Where should I be?

I remembered thinking to myself during a bath on one of the first sentiments I had when I first arrived in Cambodia:

There are still so many people in Cambodia who have either not heard of Christ or come to receive Him as their Lord and saviour. What about the many more in the remotest parts of the world? How would Acts 1:8 be completely fufilled? Where should I be?

Coming to Cambodia was a surrealism from the sophistication in my life, it tore me from the whirlpool of many needless concerns. It stripped me down to what was basic, what was fundamental to life - humanity. Teaching at KBS has given me a sense of purpose n much joy in the LORD, seeing these youths being so eager to learn, so eager to grow in the faith, so eager to tell their fellow countryman of Jesus. I have 10 teaching days left, how I wish I could teach them all about what the Holy Spirit has graciously enabled me to know about Christ throughout the years! But the barrier of language stands imposingly in between me and that..Praise the LORD, He has reminded me that with humans, it is impossible, but with God, all things are possible! He is El Shaddai, God Almighty. I shall penetrate this barrier with prayer.

Its not for me to worry where I should be, what path I should tread, that's not it. My Heavenly Father's will was for me to put my life in His hands (romans 12:1), surely, He is the best resource allocator and He will be the one to allocate them most efficiently. Be compelled by Christ's love, commit yourself to the LORD, be courageous in carrying your cross daily, following hard after Jesus, fight the good fight, take up the full armour of God, hope in the LORD's return, hence purifying yourself, knowing that the light of His countenance will the the infinite and eternal joy in which we will rest, worshipping the Lamb that was slain, for eternity. 

Cambodia

14 May 2012

It is now the rainy season in cambodia and it pours almost the whole day. We heard from the locals that there was a typhoon which hit cambodia just one day before our arrival.

''...LORD, may Your hand protect the books meant for the people here..."

Throughout our journey, we had experienced much of God's grace! Firstly, a box of commentaries meant for the teachers & Bible students went MIA from the luggage conveyor belt when we landed on phnom penh, we prayed with a brother over lunch to give thanks and also for His hand to protect these books that they may be delivered to the people here. Right after our prayer, God answered it, a call came in from the Lost & Found! We went back to the airport to collect it then headed to the bus station to behin our 6 hour bus ride to silhanouk ville. That was when we started to experience the heavy downpours of cambodia, but fortunately, we were able to load the cargo onto the bus and board it without getting wet. There are so much more details to give thanks for, but in a nutshell, God definitely hears prayers and answers them in astounding ways, protecting us, guiding us and blessing us with his precise arrangements. All the events which have occurred so far are like the different notes in a symphony, fluctuating in inconsistent ways yet ''concocting'' a perfect melody.

"...LORD, help us to find the luggage...

A second incident was when we unloaded from the bus, sheng qi laoshi took her hand carry luggage and moved aside to contact reverend han (a korean missionary who has been at that place for 15yrs) to transport us to our living quarters. While I stayed on a bit longer to collect my own luggage and the 2 boxes of books. It happened that sheng qi laoshi forgot to grab her hand luggage in her hurry and I was also too occupied to remember to account for that as well. It was only until today morning that we went to search for her luggage. Miraculously, we found it back at the bus station at the same bus! When I climbed into the cargo area, but there was only one bag, it was also then that my faithless prayer made just moments ago was answered in my face, I saw the initials, S.C Chan! God is indeed good.

15 May 

I joined the teens at the bible school to plant some trees this morning, they will take 3 mths to bear fruit. I thought I would be able to dig well with my shell scrape digging skills but...no. The teens were awesome at it and did far better than me, it was a humbling experience and definitely a fruitful one as well! We kinda farmed in the intermittent rain and it was really nice getting to know these friendly and sincere people, coming here seems to have made the world seem a better place although its a 'third world country'. Its also fun, trying to communicate with the korean missionaries with what little korean that I've picked up through watching dramas, lol.

Ï remember praying to God that I wished to be a sincere person like my dad. I do trust that by bringing me here, God is answering my prayer! Although Cambodia looks like Singapore in 1960-1980s, it is a beautiful land!

The students jio-ed me to go swimming at the water fall and I answered to their request excitedly, "ok!" Much to my dismay, reverend han waved to show his disapproval for fear that I would catch a cold and fall sick, furthermore we were going to take the car back to the mission house (our residence). So we just followed the students in the car but we did not swim with them. The 'water fall' was built by a chinese in 1997 and was used to irrigate the plot of land beside it which was a cow farm of sorts. The cows here are really skinny! You can see their skeletal outline! Its nice to see how the students are enjoying themselves amidst God's creation, they definitely do have a deeper appreciation of God's creation as compared to us town kids.

16 May

Taught my first lesson this morning, it appears that the junior class would change every one year or so, thus, only one student knew who Jiemin was. Maybe if I come back here in December, I would be able to continue teaching the same batch. We shall see how the LORD leads! I thank the LORD for bringing me to this place because it automatically removes so many of the distractions in my life and I'm directly oriented to focus on working, on what is important. Both sheng qi lao shi and my self have established the fact that we are here primarily for the purpose of work at the start of the trip. 

身教

My first lesson was kind of a flop, I kinda expected self introduction to last for one hour and teach them some words along the way, but it only lasted for 15 minutes. So I changed my plan, did a big group sit on the floor sharing to understand a bit more about their lives, after which I told them that I would be learning from them today and had them bring me on a guided tour around Kompongsan Bible School (KBS). I took the opportunity to converse with individual students and also teach them new words along the way.

"In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth."

When we were back, I taught them on the articles (a, an, the) and then moved on to revision by doing a word search exercise  for the words which I taught them in the morning. I kinda expected it to be fun, that they would break out into chattering to do the exercise, but, no, they were dead serious and they did the exercise with pin drop silence in the classroom. Their diligence put me to shame and really fuelled me to prepare for a better lesson tomorrow. Throughout the whole lesson I was kinda awkward and clueless due to my inexperience but I thank God for putting ideas in the head and I concluded the lesson by summing up all the words which we have learnt on plants, animals and humans that they are creation, God's creation. I ended with the verse from Genesis 1:1 that all are God's creation. I really wanna talk to them more about God but the language barrier prevents me from doing so at the moment. I strategized to penetrate that barrier with prayer.

In the upcoming days, I will be trying to drop verses here and there to teach them God's Word and also teach them in a manner not just to improve their command of English, but to also train their minds, build their intelligence and also learn to read and understand well to prepare them for exegesis of God's Word. As much as there is a mission field right here, there is also a mission field in my heart, for God to work, to cause me to yield to His Will.

I realised that there was a tomb stone of sorts within the KBS compound, with the name Rev. Lee. I asked sheng qi laoshi about it and she told me that he was a teacher in cambodia and met with some opposition and persecution. He managed to escape a few attempts at murdering him but went missing for a long period of time until his corpse was found a long time later. Indeed, as sheng qi laoshi shared, persecution was never so close us and it is a reminder of how many people out here, out there, suffering for the LORD for the accomplishments of His purposes. "Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit." John 15:2