Day 8

I am so sorry I have been a terrible blogger! Life has been getting pretty busy for me with school starting up again... I promise to try harder to get these last few days up soon!

Thursday 22 November 2012 (Thanksgiving Day)

This was our last day in Svay Pak. We were worn out. I can't begin to tell you. I woke up, and I tell you what, if I didn't have Jesus I wouldn't have gotten out of bed; I had sinus problems, I was extremely exhausted, and my back was killing me from doing aerobics in flip flops for the past three days! But, if Christ loved me enough to die on the cross for me, then I could do another day! So, that's where my motivation to open my eyes and get out of bed came from.

We had another fabulous Gateway breakfast! I swear, I should have gained 20 pounds on this trip by the way we were eating every day! Then we headed out to Rahab's House. I was a little nervous about whether or not we'd make it; between the crazy driving and our fuel gauge reading empty, it was God's provision that got us there! We were a couple minutes late though, so we all had to run off to our places right away.

This was my last day of CPR class. I miss my students. I can still remember their names and their faces. I hope I never forget them. Their love for Christ was overwhelming to me; they really grasp the life and death choice of following Jesus. Since it was the last day and they were all amazing students, we finished about an hour early, prayed, and just talked. They asked me questions about my life and about America for about thirty minutes and then we just swapped Jesus stories until it was time to go to the brick factories. I was so inspired by their testimonies.

From my journal: "After that we prayed and promised to keep praying for each other and I told them to pray for me to come back next year to see them and tell them I still love them! Gosh, I don't even have words to describe! I hope that I can see my brothers and sisters again soon! Please Jesus!"

Next was our last trip to the brick factories. This day was by far the most impactful for me. I'm just going to type out what I wrote about it then, "Today was my favorite day at the brick factory! We saw the brick furnaces and the huts and the sewage and the dirt and still, the JOY! These people are so beautiful in such ugly conditions. Today I got to play with a whole herd of girls for a few minutes. It was so fun! Maybe ten minutes? It felt like a long time because my arms got so tired from throwing them into the air, but it was so good for me to just be able to love them! That is so obviously all they wanted (love)! Sweet angels!"

Then we got a quick lunch back at Rahab's House and ran to the ATC (Agape Training Center) to buy some more stuff. Then, we all met up in the air con room and gave Pastor Shantah and his wife and Ratanak their gifts; we got Pastor and Ratanak engraved pens and his wife a necklace. I think they were a hit! 

Then kids club. Boy this was a great one.

First, we had worship which was extra awesome because Chris (big) translated 'Jesus, I love you' into Khmer and sang it with the kids. I could see a couple of the disciples tear up and I was tearing up as well; it made me think of how Paul said "that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth" in Philippians 2:10. I got to see this verse coming into reality, singing of God's love in a different language with brothers and sisters from across the globe!

Dave introduced us after worship and set me up to give the talk. Today was the resurrection.

I started off with my summation from yesterday: "Basically, it all boils down to the fact that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, and the wages of sin is death! BUT the FREE GIFT of God is eternal LIFE in Christ Jesus our Lord! God loves us SO MUCH that while we were still sinning, He sent His ONE AND ONLY SON to DIE on a cross for US. To pay our wages (death) and give us His (life)."

Then we went on into our script...

Narrator: After Jesus died on the cross, He was buried in a tomb that was covered by a giant rock. After three days had passed, women went to dress his body, but when they got there they saw an angel, NOT Jesus!
--angel already on stage. women walk up and look confused.
Narrator: the angel told the women that Jesus was NOT dead anymore! He had risen from the dead!
--women act excited and all walk off
Narrator: Jesus began to reveal Himself to the women and to the disciples. He showed them the scars in his hands as proof of what had happened.
--Jesus and disciples and women together everyone looks happy. Jesus gestures to hands to show holes.
Narrator: Jesus rose from the dead and showed that He is who he says he is and that he can do what he said he will do. He paid that price for our sin on the cross because He loves us.

Things that I learned on this trip from kids club (too many to list now) include this: It is hard to communicate the gospel to kids in general, but having to accommodate for the language barrier was next to impossible -- good thing that all things are possible with God (Luke 1:37)! I believe that God got the full message across to them. It was so amazing that over the course of the week we had had the opportunity to clearly and thoroughly present the gospel to 100 brick factory kids.

We had some amazing questions again today -- thank God for Kara! "Why did Jesus come back to his friends?"

Then it was game time! We played...basically dodgeball! It wasn't supposed to be dodgeball, but when you give kids balls and a line on the floor, I guess that is what you get! Next was the craft. Today we just had coloring pages, but we had gifts for all of the children. We made them each a bracelet (and when I say we, I mean Sandra). The bracelet was a reminder of the gospel; it's beads were specific -- a down arrow, to represent the birth of Christ, a cross, to represent His death, and up arrow to represent his resurrection, and a down arrow to represent His coming return! The bracelet was a beautiful was for us to translate the gospel to them across languages.

