A Christmas Journey

On December 13, David was invited to go with a group of about 15 other Christians from our Phnom Penh churches to celebrate Christmas at a large island in the Tonle Sap river about 3 hours north of Phnom Penh.

Our Ferry

Officer Ath

It was quite a Christmas journey!

In front of the Phum Tumnup church

Grandpa Sambo (white hair) to my right

Grandma Kane

The Christmas meal

In front of the 4 widow's house

Sacrificial gifts

Preaching to the workers

Open hearts

1. We left at 6 AM by rented van to go to the town of Kampong Chhnang.  This is a port town on the Tonle Sap river.  We boarded a ferry for the 45 minute ride to the island.
2. While I was on the ferry, I met a police officer named Ath and we struck up a conversation.  He asked what I was doing and I told him that we were going to a Christmas celebration.  I asked him if he knew what Christmas was and he said he had never heard of Christmas.  Do you know anyone who has never heard of Christmas?  In Cambodia, it is still somewhat common.  During that boat trip, I was able to give officer Ath his first lesson on the meaning of the Savior who came to earth to save us from our sins.   We had a great conversation and my sense was that he left with a positive sense about the things we talked about.  As the Scripture says: “But how can they call on Him they have not believed in? And how can they believe without hearing about Him? And how can they hear without a preacher? And how can they preach unless they are sent?”  Thanks for sending us to serve in Cambodia…  to a place where so many people are still waiting to hear… 
3. We arrived at the location where the Christians had set up a tent for a joint Christmas celebration for the six house churches on the island.  They had invited many non-Christians but, as it turned out, it was the height of the harvest season so they were all busy in the fields and it was mostly Christians at the service.  I sat next to an older man, “Grandpa Sambo”, and asked him when he had come to faith.  He replied “three years ago”.  Prior to that time he had been an “Ajah” (a respected lay leader) at the local Buddhist temple.  But he said that when he read the Bible, he understood clearly that only Jesus could save him, so he started to believe in Christ, even though his old friends got angry at him for doing so.
4. During the service, I also met “Grandma Kane”.  If you look at her, you would not think she is anything special.  She has a beautiful smile but is quite elderly and very poor.  However Grandma Kane is the person who, over the past 12 years, helped to start all 6 house churches on the island.  She faithfully attends the Alliance mission’s church planting training events but in reality, she should teach it!  She has a big heart and loves to tell people about Jesus, and God has honored her faithfulness by establishing communities of faith in six different communities which, in the history of the planet, have NEVER had a Christian presence before.  She is an amazing church planter who, through her simple but profound faith, has planted seeds that are changing the people on this island for eternity.
5. The church said they had never had a white man preach there before so they asked me to share the Word for their Christmas service which was a great honor.  After the service, the church put on a wonderful curry and rice noodle feast.  They also presented me and some of the others in the visiting delegation with a beautiful checkered Cambodian cloth to express their appreciation.  These people make, on average, less than $2/day.  Their generosity was humbling and was received for what it was…  a sacrificial gift which demonstrated how their hearts have been transformed by Christ, even in the midst of their great poverty.  They reminded me of the Macedonian church in 2 Corinthians 8 of whom it was written: “their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part.  For they gave according to their means, as I can testify, and beyond their means, of their own accord”
6. Following the service, we were invited to a simple home that was being built for $500 by the generosity of some American Cambodian Christians for four very poor widows.  One of them was blind.  The widows asked us to come and pray a prayer of blessing over their new home which we were glad to do.  As we were leaving, these widows gave us two varieties of watermelons and a big papaya.  We encouraged them to keep them to sell at the market but they wouldn’t hear of it.  They insisted that we receive these gifts.  Once again, we humbly received them with thanks from these women who have learned the Lord’s call, “it is better to give than to receive”.  
7. We took the boat ride back to the mainland and then got a call from a Christian contractor friend who knew we were in the area.  He has been overseeing the construction of a large rice storage building.  It is a huge facility, about 130 feet wide by 500 feet long by 70 feet high, which he and his crew of 25 workers have been assembling for the past 5 weeks.  The work site was on our way back, about 90 minutes outside of Phnom Penh, and he asked if we could put on a Christmas service for his workers.  Most of them didn’t know anything about Christ or Christmas and he wanted to make sure that they heard the Good News.  We gladly arrived and had an impromptu Christmas service for the laborers right there.  I was asked to preach and felt unusual freedom from the Lord to speak clearly and briefly (briefly is the unusual part!).  For many, it was their first time to hear the message of Christmas.  The fact that this Christian boss gave them time out of their work day to hear the good news and then provided them a special meal during their work hours is something unheard of in Cambodia and clearly signaled to them that this was something special.  My sense was that the Lord did some good foundational work in their hearts during our time there.

That was our Christmas journey…  We have had, and will have, many more opportunities to go on other Christmas journeys this month.  Thanks so much for your support in prayer and giving to the Alliance's Great Commission Fund (www.cmalliance.org/give) so that we can continue to work alongside our Cambodian brothers and sisters to bring Christmas…  and most importantly, to bring Christ… to Cambodia where so many are still waiting to hear. 

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Prayer Requests:

• Continued open hearts to the Gospel throughout Cambodia during this Christmas season.
•  In the next month, Chris will be finishing up overseeing construction of 4 new Guest rooms at the C&MA Guest House.  Pray that the work would progress well with limited interruptions and problems
•  In February, the Cambodian Alliance church will be celebrating the 90^th anniversary of the Gospel coming to Cambodia.  The C&MA pioneered this work in 1923 and there is quite a celebration planned.  Pray that it would all honor Christ and would be a time of celebration for what God has done and eagerly looking forward to the ongoing spread of the Gospel throughout Cambodia.
• The mission needs to change its official recognition with the Cambodian government from CAMA Services to the C&MA Mission.  Pray that this will go forward without undue difficulties.

Thanks so much for being our partners in ministry!  Merry Christmas to you and yours!

Dave and Chris