Sina

BM:

Friday morning was my first experience teaching English to the children in the village. The teacher who leads the class is an incredible man of God whom I pictured below, his name is Sina. 

Sina lives a life completely sold out to Christ. I had the pleasure of spending most of the day with him and got to meet his family before heading to the school. He has three children, and his only son, David, is paralyzed from the waist down and cannot speak. His wife has also experienced brain damage since their third child and can no longer take care of herself. He cares for his family very much, and even with their conditions lives a missional lifestyle as a house church planter, English teacher, and prayer warrior. He had so many stories to tell me about healings and miracles that he's seen and how Christ has been using him to reach the villages around Kampong Chhnang. I don't think I've met anyone in Cambodia (or America) that leads a life as devoted and obedient to Christ as Sina has. He was a big encouragement for me, and taught me more about the power of prayer and persevering for Christ through trial and affliction. His ministry is supported by Mark and a local pastor, doing what he does would not be possible otherwise. Please keep him and his family and his bold proclamation of Christ to those who have never heard in your prayers.

Me and Sina

This morning I got to return to the church I worshiped with last weekend called Light for Living. We celebrated communion together and then had a fellowship meal after the service. I got a chance to talk more with my friend Pirun who wanted my help to advertise a benefit concert being put on by his church soon for those in poverty in Cambodia. I'll be inviting my students to it and some of the others I know from Mark's business. They're hoping to have a turnout of around 300 so be in prayer for that as well. 

Got to experience my first Cambodian wedding this afternoon as well. They're a lot different than American weddings. They're usually one of the only opportunities people have to get real dressed up in their communities so they go all out. They're pretty expensive affairs, but one of the ways that the bride and groom try to cover the costs is by inviting everyone they know. It is customary for the guests to pay between five to ten dollars which go straight to the newlyweds to help pay off all the costs. Usually they end up breaking even. They dance much different here too. You walk around in a circle and move your hands around in circular movements and don't touch anybody. With Father Mark and I being the only white people at the wedding, they made us dance, which was luckily easier than dancing at weddings in America :P but very strange nonetheless. It was still a fun experience and the Cambodians seemed to appreciate us being more than just observers. 

Pray for the week ahead for me. Got a full load of classes but a broken computer still so I can't rely on technology to help me teach anymore. Also am still in line to preach next Sunday at the youth group but still haven't thought of a message. Pray that God would draw me and FM's hearts closer to His and that we could learn what being sold out for Christ really looks like from people like Sina. 

Tons of food!

I was thinking about how pissed off the bride would be if this happened in America

 

Bat in the Shower! :o

From BM:

Was going to update the blog after I took a shower until I saw a flash of brown and flutter of wings coming at my face. Decided to skip the shower until tomorrow! They've got some big bats here.. Been having some computer issues as well, the screen starts to fade to blank in the middle of me using it, which makes it real hard to update this blog. Pray that that would stop so I can keep using it to contact my family and for the class I've been teaching.

Speaking of which! The English classes have been going well! Just finished my first full week at the two schools in town, and teaching at the village about 20 kilometers away tomorrow morning. Never been to this village before, so I'm not entirely sure what to expect. In the other two classes I probably have about thirty students combined, it tends to fluctuate from day to day. Really wanted to get a picture of both classes for the blog but kept forgetting until the very end of my last class this evening after I'd already prayed and said good night. I whipped out the camera and called who was left to be in the photo, so its missing a good chunk of students. Didn't help that the monsoon rains kicked in real hard about ten minutes before I left. 

I've never taught in a classroom setting before, much less in a foreign country where I don't know the language, but God has been good in giving me ideas to use and awesome students. They go to school all day long and are coming to this right afterward to study more from a volunteer teacher. Just shows how eager they are to learn the language I spose! They don't want to use the English books in town however since that's what the nationals use to teach with themselves. So I been making up my own curriculum and using Powerpoint and such to help with the lessons. Played a whiteboard game yesterday where I broke them into teams, they were really getting into it. Probably because the winning team got suckers but either way, it was fun. :) Even though both of these schools meet inside a church building, some of my students are Buddhist. Pray that God might help me be an effective witness of Christ to them and that I would regularly incorporate prayer and Scripture when I teach.

About half of the English students

 Pastor Vuthy, some of whose children are in my class, wants me to preach at his youth group next weekend. Never done that before either, so I could use prayer for boldness, and that God's Spirit might speak through me and through the language barrier and interpreter to teach them some truth from Scripture. Still not entirely sure what I'm saying, but I've got some ideas. 

That's all I'll say for now. Should be putting up another one this weekend, supposed to be going to a Cambodian wedding on Sunday so I'm excited for that and hope to get some more pictures up as well. God bless!

Political party rally going past, they had about fifty truckloads of people speed by. Election time is coming!

Tastes absolutely nothing like stawberries, more like cheese puffs... ?

