Yesterday in church a lady from Malaysia told us a story about another lady from her church. Apparently this lady's niece's tv had not worked for a couple weeks and so when her aunt arrived to visit, the little girl ran up to her and asked her to come and pray. It turned out that the little girl wanted her aunt to pray that God would heal her tv. The aunt thought it was crazy but she did not want to disappoint her niece. The niece on the other hand believed that Jesus could heal her tv. So the aunt prayed. When they tried the tv, it worked! Jesus healed the little girl's tv.
So, today my computer went crazy and stopped working. I tried to turn it off and let it rest a couple of times but that did not work. The screen was shot. So I figured, if God could heal that girls tv He could heal my computer -- so I prayed. HE DID! As I was about to pack it up to go try and get it fixed I decided to try it one more time and it worked. Praise God!
Hey, the Bible does say that if we have faith as small as a mustard seed we can tell a mountain to move and it will. So I just want to encourage you all to have a little faith and see what God will do.
Monday, January 19, 2009
Saturday, January 17, 2009
A Country Wedding
This morning I packed into a 12 seater van with 13 others from my church to go to a wedding in a small village in Kampot province. The groom (Da) attends my church and he also works at the Bible College. This is a picture of Da and his wife. The bride and groom have many outfits that they wear during their wedding. This is the 2nd out of 3 that they wore when I was there.
In Cambodia most people are only invited to the reception. It is very different to go to a wedding just to eat and give the couple some money. When we arrived, we all sat around on mats and drank fresh coconut milk and ate the coconut flesh. There were a group of kids there who may have never seen a white person before -- at least not one with blond hair and blue eyes. 
They were all scared of me. They just stood and stared at me but refused to come near. It took me around 20 minutes to get near them -- they kept running away. However, eventually I made friends with them and then they wouldn't leave me alone. It was a very different feeling having kids afraid of me. When it was our turn to eat we were escorted to a table. You eat, then hand an envelope with money to the bride or groom and then leave. It was a fun experience.
In Cambodia most people are only invited to the reception. It is very different to go to a wedding just to eat and give the couple some money. When we arrived, we all sat around on mats and drank fresh coconut milk and ate the coconut flesh. There were a group of kids there who may have never seen a white person before -- at least not one with blond hair and blue eyes. They were all scared of me. They just stood and stared at me but refused to come near. It took me around 20 minutes to get near them -- they kept running away. However, eventually I made friends with them and then they wouldn't leave me alone. It was a very different feeling having kids afraid of me. When it was our turn to eat we were escorted to a table. You eat, then hand an envelope with money to the bride or groom and then leave. It was a fun experience.I posted more pictures on my Picasa for those of you who like to look at pictures. http://picasaweb.google.com/Beca.Osmond/DaSWedding#
A New Home for Hope Orphanage
This week the orphanage moved to a new location. The new place will actually be nice and close to my new place -- as I am moving too at the end of the week. So I arrived at the old orphanage yesterday dressed in decent clothes as I was expecting to help move little things and take down artwork. (I was supposed to help on Thursday but they told me not to come because they were moving the heavy things ... lol... I am probably stronger then each of those guys.) So the first thing we did was load up the tuktuk. They put a bookshelf, coffee table, and a stack of mats on the top. The scary thing was that one of the kids sat on the top with the stuff. I prayed the whole way to the new orphanage. I was so scared that we would get in an accident and something would happen to him. 
So at the new place I discover that they want me to paint. So, I had to walk to the market and buy stuff to scrape off old paint and a few rollers... I also had to buy some cheap shorts so that I didn't destroy my only pair of jeans. What a day! But, it was really nice beside I was able to have fun and spend time with my kids in a different setting.
Friday, January 9, 2009
Cowboy
So today I learned my new favourite word: "cowboy." It means jean. So, if you want to say 'a pair of jeans' you say "cow cowboy" hehe :p
Thursday, January 8, 2009
2008: A Year of Trusting
I decided to take some time tonight and reflect on 2008. I think that the thing that I learned the most was to trust in God. It started with learning to do the lindy hop. For me it was extremely hard to relinquish control and trust my partner. I learned that I don't like to trust others completely but rather I like to maintain some degree of control over everything I do.
Last January I knew I was coming to Cambodia but I did not know what I would be doing once I got here or what life would be like. During that time God threw a number of curve balls at me. When I first starting thinking about coming here, the plan was to come work with Transitions Cambodia doing more office related work but I would still be working with girls who had been rescued from prostitution and sexual abuse. When that plan fell through I continued to prepare to come here even though I did not know for sure what I would be doing. But God confirmed to me that this is what I was supposed to do as He generously provided the money to come. (Thank you so much to those of you who have supported me so far!) I didn't ask for money but people just gave. It was amazing to see God's provision!
Once I got here plans changed again and plan b fell threw. Then I went through a period of challenging God asking why He brought me this far to do nothing but sit on my butt. I tried to throw myself into learning the language but I wanted to do something more. I wanted to help people. I wanted to build relationships with people. I wanted to show people the love of Jesus. If it wasn't for the fact that I knew 100% that I was supposed to, which was confirmed by the money, there were times when I would have taken the first flight back home.
