Friday, May 20, 2005

Cambodia Experience 10-5-2005

This is the day we will be going to the village. We took breakfast at one of the Chinese restaurant. Then we chartered three motorcycles to bring us to the village. It was a fun ride to the village. The road is dusty and once again I feel at home. Not because of the dusty road but because of the sceneries and the village atmosphere. Along the way, we say a group of Muslims walking along the road. They were easy to recognize as they were wearing the turban and the robes.

I was reminded of the difference between Islam and Christianity. Islam forced their believers to conform to the Arab cultures but Christianity redeems the people’s culture. A Cambodian can still look like a Cambodian and still believes in Christ. An Indian can still wear the traditional clothing and still be a Christian. There’s no need to change attire to signify that one is a believer of Christ. There is no legalism in Christianity whereas Muslims are still bound to the “law”. May Christ set them free from the law and into the grace of God.

We passed by a big field before reaching the village. There is already a group of children and adults waiting for us. The church is at the house of the elder. He is the first to believe in Christ in that area and by God’s grace, many more were brought to Christ through him. After a brief introduction by the elder, we went down to minister to the people. The people were very attentive and enjoyed the English action songs that we taught them. I shared on my conversion testimony. Almost shed my tears during sharing as I remembered my mother’s sadness over my faith. Prayed that the testimony would encourage the people to stand firm in their faith. Alvin preached the Word. Though I find that it is a bit too deep/strong teaching for the people, I pray that the Holy Spirit will still minister to the people. We then prayed for the people. Many came to be prayed for, mainly for chest pain. After prayer, the team played games with the children. Jason shared about the Lion’s story.

We then traveled back to the base. We got a chance to visit a “mini” Angkor. They called it Wat Angkor. It is said to be older than Angkor Wat itself. There is still a temple inside where people come and pray. I went inside the place with my cap on. Then one girl came beside me and pointed to my cap. I realized that I need to take off my cap as a sign of respect. I did so but after a while I forgot about it and put my cap on. Again the girl came and asked me to take it off. After that we went back to the town.

We were then brought to the Bamboo bridge. It connects the mainland to an island at the middle of the river. I was informed that the village that we went in the morning is located in the middle of that island. The bamboo bridge is strong enough that a car can go through. We saw a car on the bamboo bridge. It was hot weather at the island. We saw fisherman catching fish using their nets. It was there that Daniel Sim challenged me to eat the small fish caught by the fisherman. The prize is 1 USD. It’s quite a small prize but that’s not a problem. I know it can be done so I accepted it. Most of them think that I’m bluffing so I ate the fish. More like AXN Fear Factor. Doesn’t taste nice. It’s nice to see their facial expressions when I show to them the fish in my mouth. Hopefully, I can get the photos of the fish in my mouth. When we want to walk back to the mainland, we were stopped by a lady who ask for the fee to use the bridge … 500 riel which is about 50cent Malaysian.

We then were sent to the youth centre where we are to teach computer lesson. But today the class starts late at 4pm until 7 pm. Today the team are more prepared. Daniel Sim has prepared a sample project for the students to do. The team members guided the students as they tried to do the project. Again before the students learn computer class, we taught them Bible lessons. We also presented skits for the students … the water lily, durian tree and bamboo tree. Helped the team by being the strong wind.
After the computer lessons, we prayed for the teachers and then went back for our dinner. After dinner, we did our devotion and debriefing. Then at about 11.30pm, we went out for supper. After supper, we went back and sleep.

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