Dear friends & family,
So it has been a while…sorry. I realized that I am not very good with words and putting my thoughts into words. I tried typing multiple blogs and wound up deleting them. Then I realized that I cannot let those things prevent me from keeping you updated about what the Lord is doing here in Cambodia. Ultimately it is not about me. It is about His kingdom and bringing glory to His name. So here we go.
As some of you know, I have been in Phnom Penh, Cambodia for about 11 days now. After many flights and long layovers, my squad made it to the Kingdom of Cambodia on September 11th. As the rest of the teams started leaving to go to their specific ministries all over the country on September 12th, our team found ourselves sitting down and simply praying for the Spirit to show up and lead us wherever He wants us to go. Our ministry this month is called Unsung Heroes. This means that we do not have a specific host family or ministry that we are working alongside with, but rather we are going into parts of Cambodia seeking more men and women who are already working for the kingdom. We ask the Spirit to lead us to these kinds of people/ministries so that the World Race can potentially make contact with them and send teams to them in the future. My team is super excited to start month one of our race in this way. We love the picture of literally coming in with nothing and praying with expectancy that our Father will show up and lead us to the people that He wants us to meet.
If I am being completely honest, I was unsure of what this month would look like. I did not know how the Lord was going show up; and I was afraid that some days would be slow and spent doing little to further the kingdom in Cambodia. In the beginning there were moments of doubt, but after days of seeing and experiencing the Lord faithfully bless us with meetings with people who are craving for the gospel to be known throughout the country of Cambodia, my trust in the Lord began to grow. How could I doubt that He would show up? Our God is good and faithful. Even if it wasn’t in the ways the I expected to see Him provide, I have been in awe of all that the Lord has done so far. He has provided someone for us to meet, whether directly or indirectly, every day that we have been here. My team comes into those meetings with the purpose of just wanting to encourage them in what they are already doing. We want to listen and hear about their ministry. However, it turns out that after every meeting, I have felt more encouraged by the people that we are meeting with then vice-versa. The work that these people are doing for the gospel is unreal and truly inspiring. I am going to describe a couple of the ministries that we have had the opportunity of meeting below:
Cambodia Baptist Union: CBU, which was started in 1995, coordinates the Baptist work and church planting in the country. Since 1995, CBU has planted over 500 churches all over Cambodia…WHAT?! Three of my teammates and I met with Reverend Nhem Nivath, the president of CBU, earlier last week and were moved by his devotion to see the kingdom of God grow throughout Cambodia. He was a man of peace and humility. There was a gentleness to him. Although we could not fully understand all that he was trying to communicate with us, it was clear that this man loves the Lord and will continue to do all that he can to bring the “good news” to the people of Cambodia. Regardless of whether or not the World Race can partner with CBU in the future, I left one of my first meetings stoked about what the Spirit is already doing here in Cambodia.
Toul Kork Methodist Church: One of my teammates and I met with the pastor of Toul Kork Methodist Church, Pastor Sea Khemra, on Saturday this past week. He told us about the church and the many outreaches that church does as well. There is a school at the church for kids to come and learn. The church goes out into the community and evangelizes to the locals. He told us that pretty much every week there are newcomers to the church. Not to mention that before the church and school were what they are today, it was a club and a hotel before people came in and bought the club and hotel and transformed it into a place of worship (crazy right?). In addition, while we were there we got to meet a missionary from Singapore, who talked to us about all that Lord is doing all over the world; and also described how cool it was for us to have been lead to Pastor Khemra because he is at the center of a lot of different ministry opportunities. We would not have known this because Pastor Khemra displayed extreme humility when he was talking with us just like Nhem Nivath from CBU. One of my favorite aspects of this meeting was getting to have coffee with Pastor Khemra afterwards. We talked about his family and what the Lord is doing throughout the entire world. He encouraged us and even provided more ministries for us to contact, which was really cool.
Lynda and I at Toul Kork Methodist Church.
Please keep both of these ministries in your prayers as they continue to persevere in doing what the Lord has called them to do even though they face hardships every day. Both Reverend Nivath and Pastor Khemra are beautiful pictures of what it means to walk in humility while doing the work of the Lord.
So basically I find myself in a place of extreme thankfulness as the Lord continues show me how good and trustworthy He is. At times I do not feel worthy to be given these opportunities, but how cool that the Lord chooses to use broken people to reach broken people. When doubt starts to creep in all I can do is pray like the father in Mark 9, “I believe, help my unbelief!”
In Him,
Nat
