Ethnic minority turn to Jesus as more 'affordable' option

Ethnic Jarai villagers carry a cow to be butchered in Ratanakkiri province’s O’Yadav district last week. Photograph: David Boyle/Phnom Penh Post

Tuesday, 12 June 2012
May Titthara and David Boyle
The Phnom Penh Post

At upwards of US$500, the cost of slaughtering a buffalo to revive a relative condemned to ill-health by the spirits has pushed the Jarai indigenous minority residents of Somkul village in Ratanakkiri to a more affordable religious option: Christianity.

In the village in O’Yadav district’s Som Thom commune, about 80 per cent of the community have given up on spirits and ghosts in favour of Sunday sermons and modern medicine.

Sev Chel, 38, said she made the switch because when she used to get sick, it could cost her hundreds of dollars to appease the gods with a sacrificial package that might include a cow or buffalo, a chicken, bananas, incense and rice wine.

“So if I sold that buffalo and took the money to pay for medicine, it is about 30,000 riel to 40,000 riel [for them to] get better, so we are strong believers in Jesus,” she said. “If I did not believe in Jesus, maybe at this time I would still be poor and not know anything besides my community.”

Cambodian Fellowship Christian Reformed Church hosts New Year, Easter celebration

Jasmine Lam performs the traditional Cambodian Blessing Dance at the Cambodian Fellowship Christian Reformed Church's annual Easter and Cambodian New Year celebration held Saturday, April 1, 2012, at Evergreen Commons. (Annette Manwell/Sentinel staff)

Apr 01, 2012
By ANNETTE MANWELL
The Holland Sentinel

“We never forget where we came from”

Holland — Since 1996, the Cambodian Fellowship Christian Reformed Church has been holding an annual combined Easter and Cambodian New Year celebration.

This year, the event took place earlier than usual on Saturday at Evergreen Commons, primarily because of trouble with hall rental, but also as a kick-off to the season.

The Cambodian New Year typically is celebrated April 13, Deacon Chris Lim said.

The church, though small, always is trying to reach out to the Cambodian non-believers of Christianity in the community who follow Buddha, Lim said. For that reason, the annual celebration takes place in a more public forum.

The Bible in Khmer

Bible in Khmer Old Version (Hammond Version 1954, 1962)

Bible in Khmer Standard Version (2005)

Two versions of the Bible in Khmer are available online at the following links:

• ព្រះគម្ពីរខ្មែរបច្ចុប្បន្ន ២០០៥ - Khmer Standard Version 2005
• ព្រះគម្ពីរខ្មែរបកប្រែចាស់ ១៩៥៤ - Khmer Old Version 1954

Healing makes believers of family

Joseph and Mary Chhun at their business, Baker Boys Donuts. (12-19-11) - (DEBBIE NODA/dnoda@modbee.com)

Sat, Dec. 24, 2011
The Modesto Bee (Modesto, California, USA)

Joseph and Mary Chhun of Modesto were born in Cambodia and fled to refugee camps in Thailand in 1979 to escape the violence of Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge. They were distantly related, but didn't really know each other until they both ended up in Stockton in 1982. "My sister and her brother married. That's how I met her," Joseph said.

Joseph and Mary — both chose their biblical names before they reached Stockton — married, moved to Modesto and began attending a Cambodian Christian church. But Joseph's relatives remained Buddhist.

In 1994, his 73-year-old mother cracked a bone in her foot. X-rays revealed a long split, Joseph said. The doctor said her age prevented her from healing. She often cried because of the pain.

Joseph had talked with her about his Christian faith before, "but she didn't want to give up her religion," he said.

But because of her ongoing pain, his mom said she would try anything. "She said if God healed her, she would believe in the American God," Joseph said. His five siblings agreed: If God would heal their mom, they would believe in God.

Was Holy Shroud created in a flash? Italian researchers resurrect claim

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Invitation to visit "Thy Kingdom Come Khmer Ministry" website

យើងខ្ញុំមាន​សេចក្ដីសោមន្សរីករាយណែនាំវេបសៃត៏ខាងក្រោមនេះ

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ពីក្រុមបំរើការងារព្រះ​ “រាជ្យទ្រង់មកដល់”

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We have the privilege and pleasure to introduce to you the following website:

www.thykingdomcomeministry.wordpress.com

to give you an opportunity to lean about a vital​ truth that will determine your

life in the present age and your fate in the following age to come.

