Battambang 2

OK...where was I?

I tried to call my brother and sister but they didn't pick up...so I'm back.

So, the team and I live in 2 story house on a dirt road. An American woman named Barbara lives in the house and she is on staff with YWAM in Battambang. The YWAM base was started about 2 years ago by a 6 month outreach team. We live about 5 minutes from the YWAM base by moto. The base is really cool because they have this Youth Center ministry every day from about 4-7pm. It's a place for local young adults to come after school. It keeps them out of trouble (gambling, drinking, drugs, etc.) and it's also an organized school. They have 4 levels of English classes that are taught by staff members and outreach teams every weekday as well as Bible classes, guitar classes, etc. A new quarter at the youth center is just about to start (next week) and our team will be involved with teaching classes.

I will be teaching a piano/keyboard class, which is very exciting but I'm a little nervous since I've never really taught anyone before. There is only one keyboard at the base and it's about the same quality as my old keyboard (ok maybe not quite as good), so I will be teaching a very small class (maybe 3 students). I will have a translator, which will make things easier. The plan is to teach worship songs (probably starting out with simple chords) and on Tuesdays and Thursdays (the days on which the Youth Center is allowed to teach more about God), I can explain what the songs mean and maybe talk about worship and my experiences with God and music. I will start out teaching 3 days a week and maybe go up to 4 days if I deem it necessary. The Khmer people love music and are very interested in learning how to play instruments, so that is why this is a good opportunity to form relationships with teens. Pray for my keyboard class and that God will be able to use me in kids' lives.

The guys (Seth and Dan) will be teaching a guitar class, and I think some of the girls will be teaching an English and/or Bible class, so pray for them as well. I wouls like to be involved in teaching English, so if I have time I might do that as well. However, the guys and I are about to start some physical labor projects next week. We will hopefully be using the water technology we learned about in Bali to build water tanks/filters/pumps in a village called Phnom Kol and at our translator Seang's family's home. Seang became a Christian 3 years ago, but his family is still Buddhist so pray for our relationship with them, that we could be good witnesses of Christ in their lives.

This week, we also started a vacation bible school type program for kids on our street. On Thursday, we had one for the older kids (age 9-17), and on Friday, we had one for the younger children (age 3-9). We invited them onto our property (our house and its yard is behind a gate) and we played with them, taught them songs, played games in which we had to memorize each others' names and ages (in the Khmer language), did arts/crafts, taught short Bible lessons, and gave them snacks. Yesterday, I taught a short lesson about Jesus saying "Let the children come to me" even though the disciples tried to send them away because Jesus was "too important" and "didn't have time for kids." Just as the parents brought their kids to Jesus for him to bless them, we let our neighborhood children sit on our laps and we blessed them and prayed over them. These times went really well, and the kids were amazingly well behaved and attentive (the grace of God, no doubt). We plan to hold these little VBS meetings at least once a week, so pray that there will be real seeds planted in these children's lives and the enemy will not snatch them away. One very encouraging scripture is Isaiah 55:11, which says, "The Word of God will not return void." There is more power in speaking out God's word than we know, and even if we don't see fruit in people's lives immediately, we can rest assured that we planted the seed and God will take care of the rest (Keith Green song!).

One very interesting thing we got to be a part of last week was the Cambodian rice harvest. I'll tell you about this soon!

Love you guys

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