They Did Not Want to Go!
Adventure
Retreat, a phrase that could mean so many things to so many people. For me it meant a sore back from sleeping on
the hard ground or rigid bamboo slats, using a squatty potty, and no guarantee
I would have hot water for the packets of instant coffee I brought along. All of that came true, by the way. Gone are the days of desiring to sleep on
mountain peaks in the dead of winter or anything similar.
The ONXY Adventure Camp took place
at a place called Yowk, 30 kilometers off a National Highway in the foothills
of the Ural Mountains. Yowk is part of national park and we camped at the base
of a series of seven waterfalls that stretched upward for about two kilometers.
The swift coursing water ran clear, cold and clean. It was impressive. Vysal
did a good job in selecting the site, which is a popular picnic spot on
holidays. No one ever proposed the idea of camping in tents there, and we were
the first. Some of us slept in tents,
others on the wooden raised platforms for picnicking. A few students were
disappointed because they didn’t get to sleep in a tent, as it would have a new
experience and a badge of honor.
To my delight,
there was no cell phone service available. The 50 or students from DOVE’s 4
Leadership Training satellites, along with retreat leaders could only use their
phones to take photos and for use as flashlights to find the privy at night.
We arrived at
noon, and after a brief rest and orientation to surviving in the wilderness,
DOVE coordinators led team building games, some of which were rather
challenging and involved being tied together, carrying a member of their team
up the mountain trail and back in competition with the other satellites.
The rest of the afternoon was spent climbing up the lower
section of the falls, swimming in the frigid pools, basking in the sun on large
smooth rocks, and taking many photos. All were continually impressed with the
beauty of the descending river and the falls.
At the
campfire that evening Seila told the story of Seang Ang, a Cambodian pastor/evangelist
who risked his life during the Vietnam War and in the underground church, post-Khmer
Rouge. Seila emphasized that real leadership is more about scars than stars,
and that this generation of youth have yet to be tested like their forefathers.
Next morning students from each satellite went on a
separate Emmaus Walk, and then
shared their own personal life stories with the members of their group until
lunch.
Many broke down in tears as they shared about their
emotional pain. In our last 3 ONYX cohorts, rarely have we found a student who
had not been touched by some sort of trauma, mostly family or neighbor related.
That
afternoon, most all the students climbed their way up to the 7th
level of the falls, the very top. They had to cross the strong coursing waters
a number of times, negotiate slippery rocks, and steep inclines. None had done this before, and the women were
touched and impressed that the young men tested slippery rocks and the depth of
the water before helping them across, as well as helping to pull them up the
steep, slippery algae-covered rocks.
At the
last minute, a number of students called saying they were too busy to attend
the retreat, so we only had about 75% of the ONYX students in attendance (about
50 students). This was discouraging but we believed that God had arranged these
specific students to take part in this opening retreat with us. That night at
the campfire, many testified that they too, wanted to cancel as everything else
seemed more appealing than living through adventure retreat and leaving their
comfort zone, but they were overwhelmed by their experience over the weekend,
and testified that they really made the right decision. Being pushed out of
their comfort zone produced all kinds of fruit they didn’t expect. The
provincial women felt awkward being around so many people they didn’t know, but
were so glad to make new friends through the icebreakers and team building
exercises. These normally shy provincial
girls were transformed into comedians as soon a microphone hit their hand, and
told us how they had tried everything to convince themselves they couldn’t
come. The ONXY students chirped with laughter as they enjoyed listening to their
own peers.
The
following morning, I gave a short devotion about the Celtic Tradition of “Thin Places,” where life crisis and
nature come together causing the membrane between earth and the spiritual realm
to become very thin (speaking in metaphorical language).
Moses,
Elijah, and Jacob and others in the Bible were able experience the presence of
God in thin places. I sent them out by twos to find a secluded and beautiful
spot, maybe a thin place, to settle down in for about 30 minutes. They were to say only one short prayer to
invite God to be present with them. I asked them not pray anymore, not to
think, but to listen, smell, feel, taste, and observe all aspects of nature
around them. They came back for debriefing and some had written poems, some had
sketched pictures, and many heard from God in non-conventional ways and were
deeply touched. We continued to listen
to students share their personal stories in very candid and transparent ways,
assuring them that what is shared stays among the group members.
I myself
was not looking forward to this retreat for another reason, and that was that I
had bonded very closely to last year’s cohort and felt I could not drum up the
emotional energy to disengage with them and begin the process with a new group. The retreat broke down all such barriers for
me, and for others who had different barriers.
