridges now that make daily commute for locals much safer. Poor maintenance on the local ferries had, of recent, caused a lot of worry using them, especially in the rainy season. The bridges are less than a year old and already the area is transitioning from the ferry areas to the bridge areas where people can sell their wares and foods.

There is a Jarai village who live along the river and migrate back and forth. There are floating fishing communities in the distance and a wide prevalence of use of long tail boats. The province is lush green red soil. It’s miles and miles of driving from one area to another, or it seems so, dependent again on the roads.

Stroeng Treng will be the site of a Garuna School in the new year. As we visited it now and climb the hill at the road entrance, it is as yet just deforested land totally undeveloped. On the same road/area there will also be farm investments made, as well as a goal for a theological training center. Even at one stop at the base of the larger bridge we investigated some land that was on the river itself and under discussion as a retreat center.

The other reason for our visit to this area was to celebrate Christmas with Pastor Vesak and his flock. We were humbly impressed with Pastor Vesak’s family who have so unselfishly incorporated their daily life into this church. Vesak’s wife during the week opens up her veranda and it has a restaurant position. She is a great local cook and her notoriety for such is well known. Her food is clean meaning we could enjoy it as well. While dishes were washed by hand in a large dish the water to do so was running clean. We did notice she had a fridge but the orange ice chest seemed to hold the foods that needed to be there.

Church services that night meant the young folk had quick learning of a few songs prior to their performance. Gladly it can be said here that they made all their mishaps beforehand and glorified Him in their performance. The one downside was the flat tire that happened (and couldn’t be quickly repaired) that was to have brought another 120 to share time with. That being said, way to much food existed for the remaining folk, so lots of food went home with those present for the next day. The service held probably a tad less than 50 till the end and when darkness erupted around us, when meal fellowship began under a single lightbulb or two hanging above us.

The next morning we continued to Ratanakiri and the Jarai village. What pleasant addition to all this is that Pastor Vesak, his family, and some others close by hopped into a pickup truck and rode shotgun all the way there. Again Pastor Vesak’s wife shined her culinary skills in managing the meals for everyone while we were there. Many women joined in to help in the prep process beforehand, cutting veggies and meat for over 120 people. This included the arrival of people from four other churches who came alongside to stand with the Jarai folk who are still so young in their faith. While some could not speak the Jarai language, the love of Jesus was everywhere.

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Out the Back Door

This was posted on my ELCC FB website back on January 6th. I had somehow neglected to also put it here, but because of a surprise last night I thought putting this out first was crucial for you all to realized how impacting our surprise last night was for us.

Most evenings we take a walk out the back of the commune, avoiding the gridlocked dust raised road that would normally take us out. More and more of the people who live here are extending greetings to us every time we venture that way. One time a passerby said (he was married to a khmer gal) said he’d never seen any foreigners in the area before and his wife had a business in the area. smile emoticon
Anyway, these ladies all hollered “hello” to us last night so we ventured toward them to talk, finding out that they were practicing ‘school’ with the gal in the orange on the right being the teacher. They all greeted us and told us their name. When I looked at the folder on the table I realized it was all in English and that she attended a school in the neighborhood called Milky Way School. Each girl had a reasonable level of English, but the 11 year old Koteia was very proficient at it already, indicating to us that this generation will march ahead much quicker than their counterparts in the villages where English is not so prevalent yet. She was beaming with her ability to talk with us so willingly. (and her english was very clear too.)

That is one reason the Garuna School project is so vital at this time with those children who aren’t in the big cities of Phnom Penh, Siem Reap, Battambang, and Sihanoukville. They don’t have the same playing field that these students are exposed to. To us that is important to raise up Christian leaders for this country thru these initiatives.

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Traveling in the Kingdom Day 2

This was originally written on December 7, 2015 and follows the first post of a while back by the same name. It is a continuance of the first post from December 6, 2015 actually.

Our arrival to the guest house was after 10pm last night. A short cut ended up being a long addition. Cambodian roads at night frighten me a bit. The only lights on the road are the ones off motorized vehicles. Motos are only visible head on. Animal laden carts meander down the road with whatever attached to them. Bicycles and people are a black moving object not visible till you are almost on them. It’s black out there.

A side jaunt west from our destination of Preah Vihear temple brought us outside Siem Reap to eat dinner with his Excellency. Pastor told me that I’d need my Khmer stomach henceforth and was it ready? Tonight’s meal was at an open roadside stop. We hung out with the rice and cooked sauces and bits of meat. No problem.

Our guest house is basic but very adequate. The loudest old fashioned TV had one BBC channel of 30 and spoke only in a whisper. There was an AC in working order, a gecko to sing to us on the wall, and a shower willing to give us a cold wash. This one had a top sheet on the bed, a first in a while.

When you have certain representatives along for the day, I’m presuming that there is certain protocol to follow. A picture taking spot would be one of them, so this is what we did first. Beautiful lake found and photo shoot accomplished. From there cars caravanned a plethora of dirt roads to our final morning spot. Getting out of the car last, we followed the parade of those arrivals just ahead of us, into a two sided column of clapping smiling children into adult women and men in military dress extending their traditional hand clasped greeting. We were ushered to a lovely canopy area of red plastic chairs.