With high regards and love,

Thy Kingdom Come Khmer Ministry

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Nous avons le privilege and le plaisir de vous introduire le website ci-dessous:

www.thykingdomcomeministry.wordpress.com

pour vous donner une occasion d’apprendre une verite tres importante qui

determinera votre vie dans l’age present ainsi que votre avenir dans l’age prochain.

Avec notre haute consideration et amitie,

Le Saint Ministere “Que Ton Regne Vienne ”

Radio Ministry Brings Hope to a Needy World

Cambodian children with food distributed during a visit.

Indonesian women gathering to listen to a programme.

Megavoice units which are distributed to oral communities so that they can hear the Gospel in their own language. (Photos courtesy of TWR-Asia)

Saturday, Jun. 18, 2011
Edmond Chua
The Christian Post

For those who care to see it, the world is full of needs.

Radio ministry TWR does not merely see those needs.

It plays an active role in bringing God's answer to the needy around the world.

One of the groups TWR reaches out to is oral communicators.

Khmer Rouge see the light

Parishioners at a service in Battambang’s Samlot district. (Photo by: Sun Narin)

TUESDAY, 03 MAY 2011
SUN NARIN
The Phnom Penh Post
Battambang province

“I want God to forgive what I did during the regime,” said former Khmer Rouge member Mann Man, 50. “I want my soul to be open and laid to rest by God.”

Last week, investigating judges at the Khmer Rouge tribunal announced that they had concluded investigations in the court’s controversial third case.

Despite the gravity of the crimes the court is tasked with investigating, many observers believe judges have no intention of taking this case – which has run into opposition from Prime Minister Hun Sen and other officials – to trial.

Battambang province’s Samlot district was one of the last redoubts for the Khmer Rouge insurgency, and remains home for former KR navy commander Meas Muth and many other former cadres. The area would be an obvious starting point should the tribunal choose to make arrests in its final cases, but whatever the outcome of these investigations, many Samlot residents are more concerned with judgment of a different sort.

Answering the Call to work with Dying Prisoners in Cambodia

Answering the Call

Lisa Cescon left a high-level position with a top entertainment company in London to work with dying prisoners in Cambodia.

PFI.org

As a young child, Lisa Cescon hated the inequity she saw around her. “You're lucky if you are someone who has the ability to succeed in life, and you're just jolly unlucky if you don‘t” she reflected. But Ms. Cescon was blessed with the ability to succeed, and she eventually became a top executive at Warner Brothers in London, England.

Despite being a committed volunteer all her life, her desire to help those less fortunate deepened. At the age of 35, she made the decision give up her successful career to go to Cambodia. Shortly after arriving in Phnom Penh, she and her friend Nicola received the call to work with prisoners. They were earnestly praying that God would use them in some direct way, when they were interrupted by a phone call from a local woman they had recently met. She asked if they would be willing to conduct weekly prison visits. “That was God,” Ms. Cescon recalled. “I am a real cynic - but I know that was God. We had both worked in prisons before.”

And thus began Lisa Cescon‘s ministry to dying prisoners in Cambodia. In a country wrought with corruption, poverty and the after effects of the Pol Pot genocide, prisoners in Cambodia face dire conditions. A lack of food and water lead to the rampant spread of disease, including tuberculosis, AIDS and Hepatitis C. When they become severely ill, the prisoners are moved to a decrepit wing of a military hospital, but without access to medicine most die a slow and painful death.

Cambodian Baptists seek partnerships

Sep 3, 2010
By Mark Kelly

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (Baptist Press)--God has blessed Baptist work in Cambodia -- with 304 churches started since 1993 -- but partnership is needed for the work to move forward, the president of Cambodia's Baptist Union said.

Nivath Nhem, who was re-elected in 2010 for a second five-year term as president of the Cambodia Baptist Union, traveled to the United States in August to explore prospects for church-to-church partnerships that would help advance a visionary plan to start 1,621 new congregations in next five years. He was hosted by Albert W. Wardin Jr., emeritus professor of history at Belmont University in Nashville, Tenn.

