December 4, 2007

We have been in Cambodia for a little over a year. In some ways, the time has flown by, and in some ways, it seems like forever. There have been ups and downs, joys and challenges, but all in all, we have seen God's hand leading and guiding us. Some of the challenges have been language learning, waves of culture shock, and missing home. Some of the joys have been getting to the point where we can actually communicate in Khmae, getting to know the people, and having the opportunity to witness to Hong Kry and others about the love of God.
The past few months in particular have had their share of challenges and joys. On October 2, we moved from the outskirts of Phnom Penh to Kracheh province, which is in the eastern central part of Cambodia. Here the mighty Mekong River winds its way south from Laos. Most of the nearly half million Cham live in Kracheh and its neighboring province, Kampong Cham. To make a lasting impact on the Cham, we felt this would be the best place to relocate. We asked God to lead us to the right village, and He opened the doors for us to rent a house in a village that is 100% Cham near the town of Chhlong. This poor village is right on the bank of the Mekong. Most of the people here blend subsistence farming with fishing and some kind of trade or service such as driving motodopes (motorcycle taxies).
We needed an entering wedge to start our ministry here, so we opted to begin teaching English and providing health assistance. We made sure we didn't over-commit ourselves since we need to focus on learning the Cham language and culture. Greg plans to teach one English class to children ages 6-10. He has bought a language program, which will save him preparation time. We've told people that we want them to teach us Cham, so we can help them more in the future. They are thrilled to do it, so we look forward to many interesting times.
Our move to the village was probably the biggest challenge we have faced so far. About a week after we arrived, our village was inundated with water. When the Mekong river floods, its smaller tributaries flow backwards and flood the fields. We had about three feet of water under our house. This would have been alright if we'd had time to settle, but the house was in disarray due to uncompleted house renovations by the owner. Bugs were crawling everywhere. The house had become their ark! We had no fresh water other than what we could haul from town. To cap it off, we were both really sick with body aches, coughs, and fevers that would return every 24 hours.
	We didn't realize how much we took for granted. When you don't have plumbing, water, or a washing machine and your house is sitting in water up tot the front step, everyday tasks like washing clothes and doing dishes become huge! To say the least, we felt desperate. It was probably the hardest for the kids. They were bouncing off the ceiling after the first day! It finally came to the point where we had to leave the house (by canoe, of course) and take a boat upriver to the provincial capital to recover.
It was probably the best thing we could do since we had time to relax and recoup. The water has since subsided, and life has returned to normal. We have had the opportunity to fix up the house by screening the windows, cementing a secure lockable room, and putting in some much-needed plumbing. We still haven't put in a well since the water table is still too high. We are hoping we can get one in by the end of December. That would be a wonderful Christmas present!
We have been welcomed into the village like royalty. The landlord's family is large and quite prominent in the village. His wife has 12 siblings and most of them live in the village. Her father is the Hakem or spiritual leader of the village and has really taken a liking to our kids. The chief of the village got very sick with Hepatitis B. Naturally, we foreigners were looked upon to provide assistance. After much head scratching (neither of us are medical experts), pouring over some books and some quick calls to a physician friend from Phnom Penh, we started him on a regimen of natural remedies. Praise God, they seem to have worked, and he is feeling much better. We plan to take him to get another blood test. We praise God that He can use even people like us to bring healing.
Life in a Muslim village is quite different. Every few hours, we hear the call to prayer coming from loudspeakers, and we see men making their way to the Mosque. Some are very strict with their religion, while others are more casual. We don't hide the fact that we are believers in God, and have often told people that we will pray for them. We asked our landlord to refrain from working around our house on Saturday since we believed it to be God's holy day. We feel it is important for them to see us as spiritual people. Molly has also decided to wear a head scarf out of respect for Muslim standards of dress. It obviously scored some major brownie points with the chief.
Greg, Molly, Hannah, and Caleb gregandmollytimmins@msn.com Greg and Molly Timmins c/o Cambodia Adventist Mission P.O. Box 488 Phnom Penh, Cambodia Phone (855)121616370

July 26, 2007

Greetings from Cambodia! We hope you are all well and your courage is strong!

