Sunday! Sunday! Sunday! (Jamison)

That's right, folks!  We are wrapping up Sunday here in Cambodia before most of you make it to your first Sunday service, and it has been great!

It started with a church service that the Home of Grace orphanage has every Sunday which is led mostly by the kids (and quite well, I might add!).  They started off with singing at the orphanage, followed by a time of sharing testimonies.  The testimonies were quite powerful even though not all of us could understand what they were saying.  But our sponsor and Sophia explained some of it.  One of the boys shared and got really emotional about the life that he had before the orphanage.  After the testimonies, many of the different children got up and shared a Bible verse that they had memorized.  Then a local pastor shared a sermon that the kids actively responded with.  It was so beautiful seeing the reality of their spiritual growth right before our eyes.  As I whispered to Sophia, it seems that these kids have a better Biblical standard and more Christian environment with all 50 kids at Home of Grace than the average American household has with 2.5 kids in a Christian family's home.  It left me in awe, but blessed to witness it.

There was a church in Bati started by the Home of Grace organization that we went to after that, which started at noon.  I was able to share a short sermon about trusting in God and the value of faith based on the Biblical passages of the parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector (Luke 18), Jesus' teachings on "Do Not Worry" but seeking God's kingdom first (Matthew 6), the importance of faith over works (Eph 2:8-9), and that without faith it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11).  It was followed by all of the other team members sharing Bible stories that well-illustrated the concept of what faith looks like in action.  Lonnie shared the parable of the Prodigal Son.  Connie shared the story of the Christ's resurrection.  Dan shared the story about Jesus calming the storm.  Kristin shared about Abraham's sacrifice of his son Isaac (rather, God's providing a sacrifice in the place of Isaac).  Sophia shared the story of Jesus healing blind Bartamaeus.  And Peter shared the story of the Good Samaritan.  Afterwards, we all prayed over the church leaders who are going to minister in a village that the last time they went there were robbed at gunpoint.  And I was teaching them about faith?


After that, we went to a Buddhist temple that was very interesting.  We all asked the monks many questions and discovered a lot about how their life is at the temple.  I wanted to try and talk to the head monk, who they said was available, but when we looked around for him and knocked on his door, we couldn't find him.  Sad face...  I wanted to know if he had found enlightenment.  Maybe we could go back some other time.

After the temple we went back to spend the rest of the afternoon with the children at Home of Grace until the daily rainstorm rolled in.  It is always so fun spending time with them.  I lifted up many of them over my shoulders (or in some cases, on my shoulders).  As much as we are trying to learn Khmer (as they are trying to teach us), it is a slow process.  The kids found some enjoyment at my mispronunciation of words though.  They also found it quite entertaining when I was walking around like an elephant.

Sadly, the Houston's First Baptist streaming video isn't working too well (imagine that!) so I guess we will have to wait to hear the sermons when we get back.  I hope everyone has a great and restful Sunday!

Godspeed,
Jamison