Cambodia Bible Education Centre

Thanks to the support of Saruon who works at the BEC and who started the ball rolling, calling the few she knew, we were able to gather the original bikers together in order to rekindle their interest in Bible study and to show that we are still thinking about them. Saruon and Sokun are members of the ecclesia here but had lost contact with many of the others who had studied with them at the BEC during 2008 and 2009. It has been healing and encouraging to see them reappear one at a time over the last three weeks. We organized an outreach activity on Tuesday night which saw all but two attend. We are still hopeful of finding EAN Sokorn and SUN Vannak. At least four of this group were close to baptism but had to look for employment or returned to their provinces at the end of 2009 when they graduated from L-CDI. Our Outreach Program, P2P visits and other attempts to contact them have had moderate success but after this get together we pray that we can achieve better outcomes and improve ...

Last Sunday the Phnom Penh Ecclesia enjoyed a day out together. We met under a shady mango tree where we broke bread together. Bro. Borin exhorted on the narrow road and our need to overcome our own selfish plans and follow Jesus. We read from Mark 5:1-43. He spoke about the faith of the woman who was sick for 12 years and found a path through the crowd to touch Jesus. This narrow path of faith led her to being healed. The meeting was followed by another visit to the island in the Mekong where we lazed in the shady huts, enjoyed some chicken and rice and played in the water. Fortunately it did not rain this time and we did not have the muddy hills to battle through when we returned to PP. Steve and Lynne

Some of our more avid readers may remember that Vitou & Dany got married a few weeks back and we mentioned it in a previous post. Well, since then they have had another 2 celebrations! The first was a Christian wedding in PP, the second was a traditional Khmer/Buddhist wedding, at the insistence of her father, at her parents house in the Province and then the weekend of the 8th Jan was a party at his parents house. They asked me to photograph the Christian and this one, but this time I only had my manual camera and for the first time in a long time I took about 40 pictures before realising I hadn't got any film in! Flip! Thankfully, I got another two films worth so there should be enough. So, the party basically consisted of continuous eating and dancing. They invited over 1000 people who came and went during the two days! Mental. For the first time I ate chicken feet, which was nice but largely because it was barbecued. My name, unfortuna...

Hi all It’s been a while but I thought I would write a quick blog to let everyone know how awesome Kampuchea is. I arrived in this wonderful country on the 26 th of December, to be greeted by my beautiful fiancé, who gave me the keys to the moto and we were off on another whirl wind adventure. My family has never really celebrated Christmas, we were given kids camps not presents, but if we were the present giving types, this would have been the best Christmas present EVER! It had been 353 days since I had been with Ren. It was a blessing to be back. The bible school started on the next day, the 27 th , with a memorial meeting at the dorms in three different languages, followed by a delicious dinner, followed by an introduction to all the speakers, Tim Galbraith from India, Shane Kirkwood from Aussie land and Mr Raju Devis from India/New Zealand/Australia. It was good to see all the Vietnamese Brothers and Sisters again, Raju made a point through the bible school, that even thoug...

Merry Crimbo, Happy New Year, and all that jazz. As a bit of a scrouge when it comes to celebrating the birth of Commercialism, I have thoroughly enjoyed not being bombarded with the tack that comes with the 25th. Besides, we should remember Christ everyday, not just Christmas. I'm all up for eating good food and getting and giving some pressies but I only need a weeks notice not two months. Anyway, it is not a holiday here, so I still had a student for two hours in the morning. But we did have a cooked English breakfast, courtesy of Deb and I. Not sure the Khmer really appreciated the grease and the fat. During the day, and at the risk of sounding pious, we did go to an orphanage and give sweets out, play games and do some singing with Dan dressed as Santa and me as an elf! It was organised by our friend Minea and I'm so glad she did because we were planning on having the rest of the day off but it was such a good buzz making these kids day, probably their month. Their were a...

So, it's been awhile since I have written, because I have been crazy busy. This has largely been to two baptism interviews in the last week, one of which I was observing and witnessing, the other I was leading. Despite being a wonderful thing, it is still a bit of a slog. Usually, they take about 4 hours, because of translation and because of the amount we discuss. It seems excessive, but there have been problems before so it was decided to be the best course of action. I made sure we had a lunch break inbetween! Also, the adding of an extra lesson on two of my weekdays has bolstered my schedule. This is an English grammar lesson, which is still going ahead despite me warning my student that I may well speak English, but I don't know how, sometimes it just feels right and sometimes it feels wrong. So far we have been going through a workbook, I have been telling her what is right and wrong, she asks why and then we Google it. As I am on the subject of language, my Khmer is comi...

At the end of 2007, after spending six months in Cambodia, we came back to Australia, leaving behind two baptised members, thinking that we would return soon. But time passed, other things took priority, and it wasn’t until now (three years later) that we have returned (for a few weeks). In some ways the three year gap has been a good thing. We have been able to see the many positive differences that have taken place slowly over that time. The number of brethren and sisters here is now close to 40! Some of the regular students we left behind are now leaders in the ecclesia, showing true concern and love for the members. The Khmer brethren are giving exhortations and presiding. The Phnom Penh ecclesia are organizing their own activities. Some of the baptised members are assisting with teaching lessons or translating lessons for BEC students. There has been so much growth! Highlights: - Participating in a memorial meeting where the exhortation was given in Khmer and translated into Engli...