So much has happened since we sent our last newsletter that it is hard to know

where to begin.

Currently, we continue to live in a small Khmae village on the outskirts of Phnom

Penh as we learn the Khmae language. We go into Phnom Penh everyday for class

(Mon - Fri) and then return to practice what we have learned with the people

in the village. This location has been such a blessing! We have made many friends

in the village and will miss them terribly when we move. Living in the village

has helped us to become accustomed to the Khmae way of life. We have spent time

with people who have lost loved ones, eaten with them, played with their children,

and planted rice with them. Rit (one of our closer friends) even taught Greg

how to catch a scorpion by the tail!! The Cambodian people are very loving, and

we have felt very accepted.

Life in the village has not come without its challenges. One such challenge came

when we had to tell Bong Mome, the lady who washed our clothes, we needed to

find someone else to wash our clothes. She was finding it difficult to come every

day and often would come in the afternoon. We explained that we needed someone

to come at the same time every morning in order to give the clothes enough time

to dry. (In Cambodia it often rains in the afternoon which gives us only a short

time in the morning for the clothes to dry.) In spite of the many times we asked

her to come every day, she could never seem to manage it. We decided to ask

Sok Jun the wife of G-one our gardener/maintenance man. A few days later, G-one

came into our house with a perturbed look on his face. “Bun ye harr thome” he

said, which means “BIG problem!” “Bong Mome's husband wants to kill me!” After

calming him down, we asked what the problem was. Apparently Bong Mome's husband

was jealous that Sok Jun was washing our clothes instead of Bong Mome and thought

that we still owed them $20 (what that had to do with poor G-one we don't know).

G-one, Greg, and I gathered around and offered up a prayer asking God to guide

and protect Greg and G-one as they went over to talk with them. To cut a long

story short, they apologized for any misunderstanding, and we assured them we

had appreciated the work Bong Mome had done for us. Greg also agreed to pay the

$20 they thought we owed them ($20 was the equivalent of 3 weeks pay). We thought

that seeking peace was more important than pressing for our rights and creating

an even bigger problem! Fortunately, the good times have outweighed the bad,

and we feel the village will miss our presence when we leave.

One of the biggest blessings has been the baptism of Hong Kry, the young Khmae

man whom we met at out language school. Some of you have heard us mention him

before. We had been praying that God would lead us to meet just the right people

who we could share the gospel with. We had thought this would probably be a language

teacher or language helper. But God had different ideas and led us to bump into

Hong Kry who was a high school student at the high school which shares the same premises as our

language school. We quickly struck up a friendship which led to us helping pay

for him to attend English classes from an Adventist friend of ours. To cut a

real long story short, Hong Kry began attending church, started Bible studies

and was baptized yesterday (July 14). Praise God!!!

We have made a couple of trips to the Kampong Cham province and would really

like to relocate to this area. There are many Cham villages all along the river

and the place is beautiful and lush. It is quite remote much to Greg's delight!!

Greg had to rent a big dirt bike in order to make the second trip because on

the first trip we were limited to where we could go by car. The roads are atrocious

and sometimes nonexistent. On this last trip, Greg stopped at a couple of Cham

villages and talked with some of the people. He shared with them that we would

like to help teach English and do some health education. They were all very

enthusiastic but said they would need to speak to the Ma Khum first. (This is

the commune leader who presides over the local village chiefs.) We had high

hopes because of the enthusiastic responses. But when we called back a few days

later, the message was given to us that the Ma Khum had said that they didn't

need us! We were disappointed but also learned a lesson. We learned that we

won't be able to simply walk into a village and offer our services. The Cham

are very suspicious of outsiders, especially foreigners. The key for us to get

in will probably be time spent in a near-by Khmae village where we can, in a

non-threatening way, begin to build friendships and bridges with the Cham. Pray

that God will make a place for us amongst the Cham!! Our plan is to relocate

in two to three months.

Well, hope to you from our side of the world to yours! We appreciate you all

and want to thank you for all your love and support. Remember, keep your eyes

on Jesus! He really is coming soon!