Our Week In Review

Unfortunately we have been unable to login to the blog until now, and that is why the team has not been posting.  Thank you for praying for us.  We have had a great week!

-Travel here was good.  No surprises, made our connections, layovers were short.  There were even empty seats on the leg from Houston to Moscow.  Room to stretch out!

-Sunday was fun!  We celebrated Christmas in the village with our brothers and sisters.  There was dancing, singing, and drama (like a play, not like a diva).  I preached a short message on connecting the good news of the Christmas story with Jesus healing the blind man in Mark 10.  He asked for mercy and Jesus made him see, and then he followed Jesus down the road.

Isn't that what being a Christ follower looks like?  We ask for mercy, Jesus saves us - I once was blind but now I see, and then we follow Jesus down the road.  Don't be jealous that the mission team gets to celebrate Christmas twice!

-Our Ministry Projects went really well in the village.  We had a week full of great children's ministry and home visits.  We were able to share Christ with many who do not believe, and even many that had never heard.  We were able to visit 6 or more churches that are a part of the network of village churches.  We prayed with them, sang with them, and even enjoyed spontaneous teaching on prayer, suffering, and other pertinent subjects.  The children's work was a big hit too.  Crafts, lessons, music, games, and more crafts!

-Today was full of cultural experiences.  We started our day riding a charter boat on the Mekong to a place called Silk Island.  We saw silk products made from start to finish - worm to scarf!  After that we went to S21 - the genocide museum.  I've been more than 5 times I'm sure, and every time it effects me in new ways.  Today I met a survivor and purchased and autographed copy of his book.

-Tomorrow, we go serve our partners at Mercy Medical Clinic.  We asked how we could serve them, and the clearly answered - PRAYER.  I'm expecting a really special day for our team.

Some reflection on what the Lord has taught me this week:
-Blessings come in lots of shapes and sizes, and are often the opposite of what the world and we expect - even lower back pain.  Sometimes God doesn't answer our prayer for very specific reasons.  Maybe it is to make us compassionate?  Maybe it is to remind us He is in control?  Maybe it is to help us remember how important it is to go?
-It is a huge blessing to be able to go - to go, love, serve - and share Christ to men, women, and children in a totally different culture. 

We have seen so many old friends, made so many new friends; we have loved, and been loved on.  Like the blind man - we have seen God!

Thanks again for your prayers - Randy

Lord's Supper

View from the back of the Pastor's Conference--set up outside under some tarps between the orphanage dorms

Greg and Randy have been leading a conference for pastors from all over Cambodia this week.  Today was the last day and one of the special parts of the morning was the Lord's Supper.  What a taste of how heaven will be to take part in this time of remembrance with believers in another part of the world!  How amazing it is to celebrate ONE Savior with dozens of pastors and believers who speak another language and live in another culture!  It is such an incredible feeling of unity as a Church.   - Michelle

A woman's Khmer Bible

Time in Lveasar

Wowzers!  Our time in Lveasar has already come to an end!  Each morning this week, we have loaded up onto a big bus and headed out for an hour-and-a-half-long ride to the community of Lveasar.  On the way there we stop twice…once to drop off the nurses who served with Mercy Medical, and once to buy water.

Once we are dropped off by the bus on the side of the street, we walk the block down to the ferry and ride the ferry across the Mekong River (nice and breezy!).  Once we hit the ferry landing on the other side we walk (or ride on the back of a moto) about a mile to the Hope for Cambodia Orphanage.  And THEN…the fun happens.  All the teams (orphanage, pastor's conference, home visits) scatter about and go about their work!!  After putting in a full morning, we all walk across the road to a shaded pavilion kind of area to eat a leisurely lunch and visit.  And then it's back to work for the afternoon until we catch our return ferry across the Mekong to our bus.

When we arrive back at the hotel, we have a few minutes before heading out to dinner so that we can be back in time for our debriefing meeting…then it's pretty much bedtime (hence this being the first blog post all week!!).