"We want to see every person in Cambodia accept Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord," Nhem told Baptist Press in a mid-August interview. "The goal of the Cambodia Baptist Union is to reach Cambodia with the Gospel of Jesus Christ by planting churches throughout Cambodia."

Nhem led Cambodia's congregations to set a goal of reaching all 13,871 villages in the country and has challenged each church to reach that goal by starting a new church each year. He also has led them to establish goals of expanding the union's program of pastor training and starting general education schools for the nation's children.

"We need partners if the work is going to move forward," Nhem said. "We know these goals are inspiration from the Lord. There is openness to the Gospel in our country right now. We cannot delay because the door may close at any time. We must take advantage of this openness, but we need partners to do that."

Like neighboring Vietnam and Laos, Cambodia has a communist government and is traditionally Buddhist, but right now Cambodia is the country that is more open, Nhem said.

"Cambodia is more soft than hard," Nhem said. "The people are more open to the Gospel. There are some restrictions on our work, but the Baptist union is recognized by the government."

Thavy Nhem, a believer who is a member of Cambodia's parliament, helped start Baptist work in the country and still is an adviser to the Baptist union, which was organized in 1995. The union has had a strong emphasis on church planting since its inception, and now has churches in 17 provinces of the country's 24 provinces. Its 304 congregations have 13,238 members, and 50 of them have permanent facilities. The union operates pastor training schools in the capital, Phnom Penh, and two provinces, and wants to expand the training to five provinces in the next five years.

"We want to see the church grow and be established all over Cambodia. We want to see believers and churches be a blessing for Cambodia," Nhem said. "Our mission is for Cambodia to know that Jesus Christ is the Son of the Living God, that He is salvation when people accept Him as their Lord and Savior.

"If anyone feels led by the Spirit of God," Nhem said, "we invite them to partner with us."

In the meantime, Nhem requested prayer for the Baptist union's plans in starting churches and schools, and that they would be able to establish the physical facilities needed for progress. He also requested prayer for adequate finances and for the Lord to lead congregations into five-year church-to-church partnerships.
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Mark Kelly is an assistant editor with Baptist Press. Nivath Nhem can be contacted by e-mail at cbcambodia@yahoo.com. The Cambodia Baptist Union on the Internet at
www.cambodiabaptistunion.com.

Finding peace in her heart

August 01, 2010
By Sean Gonsalves
sgonsalves@capecodonline.com
Cape Cod Times (USA)

"I find peace in my heart because I found forgiveness and mercy in Christ. I don't carry hate in me anymore... I learned to free myself from revenge and hate. I forgive but never forget" - Bopha Samms

I pushed a picture of Comrade Duch across the table as if it were a rook in a game of chess, then leaned back in my chair to gauge the reaction of Bopha Samms.

I'm not sure what I expected. An expression of anguish, perhaps. Or maybe she would crumple up the photo accompanying the BBC news article and throw it at me, spurred by vivid memories of being too weak to crawl to the communal cafeteria, just up the road from the agrarian nightmare she called home.

Either of those reactions would certainly be understandable. Duch was one of Pol Pot's murderous minions — chief of Cambodia's infamous Tuol Sleng prison, also ominously known as S-21, where men, women and even children were tortured and massacred.

Those lucky enough to avoid detention were forced to work in rice fields or farms, while many others were left to die of starvation — like Bopha's mother, father, and several of her 11 siblings; treated as if they were mere pawns in a cruel game of Maoist chess.

When the Khmer Rouge was finally driven from power by Vietnamese forces in January 1979 after four years of genocide, an estimated 2.5 million Cambodians were dead.

"If I were sitting face-to-face with him, right now, I wouldn't feel anger," Bopha says, holding Duch's picture closer to her face now to get a better look in the glaring sunlight beaming through the window of her Bourne restaurant, Stir Crazy.

"I find peace in my heart because I found forgiveness and mercy in Christ. I don't carry hate in me anymore."

She is looking at me now and appears to me as a picture of sun-bathed serenity. She reads the astonishment on my face.

"I learned to free myself from revenge and hate. I forgive but never forget," she says, explaining that, though she considers herself a Christian now, she has also drawn deeply from the Buddhism learned in her youth.

