House Church!

This last week has been pretty spectacular. I was able to join some of my students for a youth rally conference that was being held in town all of last week. The conference drew youth from five different provinces in Cambodia, and about 200 students were there worshiping God. The believers here are so passionate and it was an awesome experience to worship Our Creator with them. When my friend Ratanak was helping lead worship with some other students he rushed offstage and grabbed my hand and dragged me up on stage to dance with them for the whole group. Even though the songs are in Khmer, what I can do is sing the Hallelujah choruses and jump and clap my hands, it was a lot of fun. There was a small team visiting from America that were able to spend the whole week with them and then headed up to Angkor Wat. The last night of the conference there was a big bonfire and worship session that lasted for over two hours. It was powerful to be a part of and although I couldn't understand everything, it left me feeling very encouraged and helped me to build some stronger relationships. 

  

Prayer time right before musical worship

The bonfire

This past Sunday I woke up and was out the door before seven on a moto with Sina heading to a village about 25 kilometers from Kampong Chhnang. Sina leads 8 different house churches that are all very young, two of the groups we visited were less than three weeks old. We only visited four different houses that day, but were on the go for about twelve hours. The first group we visited was the oldest and largest with about 25 people in it. They had people who were able to teach and even provided everyone with a small breakfast of bread and rice. 

The next group was much smaller, but I’d been there before. The man who had been completely paralyzed before that Sina and some others had been praying for was there, his name is Taud, but I'm probably spelling it wrong. When I saw him a month ago he still could not walk but had control of his upper body. When I saw him two days ago, there was no sign of sickness left in him at all, he was completely healthy. What I was not expecting was for Sina to say, “Okay Mark, you can preach now.” I should have known beforehand that they would ask me to say something, but I was not expecting to preach for the house churches, even though they were smaller, about 8-10 people. I opened up to Matthew 4, the passage I used at Tree of Life two weeks before and started talking with them about discipleship as my friend Chandy translated. None of the people there were present for the service beforehand so I figured I was in the clear. The same thing happened at the next church we went to, also a similar size. At the last church we prayed for a man with a gigantic boil in the middle of his foot and an old Buddhist woman who could not use her legs. There was a boy there who was mute whose older sister was trying to help him read and sing. The love she had for her brother was one of the more touching things I've seen here so I had to get a picture of that. 

This week Rachel and Ellis are headed to Cambodia, their plane lands in Phnom Penh very late this evening and Mark will be there to pick them up. Pray for their time here and that God can use them in powerful ways as a team for the three months that they will be spending here in Kampong Chhnang. Thanks so much for reading and God bless you, Brother Mark out.

First and largest house church

Second church we went to, the man in the brown shirt is Taud.

The third house church, the small speaker by Sina is how they do musical worship

Sister and brother

 

1 Year Back in Cambodia... W.O.W.

Recap of this Past Year:  

When I first got here I lived in two different cities for three months before Kampong Chhnang. I didn’t get any enthusiasm to do what the Lord sent me to do; business to support missions. I took the Perspectives Course on Global Missions which said to look for a “person of peace” where you do ministry. When I came to Kampong Chhnang, I found that person here.

In October I hired Chinda to help me. She is a very godly young woman, but I was very hesitant about hiring her at first since she is married and we would be working a lot together and sharing a moto. You don’t see couples on motos together unless they are married or engaged. So I was worried about that at first, but it isn’t a problem now. Her husband Chan is working here as well and they both live in this big house with me.

In November I started an English school in a village ten kilometers from here. It is going very well! The Lord provided a very godly teacher to take my place and Mark has been helping teach there once a week every Friday.

In December, Mosaic sent money to buy 125 children Christmas presents at $15 each, what a blessing that was. I just never knew how much work doing something like that took beforehand. Then in January, Pastor Repsold came for six days. We decided at that time to not do fish ponds since bacon has a much better financial profit and will employ many more people than fish ponds. It takes one person to do six fish ponds compared to bacon which will employ between 3-8 people depending on how big it gets.   Bacon ran into some distribution problems, mainly packaging, so I started a pizza restaurant a few months ago as there are no Westerner restaurants here in town.

