Dear friends,
I've been in Cambodia for 2 weeks and there's a lot to catch up on. I think I need to shelve the idea of typing up the remaining "blog entries" from Taiwan I have scrawled in my journal that I planned on posting. Things I'll want to reflect over with my friends when I get home: how being part of the Vineyard spoke to ministry among Taiwan's working poor, challenging my understandings of poverty and community development, how globalization is affecting perceptions of poverty, worship and freedom from bondage, and many little stories of how God brought just the right people across my path.
Friends from home, I'm really missing you! It's been challenging for this introvert to be meeting new people every day for a month and a half.
There are loads and loads of people coming to Cambodia to serve in the various NGO's and missions organizations here. The OMF team here is pretty maxed out and I was really amazed that they wanted to have me here. But as it turns out, they needed someone to get started in establishing their missions archives. OMF sent some of the first missionaries into Cambodia both before the Khmer Rouge and afterwards, so it's got a rich history. Being a lover of church history, I was pumped...and so were they. Had an awesome time interviewing a missionary couple from Japan that has been here for 11 years. That sounds short, but for Cambodia, that's a long time for a foreigner.
The other job I've been given is to give a worship leaders' workshop in a local Khmer church here in Phnom Penh. I've been attending the church and their worship team's rehearsals. Pray for us!
Am negotiating a steep learning curve about British culture since the staff here are mostly English. Got in big trouble yesterday due to a cross-cultural misunderstanding with a senior missionary here. Yikes! In the end, it was a good learning experience.
And to end on a celebratory note, I got to visit a friend of K* and Captain Colony who run an awesome anti-trafficking NGO called Chab Dai. While I was there, I met a Khmer staff member who does awareness training out in the provinces, especially in the highly vulnerable areas near the Thai border. He just got back from a training trip and had SO many stories to tell about how the training was helping communities protect their kids. My very favorite was that in one village, he met two moms who were about to sell their daughters thinking that they would be getting normal work in Thailand. In the meantime, he did a training and when the moms realized what was happening, they stopped the deal! You just can't put a price on those lives.
If you haven't checked them out yet, go to Justice for Children International's website (see my links). They help Chab Dai do their work through funding and support. Yeah, for these folks, I'm a shameless advertiser!
I've been in Cambodia for 2 weeks and there's a lot to catch up on. I think I need to shelve the idea of typing up the remaining "blog entries" from Taiwan I have scrawled in my journal that I planned on posting. Things I'll want to reflect over with my friends when I get home: how being part of the Vineyard spoke to ministry among Taiwan's working poor, challenging my understandings of poverty and community development, how globalization is affecting perceptions of poverty, worship and freedom from bondage, and many little stories of how God brought just the right people across my path.
Friends from home, I'm really missing you! It's been challenging for this introvert to be meeting new people every day for a month and a half.
There are loads and loads of people coming to Cambodia to serve in the various NGO's and missions organizations here. The OMF team here is pretty maxed out and I was really amazed that they wanted to have me here. But as it turns out, they needed someone to get started in establishing their missions archives. OMF sent some of the first missionaries into Cambodia both before the Khmer Rouge and afterwards, so it's got a rich history. Being a lover of church history, I was pumped...and so were they. Had an awesome time interviewing a missionary couple from Japan that has been here for 11 years. That sounds short, but for Cambodia, that's a long time for a foreigner.
The other job I've been given is to give a worship leaders' workshop in a local Khmer church here in Phnom Penh. I've been attending the church and their worship team's rehearsals. Pray for us!
Am negotiating a steep learning curve about British culture since the staff here are mostly English. Got in big trouble yesterday due to a cross-cultural misunderstanding with a senior missionary here. Yikes! In the end, it was a good learning experience.
And to end on a celebratory note, I got to visit a friend of K* and Captain Colony who run an awesome anti-trafficking NGO called Chab Dai. While I was there, I met a Khmer staff member who does awareness training out in the provinces, especially in the highly vulnerable areas near the Thai border. He just got back from a training trip and had SO many stories to tell about how the training was helping communities protect their kids. My very favorite was that in one village, he met two moms who were about to sell their daughters thinking that they would be getting normal work in Thailand. In the meantime, he did a training and when the moms realized what was happening, they stopped the deal! You just can't put a price on those lives.
If you haven't checked them out yet, go to Justice for Children International's website (see my links). They help Chab Dai do their work through funding and support. Yeah, for these folks, I'm a shameless advertiser!
posted by Audrey | 2:59 AM
|
0 comments
