Weyel World

Thanksgiving Dinner

We want to wish a very happy and joyful day of thanksgiving to all of our readers, friends, and loved ones. We have just completed our first observance of our favorite national holiday experienced in a foreign country.

The seeming lack of concern by the Cambodian people and many of our new friends here for our peculiar day of worship and thanks did not in the least bit deter or dampen our fervor. In fact, though we had received at least two gracious invitations to join with other American missionaries for the observance of today, we chose instead to celebrate privately in our home.

The day began with a game of dress-up in which the boys tried out their excellent new American Indian costumes and the girls dressed in 19th century pioneer outfits complete with their white bonnets and aprons.  The children also completed some really exceptional paintings and artwork (see Facebook photo albums) while Mommy was busy in the kitchen.

While Joseph slept in, Rachel worked in the kitchen preparing a traditional Thanksgiving feast. With only a minor interruption/trial in that Joseph failed to remove his passport from yesterday’s trousers resulting in it being washed along with his temporary driver’s license, visas, and endorsements (Joseph will be travelling to Phnom Penh next week to sort things out at the Embassy and Immigration Offices) the day was spent in play, rest, and actual giving of thanks.

Tonight, leftovers were served in the living area as we watched the first half of the Little House on the Prairie made for television movie together.

To close the day, we opened and read the notes of thanks giving which each of our family have prepared for the past five days and placed in a jar for safekeeping. The notes (in no particular order and without credit to their authors) were as follows:

• I am thankful for God’s forgiveness.
  

  Jar of Thanks Giving

• Iam thankful for my friends.
• I am thankful for God’s love - I love God.
• I am thankful for Mommy and Daddy.
• I am thankful that God loves us enough to give us His word and allow us to share His word with others, even in South East Asia.
• I am thankful that I have a God to love.
• I am thankful for dishwashers.
• I am thankful for rain and that I get to play in it.
• I am thankful for our 4 healthy and smart children.
• I am thankful that we have friends in Cambodia.
• I am thankful for the United States of America and for the freedom that we enjoy as citizens.
• I am thankful for our American Flag. (we have one hanging on our gate.)
• I am thankful for a God fearing husband.
• I am thankful for our car.
• I am thankful that I have a family to love and to be kind to.
• I am thankful for my family.
• I am thankful for Jesus’ love and for the gift of salvation in the knowledge that he has given.
• I am thankful for the strong arms of my Heavenly Father, and His faithfulness to carry me so many times when I was too weak to walk.
•  
• I am very thankful that we have a place to stay.
• I am thankful for dress up clothes.
• I am thankful that I have a place to live.
• I am thankful for the telephone.
• I am thankful for you and me.
• I am thankful for the mango tree.
• I am thankful that God has provided me a job and the ability to support our family, especially in this time when many men cannot.
• I am thankful for two beautiful girls, two handsome boys, and for their Mommy most of all.

This past Sunday morning, we were finally able to attend worship in the village of Varin, Siem Reap Province.  This church has a special place in my heart, because it is made up primarily of the first new believers that requested baptism from myself and Elder Tucker in October 2008. 

Since that time, we have been blessed to meet with their leader, Brother David Phean, a number of times, and have been able to assist in completing improvements to their meeting house and property as outlined in an earlier blog posting, but until this weekend we were not able to actually meet with them in the worship service.

Brother Dara came up on Saturday evening and I was able to spend a few hours working with him on orphanage and administrative items.  The plan was for us to go to Varin along with Sokhom’s family on Sunday morning while Rachel and the kids were going to remain at home.  As it happened, Sokhom experienced more difficulties with his home improvement project and decided not to attend the services after all.  With this change of plans we loaded the kids up and headed out Sunday morning.

It really is not possible to adequately describe the condition of the road from Srey Nouy to Varin, but those of you who had the privilege of visiting Mark and Susan Webb when they were living in Kendalia, Texas may wish to use their road as a good place to begin imagining.  The potholes, bumps and dust, combined with the pigs, dogs, motos, bicycles and toddlers traveling the common one and a half lane dirt road are a great trial of anyone’s nerves and constitution. 

The congregation at Varin

Nevertheless, on arriving, we found the service underway with a capella singing from the Khmer hymnal.  I was especially pleased to see that David introduces each hymn with a discussion of the song’s lyrics and meaning as well as related scriptural references.

