A good start

We had to move the school boat. The water level keeps rising and if we had left it much longer then the kids wouldn't have been able to get to the school. Last Monday, you couldn't get to the boat without having to wade through water. The moto driver stopped just in front of 40 yards of nasty Tonle Sap water. The only way I was going to be able to teach that day was if I waded. There was no other way around it. Wade or go home. So I embarked into the dark waters. As I got about knee high in the water I thought: God if you ever wanted to give me the ability to walk on water, now would have been the time. I made it across and started class with a Bible story.

Jane and her family soon arrived. They handed out toothbrushes, put on a puppet show, and taught the proper way to brush your teeth. It was very cool and the kids loved it.

Wednesday was our first adult... well I'm not sure what it is yet. We made an announcement to the children at the end of class. We told then to invite their parents to come learn about the Bible. Four o' clock was supposed to be the time that our "thing" started, but no one showed. I had already told myself earlier that if no one showed then I wouldn't be disappointed. 4:15 and still no one has showed. I walked over to the boat next door and spoke with some of the locals. Sey and I are still trying to build relationships with the adults in the neighboring boats. I visited with an older woman on the boat. She is the wife of a fisherman. Her daughter started in our class that very same day. 4:30 rolls around and Youn steps onto the school boat with one of his friends. I was so glad. So we invited the fisherman's wife to come learn about the Bible. She agreed. We gathered in a circle of chairs. There were 3, not including myself and Sey. I opened a bag of fruit I had bought just earlier in the day and let them introduce themselves to each other. My goal this day wasn't to teach them as much as I can about Jesus, but to just let them get comfortable in this setting. They made casual conversation with each other. Five minutes later, the mother of one of our students showed up and so did the fisherman. So we now had 5 people. I'd say that was a success considering I had only even met two of them before hand. I let them ask me questions about myself, so they could get to know me as well. They asked me mostly about America and what I was doing here. They also asked me why I came. My answer was, "Because my God led me here." This drew some curiosity in them. They started asking me what religion I was, after I told them, that started a whole new string of questions about Christianity. They had so many questions, it was great.

I told Sey to tell them that God speaks to my heart, but I noticed something. Sey wasn't translating exactly what I was telling him. I stopped him and asked him why. He said he didn't want to confuse them. He tried to give them answers that made sense. I told him, "Sey, it's okay if this doesn't make sense to them right now. If it doesn't make sense then it can only lead to more questions, which is good. It's good because it'll get them thinking about it more." He understood and from that point on, he translated what I was saying word for word.

At the end of our conversation, everyone seemed very interested in what Sey and I had to say. They all said that they would come back next week to learn more. After leaving the boat, I felt great. I still feel great. The start of the ministry was successful and I know that it will only continue to grow. Even the children's ministry is growing rapidly. This week alone, we have gained 9 new students. Every day we gained three more. This just means that more seeds will be planted in the hearts of the children. Praise God! I'm very excited about the weeks to come. I pray that everything goes smoothly. The only problem I pray for, is the problem of not having enough room to hold all the people that want to come learn about Jesus.