So that's kind of a "day-in-the-life" picture of our time in Lveasar…more details to come!

Michelle

Cambodia. One word. One trip. One God. This trip has been one of the best experiences in my life. I love the people, the kiddos, and the BPF team. This morning woke up, exhausted, went to breakfast and make sure I am ready by 7 to get on the bus. Its about an hour ride to a village then we cross a ferry to get to L'vea Sor. When you step off the ferry, the little kiddos are waiting there for you as you step off the boat to run up, hold your hand, and show you a wonderful smile. I help with the lesson team and today had to be the best day yet. We talked about Samual talking to people the one true king that is better then any human king and I think the kids really understood the story;however the story wrapped up when the kids and one of our translater, Lucky sang this prayer: Pray For Cambodia Never have I feel regreted of my decision to work for God easy,hard,happy,and sad, I will still try to do it. My life is full of tears of joy. I try to pray to God as what he promised us that he'll always be with us and take us to the victory. I'm gonna go all around Cambodia and work from all my heart and my life forever, I will try even if I face many hard times there is a long way, I know, but I know and believe that God is there for me. That had to be one of the greatest moments of the trip as I hear childeren sing and praise the same God as I do. This week,trip,and experience has been one of the greatest and it has help me find a spark for God that I have lost in the last couple of weeks. God works in great ways and I couldn't dream of a better Christmas trip then the one where I see God work through people and myself. God has blessed our church with the opperunity to work with amazing people. I wish you could see how great this trip is and how it helps find who you are in Gods plan. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from Cambodia! Love, Allison Jenkins

Some great things happening

The children of Lveasor have had a great week. Awesome crafts, coloring, making butterflies with clothes pins, bracelets, beaded necklaces with all the activities pointing to Jesus Christ the King. In the afternoon they have short ESL classes THEN playtime or it may be known wear out the adults and teens. Our BPF teens are stellar whether working with children or going on home visits. Yesterday one of our teens, Kelli Meyer, ask a woman if she wanted Christ. That woman along with 2 others stepped over line of faith. These days of home visits have so reignited all who have gone. The pastors conference winds down today. Ronnie and our interpreter Sovaty are having throat problems and Sovaty doesn't get rest from constant interpretation. Pray for healing and rest for these guys.

For I Know the Plans for you

How amazing that 2013 began as awesome as 2012 ended!  Boo hoo I stayed back at hotel so I could cough here. BUT GOD had plan b in store for me.  My housekeeper struck up a conversation.  She shared her heart that been through much pain in  ENGLISH that just doesn't happen here.  She shared her hopes as well, we talked children and then it turned to church. I ask her if she had heard of JESUS. She replied I'm a Christian that just doesn't happen everyday here either. After work she goes to school to improve her English.  I told her I had something that would help her-I gave her my Bible.  She was so excited. We talked about forgiving others who hurt us because God forgives.  Who would of thought plan b would be one of my best New Year's Day ever.  Jeremiah 29:11-"for I know the plans for you....". Lynn Walker

Yikes I mentioned Kenya but we are in CAMBODIA !!!!!:

Dear Friends I ended my year with a deep desire and longing come true.  On my past visits to Kenya we were not able to do home  visits and my heart was sad about this.  On January 31, 2012 God  blessed a small group of us to go to another village and pray with families-blessing for their homes, prayer requests they gave us and we ask them to pray for us.  Reminded me of James 5:16-prayers of righteous are powerful and effective.  This joyful destitute community is known in the province as the "Christian village".  They know the power of prayer they know God's provision for food only from the land around them.  And if you want to hear the whole story please ask any of us.  So I ended 2012 with the words of Proverbs 13:19-"A longing fulfilled is sweet to the soul,..". 

Also please pray for of us who are in need of healing-Ronnie sore throat, Lynn-coughing, chest congestion,  Mary Ann-knee injury before trip is very painful.  

We love all of you our family and friends.  Lynn walker