At the conclusion of the song service I spoke for about 1 hour (including translation) from 1 Thessalonians 5:5-24 (click here for audio).  The congregation was, for the most part, quite attentive including even the youngest of children who were present in the worship.  David had invited the commune and district leaders as well as the chief of police and a number of police officers.  Unfortunately, with only a couple of exceptions they arrived about an hour late and missed the bulk of the preaching.  They were very polite and gracious, however, and have been very helpful to David in his efforts within the community.

Please continue to pray that God will bless the work in Varin and that the church will experience both spiritual and numerical growth.  Current projects that Brother David is pursuing include the completion of the meeting house (concrete floor installation) and a gate for the property.  He is also hoping to establish an orphanage and vocational training facilities at some later date on his property adjacent to the church house and a burial park (cemetery) in the nearby community.

We will probably concentrate our Sunday morning efforts from this point forward toward meeting in our home and/or in nearby communities, so it was a blessing to share the experience with Brother David and the people of Varin Primitive Baptist Fellowship.

Fellowship Meeting in Suong, Kampong Cham

Last week I was blessed to again visit with a group of believers in the village of Suong on the highway to the east of Kampong Cham town.  Sister Siem is the nominal leader of a women’s Bible study in this area and this was the second time that Dara and I travelled there for a day of teaching.

I was asked to present a message on the subject, “The Family of God.”  After much prayer I finally settled on preaching two rather lengthy messages.  The first was a sermon on the nature and structure of God’s family with a focus on the means through which God’s children are brought to him.  We are given power to become the sons of God when we are born of the Spirit of God, and when the spirit of adoption is given too us.  I attempted to deal with the different aspects of sonship as well as the evidences and consequences of this relationship. Texts included: Ephesians 3:15; John 1:12-13; John 3:3; Ephesians 1:5. (click here for audio)

The second message was entitled, “A Godly Family” (click here for audio) and was focused on how

Sister Siem's House where the meeting was held.

 the family is established as a picture of the relationship between Christ and the Church.  I dealt with the texts in Ephesians and Colossians which address the family structure and relationships as well as additional texts supporting the responsibility of Husbands, wives, fathers and children as the children of God in the home.

After the conclusion of the messages, I was pleased with the content of a question/answer period (click here for audio)where several pertinent questions were asked giving me an opportunity to expand on the messages. 

A couple of notable prayer requests were made.  First, a dear sister there has recently separated from her abusive and unbelieving husband.  She asked for counsel and for prayer regarding her situation and her responsibility toward her husband and family.  I provided the counsel of scripture and assured her that I would be praying for God’s direction in her life and for the conversion of her husband.

Sister Siem and her Daughter

Second, Sister Siem’s eldest daughter has recently completed high school and has received a full paid government scholarship to attend nursing school in Phnom Penh.  Her desire is to complete her nursing degree and then pursue medical school to eventuallybe a Medical Doctor.  Her immediate need is for financial ability to pay her room and board during the first year of school before she is able to begin working in the hospital.  After that, the reality is that it is nearly impossible to become a qualified medical doctor here in Cambodia.  Pray that God will provide and direct this young girl and that he will be glorified in her as she devotes her life to him.

Roger and Maree Hesketh visiting Weyel World

As I mentioned in my last post, we were blessed last week with the friendship of Roger and Maree Hesketh of Launceston, Tazmania, Australia. We first met them at the Christian Fellowship on the evening of November 8. From the moment we met them we were impressed by their kind and laid back demeanor and their friendly approach to us.

Because of my scheduled trip to Pailin, we hastened to invite them to dinner on Monday night, and, after a bit of Cambodian style sluething, we were able to acquire their local cell number and deliver the invite. Roger was a bit out of sorts from too much of the local cuisine, so instead of supper they joined us for tea and coffee later in the evening.

We rejoiced to learn of their experience of coming to Christ and of how He has worked in and through them. We talked of shared experiences including home education and living in a foreign land (they once lived for a number of years in Papua New Guinea).

Roger and Maree have been enjoying a fairly lengthy holiday excursion through the countries of the former French Indochina (Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia). To learn more about them and their journey, visit their blog at http://rhesketh.wordpress.com.