Then it was time for my last day of aerobics. I was actually really sad that it was my last day of this class -- which is pretty funny! The thing I was most nervous about became the thing I miss the most! My class had grown tremendously and people from the whole community were either doing the aerobics or coming out to watch. Either way, they were in close enough proximity to hear a short gospel presentation every day! 

After aerobics was over, we had to hurry into the van and hurry to the hotel and hurry to the shower and hurry to Gateway for....(drum roll please!)...THANKSGIVING DINNER!!! Matt spoiled us! We had a turkey (which was stuffed with rice), stuffing, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, green beans, and so much more! Not to mention amazing pie and cake! 

But, I can't forget the best thing about that Thanksgiving dinner -- the people! I might not have been in Texas, but I still shared that meal with close family! I would rather have been there than anywhere. I really recognized all of the things that I am thankful for, in America and in Cambodia and in the whole world! I am thankful for God's love for us, and for His mercy and grace and justice! I am thankful for how He can make family out of people who have only been friends for a few months. I am thankful for how He is making His name known and His glory shown everywhere!

I would say today was one of my favorite days; but honestly, each day was one of my favorite days. Each day was so unique and beautiful. I hope I never forget.

Verse of the moment: "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." John 10:10

Thought of the moment: It's the little things! Don't be in such a hurry that you forget how blessed you are! And don't forget who gave you that blessing!

Song of the moment:

Sometimes I think I forget to give God credit for how much He loves us. We all know John 3:16, but we don't really let it sink in. For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only son so that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. God loved the world. Make it personal; God loves YOU! He loves YOU so much that he gave his son for YOU! Not just one of his sons, but his only son. I'm not a parent, but just judging by how much I love my "children" in the youth that I work with, I can't imagine ever letting harm come to them for anything! He removed our sins and the wages of our sin, being death (Romans 6:23), and replaced it with life everlasting! The best part -- we don't have to do anything to get this gift! We just have to believe. He loves us so much. He does all the work. He saves us. But that's not all He does; He also gives us full life (John 10:10), like I experienced on this perfect Thanksgiving! He loves you so much! Remember that! Remember Him! Remember His love! It will change your life.

God had provided so much for me by this point of the trip. Energy, strength, peace, joy, love, compassion, knowledge, comfort, rest... The list is truly endless. But He gave me something worth even more than that before this trip, He gave me himself, and I will never be the same. Go grab a bible and chew on Galatians 2:20 for a while.

Jumping back to our first Sunday...

I've been meaning to write about the church we went to in Phnom Penh for a while now. It was a church geared towards Westerners, like missionaries, so it was in English. It was a really incredible service and I am so glad I took notes! Sorry if this post is a little bit scatterbrained; I wish I could have taken better notes, but here is what I got:

--

God is inexhaustible and incomprehensible.

Often, we divert God's glory to somewhere or something else (Think of Israel and the golden calf...). We are made to give glory, but our sing nature causes us to misdirect it.

We celebrate for many things with intense excitement and joy (Example: VE Day); why don't we get so excited about the gospel? We don't  see the battle of the spiritual realms, the war for every single soul in the world.

Foundations of the gospel:
1. The gospel is about God
2. The gospel is for man
3. The gospel is about Christ
4. The gospel calls us to a response

We must understand these things to truly understand the gospel.

We find ourselves in our everyday lives, living in a way that God doesn't matter; we have self supporting attitudes.

With post modernism, we believe that God's word is truth but we interpret it situation by situation because of our sinful nature.

When we realize that God is as glorious as the bible says He is, and we are as sinful as the bible says we are, the gospel becomes even more glorious.

Jesus is the son of God and God! When we understand that God himself died on the cross for us, the gospel becomes even more glorious!

The glory of God is revealed in the cross by the atonement of the shedding of God's blood. God's love cannot be understood without the cross. The cross is where God's justice and love meet. The death of Jesus on the cross is the gauge of what God thinks about our own sin.

The gospel becomes more glorious every day as we begin to understand our sin more fully.

Challenge: Is the gospel more glorious to you today than it was when you first came to salvation? What is your response to the gospel?

No matter where we are or what we are doing, the glory of God is such that we shouldn't be able to do anything but share the love of God.

--

Ok, so that's a lot of scattered thoughts. I think it all boils down to living like Romans 3:19-25 is true:

"Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it -- the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith."

We need to live in a way that shows our appreciation for what God has done for us. When we truly understand our sin and God's sacrifice, we can't help but devote ourselves to His glory!

Cambodia was such a picture of this! Believers that I saw there were truly living all for the glory of God! When they shared their testimonies, I heard their understanding of who they were without Jesus and who they are now, with Jesus. I hope my life is as clear a picture of faith as the lives I saw there!