To say the least it has been quite a year. So many things have happened in a short amount of time. God has opened many doors and I say God because it has all been from Him. 

I am not what you would think of as your typical missionary; more just a lover of Jesus and a business man. Combining the two has had many struggles but many more blessings. There have been some setbacks, but as always the Lord has opened other doors when He closed one.  For example, starting the bacon; that was a big setback, almost 3 months. But because of it I opened a pizza restaurant and it is doing very well! We are averaging $450 a week which covers half of our expenses. That will take some pressure off the bacon sales.

Working with the Cambodians has had its hurdles, but none so high that time has not gotten us over them. Things have settled into a kind of routine which is nice since it has been pretty crazy for the last 6 months. I think everyone is ready for a normal pace and I know it is a relief for me. It won’t last long as I will be traveling to set up bacon sales after the first. Then we will see how busy it is here. Right now mornings are slow, we don’t open until 10:30. School is out for the summer so we don’t have much of a lunch either. But that will give us a lot of time to get the bacon down good when we start which we will be needed. Teaching them how you want things done takes about five times as long as it does someone in the States. Everything is different for them: from keeping things clean to packaging. Trying to explain why you want something the way you want it done can be so different from what they have done forever that they want to go back to their way of doing it. One big thing I still work with is waiting until something is all gone before buying any more. I always try to have two of something so when the first one is gone you can get another before you’re out. They tend to just let both run out; it is getting better but I really have to watch things. The reason for this is they have never had enough money to buy anything extra, most do not have enough to feed their family well. So buying more than you need is out of the question.

Mark Wegner came here about five weeks ago and has three more to go before he goes home, will really miss him when he goes. He has been a tremendous help for me but not in the ways I would have thought. With him being only 22 years old, I had my doubts before he got here, but the Lord knew just who to send. I have been able to bounce things off of him and he has helped me see things in a different light many times. Being by myself for ten months not having any other perspective on things it’s easy to get stuck in one direction. One of the biggest things I have seen is that a lot of problems I have been having are me: forgetting that I came here to do business with them and forgetting that I also need to change the way I do things. This is not the USA, and some things will never work like they do there. Close, but not quite.

Rachel and Ellis arrive on the 30^th, really looking forward to them coming. They will be here for two weeks before Mark leaves. It will let him show them a lot of what has been happening. They will be able to pick up teaching English. Six weeks with Mark is great but another three months will make a world of difference. Pray that the Lord send someone else to fill their place before they leave. 

The house I rented is very big, it has seven bedrooms. I thought at the time that it was way too big but the Lord knew better. We used the downstairs living room for the restaurant and with Chan, Chinda, Mark, myself, and now Rachel and Ellis it is getting smaller. Well that is the short of it! The Lord has blessed this ministry greatly, please continue to pray for it. God Bless all!

-Father Mark

The filter system for a fish pond

Me and Patrick

In Rains Inside in Cambodia

Due for another update!

I remembered my German teacher in high school playing Jeopardy with us to help us learn so I tried that with my students this past week. Seemed to be their favorite game so far, just takes more time to set up than board races. I did assign them homework this week as well but all of them did it to avoid singing the lazy song to the whole class, mission successful!

After teaching with Sina on Friday, we went to a small group leader meeting at a church building out in the country. Only one other person there spoke English, which made it hard to communicate with people there, my Khmer is still very basic, but I did get to help them color stuff for their youth group gathering coming up. You don't have to speak Khmer to color with crayons! We shared dinner together afterward as well which was fantastic.