Earlier this week, Duch was sentenced to 19 years in prison by the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia in conjunction with a panel of international judges working on behalf of the United Nations. And while the 55-year-old restaurateur has come a long way — both geographically and spiritually — since she first came to Bourne in 1981, don't misunderstand. Forgiveness, in this case, emphatically does not mean to turn the other cheek and forsake this-world justice.

"He got a slap on the wrist. They do this to please international opinion. I don't see the real leaders being brought to justice."

Not only that, she says, unlike the tribunals that prosecuted high-level Nazi war criminals, the Cambodian people will never have the satisfaction of seeing Duch's puppet-masters in the dock. Pol Pot is dead, as are many of the Chinese communists he mimicked and whom Bopha ultimately blames, along with the former Soviet Union.

"There's no way these people (like Pol Pot and Duch) had the mind to do this on their own. They were brainwashed."

Bopha is convinced of foreign meddling — the only way she can make even a sliver of sense out of Cambodian military leaders killing so many of their own people.

But Bopha survived as an embodiment of America's promise, having come from "the killing fields" to a kitchen of her own choosing. She adores her adopted home, though she thinks Americans sometimes complain too much — about taxes, the government and each other. Still, like many of us, she is concerned about the future of this country for her children — the deficit, our relationship with China, even immigration.

"America has changed so much," she says, which leads to a discussion about a painting that now hangs in the S-21 prison-turned-memorial-museum. It's a painting that depicts detainees being waterboarded. I ask her what she thinks about the Bush administration authorizing such practices and that there are still many U.S. politicians and citizens who don't think of waterboarding as torture.

"I lived through it. It is torture. I ran from that to come here. ... This country gave me opportunity to be successful, to try to move on. ... Now I see all of this happening. I do not understand why these things still happen. All over the world."

It's like the whole planet has gone stir crazy.

"I don't know what the answers are." Bopha shrugs. She pauses, as if to take in the complexity of it all, before sharing with me a simple belief her mother expressed before she died: "It won't always be like this. Don't give up. I promise you, one day it will change."

In chess, if a pawn makes it all the way to the other side of the board, it is promoted to be a queen — the most powerful piece on the board. On the chessboard of life, Bopha is a queen. No doubt about it.

Sean Gonsalves' column runs on Sundays and Wednesdays. Comment on this column or read past columns at www.capecodonline.com/gonsalves. Sean can be reached at
sgonsalves@capecodonline.com

Show The World We Exist (Census 2010 PSA) - By Phanith Sovann, a talented Cambodian-American

Originally posted by Rasmey
at http://www.cambodianforum.org/phpbbforum/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=590



The following are two more songs, one in Khmer and one in English, that Phanith sang at her church in Long Beach, CA.

English Song: http://cambodianharvest.org/files/PN07-29-07E.wmv

Khmer Song: http://cambodianharvest.org/files/PN12-23-07.wmv

S. Korean Christians praying for Buddhist temple to collapse

The posting of this video and article was requested by Intra Jit, a reader of KI-Media.

The reason I publish this video clip here is to show that some evangelical Christians are unbelievable evil-minded people. I believe this is due to the aggressive nature of the religious organisation to 'conquer' the others. This nature is fueled by none other than the three poisons - Attachment (greed, control freakery, domination), Aversion (aggression, intolerance, hatred, anger, rage, destruction) and Ignorance (deluded view, irrational).

The Three Poisons are the primary causes of evil-mindedness and this is what Buddhists are to be aware off at all times. The way to eradicate the three poisons is by cultivation of the mind through diligent meditation. And to meditate properly, one needs to keep the Five Precepts and practice the Noble 8-Fold Path. This is the way to higher spiritual attainment and loving-kindness.

It's not by covering the Three Poisons with the enforcement of love by the doctrine of a religion. As shown in the video clip, the Three Poisons are so glaring in the mass prayer, which is supposed to be wholesome, turning it into an unwholesome act to be condemned. The love and compassion is not real but with motive and agenda supported by the hidden Three Poisons which are very much alive.

It's sad that these people are blinded by their faith.

Originally posted at: http://dhammaprotector.blogspot.com/2010/05/christianity-in-south-korea.html

Hey KI-Media, what's going on?

Hey KI-Media,

Though Buddhism is the official religion of Cambodia, and has been for a long time, there is a big section of Cambodian population of other faiths, at home and oversea, that we rarely hear about on this blog. What's going on?

