2015 Cabinet Cambodia Mission - Words of Healing and Hope

Sunday, November 15, 2015 by Rev. Tim Riss, DS Catskill Hudson District

Today was a very big day! We went to Okroch to participate in the dedication of their new parsonage and church building, which will also be a community gathering point and maybe a school. Already World Vision has said they would hold a training event there. Many dignitaries were there – The D.D., the Mission Superintendent, nearby pastors, the pastor of Okroch Methodist Church, the chief of the village and half a dozen other official, plus a friendly Buddhist priest. Six Cambodian teen aged girls performed a dance, a dozen girls were in a youth choir, maybe two dozen were in children’s choir, and we had three adults singing groups: a half dozen singers including the pastor and his wife, a group of a dozen (including the composer) who sand a new song in honor of the occasion and the nine of us from New York Annual Conference. Bishop Middleton preached a wonderful sermon on becoming living stones (1 Peter 2:4-10) who would be added on top of Jesus, the cornerstone and Peter, the Rock (Matthew 16:13-20), to form a great building for God.

There were many prayers, and after a couple of hours flew by, we had a sumptuous feast of broiled chicken and fish (garlic and ginger on the fish), with vegetables and rice. Afterwards we went next door to see the pastor’s house and the building in which the church formerly met. A bus ride deep into the village followed. There we found the Samrath Methodist Church and the dormitories for 59 girls and 9 boys who were attending a nearby school. We toured the dormitories, and Bishop Middleton engaged the 7th through 12th grades in conversation. Eventually we went into the church building (built with help from the Louisiana Annual Conference), and we heard choirs again. Our part was to lead a Bible Study, created by Rev. Betsy Ott, DS of New York – Connecticut district. She engaged the teens in Bible Study around Theodicy, drawing from a sudden disability visited upon her son when he was in Cambodia, but later healed through prayer. Rev. Ken Kieffer, DS of Connecticut, helped the young people ask questions of God in relation to Luke 13:1-5.

Afterwards, we visited the pastor’s home (which had once housed the church as well, and a women’s economic ministry across the street. These women are taught to raise pigs and chickens effectively for market. We prayed with a woman there who was suffering with an enlarged heart. We hope her tears were a sign of her healing. We came back then to our quarters in Kampong Thom and had another wonderful meal. The weather was strange. There was smoke all around and many insects. People said perhaps it was a sing of rain – in the dry season! Climate change is of great concern here.

God has given us many blessings on this trip. It’s our prayer that we, ourselves, have been given as a blessing to the sweet, friendly people in The Methodist Church of Cambodia.