Monday night prayers 15 April 2024

 

Good Evening dear friends and family

We are celebrating the Khmer New Year this week. I went water gun fighting for 2 nights in a row and brought friends with me. The kids loved it. It is special to see young and old just having some clean fun. 

Twans shared that the No Apologies Workshop went well last week. For 4 days she and the teachers shared topics such as Boundaries and Choices, Healthy relationships, The Media and You, and premarital sex. 39 high school students joined the 4-day workshop faithfully.

Encouraging the students to make choices not just on how they feel but also based on facts. The lesson that touched them was about social media. Some shared with Twans afterward how they wanted to spend less time on it and more time with their family. In an anonymous questionnaire, a third of them answered yes when asked if they've been inappropriately touched by family members or friends. Please pray as the teachers continue to bond with the students for the students to feel safe to share.  We also pray that the high school kids will join our Teenage Youth group on Sunday mornings.  

Twans shared the following: I have 3 boys in my classes during the week that act very gay and the other kids would say things like "Teacher, he has a boyfriend". I've been praying for wisdom and also that God would help me because on some days I would get annoyed if they walk funny to the whiteboard or act overly gay and I would say "Walk properly" and see the hurt on their faces. My heart is that they would come to know Jesus, be set free and I know that showing my disgust is not the way to do it. So this week I kept thinking of them during the workshop, I saw them looking at me so earnestly during the teaching. And then on Friday morning, we had a Khmer New Year celebration for all the students from the ACTS program. At one stage through all the games and fun I sat down a bit. And later on, I suddenly realized something:  all 3 of them were sitting with me, talking and looking comfortable, just themselves without any extra airs. I just prayed and asked God to use me as a vessel, to show them His love for them. To forgive me and help me."

Anton is studying hard every day. His exam starts on May 20, 2024.  Please pray for him.

Please pray for an old school friend who is currently fighting for his life in the hospital after an operation.

Continue to pray for Ouma Paula as she gets her C-treatment currently in Windhoek.

May this week be a beautiful week for you all

Love

Rossouw-clan

Monday night prayers 8 April 2024

 Good evening all of you

Cambodia is one party after another. I put in what the Khmer New Year is all about. Please pray for people who travel by their thousands to the provinces. The roads are really dangerous right now as people are drinking a lot and partygoers celebrate from morning to night. The municipality even gave buses for free for people to take to their homelands. We are waiting for the weekend to go and partake in the water fights in town. It is always fun to load the truck with water and the kids on the back, while Dad and Uncle Abraham sit inside, close the windows and aircon on, and sip nice coffee while war raging outside. Will send you pictures of this event.

Traditional Khmer New Year or Chaul Chnam Thmei is held in April each year. Roads across the country are lined with excited Cambodians armed with water pistols and buckets spilling over with water. Music blasts over crackling speakers and children squeal with laughter as passing motorbikes slow down to receive the ritual Cambodia New Year soaking of water and talcum powder heading their way.

This can only mean one thing in Cambodia – it’s Khmer New Year. Every April, cities and towns across the country empty out as locals make the annual pilgrimage home to celebrate the new year with their families. As the most important celebration in the Cambodian calendar, Choul Chhnam Thmei is a time to celebrate, feast on food, and relax in laidback provincial life.

Spread across three days – although most Cambodians take the full week off – this is when locals celebrate the end of the harvest season and the start of a new year. The official dates vary slightly from year to year, with Khmer New Year 2024 running from 13 to 16 April.

Khmer New Year Traditions

Day 1: Moha Songkran: This is the first day when it is believed a new god or angel is appointed to offer protection for the year ahead. To welcome the ethereal being, people clean and decorate their houses, and wear new clothes. Offerings of fruits, incense, lotus flowers, and drinks – often cans of Coca-Cola and even beer – are also left at the spirit houses that guard entrances.

Day 2: Vanabat: This is the Day of Giving when gifts are handed to parents and elders. Children also receive new clothes, and money and used goods are donated to the poor. Visits are also made to the pagoda to give offerings and attend ceremonies dedicated to deceased ancestors.

Day 3: Tanai Lieang Saka: This is the main celebration of the Cambodian New Year and means a new beginning. Monks are visited in the morning for blessings, so expect to see Cambodians armed with offerings flocking to pagodas from the early hours. This is followed by colorful celebrations in the afternoon, which often spill into the night.

 

It is the Khmer New Year holiday. The FGCC community link teachers are doing a No Apologies Workshop with the Teenagers this whole week. Twans will teach about Boundaries, Relationships, Premarital sex, and its consequences. Other topics are looking at Media Influence, Healthy Relationships, and Peer Pressure. 39 Kids came today. Please pray for wisdom, that we all be able to reach the kids, and for them to be open and honest.

 

 Hope your week is full of fun and games and if not make time for it. 

Love

Rossouw-clan

Monday night prayers 1 April 2024

 

Good evening all you beautiful people

Just like that, it's April and the hottest time of the year. Twans told me it was only 39 degrees Celsius today, hmm no wonder I was sweating so much. We are looking forward to the wonderful rain in a few months. I see that our beloved Namibia is always receiving some rain, thanks for all your prayers.

