End of November 2024 Update
My daughter rolls her eyes at the length of my updates. “No one,” she insists, “has time to read them. Write summaries.”
Hmmm.
My theory is our contacts already have summarizing strategies: the Proof-of-Lifers read the subject line and think, “Oh, good, the Vaughan’s are still alive and kicking!” and hit delete; the Later-Gators bookmark it for another day; the Instagrammers skim through the photos, while the Word-by-Worders faithfully read every single letter and sometimes respond (ok, they’re mostly relatives.) I figure I can’t improve on that!
Our November, sans an official day of Thanksgiving (such an odd feeling celebrating in a foreign country!) was nonetheless overflowing with occasions for gratitude. Here, in no particular order, are a few reasons we wake up every morning excited to begin the day.
Thank You, LORD…
1) …the monsoon season is, according to the calendar anyway, officially over (please let it be so!) We’re anticipating three months of “winter weather” (reputed to be cooler, somewhere in the high 80s) and the rice harvest: the fields are being stripped, the rice straw gathered up to be fermented for cattle feed, and tarpaulins are stretched out everywhere drying rice kernels.
2) … we’ve survived three back-to-back holidays: Cambodian Independence Day (fireworks and parades), the Moon Festival (food offerings at temples), and the Water Festival (boat races and crowds…6 million people attended a three-day celebration in Phnom Penh!) The foot traffic was appalling, as many streets by the river were cordoned off and spectators had to walk considerable distances to get to the festivities. As was demonstrated time and again in M_________, the poorer the country, the more need for reasons to celebrate.
3) … in the Dominican Republic, Pastor Jaime and his wife, Jackie, hosted the first Haitian Pastors’ Conference in their new Mission House…the culmination of three years of praying, planning, and partnership! What seemed like an impossible dream, a backbreaking labor fraught with obstacles and setbacks, has become a reality, thanks to sweat equity and expertise from 516 Mission Teams. Imagine poorly resourced and undertrained Haitian pastors now able to come and stay at the Mission House, being instructed and encouraged and prayed over, and sent back to their newly planted churches full of energy and enthusiasm! And this encouragement is SO needed, as the media reports that 48,000 Haitians have been deported back to their gang-terrorized homeland in the last three months. As Christmas approaches, Jaime will be helping the small Haitian church plants hold Three Kings parties for their kids including the neighborhood children; an effective way to evangelize as the children can attend the church plants in the new year.
4) …that we have completed the training of two more groups of Disciples Who Make Disciples and sent them into the villages to plant churches. Empowering rural Cambodians with the skills and strategies to reach their villages for Christ has been the main focus of our ministry here and has been a joyful and fruitful endeavor.
5) …to have addressed 150 pastors and their wives at a Marriage Conference (I guess they figure any couple who’ve stuck together for 50 years without killing each other may have valuable insights!) and conducted a four-session Relationship Seminar for 40 church members in Phnom Penh. Afterward, MANY women told me, sincerely, how blessed I was to have married Peter, giving me no credit whatsoever!!!
6) …for a medical clinic with foreign-trained English-speaking doctors within walking distance of our apartment. Having been forced to graphically pantomime “severe intestinal flu” in the past, it’s a relief to explain symptoms medically. We’ve also found an English-speaking dentist; I maintain clear communication is essential when someone has a drill in your mouth!
7) …for the opportunity to exercise and keep our fitness levels up (although we’ve discovered our Fitbits may have been bamboozled into counting the bumps when we ride on tuk-tuks as steps, so we’re probably not the super-steppers we’ve thought!)
8) …for a thousand other blessings too numerous to count: our warm church home, ICA, where we can speak English and be recharged if we’re home on Sundays, our partnerships with Godly pastors, missionaries, and NGO members all working for the Kingdom, and the absolute privilege of being a small part in making a difference in this amazing country.
Now, we head into the Christmas season with great anticipation as this is a fruitful time for evangelism, but also with prayers for more finances, as Christmas events stretch already tight budgets to the maximum. Along with children’s ministries in Thailand, M______, and the Dominican Republic, we’re feverishly planning Cambodian Christmas outreach events. Typically, existing village children’s ministries prepare skits, songs, and special food for their Christmas parties to which they invite children and parents from the neighboring areas. Kids will hear the Gospel story, help celebrate the birth of our Savior, watch the nativity skits, and receive little gifts. The fruit from these outreaches is tremendous: many children will start to attend weekly meetings in the new year and bring their parents to church. Many, many people are saved in this manner and new churches planted.
Along with sponsoring food for events, this year we’re blessed to be distributing Khmer coloring books (from Message Ministries Kids of Destiny) as a take-home gift. Of course, it’s a budgetary challenge to include extras for so many children, but the LORD is good, and needs will be met. If you would like to partner with us for these events, please pray and consider donating at www.MissionzHeart.org
Our prayer for you this Christmas season: may your tables be laden with food, your chairs filled with family and friends, your hearts overflowing with gratitude for your bounty, and your souls joyful in the knowledge you’ve been redeemed at a precious price by the Lord Jesus Christ.
“I will praise the name of God with a song; I will magnify Him with thanksgiving.” Psalm 69:30