Margaret

Post from Father Mark:

I first met Margaret at Life for Living church about 3 months ago. She is volunteering in Cambodia for the Peace Corps. We talked for a few minutes and exchanged phone numbers. I told her I was starting a meat shop and she was very excited about it. She has been living with a host family in a village about 10 kilometers from Kampong Chhnang doing pre- and post-natal care. She’s got 10 months under her belt with 14 months to go and eating only Khmer food. The Peace Corps gives her $100 a month so she really doesn’t have much money to buy any other food than what the host family provides. I know what that is like since I lived at an orphanage south of Phnom Penh from 2009 to 2010. You start to really want Western food after a while. Khmer food is okay but very bland; fish and rice four to six days a week. Fish is cheap and they have so little money (around 1 to 3 dollars a day) to live on.

Two weeks ago I called and told her that I had opened the restaurant; she was so thrilled. Two days later she came and bought a hamburger; one for herself and the other for her partner. She said she couldn’t really afford it but had to taste something from the West. Saturday she came again just to visit and talk some with Westerners. So Saturday I made some cinnamon rolls and she was just amazed. She wanted to make the other half of them so I let her. Then lunchtime came so I fed her spaghetti and bread. She’s 23 years old and it’s like I have a new daughter. If you could have seen her face as she ate, W.O.W. What a blessing to be able to bless others! I asked if Mark could spend a few days in the village with her and she agreed so after he gets settled in teaching English for a few weeks he’ll be heading there to see the real Cambodia. 75% of the people live in the village, it will rock his world. Living here is not the real thing, village life is so different. I thank the Lord that he has opened this door. One thing I really want short-time volunteers to be able to do is get as much experience in different fields as possible. So God can place them just where He wants them and send them back to the States with a larger perspective of missions work. Pray that the Lord uses the things Mark sees, that his experiences go deep into his heart and that he listens to Jesus for his true calling.

One last thing to note, the restaurant did $317 last week and my goal is $300 per week. At this time profit is about 50% before wages and food. My hope for the future of the restaurant is for it to pay all the wages and the electric bill. Pray that the Lord blesses this business and that funds will come in to continue the bacon; as of now that is on hold until the money is there. God Bless all.

Why We're Doing "Business As Missions"

Mark arrived last Friday.  It is a blessing to have him here even though he is young and it’s his first international mission trip. He is doing a lot that I do not have the ability to do or am not even gifted at. Working with computers,   teaching five evenings a week with three different churches... everything is so new to him. I know he will grow through this in more ways than he can imagine and will carry it with him for years to come. Just hope that I am being all that I can be for him. I am quite busy with the business. The bacon has had its setbacks, nothing that can’t be overcome though. Packaging is the biggest problem but should have that taken care of in the next week. The restaurant is going very well! We have been open now for three weeks and are bringing in about $300 a week. My hope is to get that up to $500 in the next month. We are doing free delivery in the city which is a new thing here, but seems to be working so far. I’ve put menus in hotels and guest houses around the city and think that will help a lot.

Please pray that the Lord blesses this. I don’t think the restaurant will ever cover the cost of this ministry but it should do around 50 % of it. Bacon is what will make the big difference.

                                     

Something I have wanted to start since we got this house are Christian English classes but that would require someone supporting it for $75 a month and $350 to buy desks and supplies. Mark is here until the second week of August, and Ellis and Rachel are coming at the end of July until the end of October. I would like to start the classes with them; but then we would need to have a Cambodian there to teach with them, because I don’t want to start it unless it will continue after they are gone. So many things are started for a short period of time and then they stop when the foreigners leave. I am never leaving Cambodia, God willing, so we would have to have a Cambodian teacher while they are here and after they leave. Giving the Cambodian’s hope and then taking it away is the worst thing we can do. We have the space above the Meat Shop to use as a classroom and we are a quarter-mile away from the high school. About 700 kids pass by the restaurant at least three times a day.

I would want this to be a Christian-based school that teaches English through Scripture. If anyone felt God laying this on their heart, you would never know just how much and how big the effect you would have on a large number of lives; not just the ones going to school, but their families and friends as well. Please pray for this business, that it can have the impact the Lord has showed it can if we stick to it. Jesus never started anything He didn’t finish. That’s what He said on the cross: “IT IS FINISHED!” God bless.

Why we’re doing “Business as Missions”

For those of you who are new to this blog:

I have been self-employed for the last 30 years. Between the years of 2008 and 2010 I was in Cambodia and it was my third time here. In 2008 I was staying and helping at an orphanage for twelve months. As the world economy was crashing, I watched three orphanages close and a number of medical clinics as well. Kids were just put back out on the street as donations quit coming in. The Lord told me during that time that I was to go back to the states to get support to start a business to support ministry here with the profits from the business. My original plan was to start a fish farm. It would make a small income to support the ministry. The Lord gave me a vision to help the Vietnamese on the Tonle Sap and Mekong River. These are displaced people who live in floating homes.  The Cambodians do not like them, so they don’t get any help; not that there is much help for their own people to begin with.