People scrambled to get a place to sit under the canopy. The children were ushered to the ground to siton a plastic tarps. In the background we hear “How Great Thou Art” in Khmer followed by “Just As I Am.” Hey, a mini Billy Graham thing here.

The start begins with singing in front and is followed by a sequence of speeches by various persons, Vannarith included. Earlier in the day he also tells us that some of the men from this area will join with LISA training next month. That is great news.
One person in particular is pointed out to me. He is a lieutenant colonel in this military. He was the same in the Khmer Rouge army. Now he is a Christian. Thank you Jesus.

The last speaker is Sopheat, an energizing charismatic guy who is there to share the gospel message. No, I can’t understand much of his verbiage, but it’s clear to me that the earthly business details are done, and he is going to engage these people closer to God. As I walk around and watch, I can see the audience’s facial expressions change as he speaks.

Concluding this morning would not be complete without distribution of packets and crosses to the children and the Christmas story to each who was there. A gift to the area also included some well appreciated boxes of bibles and song books for Sunday worship.

‘Jesus loves you’ was spoken to each child as a cross and a packet were handed out with a paper version copy of the Christmas story.

God was praised today. God was also glorified. God was seen. God is good. We were humbled to be able to see it all and be a part of it.

PS: meal #2 Khmer style. We ate ‘in the bush’ with these lovely folk. Again, we stuck with rice noodles and sauce meat. It was delicious. No problem

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Eating at Home

Three Things you all always see at mealtime in a Khmer home.

Rice: lots of it piled high on your plate if your host / hostess has their way. If there is no rice at a meal, then it’s like they have never eaten their meal.

Soup: it won’t have another name to add specificity to the contents thereof. It could be clear, it could be cloudy. It will have leafy greens in it of some form (may be morning glory or something of that nature). Each of these will have a specific and pleasant taste of its own. 98% of the time you’ll see chunks of a ‘fish’ floating in it. Enough said.

Fish: Ponds, lakes, or farms give a plethora of fish. Fish can be dried, fried, boiled, porridge, or pasted. So many types of fish westerners would think of as trash fish or maybe an invasive species. Each variety has its own special appeal.

Long term being here and eating locally, one has to adjust and adapt out of respect to those sharing their food with you. It has always been good, just an adaptation of its own.

Rice has a good flavor here.

The photos below:

The fish is a small snakehead according to Mr. G.

The rice in the dish is a single serving if you desire.

The meal was eaten on the floor of a home on a mat with everyone in a circle. It was Christmas day and we were in Siem Reap. I guess you could say that this was our Christmas meal. It was very delicious. 

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Traveling in the Kingdom in December

Let’s start traveling along the month of December way back on Sunday December 6th. I promised you, our readership and prayer warriors, that I would be stepping back into December when all the traveling started, to dig out my journaling during that month. This is the first one.

We appreciate your encouragement, your prayers, and your love sent this way. I can hardly comprehend the days of Jesus when he walked so many miles to share God’s love people just like us. It was probably hot and dirty. Yet he persevered.

Some days during that month we all had to pull up our hip boots and persevere. As an example in the middle of a road between point A and B the car would stop and drivers would change positions. Most often the driver who switched out didn’t sleep but the stress of such and the responsibility played heavy on everyone to stay the course. Once or twice we landed for a bit near a river, stream, or pond to be quiet and relish the cool breeze and fresh air.

Anyway, this is the first episode in the series of the month of those road days. Yup, they are still titled as before ~ Traveling in the kingdom.

Psalm 67

May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face to shine upon us, Selah
2 that your way may be known on earth, your saving power among all nations.
3 Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you!
4 Let the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you judge the peoples with equity and guide the nations upon earth. Selah
5 Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you!
6 The earth has yielded its increase; God, our God, shall bless us.
7 God shall bless us; let all the ends of the earth fear him!

Today’s message in church was about our trip over the next six days and related back to psalm 67. As I look at a map now I see our destinations are all north of Phnom Penh, up the middle, (Preah Vihear), then east, to Stoeng Treng and Ratanakiri. At least for this week. The last two stops we will be celebrating Christmas with these churches.

If you are reading this, I’m presuming that you are a regular here and you have heard us previously go on about the disintegrating roads and a gridlock transportation situation in the city. Today after church we’ve left that behind for my favorite part of this country. The further away from the hubbub you get, the more rural and somewhat ‘old type western’ you can feel. It’s a rough terrain from which juts out communities sprinkled around the rice fields, golden or nearly so as it’s harvest time. I never tire of the breathtaking scenery, not withstanding the red dust fogging up our vision on non surfaced roads. I’ve never heard anyone embrace city life as it is here. It’s just for some necessary at this point. As with most big cities of this nature, they are hot, dirty, smelly, and trashy.

Yet to step outside all of those modern conveniences in the city gives us the opportunity to do what God has sent us here for, to meet the masses in the villages, to share Jesus with them, and to encourage and pray with and for them.

