fredag 6. november 2015

Taster

Today has been a taster day for churches wanting to know more aboout what Agenda 1 is. We spent the night in a very comfortable guest house and were up and out by 7 am as usual. I dropped the cold shower this morning. There is no hot water in guest house rooms. There was however an unusual problem, somone had completely blocked our minibus in. This is how the men in our team solved the problem; by pushing the offending vehicle out of the way, moving the bus and then returning the other vehicle to its place.
 
The hotel carpark, spot the white minibus blocked in.


The street outside the guest house

Off to the street cafe for breakfast, I had marinated pork with rice and a cup of tea in a dinty handleless asian cup
 
The taster day wasn't really a day, it was from 8am - 2pm. Steve, Tom Kenneth and I shared the teaching. Both Anne Kate and I were cold today yet the temperature was 28 degrees (feels like 40 says the app) with 88% humidity! That does not bode well for us when we get back to Stavanger in November brrrrrr!

 



Feedback from groupwork.

One church group prays for another.

 
 
 
Once were finished here we headded back to Phnom Penh where we checked into another comfortable guest house before heading out into the city. We started by going to the memorial of the reign of terror and the genocide by the Khmer Rouge, this is a hugely moving place and not as painful to visit as it could be. There is a kind of quiet peace there despite all the violence comitted to thousands of innocent people. If you wore glasses, a sign of being able to read and therefore educated then you were executed with the rest of your family "just to be sure there were no survivors able to point the finger." If you has "soft hands" then you were not a maual labourer and therefore a threat to the Khmer Rouge and you were executed, most people were tortured first. Executions were with any heavy or sharp object rather than guns since bullets were expensive. This was done during the night while loud speakers played very loud propoganda music to drown out the victim's screams. Even small children and babies were executed.
 
Babies and children were executed against this tree by being held by the feet and swung at speed towards the trunk where their skulls were shattered. Their bodies were thrown into the nearest mass grave.
You cannot help but be moved when you og to a place like this but it is important both not to forget what happened and to better understand the Khmer people today.
 
We have been travelling around the city this afternoon by tuctuc. On heading back to the city centre we got caught up in a terrible gridlock which meant we had to drop any ideas of going either to Daughters of Cambodia (see previous posts) or the Russian Market.
 
 
We went straight to a favourite restraunt of mine the Khmer Surin and had a lovely meal before headding for our beds.


Mango cooler.



torsdag 5. november 2015

Tobung Khmum day 2

After a full eight hours of sleep we felt refreshed and ready to meet whatever the day may bring. Thank you to the 37 people on the prayer list who prayed for a good nights sleep for us. Out again by 7am and after a very tasty breakfast of marinated pork with rice and a rather strong chili sauce we headded to the church.

The atmosphere was expectant, we started as a had started day two in Chhuk with teaching and ministry on the topic of how much our Heavenly Father loves us. It was very moving for many people and we hope and pray that many experienced a deep sense of His love either again or for the first time.

There was a break then and snacks for everyone, fruit and/or rice cakes steamed in palm leaves.


Trying a rice snack
Tom Kenneth after biting into  a sour local fruit yesterday











After snack time the churches divided into their groups for the last time and made plans for the coming 6 months.

Ten church groups working together.
 
The groups then chose a group member to come forward and present their pland to the rest of the people. For some this was a huge step out of their comfort zone, especially the women who may have never said anything in a meeting before. After each team presentation, the whole team from each church were prayed for.

I noticed that the children who were there could not get enough prayer ministry and were joining in for more and more - what a joy! I suggested we pray for them all together as well as with their church groups. In this picture it looks like they have been forced up against the wall, that's not really how it happened! We then prayed for the teenagers a second time praying for their future and the role they will have in shaping their country.
Please note all left the wall with their lives intact!
 After lunch, a leader review and some socializing we drove back to Phnom Penh along the border with Vietnam which in places was only 100 metres away. We say lots and lots of rice fields, a rubber plantation and loads of other interesting things to look at including the Mekong river which we crossed by bridge.
Rice not yet ready to harvest

Rubber trees





























In Phnom Penh we changed some of the local team members before going out to a pizzaria for a meal and to celebrate Tom Kenneth's birthday.


The birthday cake was bright and colourful with "Happy birthday, may God bless you" written on. At lunch time we had made an improvized cake from green beans and other vegetables. We sang happy birthday to him three times in all today, once when we got up in the morning, once with the vegetable cake and once with the proper cake!
After we'd eaten we carried on to near where we are going to have an Agenda 1 taster day for churches in a province just an hour south of the capital. Agenda 1 involves a big committment on their part as it is twice a year for 2-4 years with follow up during the intervening 6 months. This is something the local churches has asked for and want. They will be expected to put the plans they make into action during the interveening 6 months then to feed back to the other churches how they have got on with it. It will, I'm sure, be an interesting day tomorrow. 




Tbung Khmum

Out of the guest house at 7am and the temperature was already 33 degrees with 57% humidity! We were in for a long and rather hot day. We eventually found the church where the meetings today and tomorrow will be held. The people have already gathered and are waiting. There were two fans for about 80 people, clearly not enough. We started With worship led by musicians on traditional Khmer instruments.

