Well I’m now in Cambodia. Our team is staying at the YWAM base along with team Agape. When we first arrived here we had no idea where we were going in Cambodia let alone what our ministry was. It was a faith building time believing that God had a plan for us even though we didn’t.
We soon found out that we would be working with a small church in Phenom Penh. Our contact is a fellow named Jeff and his wife Chenny. Jeff is an American and my age and Chenny is a local Cambodian. I found it very encouraging that Jeff is so dedicated to his ministry at such a young age. He’s already lived here for 3 years.
Their main ministry at the church is teaching English to local Cambodians. They have three classes: intro, level 1, and level 2. To give some idea of how fluent they are intro can say basic phrases like, “how are you.” On the other hand level 2 can make conversations with you using basic words.
So our team has been helping Jeff with teaching English. We’ve learned a lot about teaching methods and how to explain things very simply. We’ve also been painting the church. This has been a frustrating task. The paint that we have is not thick at all. In fact it’s about the consistency of milk. That means that paint drips everywhere, not to mention the runs on the wall. To top it off some spots look like we didn’t paint them at all even though we’ve put on multiple coats. Serenity now! (Seinfeld anybody)
I’m still learning a lot about letting go of my American expectations of the “right way to paint,” and just try to bless them with the tools and paint we have. If they’re happy I’m happy.
We have been able to have some good conversations with our students about God. One night during our level 2 class we were having discussions on random topics. So I thought this could be a good time to bring up God. So one of our topics became “Do you believe in God? Why or why not.” We soon found out that most of them simply had a lack of information about Christianity. Many though Buddhism (the main religion here) was the same as Christianity. That blew my mind. They are as different as day from night.
Keep praying God with create more opportunities to tell people about Jesus.
God Bless
Clint