I don't know your blog is aimed toward reaching all cross-section of Cambodian of different faith or not. But if you are, perhaps you should includes, every now and then, articles about other faith as well. Though some of us embrace other faith, we are still Khmer and feel connected to fellow Khmer.

Just a thought, because I'm a regular reader of this blog, and outside of Buddhism, you guys seldom post news of other faith.
---------

Dear Readers,

You are correct in your observation. It is true that the majority of our religious postings are aimed towards Buddhism rather than other faiths, such as Christianity or Islam. The explanation to this is relatively simple: because we rely on our Readers to send us information to post, when it comes to religious events, our Buddhist readers tend to send more information for us to post. That being said, from time to time, there are some rare news articles about Catholic and/or other Christian denomination activities. As for Islam, we rarely read much news about this faith even though Cambodia counts a large number of Khmer-Islams.

Nevertheless, we would be delighted to hear and to post information from our brothers and sisters of all faiths. We encourage all our Readers to send us photos and information on religious events in your respective communities so that we may share them on KI-Media. Please send your information to us at: kiletters@gmail.com

With our deepest respect,

KI-Media team

Hope for exploited daughters

(Photo: Samaritan’s Purse)

Thursday, 22 April 2010
Samaritan’s Purse (Australia)

“Channa” was 14 when she was sent to Cambodia’s capital city of Phnom Penh to earn extra income for her mother’s medical treatments. Desperate for work, she found a job at a bar.

Channa had always refused lewd offers from male patrons, but when her family continually pressured her to earn more, she thought she had no alternative. For a full year, Channa engaged in commercial sex work and desperately wanted out. Neighbours began looking down on her. And her dreams of a happy future seemed spoiled. “I thought I was an animal, a slave,” she said.

Thousands of Cambodian women are forced into such work every year. A lack of opportunities for education and skills training, the result of decades of civil unrest and instability, leave them with few options to support their families.

Samuel Heng of Daughters, our local partner says that cultural norms contribute to the problem. “Many girls believe that the more they sacrifice for their parents and family, the better their next life will be. They say parents are like a second god – Buddha is the first, parents are the second. So you should serve your parents like you would serve god.”

Samaritan’s Purse is working with Daughters to give these women a way out. The ministry runs a safe house and provides vocational training in sewing, cooking, fabric painting, cake decorating, card and jewellery making.

Channa now works as a cake decorator, with a special expertise in making delicate sugar flowers. Perhaps the sweetest part of her story is that Channa has found new hope and peace in her faith in Jesus Christ. “When I prayed, I felt a peace in my heart,” she says. “I hadn’t felt that before.”

Channa goes to weekly church services and has found a community that provides encouragement and support. “I feel that a lot of people love me at Daughters, that I have a big value and a lot of hope,” Channa said. “Before I had a big family, but with no love, no peace. Now I have a good father – God.”

Holland church gathers for Cambodian New Year celebration

Children perform a dance during the Cambodian Fellowship Christian Reformed Church New Year celebration Saturday at the Holland Civic Center. (Robert Kanavel/Sentinel contributor)

Apr 11, 2010
By BLAKE THORNE
The Holland Sentinel (Michigan, USA)

Holland, MI — It’s fitting that the Cambodian Fellowship Christian Reformed Church picked Saturday to celebrate.

It was three days before the Cambodian New Year and six days after Easter — the two holidays they were celebrating.

“Tonight, we gather together in hope,” said Mark Wilson, a member of Cambodian Fellowship, as he gave a sermon to the crowd of about 150 at the Holland Civic Center. “The hope of the new year, the Cambodian New Year. And the hope of Easter.”

The Cambodian New Year celebrates many of the same themes as the western-style New Year, like new beginnings and a fresh start, said elder Steve Cheung.

With Easter falling so close, it makes sense to celebrate the two together, he said.

“We still love Jesus Christ, but we don’t forget our culture,” he said. “So we celebrate it all together.”

The celebration included authentic Cambodian food, music and dancing and guest speakers, including Ben Meyer, academic dean and registrar for Kuyper College, and State Sen. Wayne Kuipers, R- Holland.

Members of other churches and ethnicities came out to the event, as well.

A chaplain with Request Foods, Pete DeHann has been to the celebration in previous years.

