Hey everyone.  I’m going to do my best with the short time.

Sunday

We had two services this day.  In the morning we loaded the van and drove about 1 hour to a rural village outside of Phnom Penh.  On my way over to the church, MS Hai was just telling me about the water situation in Cambodia– which is pretty bad.  I saw a truck literally pull over to the side of the road and take water from a pond and later sell it to the village.  Personally, I’m so concerned about dehydration but am equally concerned about the cleanliness of the water.  It feels like double trouble.  As for the church, it really does feel like experiencing the book of Acts.  One of the roles that I am learning about MS Hai is that he helps and tries to start up churchs around Cambodia.  We met up at a mans house, sang songs, heard the word, and then tithe, prayed, and sang that same ending song we sing at Vietnamese Hope.  Its true, God’s is calling his people from all the nations.  One of the unique things about this church was that its a community of people who are infected with HIV.  When Christ talks about compassion- he means that you have more than just concern for people but empathy that makes your stomach twist because of the angst.  It was seriuosly a depraved situation.  The majority of the congregation was primarily woman- which I found out later was because their husband and their children’s passed about because of their infection with HIV.  Talk about spit in your coffee.

 

Sunday Afternoon

We first had a chance to visit a Cambodia memorial about the Genocide from the 1975-1979.  The first thing I saw when I went there was a building literally 5 floors high filled with skulls.  I’m only mentioning this because during that time, 1/5 of the Cambodia population was wiped about because of malnutrition, forced labor, or simply execution.  One of their goals was to eliminate the educated and create a society ran primariy by an organized gang.  Today, they are still feeling the ramifications of such extreme and irrational convictions.

 

The second church we can to visit was near an area that is describe as “Salad Sugar.” If you are Vietnamese, you know what that means.  As for my english speaking compadres- sorry.  Its called that because the community is primarily Vietnamese displaced from Vietnam and they go and farm the “Salad Sugar.”  We met for a few hours just to let them know that on Tuesday we will be doing VBS at their church (which we did today).

 

Monday

On this day, we had a combination of VBS and medical missions work.  It was seriously crazy because here, we got to meet alot of people who live on boats and they came on land for the medical attention and VBS.  I got to help out with the measurements and took peoples temperature by sticking a temperature reader in their ear.

 

I got a chance to talk to a few people, but I think that their idea of God is that we can’t know him and that life here is all that they should worry about.  I got a chance to help out with some of the kids and I’m glad I brought my camera.  Its a good way to talk to them and have a sort of ice breaker.  We left the day around 4 pm, ate dinner, and planned a skit for Tuesday.

 

Skit

We did the miracles of Jesus– long story short- my time is running out but i was the “Demon-Possessed.”  The kids loved it and they were in awe of my acting skills.  Just kidding.  I was humbled by their laughter.

 

Tuesday

Second day of VBS at “Salad-Sugar” location.  The kids here are absolutely sweet!  I got to meet a few guys my age and they took me around the village while the other team was working with the kids.  I wish I could show you but they took me to a place that has a great view of the country side…  We had songs (I played guitar today), lesson, crafts, games, lunch, songs, and more lessons, our skit, and a puppet show.

 

Political Awareness

July 24-27 is the Cambodian government presidential election.  I heard last night that one of the rumors or concern is from the tension that may arise from the Cambodians People Party and the Candle party.  Whoever wins, there is gonna be a lot of turmoil and possible violence.  Our trip to Siem Riep might be a problem and potentially dangerous.  We’re gonna find out the news and then pray tomorrow to see what we will decide. 

 

My Prayer-

To go to Siem Riep or not?  The politics here is crazy!  There are people marching around everywhere and I can really see it getting out of hand.  Please pray that God would give us peace and clear door about what to do.  Our team needs constant prayer since I think the long days have been taxing on some people and being always together has been great for me, but I hope that God would continue to unite us for his work.  In the end, pray that we may continue to be a vessal for God’s glory and his work.

For God’s glory!

Vinh