We first need to get there, which will take us almost eight hours. There are two cars with bibles and songbooks to hand out, and our bags of clothes for the week. Even with the AC running as we travel, the heat and rocking motion lures us all in and out of dozing time during the day for short spells.

Daily life continues as we bounce thru the settlements. Cattle grass is being hauled home as feed by a pair of water buffalo or white cows pulling a cart. People are hosing down the dirt on the road in front of their home or business. Children ride their bicycles to and fro, carts and motos are laden with cargo and families moving along, motos are repaired on the side of the road. In the distances cows and water buffalo graze as folks hand harvest their rice fields and lay the rice on bags in front of their homes to dry in the sun, along side the hanging fish and the cricket traps (that are used at night). Trucks move thru the communities carrying their cargo. Clothes dry on fences, poles, lines, or the ground. To me this is Cambodia and what has brought us back here.

Today there were 25 present for church. While the locals sang in Khmer, we sang along with them with the same hymns tucked in our heads and sung for so many years. This church family has totally embraced our arrival far more than we could have ever imagined. While they are certainly not overbearing, they make sure we are safe and taken care of and have incorporated us into their lives to benefit the church family in so many ways.

Tomorrow we are going to a military base near the Thai border in Preah Vihear province. We are told the men will come dressed in their uniforms and will bring their families with them. This is a first time for this very occasion, that ELCC will have the opportunity to share the gospel message and the Christmas story and give them bibles to read all about our Jesus too. As I spoke with Dalis earlier, I shared with her how my heart was filled with so much excitement and humbleness because we were here in this time and place to witness the power of the Holy Spirit amongst these people. She graciously smiled and acknowledged my explanation to her. She too I hope will grow thru this experience to see what can happen. We all need to be there to see, hear, and feel. God is so good!
1-dry dusty roads
2-rice field
3-working duo
4-rice stalk stacked high
5-sugar cane juice
6-gas station restaurant for the locals
7-George and church planter Daniel with serene pond behind looking into Laos

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Behind the Scenes

We’ve now accumulated two English classes every day with a total of 10 students in various levels. It’s been very interesting to watch them work together to pull each other along and not leaving anyone behind. Two of our more advanced students have naturally stayed for the beginner class to learn how to ‘teach’ and to help the newbies. Amen! Today, because so many are on the way to Siem Reap to finish the land details for that church plant, our class was smaller. I also had spent the morning reviewing all my white board photos on my phone and writing a notebook of what’s been done thus far so that if anyone misses, they can see what they’ve missed and ask questions. (We’ve all learned to take photos of what’s on the board since it magically disappears).

Additionally our morning devotions have taken on a wonderful twist as that has brought out an easy English bible with two other regular versions and each day they can learn two or three words there too. Also they now want to take ownership of the devotion time with us and rotate amongst all of us so that they can learn how to do their share as well. So much of this is new to them, so in this new year we are so grateful that they all are now ready for some responsibility to grow spiritually and advance themselves with English and new business practices while we are here.

We see the beginning of a community here in the office.Today I had one humbling realization that one student has never been exposed to English except thru her interaction with us. She has dutifully sat in class with a determination that could perhaps move a mountain. Others have translated for her and she has taken notes. Also she just arrived on the scene, which tells me she had no clue the class was a choice. But her voice of praise in church does move mountains and she one day be seen as a powerful church leader. But I must admit here that she is not like the usual meek and mild Khmer we see every day. This girl has Jesus spirit that does not quit.

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Epiphany

Today is January 6^th, Epiphany or Three Kings Day. It isn’t a holiday that is celebrated very much any more, but it is still an important day for us. Webster gives two definitions of epiphany. The first is a moment of sudden great and sudden revelation. The second is that revelation of the birth of Christ to the non-Jewish world as recorded in Matthew 2:1-12.

Now, we don’t know if there were really three wise men or magi as we often sing. And we also don’t know where their journey originated. We see them depicted in Nativity scenes or around the creche, but the truth is that since Herod ordered the killing of all the Jewish males under the age of two, they probably came a great distance. It could have been as close as Mesopotamia in the valley between the Tigress and Euphrates Rivers, an advanced civilization since 3000 BC. Or it might have been from India, or China, two great civilizations even farther east. For all we know, it could have also been a pre-Angkorian civilization here in Cambodia.

But, the bible does tell us that they came to worship THE King, bringing gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. This leads to speculation that they were wealthy and educated men who studied the stars and could finance an extended scientific search for the origin of that bright star. While magi is the origin of the word magician, we can again speculate that these men were able to show very uncommon knowledge. We can also speculate that the magi visiting Christ were only representative of a larger body of astronomers, a delegation if you will.

But what is Epiphany to us? Epiphany to us is not the day on which we stop celebrating Christmas. It may be the day that the Christmas tree comes down because the needles are brown and dropping, but it not the day that Christmas comes to an end. Epiphany is the revelation of Christ, true God, and true man, to the non-Jewish world. Epiphany is to us a day of thanksgiving for Christ finding us in all our shame and guilt. Epiphany is the start of a new life!

Have a Happy Epiphany! God is still searching for wise men and women who will accept Him into their life.

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