A Table Changes EVERYTHING

On Tuesday night we decided to throw a dance party for the café Eden staff.   The café is closed on Tuesdays and it’s really their only day they have to do anything fun at all.  We’ve learned that the majority of young adults in Cambodia are the primary providers for their entire family (most of their parents don’t work anymore).  And on top of that most of the café workers are trying to go to University full time.  So you can imagine sleep and fun get put on the back-burner.  They are totally servant-hearted and sacrifice so much for their families.

So basically the pressure was on to make this dance party a huge success because they gave up their one free night to come, AND they rarely get to do things like this.  So a few of us spent the day moving around furniture, decorating, baking cookies and banana bread, cutting up mangoes, making a playlist and getting fired up for the party. 

Only two of the people on our team know many of the workers very well (me and a girl named Ariel, because we help there in the mornings) so the beginning of the party was a little awkward trying to introduce everyone to each other.  As people were trickling in and getting introduced we tried to put on music and start dancing but as I looked around I saw white people dancing and Cambodians sitting and watching… Not the look of a successful party! 

It was time to pull out plan B.  We needed to save this party cuz it was dying fast! At Cambodian weddings they bring out a little table and put it in the middle of the dance floor and basically walk/dance in a circle around the table.  Here’s a taste: (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFlmkOd2tGs).  So we got the manager’s phone and put on some traditional Khmer dance music and boom, we had ourselves a party!  About 30 seconds into the song almost every Cambodian worker was dance-walking and doing weird stuff with their hands around the table (seriously check out that youtube clip... it's just like that). 

After a couple of songs of that we took a chance and put on some other dance music, held our breath, and excitedly watched as one of the Cambodian girls literally picked up the table and moved it off the dance floor so we could all dance… And the rest is history.  We danced the night away to American group dance songs, Christian Hip-Hop songs, and Khmer dance music.  All the workers left with smiles on their faces and they all said they had a great time! 

It was such a privilege to get to bless these amazing people in this way.  Since the party I’ve seen an obvious change in how the workers who I didn’t know as well have interacted with me at the café.   They could tell that our hearts were pure and we didn’t have an agenda.  All we wanted to do was have a party with them and get to know them.  And because we took the time to do that the opportunities for discipleship and relationship are opening up! I was invited to spend the day next Tuesday with one of the servers named Pak and he’s going to take me around Battambang on his moto to see the sights… SO STOKED!

Moral of the story… A table changes EVERYTHING!!

“David, wearing a linen ephod, danced before the LORD with all his might,” -2 Samuel 6:14

WORDS

I think I’ve written before about how in the Cambodian culture it’s not normal for someone’s parents to tell him or her they love them.  In fact they consider it inappropriate for the word love to be used to describe any relationship besides a husband and wife.  I think I realized, at least to some degree, how that could have some negative implications on the people in this nation.  But lately I’ve been thinking about the other side of the coin and I’m just recently realizing how powerful words can be if you DO use them well.

I left Cambodia for 7 days to go home for my brother’s wedding (Which was so awesome by the way!  I’m so honored to welcome Ginny into our family! I couldn’t ask for more in a sister-in-law!).  And when I got back I didn’t expect the kind of reception I received.  The Cambodians I work with and have gotten to know from Café Eden (the café I work at in the mornings) were way too excited to see me.  They talked about how much they missed me and I heard from one of the girls on my team that they asked every day when I was getting back. 

I was really humbled by this and spent some time thinking about what I could have done in the 12 short days I was here in Cambodia with them before the wedding to warrant this kind of greeting. I didn’t crack some crazy awesome jokes, I didn’t buy them sweet presents, all I really did was ask them about their lives and encourage them in who I was realizing they were and in the things I saw them doing well.  It’s amazing what speaking life into people who rarely experience encouragement can do to knit your hearts together in such a short time.

Proverbs 18:21 says “The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit.”  It’s so true, there is so much power in what we say.  While words can be used (or not used) to tear people down they also have the power to lift people up into the greatness God is calling them too.  As I’ve been asking God to give me His eyes and His heart for people I’m starting to see even more of the greatness in people than I ever have before.  Speaking life to someone and encouraging them isn’t, and shouldn’t ever be, fake.  Everyone has greatness in them because they were created in the image of God.  As we ask for God’s heart for people He will reveal it to us and will enable us to speak it out to them. 

