Yesterday at our worship service we broke bread and drank the wine with our new brother, Vanny. He was welcomed into the household and beamed with joy when he received messages of goodwill from many of the fieldworkers that have instructed him and fielded his curly questions. We showed the video of Vanny’s baptism to everyone at the dorm on Saturday night providing inspiration and example to all, especially the new dormers. What a trip! Sharing a mini-bus with 11 Cambodian young people filled with excitement. Vanny’s sincere words of appreciation for the support in his baptism were truly heart wrenching… “ I want to thank everyone who has made this possible. I have been praying to God about this for a long time and when I told Steve that I wanted to be baptised in the ocean I wasn’t sure if he would say yes. Last time I was baptised in the river, but I wanted this time to be different. Thank you everyone who has supported me, and thanks to my brothers who have taken time from uni to come to Sihanoukville to be part of my baptism. I thank you all so much and thank you God!!”Everyone who has contributed to ACBM can take this thanks personally and feel assured that no price can be placed on this young man’s gratitude for the opportunity to fulfil his dream to be baptised at the ocean into Jesus and the truth, at such a beautiful place. It is wonderful for us all to know that the blessings God has given us, can be used for His glorious purpose.
When we got back one of the newer dormers announced that he wanted to go to Siem Reap for his baptism! We said that we were overjoyed that he wanted to be baptised, but next someone will want to go to China and it is too expensive! Another chimed in that he wanted to be baptised in Australia (with a grin on his face). They take so much pleasure in the happiness of their fellow dormers. It is such a joy. The dormers with weak English and shyness tend to take a lot longer to complete instruction, but with the supportive teaching by Nirann and Meng Him we are looking forward to more baptisms in the near future. No doubt the time will soon come that English will no longer be a factor.
There were 45 people at the meeting this week; nearly all of the content was in Khmer, with prayers offered by our young brothers. I even found myself making announcements from the chair in primitive Khmer. Meng Him provided a copy of the exhortation to Gaye, Lynne and I in English. We were able to follow when they turned up the quotes that were written down. His notes were sufficient to make it most worthwhile. This was also our first meeting that included the girls from the new Bethezer dorm. We put the chairs longwise in 4 rows of 12 with the round table and two chairs at the front. It was great to hear the songs sung without male voices dominating. The girls arrived in three tuk tuks, they would all be sweaty messes if they had to ride bicycles like the boys! Consider this … on Sunday our newly baptised brethren arrived up to an hour before the meeting and remained for up to an hour afterwards, looking for ways to support and help each other. They talked with visitors, some of whom had come to our meeting for the first time (Mat 5:14-16) It is wonderful to see the riches of Christ being demonstrated, and that their hearts and minds have been changed for all to see and to draw strength from…he has exalted them of low degree, he has filled the hungry with good things;… (Luke1:52-53).
The director of the LCDI schools is studying regularly at BEC. Kunthea's progress is nothing short of exciting. He is developing spiritual insights that blow us away. I ask him difficult questions, which he answers beyond what I was thinking. He will be a wonderful instrument for God to use to guide Cambodians to God's truth. He has been one of the most rewarding students that we have worked with. Tim (Lismore), Max (Sydney), Lynne and I have all loved to teach him because he is so clever and insightful. It has been a thing of great joy to see God transforming him into a spiritual thinker. I find myself looking forward to our lessons that often last two hours or more, with him doing 50% of the talking. Hard to believe, but true.
Thank you all for you constant prayers...
Borng Thom and Lynne
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