“It’s a very good time,” he said. “And the food’s to die for.”

Dressed in a silk, two-piece traditional Cambodian outfit, Deb Wilson helped tend a table covered with Cambodian goods for sale. The items — from traditional scarves and artwork to T-shirts — were brought back from a mission trip.

Along with her husband, Mark Wilson, Deb Wilson lived in Cambodia for 10 years, she said.

With such a large Cambodian population in Holland, the annual New Year and Easter celebration has been a good way to bridge the cultural divide, she said.

“I think it’s a really cool blending of belief systems.”

Tough test became his testimony

The Rev. Sam Om, 57, was sent to the Cambodian killing fields. (Photo: TODD SUMLIN - tsumlin@charlotteobserver.com)

• Favorite Bible verse: Gospel of John 3:16. "For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but have eternal life."
• Where he'll be this Easter Sunday: Conducting the 11 a.m. service at St. John's United Methodist.

Sunday, Apr. 04, 2010
By Tim Funk
tfunk@charlotteobserver.com
Charlotte Observer (South Carolina, USA)

It was the mid-1970s. Sam Om had been sentenced to a slow death in a Cambodian work camp run by Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge rebels.

As a soldier on the losing side of a civil war, he worked from sunrise until dark, digging ditches and planting rice. He had little to eat. And he slept in the fields wrapped in a rice sack.

The law of survival was to shut up and do what you were told. Those who violated it were forced to dig their own graves, then beaten to death with a bamboo stick.

One day, he refused to get up.

Why are you so lazy? the guard screamed. Others are working!

Sam cursed him, then said: Kill me now.

The guard walked away.

Sam was sure he'd be executed after dark. But the night passed. Then another, and another.

Days later, Sam, a Buddhist taught to believe in reincarnation, had an epiphany: If I'm going to die, let it be outside Cambodia. That way, in my next life, I will not return to these killing fields.

Accepting Christ in the Philippines

In late 1978, when Vietnam invaded Cambodia, hundreds of thousands of refugees - including Sam and his mother and sisters - made their way to camps in Thailand.

While there, Sam's sister visited a Christian church and brought back a Bible, translated into the Khmer (Cambodian) language, for Sam.

He ripped out some of the tissue-thin pages to roll cigarettes. But he also read a lot of it.

One passage in the Gospel of John changed him. "God so loved the world that he sent his only son ..."

This God, he loved me, Sam thought. He loved not just humankind, but me.

At a Baptist service months later in the Philippines, Sam stepped forward to accept Christ.

Listening to that inner voice

Sam reached the United States in 1981. His new ambition: Get rich.

But an inner voice whispered: I brought you here for a reason. Tell your people how much I have done for you.

Sam sensed the voice leading him - to Bible school in New York; to Syvany, his wife of 26 years; to the ministry.

Survivor preaching to other survivors

Now 57, he's pastor of St. John's United Methodist Church on Monroe Road, near some of Charlotte's Asian neighborhoods.

His 80-person congregation is mostly made up of Cambodians. Many of them also survived the murderous regime of Pol Pot.

The Original "CHRIST"mas Story

Merry Christmas (?) (Photo: Tharum Bun)

Sent by KI-Media Reader

The Prophecy 700 years Before Christ (or B.C.)

For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. – Isaiah the Prophet (9:6)

The Prophecy Fulfilled 2009 years ago (A.D. or Anno Domini Nostri Jesu Christi, Latin for “in the year of our Lord Jesus Christ”)

The Birth of Jesus

In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) And everyone went to his own town to register.

So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

The Shepherds and the Angels

And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."

Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests."

When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about."

So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told. - St. Luke Gospel (2:1-20)

Missionary to speak on Khmer Rouge experiences

Dareth Ly and his wife, Thida, are Assembly of God missionaries to their native Cambodia. From left are Dareth, Thida, Sophie, 15, Sabrina, 11, and Saidah, 4. Dareth will speak at Crossroads Church Sunday, Nov. 22. Submitted Photo

November 20 2009
By Molly Miron
The Bemidji Pioneer (Minnesota, USA)

Dareth Ly spent his childhood in Cambodia under the deadly 1975-1979 rule of Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge.

His father was among the 1.5 to 2.5 million people who died directly on the Killings Fields or from starvation and disease.