This interaction with the Cambodian workers at Café Eden has made me even more aware of how powerful words are.  I hope and pray that I can become someone who people love to be around because they feel known and loved by their heavenly father through me.  Love and missions has never felt so easy.  Giving someone a straightforward compliment about WHO THEY ARE not something they have done is so counter cultural for some of us and although it feels awkward it was what we were made to do.  And the fruit of this kind of living is so much greater than we realize.

“Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.” -1 Thessalonians 5:11

Changing Destinies

A group of people from our team has been going to a village church to help with a kid’s camp, construction, and praying for the sick people in the area.  I went there the first two days we were here because my morning job at the Christian Café hadn’t started yet.  What I experienced when I went there is hard to explain with words but I’ll try.

Immediately as we pulled up on our bikes the kids are yelling “Hello!... Hello!” (They love to show off the English they know).  After we yelled “Hello!” back, we got off our bikes and I could tell they were sizing us up, wondering what we were going to do.  After I gave the first kid a hug and picked him up they realized what were there to do and I watched as the floodgates opened.  I was a hug machine/jungle gym for the next three hours.  This started out as the fulfillment of everything I was hoping to experience on outreach; I was getting to show love to these kids who so desperately needed it (and who doesn’t love to be the center of attention for a bunch of little kids).  But to be honest I began to get really annoyed and frustrated after about fifteen minutes to a half hour of this.  Some of the kids became really territorial and would grab, pull, or even hit or kick the other kids I was holding or playing with (And I took my fair share of blows as well).  I wanted them to chill out and stop jumping on me because there was times when I had up to 5 or 6 kids hanging on my legs, arms, and neck and they were fighting and yelling at each other.  When I caught myself feeling this way my heart broke and I had to repent.  I went from annoyed to feeling deep sadness.  I couldn’t even speak their language yet they were so jealous for a simple hug and for my attention that they would fight over it.

I began to feel powerless knowing the statistics about how many of these kids are most likely not only being neglected, but probably physically and sexually abused on top of that.  They were so hungry for real genuine love and all I could do was hug them and smile…  I felt like I needed to do so much more but I couldn’t think of what to do.  So, I began to pray over the kids as I was holding them.  I began to pray protection over them and blessing and favor over their lives.  I prayed for God to bring people who would call out the greatness in them and help them walk out the great plan He has for them.  People who would tell the girls they were beautiful and valuable, and the boys they were strong and smart. 

From everything we have heard about human trafficking in Cambodia, it’s villages just like this one where people come and buy, or sometimes just take, children from poor families because the families don’t feel like they can provide for all their kids.  It was so surreal to think that it’s possible that next week some of these kids might not be at the Bible school because they've been taken and they could be on the streets being raped 5-10 times a night.  This is a reality I have a hard time dealing with, especially after I see their innocent faces smiling and watch them dance to bible songs.

I’ve been thinking about all this a lot and been wondering how much good we are even doing with these kids and yesterday I had a conversation with Kelby, one of our staff, that left me feeling really encouraged.  She shared how she also felt powerless at times and all she could do was pray, hug, and smile.  But she encouraged me that God is faithful and He answers the prayers of His children that are according to His will.  She talked about knowing that our prayers literally shift things in the spirit as we come into agreement with what God wants for these little ones and that we are literally changing the eternal destinies of not only these few, but the ones they will impact down the line as well.  We have to trust that God is faithful to hear the cries of His people on the behalf of those who can’t speak for themselves. When we see injustice we have to be moved to prayer and we must believe that it is changing things.  This is our inheritance and this is what we were made to do, change destinies! 

So take a moment and pray for the millions of little boys and girls who are being trafficked all over the world, and believe that your prayers are changing the lives of real people with real emotions and real smiles… It’s such an honor to partner with God in setting the captives free in this way.  Let’s never take it for granted!

“I looked for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it, but I found none.” - Ezekiel 22:30