After our time together Monday evening, we knew that we wanted to continue our acquaintance with the Heskeths, but were sure that they would be leaving before I was able to return from Pailin. What a blessing it was that they decided to extend their visit in Siem Reap, and even gifted us with an anniversary present of a dinner out alone while they watched (Emily has informed me that she is much too big to be babysat) the kids.

By this time we were already calling Roger and Maree our “adopted

Roger and Jeremiah hard at work.

grandparents” because of the way that they were interacting with the children. On Friday evening, Rachel and I were completely at peace with leaving our children for the first time since Grandma and Cappaw’s visit in August. When we drove out of the yard, Roger was already crawling on the ground with Jeremiah making a pegboard out of a scrap piece of wood.

The evening was so successful that when we arrived home several hours later, the kids were sound asleep and didn’t appear to have missed us a bit.

Sunday morning Worship at Sokhom's house.

Sunday morning, we had scheduled services at Sokhom’s house in the Angkor historic area and were pleased to have the Hesketh’s join in our worship. We cannot properly express our thanks to God for sending Roger and Maree into our lives for one week, nor can we explain the encouragement that their presence has brought to us in a time of despondency.

Please join us in praying that God will continue his richest blessings in their lives and ministry and that God will bless their family, congregation, and friends.

I have been thankful for the friendships that have been opened up to me through our occasional attendance at the afternoon services of the Christian Fellowship of Siem Reap.  It is a great blessing for God’s people of a variety of denominational affiliations to meet together on a regular basis for fellowship and worship.   The manner of worship is a bit different for this Old School Baptist, but the people are good, and I am hopeful that by His grace God will continue His work among them. 

Meanwhile, I have been meeting with the once each month men’s fellowship, including hosting the meeting for the month of November here in our home. 

On Sunday, November 8, 2009, in the absence of the scheduled speaker, Pastor Ivor Greer, I was asked to preach to the assembled saints.  I attempted to speak on the context and emphasis of Ephesians 1:1-14.  I pray that it was a blessing to the folks there and that God will continue his blessings through his word.  The theme of Ephesians is being continued throughout this month in the preaching of Pastor Greer.

A special blessing which entered our life on that Sunday, was the presence of Pastor Roger and Maree Hesketh from Tazmania, Australia.  Roger and Maree are on the last leg of a multi-week vacation from his pastorate.  They had discovered our blog page and in spite of our failure to list contact information, were looking for us at the service.  Their stay in Siem Reap was a tremendous blessing and encouragement to our entire family.   I hope to add more on this later.

The past few weeks have been busy ones indeed as I have been attempting to commit myself more wholly to study and to preaching the word. It was refreshing, albeit tiring to leave the family here in Siem Reap last week for a three day jaunt over to Pailin City and western Battambong Province for a minister’s meeting. 

The meeting was hosted by Brother Keuy Kong at the meeting house adjacent to his home in KomReang village.  Brother Kong is a 52 year old farmer/preacher who has proven himself to be a devoted leader of the believers in his area.  Kom Reang is about 5 Km from the Thai/Cambodian border crossing of Ban Laem, just north of the boundary of Pailin City district.

The Meetinghouse at KomReang, Battambong Province

We began on Wednesday morning early with a series of messages on a variety of topics including salvation by grace, ecclesiology (the doctrine of the church) and a variety of related topics.

I was very thankful for the opportunity to spend a lot of time in question and answer sessions with the brethren and was able to address a number of misunderstandings and/or issues of confusion regarding Biblical concepts as well as Primitive Baptist practice.

I was pleased to meet with a number of brethren with whom I have studied

Group photo of congregation in attendance.

before as well as at least five that I had not had the privilege of meeting before.

At the conclusion of our meeting, a number of individuals presented themselves for baptism upon profession of faith in Christ alone for salvation and agreement with the doctrine and church heritage expressed in my messages. After extensive discussion and instruction regarding the gravity of such a request, those whose minds were set upon baptism were received and immersed in a nearby stock tank.

The baptism of these brethren and others only increases the urgency and the volume of work that is required of me in the months ahead. 

Baptism of Brother Kong

I find the burden of providing training resources and individual mentoring to each of these men to be increasingly heavy.  I am ever conscience that the work is greater than either myself or Brother Dara can bear.  Nevertheless, this realization points us to the One whose work it is.  Please join in prayer that God will supply the needs of His infant church congregations and potential pastors in Cambodia.

The Old CRV has been put through it on the roads of Battambong.