His mother survived, but they were separated when he was 7 in 1975. He was sent to a child labor camp, and she was sent to an adult labor camp.

When the Vietnamese army liberated the camps in 1979, he walked to Thailand and was put in a refugee camp.

“They didn’t know what to do with us, so they asked different countries to take us,” Ly said in a telephone interview from his Eagan, Minn., home.

He was sent to St. Paul when he was 11 and grew up in a foster home.

“I didn’t speak a word of English,” he said.

He said he had no idea where he was going at the time, but he knew it had to be better than where he was.

Now, with his wife, Thida, he is an Assembly of God missionary to Cambodia. Ly will be the featured speaker Sunday, Nov. 22, at Crossroads Church. Ly will share his story during both the morning worship service at 10:30 a.m. and the Missions Banquet at 5:30 p.m. The Missions Banquet will also feature a potluck, ethnic dinner and a question-and-answer time with Ly. Crossroads Pastor John Hubert and the congregation invite the public to attend.

Ly said he returned to Cambodia and found his mother in 1992. He said she is still living in her home country. He then returned to Cambodia as a missionary in 1996 and began working in an orphanage and starting churches and schools in rural Cambodia. He and his wife have built schools, provided school meals for students, as well as school supplies and uniforms.

“We basically go back and offer the people in that country – who have suffered so much – hope,” Ly said.

He said the Assembly of God as a denomination focuses on mission outreach and is a fast-growing church worldwide. He said he and his wife and daughters, Thida, Saidah and Sabrina, plan to return to Cambodia next summer. Meanwhile, he travels to churches to present the message of what God is doing and raise funds for the mission.

Church workers reflect on emulating Saint Paul in Cambodia

July 13 2009
UCAN

PHNOM PENH : Missioners and lay Catholics said the recently concluded Year of Saint Paul has helped them to see how their work of evangelization in the country parallels that of the Apostle to the Gentiles.

Father Bob Piche, from the Paris Foreign Missions Society, said that just as Saint Paul proclaimed the Good News to communities of different cultures, "so during my 11 years in Cambodia as a missioner, I have spent a lot of time learning the culture, traditions and way of life of the local people."

Father Piche, who is a parish priest in Phnom Penh, added that "the Good News will be easy to proclaim if we appreciate the culture and traditions of local people."

The priest was among more than 1,000 Catholics from across the country who attended a Mass on June 27 to close the Pauline Year. The special year ran from June 28, 2008, to June 29, 2009.

Father Paul Roeung Chatchai from the Thai Missionary Society, speaking to UCA News, said Saint Paul is his role model in his missionary work among Cambodians.

"He went to many places where the people did not know Jesus. I came to Cambodia where most people do not know Jesus," said the priest who is the coordinator for the Catholic Social Communications office in Phnom Penh.

Duong Savong, a catechist, noted that "Saint Paul was a clever missioner who used the cultures of nations to proclaim the Good News of Jesus."

"In Cambodia we are using his style (of evangelization) to catechize people," he added.

He noted that among Cambodians attending catechism classes, some belong to marginalized communities that Church organizations support, while others want to learn more about Christ. Whatever their reasons, "we always give them love and show them how Jesus calls people to love one another," he said.

During the June 27 Mass, Bishop Emile Destombes, apostolic vicar of Phnom Penh, praised all missioners, community leaders and Church workers in Cambodia for their work in making the Gospel flourish in the country over the last 20 years. "We have come a long way since 1989," he said.

Since that year, when Bishop Destombes became the first missioner to return to Cambodia after two decades of civil war and religious persecution, the Catholic Church has revived, as has religion in general in the predominantly Buddhist country.

In Phnom Penh apostolic vicariate, one of three Church jurisdictions in the country, there are now 38 Catholic communities, including those that speak English, French and Korean, and 40 Religious congregations and societies.

All these communities are a good resource for proclaiming the Good News, Bishop Destombes noted.

Archbishop Salvatore Pennacchio, the Bangkok-based apostolic nuncio to Cambodia, also attended the Mass. He encouraged the whole Catholic community in Phnom Penh to continue proclaiming the Good News.

About 95 percent of the more than 14 million Cambodians are Buddhists. Christians form approximately 2 percent of the population.