I hope you all had a wonderful little holiday over Easter, for those lucky enough to be at the coast. We had a wonderful little get-together at the FGC base. It was so nice to listen to the wonderful message. Jesus did not play the magic card from His pocket to get Himself out of trouble. He handled everything like us humans because He was fully human. No wonder people mocked Him on the cross to save Himself but He did not. Can you imagine if He used that magic card?? We just love the Lord for that.

Toinette and Sang continue to visit a really poor village near the Tonle Sap Lake. Health teaching in PumAng Village today. We talked a bit about diabetes. The older ladies are a real joy and it is a special time of sharing, loving, and being together with women. We gave each lady a few vitamins and paracetamols. They were so thankful and took it immediately. Please pray for a very sick uncle who they visit while having a cell group. Please pray for this uncle as he suffering in his small house. The hospital does not want to help him anymore. Now that they attend the cell group, they are not visiting the local Kru Khmer doctor.

I made a few tables for a friend and he came and got it this morning. The pictures he sent me were so nice to see. The children and students at the teaching center are enjoying it.

Thank you for praying with us.

Love

Rossouw-clan

Monday night prayers 25 March 2024

 

Good evening

Today was a hot, dusty, and sweaty day in my office. Cleaning wood and building stuff inside a metal box is not as cool as it seems. Poor Toinette comes home at 4 pm, exhausted and dehydrated from all the sweat in the village. Sang and Toinette are busy teaching the children how to clean the environment around them and use a dustbin. They made it from bamboo and rice bags, took the children to clean around, and showed the need to put garbage away. Now the children want to go and build this at their homes as well. We pray that they can learn something from this as people here do not care where they throw their garbage.

Anton is starting to feel the pressure of the upcoming exam. He needs to go through a lot of work in these 2 months as he will take his final exam in May. We are also looking into alternatives if the Malaysian university is a no-go. Visas are always a big thing, please pray that we can get his passport stuff for the student visa.

It’s kind of hard to think that this last Sunday was Palm Sunday where people welcomed Jesus into Jerusalem just to turn around in 5 days and crucify Him on a cross. What happened?? Let this week sink into us as we think about these events and how lucky we are today. Some of you do not know what happens in Cambodia on Easter. Khmer New Year is just around the corner and most people are gearing up for that.

What is Easter like in Cambodia? Easter in Cambodia is a solemn religious holiday, rather than a big commercialized celebration like in Western countries. About 90% of Cambodians are Buddhist, so Easter is mainly observed by the Christian minority. During Holy Week leading up to Easter, Christians attend special church services and some businesses may be closed on Good Friday. On Easter Sunday, Christians attend church services to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ. After church, families may gather for a special Easter meal of food like fruit salad, meat, soup, and rice. https://arisecambodia.com/easter-in-cambodia-everything-you-need-to-know/

Let’s pray for the Cambodian Christians as they celebrate Easter and that they will reach out to their neighbors with love and compassion. I think the Khmer people are ready for the true Word of God. Pray for workers of God, all around the world, to reach out to local people with a fresh zeal and love of Jesus.

Have a blessed Easter holiday wherever you are.

Love

Rossouw-clan

Monday night prayers 18 March 2024

 Good evening all

Hot and extreme dust met us going to the jungle this time. The mighty KTM we had to leave behind again but luckily Din brought a small bike from his home. This time poor Curtis had to ride a small bike like us all. We discovered that the big sound of the KTM is what the people listen for to know we are coming, so we need that big boy to come with us. They all complain that they could not hear us from afar. The Chinese are pushing a big new road right through the heart of the jungle now and soon there will be nothing left of the beauty of the place. The only thing that stops them from building is the rainy season so we hope it starts soon. The destruction and burning of the forest is a sad thing to see.

We met with lots of people as they were harvesting cashew nuts. Whole families are staying under the trees in makeshift tents. Seeing the conditions that people live in is heartbreaking and when you give them some medicines they are so thankful for the few tablets. Curtis pointed out one girl that we found in a desolate place. She was so thankful that it caught his attention. I wish we could do more for the people living in such places. The small gift of medicines is so simple but the words of encouragement from Din and Curtis preaching the word of God make up for it.

We are still in the process of trying and start the small school again near Rum Jopon. Because of the corrupt system, the teacher stopped teaching. They will go and talk again to the leaders as we propose a plan to them. It is sad to say that money always plays a big role in cases like this. Nobody cares really about the children not going to school but if there is money involved they rather go for that. The leaders expect the teachers to teach even if they do not pay them due to money being diverted into empty pockets. So please pray for this problem. Will keep you updated. Please pray for Din and Curtis as they are working on a plan for how to start small house churches deep into the jungle. We already asked and took different roads to make it easier to get into some places.

Please continue to pray for Toinette. This morning we did more tests about her bad coughing and overhaul feeling miserable.