Nonetheless, these experiences did prepare me to take whatever comes at me and just trust God through it. If I had know when I was at home that I would be teaching -- especially my peers -- I honestly don't know if I would have come. After going to Kazakhstan I learned that I was a terrible teacher and so I decided I wanted to stay as far away from it as I could. God has constantly reminded me that in my weakness He is glorified. He is stretching me in the areas that I am weak and when I try to fight him He whispers to me "Rebecca trust Me!" When I think that I am not making an impact and that it is pointless for me to be here He reminds me to trust Him. Maybe a hug and a friend is what one of the girls needs to know that Jesus loves them.
Learning to trust has been a beautiful lesson but I am not a graduate yet. I don't know if I will ever get to point where I can say that I completely trust God in every area of my life, but I would like to. Trusting God brought me here. I would not trade this experience for anything. I have met amazing people and have fallen in love with Cambodia. God has also blessed me so much. Thank you to all of you who have sent me cards, packages and little notes of encouragement. I think one of my fears in coming here was that I would be forgotten about, but you have all showed me amazing love and support. Thank you so much!
I would like to end with Proverbs 3:5-6, Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths.
Last January I knew I was coming to Cambodia but I did not know what I would be doing once I got here or what life would be like. During that time God threw a number of curve balls at me. When I first starting thinking about coming here, the plan was to come work with Transitions Cambodia doing more office related work but I would still be working with girls who had been rescued from prostitution and sexual abuse. When that plan fell through I continued to prepare to come here even though I did not know for sure what I would be doing. But God confirmed to me that this is what I was supposed to do as He generously provided the money to come. (Thank you so much to those of you who have supported me so far!) I didn't ask for money but people just gave. It was amazing to see God's provision!
Once I got here plans changed again and plan b fell threw. Then I went through a period of challenging God asking why He brought me this far to do nothing but sit on my butt. I tried to throw myself into learning the language but I wanted to do something more. I wanted to help people. I wanted to build relationships with people. I wanted to show people the love of Jesus. If it wasn't for the fact that I knew 100% that I was supposed to, which was confirmed by the money, there were times when I would have taken the first flight back home.
Nonetheless, these experiences did prepare me to take whatever comes at me and just trust God through it. If I had know when I was at home that I would be teaching -- especially my peers -- I honestly don't know if I would have come. After going to Kazakhstan I learned that I was a terrible teacher and so I decided I wanted to stay as far away from it as I could. God has constantly reminded me that in my weakness He is glorified. He is stretching me in the areas that I am weak and when I try to fight him He whispers to me "Rebecca trust Me!" When I think that I am not making an impact and that it is pointless for me to be here He reminds me to trust Him. Maybe a hug and a friend is what one of the girls needs to know that Jesus loves them.
Learning to trust has been a beautiful lesson but I am not a graduate yet. I don't know if I will ever get to point where I can say that I completely trust God in every area of my life, but I would like to. Trusting God brought me here. I would not trade this experience for anything. I have met amazing people and have fallen in love with Cambodia. God has also blessed me so much. Thank you to all of you who have sent me cards, packages and little notes of encouragement. I think one of my fears in coming here was that I would be forgotten about, but you have all showed me amazing love and support. Thank you so much!
I would like to end with Proverbs 3:5-6, Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths.
Monday, January 5, 2009
HOA Christmas Service
My kids put on a Christmas service. They worked so hard on it. I was sooo proud of them -- I felt like a proud mom. They danced, played instruments, and did a couple of skits. They were amazing! Anyways, here are a couple pictures in case you're interested.
Thursday, January 1, 2009
HOA Christmas/New Years
Happy New Years! Today I rang in the new year by celebrating with the kids from my orphanage. The kids dressed in their best and the older girls took the liberty of putting makeup on all the younger girls. The festivities started with gifts at the orphanage. 
Then 47 of us piled into 3 tuk tuks (which should typically seat 4 people each) and headed to KFC. 
The kids loved the chicken -- and the pop.
After lunch we headed to the mall across the street. 
For most of the kids it was their first time in a mall and their first time riding an escalator. It was sooo funny watching them. They were scared at first but then they enjoyed riding up... but some were really scared going down. While in the mall the kids got to go in the mini arcade for a few minutes too, which they loved.
Then 47 of us piled into 3 tuk tuks (which should typically seat 4 people each) and headed to KFC. The kids loved the chicken -- and the pop.After lunch we headed to the mall across the street. For most of the kids it was their first time in a mall and their first time riding an escalator. It was sooo funny watching them. They were scared at first but then they enjoyed riding up... but some were really scared going down. While in the mall the kids got to go in the mini arcade for a few minutes too, which they loved. Thank you to everyone who helped make this day possible!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
For more pictures check out: http://picasaweb.google.com/Beca.Osmond/NewYearsHOA#
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)