Moving on

We have just finished our time in Cambodia and last night arrived in Thailand. Since we last posted several things have happened and we will try to briefly fill you in on some of these things and leave you some points for prayer.

On Tuesday past when we arrived back from Daughters I went to spend some time with my friend from the hotel, Pala, and the two of us went to play some snooker together. It was such a weird experience as each table had a girl who would keep the scores and act like a referee collecting all the different balls that needed replaced on the table. And Cambodian snooker rules seem so much different to ours....in that if they foul they make up the amount of points that you are penalised. I was also a little bit alarmed by the fact that before we began Pala was doing different stretches and warming up for the match....wasn't sure what was going on. Such a difference from the snooker halls at home! Anyway, to cut a long story short I thought that if I was going to be able to evangelise to this man it might be harder if i defeated him, so I did the gracious thing and "let" him win.....in thruth, he kicked my ass! Perhaps all the warming up paid off. I got to chat to him about his family and about his religious beliefs. He is someone who follows Buddhism by name only rather than a personal belief and so I see big opportunities for him to receive the gospel. He even said that he is the kind of person that would follow whatever seems good. We gave him a new testiment in his own language, so please pray for him that as he reads it he would find goodness and truth in the words and come to follow Christ.

We worked at Daughters on Tuesday and Wednesday and continued to keep up the same work which we had begun with the sons and daughters. At the start of the week we gave the boys a full bible of their own and each day they have been coming in and telling us what they have read the night before. This is a picture which Jonathan drew at home of what he imagined Jesus baptism to be like when the Spirit of God came upon him. Was such a beatutiful image and amazing to see God capturing his heart and imagination. On Friday Laura gave all the girls she has been working with bibles as well so continue to pray for them all that they will be blessed and continue to grow in their relationship with God as they read.

On Thursday we then had the day off Daughters to spend time visiting another couple of projects firstly with the Prison Fellowship and then an orphanage in Baik Chan. Unfortunately I wasn't feeling well on Thursday so we only got to see the prison. The prison ministry in Cambodia is really flourishing and many people are coming to know Christ through it. We spent time in 2 prisons in the morning, firstly in CC2 a womens and youth prison where there are around 300-400 prisoners and then in CC1 where there are around 2500 men. The director of the organisation Adam Hutchinson (he and his dad were thrilled to know that Laura's maiden name was Hutchinson) showed us around, and they told stories of how they have practically shown goodness to the people in the prison and gradually over the last few years have begun to have an opportunity to share the gospel. As a result 900 men have now come to know Christ and there are many cell groups in the prison which are evangelising to others daily. On top of this the prison director has recognised the amazing change in the mens lives who all now seek to live with honesty and integrity and as a result he has asked Adam if they can have someone come in regularly to teach the bible to everyone at the prison as they want them all to make this life change. God is doing amazing things, so pray for the Christians in the prisons and for the work of Prison Fellowship which works in 22 out of the 25 prisons in Cambodia that many others would come to know Jesus.

On Friday we had our last day at Daughters. We were both quite upset to leave the friends that we have built such good relationships with. Laura has been particuarly moved by the story of one of the girls that she has been working with. Her story is one of alot of pain and hardship and yet she has a beautiful spirit and demonstrates such faith and joy. When she was a young girl she and her friends were working in the fields, as they were returning from the field they were stopped by a group of soliders, each one of the girls were raped. In cambodia, if a girl is raped they then should be taken to be a 'wife', so this girl then moved in with the solider and bore him 4 children and was later sold into the sex industry. Her husband left her and she tried to find work to support her children. She moved to the city to live with her sister and her abusive brother in law, which has also caused much grief. Her two elder children had to leave her and stay with distant relatives outside the city, because she was not able to feed them, this is breaking her heart. She then came to work with daughters but has now been kicked out of her sisters house and she and her two younger children have no where to go. Daughters are obviously doing what they can for her, but it's understandable that they need help too. The girl's heart is broken and she spent most of friday morning crying and praying with Laura. If her other children are taken from her they become very vulnerable to being traffiked and we want to protect this from happening. So we were able to pay half of her rent in an apartment for six months and a bag of rice, but this is temporary and we have spoken about the possiblity of sponsoring her and her children. Obviously, we can't do this alone, so if anybody reading this feels that they would like to help, please let us know and we can perhaps get a group together to support this remarkable girl.

On finishing our work with Daughters we were able to go and visit Osah, the girl which we visited on Monday night and prayed for and were able to lead to Christ. Osah has been at peace since Monday and has no more visitations or problems since that time. Her extensive injuries which she sustained are also starting to improve. We were able to give her a copy of the Bible which she is starting to read and God willing in a few weeks when she is feeling better she is planning to start into church with Nary the Lady who owned the restaurant. Please continue to pray for her that she will know God's peace over the next while and that she will soon be able to find herself a church to attend where she can be encouraged in her new fait

During our time in Cambodia we have been so encouraged by the projects that Ratanak support, they are changing so many lives and bringing hope into such dark places. It is clear to see Christ shining in the hearts of all the volunteers and service users that we have had the pleasure of meeting. We want to say a big thank-you to Ratanak and Steve Norman for putting us in contact with all our projects in Cambodia, we have been truely blessed. We are sad to leave but at the same time excited to see all that God has in store for us here in Thailand.

For more information on Ratanak see http://www.ratanak.org/ or http://www.uk.ratanak.org/