Listening to Curtis telling me about problems amongst the greater missionary community, makes me sad. Please pray for leaders to make sound decisions and listen to their worker’s voices. We are after all in a foreign country and try to help the local people, let us live a life by example.

Be encouraged today that the Lord left heaven to join us here on earth and show us how to live. Can you imagine Him giving up all His comfort in heaven to join us here on earth?? The little we can do is to thank Him for that.

Love to you all

Rossouw-clan

 

 

Monday night prayers 11 March 2024

 Good evening all

Greetings from a very hot Cambodia. We were so happy to have a splash of rain the other day, but it was short-lived but beautiful. It reminded me of when we were in Namibia and the first rains started to fall. Everyone stopped working and went walking in the rain. At this moment warnings are up to be careful with the sun. What must the poor farmers do?? We have become so soft that we cannot take the heat anymore, where does that come from?? Here in Cambodia, you can see who works outside and who is inside, the black people are farmers while the rest are white ghosts.

I am busy preparing for another outreach to the jungle. I am excited to see what my friends Din and Curtis will do with the people while we are there. It is always amazing to me to watch these guys talking to the people about God. The people are so open to listening and it's time to start something in the form of a small house church. Pray for Din as he is thinking about this and pray that we can come up with a plan to support him in this. Something like this does not always need to be money as it comes in many forms. Pray for wisdom.

My friend Abraham wrote something to me that made me wonder. It is so true that we come with the Western Gospel to these people and they graciously accept it but deep in their hearts they feel this way. This story is from South Africa but I can see how it fits here in Asia as well. The moment trouble brews, they are obligated to call on their ancestors. It is just something rooted so deeply that it’s not easy to break. Read this story that he wrote about and let it sink in.

Interesting thought I read in a book. When the gospel first came to the Zulu nation in Africa they said. "Yes, Christendom is good. Christianity brought us good things. There are now schools and hospitals and we can equip ourselves with a good profession. All this is just like water which you throw to fire to quench it. Christendom can quench the fire but it cannot penetrate the roots of our lives. Therefore, we have our gods and we continue to offer sacrifice to the spirits and our ancestors. "

 

We are reading a new book:” The Heavenly Man: The Remarkable True Story of Chinese Christian Brother Yun.” It's been a long time since I read this book and I am looking forward to this story.

It has been said, “It is not great men who change the world, but weak men in the hands of a great God.”

 

We pray that it will rain in Namibia for the farmers to be happy. May the Lord sustain you in this week to come and let your testimony to others be the reason for them to turn to Christ.

Love

Rossouw-clan

Monday night prayers 4 March 2024

 

Hey there all your beautiful people

Today was kind of a bad day for me. I was working in the garage on some wood projects but my mind got the most over me. I was thinking way back and missed Gideon today. I was also thinking about how blessed we are as a family to be here in Cambodia at this time. Yes, in the world’s eyes not the best of countries but for us a huge opportunity to make a difference wherever we go and deal with people. We are so busy surviving here that we forget why we are here. God made it possible for us to be here but He is not looking for our good works He is looking at us for having faith in Him. To God, what we do is of less importance than to worship Him. We are in this country that allows us to be free with whatever and whoever we want to share the good news with and that by itself is a privilege.

I want to share what a friend of mine wrote after he came here and went back home. Let’s be encouraged by what we have and how we can better our thinking towards these small countries. (That includes me, sorry to say) It is so good that we sometimes can get an outside perspective.

“”This country, America, is a despicable mess. I just flew back from a country in southeast Asia that has been beat down and has suffered an unimaginable holocaust. This country has endured turmoil and economic oppression, and has scratched and clawed its way out of the rice patties and is struggling to grasp the 21st century. Yet, when you enter a roadside restroom they are clean….spotlessly clean. The staff in hotels, gas stations, and coffee shops are warm, courteous, and efficient. Teenage girls and young women dress modestly in public, like they have some self-respect, and not like they’re trying to pick up a john.

The contrast is astonishing. The mirage of our wealth and the illusion of prosperity give us an arrogance that we don’t need to behave and there is no reason to perform at our best.

The many, many people I met in Cambodia, on this my sixth trip, shame me as an American. I know we can wave flags, sing patriotic songs, salute our flag with emotional tears in our collective eyes, but we're a freakin' mess. We are below par as a people.

We have some work to do.

Before we can "make America great again" maybe we should learn how to clean a bathroom, treat people with respect, honor a contract, and deliver on a promise. Truth is, right now we are nothing that a developing nation should aspire to.””

 

We are struggling through this book of Disappointment with God. How can we understand God if we have no clue about the big picture and the big picture is the whole cosmos out there? We cannot think that big. “” When we stubbornly cling to God in a time of hardship, or when we simply pray, more – much more---may be involved than we ever dream. It requires faith to believe that, and faith to trust that we are never abandoned, no matter how distant God seems.””

God is like a person who clears his throat while hiding and so gives himself away. – Meister Eckhart

 

I see on Facebook there are so many challenges, here is one for you. Go out and make a difference today just where you are.

 

Love you all

Rossouw-clan