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May 2007 “. . .why are you standing looking up into the sky?” Acts 1:11 Looking Up or Looking Out In Cambodia it is not an unusual sight to see people at the base
of a tree looking up. More often than not they are looking up to watch
someone pick one of the delicious tropical fruits we enjoy - a mango, a
papaya or a citrus pomelo. They are looking up and waiting for the picker
to come to the base of the tree so they can enjoy some of the fruit he
has obtained. They are totally oblivious to what is going on right
beside them.
Current Events While we didn’t do a lot of looking up we did do a lot of looking about. Our head of short-term groups, Bruce Wall, visited in Cambodia to help plan just where these groups could help with sharing the Gospel message. Next year some of you, God willing, will have the opportunity to share Jesus through Bible/English camps, women’s retreats, youth leadership training, agriculture projects and a host of other wonderful activities. Start looking into your hearts and on your calendars to plan to help us share the message of God’s love in Jesus Christ here in Cambodia. Look out!!! We also looked about for new opportunities for Christian education here with our education director, Dr. Greg Sawyer. Education is such an important issue since so many educated people were destroyed in the Pol Pot genocide in this country in the 70’s. We have villages where there are no schools and areas where the distance to the school is much too far for young children to walk. One Christian family has even built a school and is waiting for a teacher to come so that it can be in operation. A boarding school is needed so that pastors’ children can attend a school, particularly a Christian school and will no longer have to recite prayers to Buddha as they enter and leave the schoolroom. We’re looking up and about for God’s answers to these pressing issues. Perhaps some of you are God’s answer to that looking about! Picture Caption- These children are waiting inside their village school for a teacher to come to their village – the building is there, but not a teacher. Could you be the one? We don’t just have “our head in the clouds” but we are actively working to train church leaders here. This past month Chuck lead a group of twelve church leaders in the “See Through the Scriptures” program. These men were able to learn an over view of the Bible and take home materials so that they could teach others. It was an exciting time to see them grow in their understanding of God’s Word. They aren’t just standing there gazing. They are looking out and about for ways to share Jesus in their ministry. Picture Caption- Participants in the See Through the Scriptures workshop in Battambang The Lutheran Church at Battambang is one of our favorite places to “look out.” While Chuck was teaching I had the opportunity to teach the four Bible teachers there the accounts of Jesus’ appearances to His disciples after Easter as well as the account of His ascension. We did some role-playing to discuss the importance of Jesus’ resurrection for our everyday lives. I identified myself as a Christian. Then I lay down on the floor and posed as if I were dead. I asked the Bible teachers to talk to my family. One young Bible teacher gave such a strong witness as she said, “You don’t need to worry. You will see your mother again. She is with Jesus. If you believe in Him one day you will be with her.” How thankful we are that these teachers are “looking out” for the children in this community. Sometimes looking out comes in strange places. We were privileged to host our volunteer Robin from Thailand. She was here to get her visa for Thailand renewed. She and I decided to do a day’s sightseeing around Battambang with our faithful tuktuk driver Mr. Seng. Since he is a person our missionaries here have built a strong relationship with, we are delighted that he is “looking to” Christianity; this was another great day for sharing. Near the end of our trip I looked to the side and was surprised to see a vineyard - the first I had ever seen in Cambodia. Along with the vineyard was a little wine-tasting place, so we stopped. The owner was there, and we had a nice chat. She noticed that both Robin and I wore crosses. She said, “Are you Christians?” We told her that we were, and then she proceeded to tell us what she knew about Christians. She said, “My neighbors are Christians. You know they used to get drunk and do bad things. Now since they are Christians they are changed. They don’t do that anymore. My neighbors on the other side are also Christians now. They used to have problems in their marriage but now they are different. Their marriages are happy. I want to know more about Christianity.” What an open invitation that we didn’t even have to “look out” for. We shared the message of Jesus and salvation through Him. Robin gave the woman her cross, and we went on our way. Somehow this woman tugged at both of our hearts. We decided to go back to visit her the next day since we had not been able to leave any Christian materials with her. We made the drive out only to find her gone, but, lo and behold, her children were there. We talked a moment and waited. We looked at the vineyard, and I told Mr. Send about Jesus being the Vine and we being the branches. Still no one else arrived so we left our booklet containing the account of Jesus’ death and resurrection with the children. When we left we glanced back to see them avidly reading the material we left. Thank God that He gave us eyes to look out and not miss this opportunity by standing looking up and gazing at nothing. An interesting sidelight to this story might be the fact that all the translation we needed to share the Gospel message was done by our tuktuk driver. Truly God uses many opportunities to “look out” for His own. Lest you think that life as a missionary is always easy and every
day is successful and a joy, I want to share with you the trials of this
month and ask for your prayers. This month Satan has seen us defamed, tried
to divide the work here, and shown us false partners in our midst. He has
set up immense barriers to the Gospel by countless obstacles to ministry.
He does not easily give up his kingdom of evil here but “walks around like
a roaring lion seeing whom he may devour.” Pray for our work here that
it will continue to bring many to “look out” and share the Gospel message.
Looking Out,
Safe Travels
Continue to Pray for:
Pictures:
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