Dear Friends,
As I write this, we are in Australia awaiting the birth of our second son, but I want to tell you about Veasna, one of the trainers for Shining Light who has been on my mind lately.
As a known wild boy, Veasna created quite a sensation when he returned to his hometown of Battambang a changed man. Immediately, neighbours and old friends were asking what caused such a dramatic life change. Veasna went on to explain how he became a Christian and was now a pastor, and how this had lead to many radical changes in his life. Impressed, Veasna's friends and neighbours demanded to know more, and so Veasna invited them to join him each Sunday, to explore the Christian faith with him.
We made the decision to relocate Veasna from Phnom Penh to Battambang to ease his travel burdens as he was responsible for several far away provinces. Little did we realise that this young father of two would not just be close to his work, but planting a house church in his spare time, too!
Veasna seems to be the kind of person able to ignite interest and passion in those he is serving. He has been given a difficult task in that he works with two of the poorest provinces in Cambodia. These provinces have little access to outside resources of aid organisations, so the training he has brought through Shining Light has been an enormous blessing to the people in these areas.
Early last year he began training and mentoring pastors, helping them to initiate small acts of change in their community, called "Seed Projects". At one point he was able to invite several pastors from these distant provinces to attend a weekend conference on sustainable, small-scale, fish farming. Four pastors travelled with Veasna to a weekend of observing small-scale fish farms in action, as well as listening to short lectures on the theory and practice. These pastors went home excited to try out fish farming on their own land, even confident they could raise the capital needed to fund the initial process.
Quickly, the pastors realised that this was something that could be useful to many people around them. During a second training weekend, they gained more knowledge, especially in the production and use of different kinds of compost that plays an important part of the process, thus enhancing their own fish farms. Returning home, they gathered other people from their churches to teach them how to build and maintain these fish-farms.
In late December, last year, Veasna called me on my phone to tell me some exciting news. He had travelled to some of the church sites where not only are these fish farms well into their production cycles, but the pastors and church-members have been busy teaching the rest of the community about fish farming techniques, and helping them set up their land for fish-raising. Not only were Christians putting their faith in action, but they were reaching out to their non-Christian neighbors as well.
Veasna's enthusiasm has been a great encouragement to me. I look forward to the times that Veasna travels to Phnom Penh for staff meetings. He always brings news of amazing things happening in far off places: news that God's Kingdom of Peace and Hope is being built by some of the poorest people in the world.
If you pray, then keep Veasna and his family close to mind. Travelling in Cambodia is dangerous as the roads are poor, and there are many careless drivers on the road. He also spends lots of time away from his wife and two young children.
Thank you for your support of our ministry in Cambodia.
Grace and Peace, Chris