Church leader meeting

I heard from my pastor on Skype that same morning. I had emailed him regarding a hold that Moody had placed on my account because I hadn't paid them yet for the internship. He told me that the church had picked up the rest of the money that wasn't raised and covered the cost of the three credits. Praise God for His provision in that, and for an awesome family of believers in Spokane!

Saturday morning I set out on Channa's bicycle for Prey Khmer village outside of Kampong Chhnang to spend a couple days with the family that Margaret from Peace Corps has been living with. Mark was very insistent on me spending some amount of time living in some kind of village setting to get more of the “true Cambodian living experience.” Their village is about a 13 kilometer bike ride, which isn't all that far, but Channa's bike had seen better days. I think my favorite part of the weekend may have been a hike we made to a large hill nearby and climbing to the top to see the surrounding country. I do love taking hikes, and haven't gotten to do as much of that as I would like here. 

Me looking mildly dramatic

 

A nice dog in Cambodia! - Patona

The family was very hospitable but devout Buddhists. I woke up the last morning to find two plates of fruit close to my door which I almost began to dig into for breakfast until I found out they were for their ancestors. Before leaving for church Sunday, the mother asked where we were headed and seemed displeased with the answer, saying something I didn't recognize about Jesus in Khmer. I then said “I love Jesus” in very poor Khmer, to which she responded, “Well, Cambodia does not love Jesus.” The sad thing is that she is basically right, with less than 2% of the country claiming any kind of faith in Jesus Christ. Please pray for this nation. I was able to do very little communication with the host family since they spoke no English whatsoever, and I really hope that I did nothing to slander the name of Christ to them since they have such little interaction with people who follow Christ and would base any assumptions they had about Christianity on the way I acted during those two days. It rained basically the whole weekend and our ride to the church was a truck with a cover top with several people piled in back. I began to feel water dripping on my head after climbing inside and looking up saw a tear in the roof. Margaret saw my predicament and said, “Yeah, it even rains inside in Cambodia.” A Filipino pastor named Aaron and his father began the church we visited. They have a main building in downtown Kampong Chhnang but drive out to different areas in the country and worship with people who can't make it downtown.

The leaking truck with my friend Teav

I visited the health clinic in Prey Khmer this morning and was basically just in the way. The biggest function of the building is to serve as a pregnancy center, not quite my place. I spent the majority of the time in the waiting room reading a book while political rallies for the election next weekend were blasting their propaganda on the street outside. Keep praying for God to put the leader that will serve the people of Cambodia the most and pull this country out of the cycle of intense corruption it is caught in. On the way back to the house, Channa's bike finally gave out about a half kilometer from the house, which luckily was right next to the bike repair guy I'd visited before. Dropped off the bike and walked the rest of the way to the house and got to relax a bit before writing this. The church I visited two weeks ago is holding an all-week youth conference that I'll be checking out tomorrow, pray for revival in this country and for the youth in the Cambodian church to be on fire for the Gospel. Read this verse at the end of Philippians since we finished our Bible study of it so I might as well close with it: “The grace of the Lord Jesus be with your Spirit” (Philippians 4:23). 

-BM

Fried Crickets

I meant to get this post up a couple days ago but the modem unexpectedly died again, this time while skyping my sister; not a pleasant experience (sorry Elyse!). The teaching has been going well though, besides the students not always doing their homework. That one has been hard to figure out since they come to the classes out of their own choice in the first place, it's not a required thing. Seeing as how they won't be receiving any kind of grade that sticks to a transcript as well, I had to be more creative with how to punish them in some way. Made up a lazy song, partly, I really can't take much credit for it since it's just the poem “The Lazy Nothing-Doings” by Shel Silverstein put to the tune Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star... or the ABC song... or Baa Baa Black Sheep (take your pick). The words went with the tune well though! Plus Cambodians seem to hate singing in front of their peers so it seems to be effective. One of my Buddhist students expressed her dislike of the Bible to me on Thursday, I don't want to shove it down her throat but don't want to stop reading Scripture in class either because of one student. I'm still going to talk about it daily, but only one verse a day so it's easier for them to swallow and doesn't take up as much class time as before. Please be praying for my students though.