As I was looking for an opportunity to begin this ministry, the Lord gave me the vision to do bacon and sausage. It is currently all imported from Thailand. There are two small smoke shops catering to the rich and 5 star restaurants, but the vision I got was to start small and build up to an actual processing plant. I used to do this back in the states on a small scale for myself and friends. Thailand imports over 2000 pounds a day here, so I thought, why not make it here?

My small church of about 120, Mosaic Fellowship, in Spokane, WA, has provided this ministry with $20,000 to start. We are about 7000 short still waiting for the Lord to provide the rest. I have made about 300 pounds of bacon and sausage, but the packaging is the hold-up. We need a vacuum sealer and 6 to 8 months of support until business is off the ground. In the meantime, I have started the pizza restaurant. We are the only Western-style restaurant in all of Kampong Chhnang. The restaurant is doing very good for being only three weeks old and while this will not support the ministry completely (monthly costs are $1300) it will provide about half of the needed amount. To start distribution of the bacon we will need $1000. And monthly support monthly support of $700 for around 7 months. We are selling a small amount here and there, but our intended markets are the tourist cities of Siem Reap (near Angkor Wat), Sihanoukville and Phnom Penh.   

I believe that the bacon will provide funds for this ministry and many others in time. We are going to have other ministries distribute the product so they can use the profit to help themselves. Well that’s about it in short! If you would like more info contact me at mtmasingale@gmail.com. Any donations should be made through www.mosaicspokane.com. Please pray for this ministry and God bless!

-Father Mark

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Some of the high school crowd that passes by daily

Potential future classroom above Meat Shop

Riding on a moto through monsoon rains

I taught English for the first time this past Thursday. I wasn’t sure what to expect because they didn’t tell me much before I arrived. Over twenty students came, between the ages of 7 and 22. It has been difficult memorizing all of their names. I wasn’t sure how much they had learned beforehand, so the lesson plan was pretty basic, a bit too easy for them. Working on something more engaging and on their level over the weekend. The real problem they have is with pronunciation. Be praying that God gifts me with the ability to teach them well.

 

I met a man named Lai downtown on Thursday as well who invited me to his house for lunch. He spoke a little bit of English and used to be a Buddhist monk at Angkor Wat when he was younger. Not entirely sure why he stopped living at the wat but I’m hoping to meet up with him again soon and continue building that relationship. 

Yesterday I visited another village with Chin Da. One of the things with Cambodia in monsoon season is that you don’t wonder if it’s going to rain but when. Minutes after leaving the house on the moto the sky began to darken and the wind picked up and within seconds I was drenched. I was more worried about the camera breaking because of the water but it didn’t break! 

When Father Mark has ends and pieces of meat that he can’t use for making bacon or sausage he gives them to families that can use them for food in the area. They did a “cell group” at one of the houses which is basically prayer and a Bible study out of a Khmer Bible. It was encouraging for me to be a part of it, and they let me pray to close. Picked up some watermelon from a seller in the village afterwards for 1000 riel (or 25 cents) and had that with some sea salt like they do, I think I might keep eating them plain though. :p

Working on a tract for Mark today to put in with the meat that tells why he’s doing what he is and includes some Scripture references for people to read when they buy his product. Please continue to pray for this ministry and the impact its having on the people in Kampong Chhnang. Pray that God would give Father Mark and I hearts that want what He wants and love what He loves as well. -Brother Mark

 Chin Da giving family some meat

Cell Group time

ala! (watermelon)

Finally Arrived!

The Cambodians have been referring to me (Mark Wegner) as Brother Mark and Mark Masingale as Father Mark. So I guess that's what we'll do for the blog! Looks like it has been some time since the last post. Wanted to give everyone that had the blog address a formal post on my trip here. Much has happened since I was dropped off at the airport in Spokane, WA.

The trip over was very long, got stopped in the airport by TSA for having some potassium nitrate in my luggage to use for curing meat in Cambodia but its also an oxidizer so they didn't like that. Made it through okay though and caught all my flights. Asian airlines are actually a lot nicer than American airline companies. Made it into Phnom Penh around 11 PM local time. Found a guest house (hotel) to stay at for the night, and then made my way to the bus station in the morning.

Sat next to a man named Luy who was born in Phnom Penh and was now working in planting churches all over the country who spoke English very well. It was a big encouragement for me and he started helping me learn the language and some of the history of the area as we passed things on the bus. He stopped the bus driver when we missed my stop too and told me which direction to go from there. After a little bit I was picked up on a moto by Chan, one of Mark's employees.

We visited a village on Sunday. Did a VBS with the kids and played some games. They seemed to enjoy it before it started downpouring, happens pretty much once a day in during monsoon season. Got to see some of the Vietnamese floating villages and share a bit of my story with them.

I'm set up to teach English five nights a week for two-three hours at three different schools. I've never exactly done this before so it's a little intimidating and I'm not entirely sure what their expectations are. Just been trying to lean on God for support in that and offer it up to Him in prayer. Much more to come, keep the prayers comin!

Eating some Golan Pnum (sp?)

 VBS with kids from the village