Worship leaders


playing traditional instruments


but I have no idea what they are!











The teaching, discussion groups and presentations got under way.

Group work




Tracy teaching
Steve, Tom Kenneth and I shared the teaching and Chakraya translated for the people. We had two students to translate for us when necessary.


Tom Kenneth teaching


Everyone focussed on what's being said.


By 11am I was struggling, everyone was struggling, even the locals! Thankfully there is pleanty of bottled water, we needed it. Lunchtime came and we had rice and a stew of intestines and vegetables. I think most of us westerners avoided the intestines and ate the rice and the veg.

Large intestine of some unfortunate animal with sauce and other delicacies.


 
We were not long into the afternoon before a tropical storm broke overhead. I have heard about these but never before experienced one.


 
 

As it rained we felt the temperature plummet from 43 degrees to a more manageable level. I cannot tell you what it was as we didn’t measure it after the storm. The day ended with another evaluation and meal of rice and mung bean and meat. There were other things to have with the rice but I chose not to.
One of the people in charge of food preparation by his preparatin area.
 
A meal for over 80 people
lots of pots bubbling merrily



in pots using a wood fire under each for heat
 

The team finished today with a couple of hours of prayer ministry then back in our rather hot bedroom we hope to sleep.

Day 2

We started this morning with worship and prayer. The focus was on how much God loves us and how we cannot do anything that will make him love us more, nor can we do anything to make him love us less. After the worship was a time of quiet prayer, the team moved around the room praying for and laying hands on the people. There was a fantastic sense of the presence of God in the room. and people were visible touched.

After a long time we moved onto the final piece of teaching and then the different churches made the plans which they will impliment over the coming 6 months. There were some dynamic plans to both lead new people into a relationship with the living God or that they would help new believers to grow in their faith. It will be exciting to see what God does through these people between now and the next meeting of Agenda 1. Some of the team swapped with others in Phnom Penh.
 


After lunch and a review with the leaders.

Lunch of rice and...

Offal in a suace











We headed to the next place which has the rather cool name of Tbung Khmum. We were unsure how long the journey would take, it was 6 hours in the end. That is quite long enough in a small mini bus on bumpy and sometime almost non-existent roads. We arrived in time to book into the same guest house we used last February then we immediately headed out to the nearest street cafe for a meal. The food was very tasty but the kitchen and preparation facilities leave something to be desired!


Steve and Chakrya deep in conversation




The cooking facilities. See the fire under the big pot at the back.


Food preparation area!





Sweet and sour chicken bones.

The new team.






Back to the room for the night but sleep was rather elusive probably because the room was well over 30 degrees and there’s no air conditioning. There is a fan which moves the hot air about but that’s of little help.

mandag 2. november 2015

Teaching day one

At least 80 local church leaders were gathered expectantly this morning for the first of two days of teaching. Most of the 18 churches represented had sent a small team of their main leaders. The day began with worship led by boys from the church children's home whose site we are meeting on, it was all in Khmer but there was one song which I knew from growing up some of you british readers might know it too, "Because he lives." Here it is on you tube for any of you who are curious; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPW9xYEyijQ  


We then moved on to the morning teaching session which was "Our assignment is to make disciples." It is based on the verses from Matthew 28:18-20 The teaching is very visual with lots of descrictive diagrams. The church leaders here vary from trained pastors who have possibly been to theological college to others who are unable to read and write.

Steve teaching with Chekraya translating
We stopped mid-morning for a snack and a half hour break. The snacks were unfamiliar and exciting as usual. I chose deep fried battered banana and a rice doughnut they tasted very gooood!

Snacks Khmer-style
Tom Kenneth agrees, the banana was tasty
The churches worked in their church teames with the different sections that were covered today and gave feedback to the rest of the churches.
Group work



Discussion in church groups
 
It is fantastic to see the topic we are teaching moving fro people's heads to their heats as they understand and see the biblical basis for it. The main thrust of the afternoon teaching was how we serve, what is out motivation for serving God. Too often it is out of a sense of obligation or duty or wanting to make God happy. This is all well and good but that should not be what drives us, it should be the knowledge that we are God's children, adopted into his family and unconditionally loved by him that leads us to want to serve him in all sorts of ways. Otherwise we end up disillusioned, worn out and feel we never are quite good enough. The church in Cambodia is in good company with many churches in europ and else where in needing to have a fresh insight into who we are as children of our Heavenly Father and members of his family "the Church."

Lunch was rice and a variety of tasty meat and vegetable dishes which following the noodle soup we had for breakfast and the morning snacks meant that nobody started the afternoon hungry. After lunch there was an hour to rest in the heat of the day. I used this time to speak to some of the female church leaders. In Cambodia there are as many women leading churches as there are men. Culturally it is easier for me to relate to these women than it is for the men on our team. I took a translator with me and went to meet some ladies. I was privileged to hear fantastic testimonies about all sorts of things including the supernatural and miraculous healings.

A lady sharing her testimony with the rest of the participants.
The afternoon session started with testimony and worship before we jumped back innto the teaching and group work.

This evening we have been to a street cafe again and has another meal of rice and a variety of meat dishes including chicken marinated in coka cola! So now it is time for me to catch some ZZZZZZZZZZZZ