My friend Lai invited me to go with him to Pursat last Thursday as well. It's not too far of a journey, at least on a map. It's probably about the distance of the western suburbs of Chicago to the Wisconsin border, but it takes roughly two and a half hours by moto. I still had a good time though. We visited a pagoda at the base of a large hill named Phnom Puk, gave us a nice view of the country around us. It was nice to see another province as well and get out of Kampong Chhnang for a little while. 

This is what the ascent up the hill looked like

Lai on top of Phnom Puk

The next day I went to teach with Sina again but afterward he wanted to go watch the fishermen by the rice paddies. They all used nets, similar to the ones that were used during Christ's ministry on the Earth in Israel. Made me think of when he called his first disciples, asking them to follow Him so that He could make them fishers of men (Matthew 4:19, Mark 1:17). I had been asked the day earlier by the teacher from Tree of Life if I would preach at his church that Sunday. I had no idea what I was going to talk about, but watching those fishermen and hearing the words of Christ in my head I had my idea. That we are to engage in evangelism as fishers of men in this sea of lost people in Cambodia drowning without Christ and teach them to make their own fishers of men. One of the nice things about having to give a message in church is that there is a translator so you get to think about how to phrase the next sentence while they are talking, super convenient for a first-timer like myself.

After watching the fishermen in the rice paddies though, we were about to head back when we started talking to a seller. She had a huge pile of changrah, or fried crickets on her table. I'd been asked a few times in the past if I wanted to try them but had found ways of dodging it until then, and just figured I better bite the bullet (or cricket). I was surprised by their taste though, more like salty Cheetos without the fake cheese on them than anything else. I can check intentionally eating insects off my list of things to do now!

You're supposed to buy them by the canfull

Please be praying for Chan and Chinda as the weeks wind down before she has her first baby. I visited a friend's wife in the hospital yesterday who had just given birth to a baby girl. Mark said the women here are generally hospitalized for a week or two after giving birth. She said she was very cold and they kept piling blankets on top of her, so prayers for her recovery and the health of her newborn would be good. Also for the business that Mark is running, God has been giving it a lot of success and it brought in almost 500 dollars in its fourth week which is truly His doing. I read a verse this morning that I wanted to share as well, reminded me of a song that I like a lot by Josh Garrels called “Rise” and I wouldn't be surprised if he took some inspiration from it. It's from Micah 7:7-8, which says: “But as for me, I will watch expectantly for the Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation. My God will hear me. Do not rejoice over me, O my enemy. Though I fall I will rise; though I dwell in darkness, the Lord is a light for me.” 

Thought I would include the song in a link too if you wanted to listen to it, forgot I could do that :P

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOEU3xt29Lk 

-BM

The Sleeping Lady

Been a week since I last updated, sorry for the delay! I'm starting to have more of a routine here now though . We have Bible study first thing in the morning and then I help out some with the restaurant, then prepare for class and teach Monday through Friday. The amount of students has grown some, I probably have somewhere between 60-70 between the three classes, changes day to day so it's hard to keep track. Just trying to get all their names down has been hard enough, but I'm working at it! We started reading through the Gospel of John, just taking the book a few verses at a time from the beginning each day. We read through it in both English and Khmer and then I'll try to sum it up and explain it as best as I can using small words. That's why it helps to do a book by John and not Paul. 

Went to teach in the village on Friday with Sina again and thought it would be the same as last week but he just stepped back and told me to go ahead and teach. The problem was I had nothing planned since I though he was teaching again and I was there to help him out. Just tried to think on my feet and I think it went pretty well considering the circumstances. It helps to pray before all the classes, knowing that God is in control of all the classes instead of me. Lost a bit of weight since being here, couldn't tell until I saw some of the photos taken of me teaching. There aren't any scales to know how much exactly, but I'm sure the change in diet is to blame.

