Today was a great day. It started with everyone waking up for 5:30 a.m. prayer time in small groups. (The wakeup call is “Fur Elise” played on a megaphone.) Then we joined the Cambodian youth for 6:00 a.m. group exercise, which is really a combination of jumping around and dancing. The schedule for today was similar to yesterday. After breakfast, we gathered for worship and singing. Diane gave the Bible lesson about Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch. In this short story, God used two unexpected men to carry the gospel to Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and the ends of the earth.
The youth attended small group sessions again; they attend two a day, eventually rotating through eight sessions. Topics include reading the Bible, Christian witnessing, sexual purity, courtship and marriage, job opportunities, HIV/Aids, thinking for success, and setting goals for life.
After lunch, we went back to the beach where the youth played games and frolicked in the sea. One of the games involved a relay race to fill buckets with mouthfuls of seawater—we just watched this one! The beach time has also been an opportunity for the kids to approach us individually to practice their English and ask us questions. They are interested in how old we are, how many brothers, sisters, children we have, whether or not they are Christians…. Most of them come from large families, 6, 8, 12 children. Some families are all Christians, these are usually the pastor’s families. Many are the minority in a Buddhist family. It is encouraging for them to be here at camp where so many Christians are gathered in one place to worship and fellowship. Basically the entire country is represented with one or two youth selected from each of the approximately 150 Methodist congregations across the land.
One of the best things about today was the breaking down of barriers between our team and the Cambodian youth. After teaching them and hanging out with them for these last few days, they want to try their English out on us, make friends with us, and learn about us.
We danced with the youth during evening worship and it is amazing how energetically they praise the Lord. In America, most worship is calm with people singing along with the praise band or choir. Sometimes Americans put energy into their songs by swaying or holding up their hands. The Cambodians always are jumping around, dancing with their friends, shouting, and just screaming when words were not enough.
One of the Cambodian pastors preached and told us we were special like boats, donkeys, and clay pots. These were all very important in the Biblical world as well as in Cambodian life. They serve many purposes, are essential to life, and were used by God in special ways in the Bible. It is a great and glorious thing to be a special donkey for God!
“We have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all surpassing power is from God and not for us.” (2 Cor 4:7)
