A thought to ponder......
Instead of asking God how much money we should give for a tithe or offering.....why not ask Him how much money He wants us to keep? It is His after all:)
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Some days I am overwhelmed with life in Cambodia! The busyness on the streets. All the people. The struggle to find my place here. Even though I feel at home here in Phnom Penh, the reality of me being from a completely different culture and way of life is very real. Each day seems to bring new insight into the Khmer way of living and loving and being but it also brings with it the reality of how different we all are.
Its been a week of challenges. Trying to find things for the apartment at the markets. Trying to figure out WHICH market is the best to get kitchen stuff, material for curtains...and the list goes on. Charlotte and I spent the longest time at Orussey market on Monday trying to find material for curtains. Once we finally found the material SECTION (we were quite frequently misdirected towards the super tacky and ugly "curtains" that are everywhere here)...it took us probably 15 or 20 minutes to try and find a measuring stick which I knew every seller had but everyone kept saying "ote me in"...."don't have." "NO! I know you have one...you have to! You sell material for a living for goodness sakes!!!" Ok so we finally found a measuring stick. Then the battle was to find material with a 1.6 meter width. Impossible. Seriously wanted to curl up in a ball and cry. Anyways..I'm getting RE-stressed just writing about it. I did eventually find some really nice deep purple material so I suppose the story ends well:)
On a non-stressful, wonderful note....have had some amazing God experiences. A pastor from Australia has been here with a team and done some wonderful teaching on the Holy Spirit. Sunday night we had a 3 hour prayer and baptism service. God was there with us in such a real way...gives me goosebumps just thinking about it! I'm learning so much. I got a book from Pastor Jesse yesterday called Demolishing Strongholds. My own personal strongholds are slowly starting to show themselves to me as I live in a country where the spiritual realm....evil spirits and demonic activity is a very real part. What a wonderful feeling knowing that God is so much more powerful and that we can have freedom through Him.
Being baptized into the Holy Spirit.....deliverance from spirits. NOT something my church growing up ever talked anything about (or many churches at all in North America for that matter). So this is all so new to me and I'm hungry to learn and grow. It's exciting and scary and overwhelming. But like I said....everything about life in Cambodia can be overwhelming.
Its been a week of challenges. Trying to find things for the apartment at the markets. Trying to figure out WHICH market is the best to get kitchen stuff, material for curtains...and the list goes on. Charlotte and I spent the longest time at Orussey market on Monday trying to find material for curtains. Once we finally found the material SECTION (we were quite frequently misdirected towards the super tacky and ugly "curtains" that are everywhere here)...it took us probably 15 or 20 minutes to try and find a measuring stick which I knew every seller had but everyone kept saying "ote me in"...."don't have." "NO! I know you have one...you have to! You sell material for a living for goodness sakes!!!" Ok so we finally found a measuring stick. Then the battle was to find material with a 1.6 meter width. Impossible. Seriously wanted to curl up in a ball and cry. Anyways..I'm getting RE-stressed just writing about it. I did eventually find some really nice deep purple material so I suppose the story ends well:)
On a non-stressful, wonderful note....have had some amazing God experiences. A pastor from Australia has been here with a team and done some wonderful teaching on the Holy Spirit. Sunday night we had a 3 hour prayer and baptism service. God was there with us in such a real way...gives me goosebumps just thinking about it! I'm learning so much. I got a book from Pastor Jesse yesterday called Demolishing Strongholds. My own personal strongholds are slowly starting to show themselves to me as I live in a country where the spiritual realm....evil spirits and demonic activity is a very real part. What a wonderful feeling knowing that God is so much more powerful and that we can have freedom through Him.
Being baptized into the Holy Spirit.....deliverance from spirits. NOT something my church growing up ever talked anything about (or many churches at all in North America for that matter). So this is all so new to me and I'm hungry to learn and grow. It's exciting and scary and overwhelming. But like I said....everything about life in Cambodia can be overwhelming.
Monday, November 2, 2009
found an apartment
Charlotte and I have a home!! We moved into a 3 bedroom apartment this weekend. It's beautiful and we are having tons of fun buying furniture and getting settled in! It's not too far from lots of friends houses and within walking distance of Sovannah mall so it'll be a great location. Long drives to work everyday but hoping to get a moto sometime in November.
This weekend and the next few days have been holidays. A couple days celebrating the king's birthday and coronation day and yesterday marked the beginning of the annual water festival. EVERYONE from the rural provinces come into Phnom Pehn (the population of the city goes from the usual 1.5 million to almost 4 milion!!) and celebrate the end of the rainy season with traditional boat races (the super long ones that hold like 50 men) and tons of other festivities. Its utter chaos down by the river but its fun to go and hang out and people watch. The rural Cambodians who never see white people love to watch us right back:)
The weather is cooling off.....beautiful breezes blow in through our balcony during the day. Pretty soon I'll be able to sleep without a fan and with a blanket!!! I can't wait for jeans that don't stick to your legs and long sleeved shirt days! 25 C no humidity days feel like autumn back at home.
The other day I pasted a guy on a moto carrying a huge metal fan with the front cage part off.....the blades were whipping in the air at full speed.......your face would be no more if you ran into that. One of the most dangerous things I've seen on the roads so far...that is besides the huge metal rods they carry that would easily impail someone if they ran into them. Gotta love Phnom Pehn traffic:)
This weekend and the next few days have been holidays. A couple days celebrating the king's birthday and coronation day and yesterday marked the beginning of the annual water festival. EVERYONE from the rural provinces come into Phnom Pehn (the population of the city goes from the usual 1.5 million to almost 4 milion!!) and celebrate the end of the rainy season with traditional boat races (the super long ones that hold like 50 men) and tons of other festivities. Its utter chaos down by the river but its fun to go and hang out and people watch. The rural Cambodians who never see white people love to watch us right back:)
The weather is cooling off.....beautiful breezes blow in through our balcony during the day. Pretty soon I'll be able to sleep without a fan and with a blanket!!! I can't wait for jeans that don't stick to your legs and long sleeved shirt days! 25 C no humidity days feel like autumn back at home.
The other day I pasted a guy on a moto carrying a huge metal fan with the front cage part off.....the blades were whipping in the air at full speed.......your face would be no more if you ran into that. One of the most dangerous things I've seen on the roads so far...that is besides the huge metal rods they carry that would easily impail someone if they ran into them. Gotta love Phnom Pehn traffic:)
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