Today was a highlight of our first month in Cambodia. Jenny & I lead a cell group, comprised of believers and non-believers that is a branch off of our evening english classes. To promote fellowship, these groups were created to be a time of fun and getting to know each other. There are 4 groups and jenny & I have a far bigger group than any other; 40 people, compared to about 20 in the other groups!! All the students got to select which group they wanted to join; we must be fairly popular! Today, we took our group (named: Team Compassion) and walked fifteen minutes down the street to a field that is currently housing about 500 families that were displaced in april due to a big fire which destroyed their homes. They now live in make-shift shacks, waiting for the govt to provide other housing for them. % mths later, and noone knows when that reality will happen. Anyways, we thought it would be a good idea to start an outreach to this area we have named: Tent City. After Church today, 15 members of our group (which is an amazing percentage for Cambodia) expressed interest in playing soccer with the kids of Tent City. Our group does not speak english well, and as we walked, we tried to explain to them about what exactly we were trying to do. Everyone nodded and said, "Yes, yes." When we got to the field and seen the poverty and filth, the looks on our team's faces said it all LOL!!!! Half of them just abondoned the outreach and left, leaving us with 8 people. We gathered some children together (which was easy) and started playing 'monkey in the middle' with them. The group that stayed for the game had a great time. We played for 40 minutes or so (in the blazing heat 30C/86F) and then wrapped it up, telling the kids we would be back to play again. We hope to do this once or twice a week; building relationships with the kids and families there. It seemed that the moms and dads there were so grateful and happy that we came to play with their children! It's funny how we can show the world Jesus in the most practical ways. It's so easy.
Revelation 21:4 And He shall wipe away every tear from their eyes. There shall be no more death; there shall be no more mourning, or crying or pain; for the first things have passed away.