Practicing some conversations in English

I was able to find an Ipod charger in town with no problems for only three dollars but the when I asked for contact lense solution nobody knew what I was talking about. Nobody here wears contacts. Should have thought of that before only bringing a travel-size container of solution.. I did remember my glasses though so I'm set!

Met with my friend Lai on Saturday and took him downtown for some fried noodles. He wanted to take me to the top of Kong Rei, the mountain outside of town pictured below. The mountain has a lot of mythology attached to it from Cambodian folklore, and the people believe the mountain to be a giant sleeping woman was was abandoned by her lover in the story of the Twelve Sisters. I thought that all the legend attached to it was really interesting, and they had a temple near the top of the mountain with a pictureboard showing the story of the mountain. Sad thing is, I forgot to bring my camera with on the trip! 

"The Sleeping Lady" from the riverfront in Kampong Chhnang

Sunday I went to Pastor Vuthy's church for the morning service. A South Korean Methodist group provided them with the money to build a brand new building less than a year ago. I went back later in the afternoon to give a message to the youth at the church. It was the first time I've preached before a youth group, and they didn't speak my language so that made things a bit different. Kayma, the pastor's wife, translated to Khmer for me, but I feel like some of it may have been lost in translation. I tried to use short words! The pastor asked me to do it again next weekend, which is great, I just think they like that I speak English without too much of an accent since they're all trying to learn it. Gives them a chance to practice. At least that was what he told me afterward. Either way it was a good experience!

Got another week of classes ahead, gotta do some more prep for that. If you could pray for my ministry to my students since that's who I spend most of my time with. That I would rely even more on Christ while I am here in prayer as well. Prayer is so important and vital to our growth in Christ, and I know that I have so much room for growth. Also pray for my friend Saran, he told me today that a few of his family members were involved in a moto accident yesterday, but don't have the money to pay for any kind of hospital work to be done. Breah prah tiempoh!

- BM

Challenges of Doing ‘Business As Missions’

Post from Father Mark:

Unlike ministry where you have a board to decide what should be done, business is not the same way. You’re on your own for trying things out, and if they don’t work at least you gave it a shot. People are the most important thing and no matter what at least you showed them Jesus.

In business, most partnerships don’t work. Especially if they work side by side, one wants to do it this way and the other a different way. I have found in business there is a right way and a wrong way, but only one way. Make the wrong choices and you fail, make the right ones and you succeed. Business is a dictatorship, like it or not. You can’t have everyone making decisions, it just doesn’t work.

I bring this up because we had a Bible study yesterday on Ephesians 4:1-14. Working and doing business is very hard. For example, I have been trying to get a big pizza oven done for 3 weeks. It’s a 5 or 6 day job. I have told Chan every day that I want it done. We can’t do any more advertizing until it is done. We can also only cook two pizzas at a time. Two weeks ago we had five pizzas to do at once and it took over an hour before the last one was finished. The customers were very unhappy. So today I had to get pretty strong with him about getting it done quickly. Which brings me to Ephesians 4; How do you show patience, kindness and love when you have asked somebody to do something time and time again? He’ll say yes and then go off and do something else. It left me feeling so defeated. I always feel so bad afterwards. I came here to love them and I feel sometimes that I am not showing that.  I’ve explained many times why we have to do everything the same way all the time as well. I talked with my friend Patrick about this and he said it took two years to finally get everything done his way. I pray that it doesn’t take as long in my case.

Having Mark here has helped me a lot, gives me someone to talk to, even though I think I may be talking too much sometimes! He is learning a lot here, hope he can take the biggest things with him back to the states. One good thing is that he is getting more experience than most ever would in two months overseas. This being the first missions group that I have ever started, it’s hard to know if I am doing things right at times. I pray that the Lord clears some things up for me. Pray for both of us and our work here.