Before I went, I said; “God, I am
not expecting much, only to get through this and back to the comfort of good
coffee, a soft bed, a fan, and a sit down toilet as soon as I can. But I really
hope you surprise me.” And He did.
Brian, post-Adventure Camp in Cambodia
Beginning Leadership Journey
Leadership
is an art, a calling and a journey. This was the theme of this year’s beginning
retreat for Onyx Program, year three. In relation to the leadership journey, we
keep in mind preparation and planning. DOVE brought our Onyx students to a
national park with seven waterfalls in Pursat Province. It was our intention to
shape their perspectives on leadership a bit. We divided the students into
small groups according to their geographical location. They were from Kampong
Cham, Kampong Chhnang, Kampong Thom and Phnom Penh. Each game they played
reflected part of the leadership journey. One of the students from Kampong Cham
said: “At first I didn’t plan to come because I was afraid sleeping in the
forest but at the last minute I made up my mind to join the retreat. I am so
blessed that I made that decision. I met so many new faces and made friends
with many students from different DOVE satellites.” Another student from
Kampong Chhnang said; “I really appreciate being together with other students
from four different places. I understood clearly about the value of teamwork
through the games we played. We spent time to reflect on God’s call on our
lives to become his disciples, and at the campfire we committed ourselves to
God’s service. We committed to serve Him, and to finish well. I am looking
forward to seeing everyone again the end-year retreat.”
The last morning we sent them off by twos to a find a
quiet and beautiful place along the river where they could share solitude with
their partner and reflect on God’s First Bible, nature. One student from Phnom
Penh wrote a poem to express God’s goodness and his creation around us, and
another made a nice sketch. They all fell in love with the beauty of God’s
creation, nature. They committed to care for what God bestowed upon us. This is
what we want to entrust to the next generation of this country - a love and
concern for the beautiful environment in Cambodia.
They
still have a long way to go but we strongly believe these young people will become
agents of transformation in Cambodia. They have just started the journey and we
can see some positive signs in their lives. The journey will become exhausting
if we do not have goals and an idea of our final destiny. It will be fun if we
know where we are going and how to get there. Please keep praying for us, that
we will be able to shape and develop more young people in Cambodia!
Globalization
Globalization
is like a big tornado moving toward a small hut. It cannot be resisted, nor can
the hut stand firm. The small hut will no longer exist if the tornado gets much
closer. Cambodia just is like a small hut. After this country had gone through
many internal and external disasters, and civil war more than two decades, we
emerged into the daylight. When the doors to the west swung wide open, our
young people absorbed everything that came in. They were so proud that they
could take part in something modern, something everyone on the planet was
doing. Valentine’s Day, as an example, is a big worry for the parents of those
who have young teenage daughters. Young Cambodian men and women misinterpret
the meaning of the Valentine’s Day. A couple of years ago the contemporary
interpretive meaning of Valentine’s Day led many young teen girls to lose their
virginity. Most of the guesthouses in town were packed with young teen girls
but now the government is very clamping down on guesthouses during this
holiday, but the holiday is still very worrisome to parents. During this
holiday, DOVE gathers young people in our neighborhood to educate them about
the true meaning of the Valentine’s Day.
Testimonies
Hello, my name’s Heat Sotheavy. I am 17 years old. I
am from Bueong Tompun and a student here in the English class, Thai class and
even the Leadership Club. Today I’m here with some of my friends to join the
Valentine’s Day celebration at YESIC. I’m happy to be here. Today I learned and understood the real meaning of
the Valentine’s Day. Before, I didn’t know the real meaning of it. I just heard
and saw a lot of teenagers celebrate the day with their boyfriends or
girlfriends by giving them roses and gifts. I also heard it was the day the
girls gave up their virginity to prove to their love to their boyfriend. I
wondered about that and was uncomfortable with the idea. But now it is clear
and makes sense to me. So many of my fellow teens are completely wrong. I
promise I will bring this new information to my friends and explain to others
so they can understand it well.
Hello everyone, I’m Mony. I am 17 years old. I study
at Phsa Derm Thkao high school in grade 11, and also study English language
here at YESIC. At YESIC, I finished courses like computer skills (Typing,
Microsoft Office Word & Excel). I have been studying here since 2014. Today
is the second time that I have joined the Valentine’s Day event. But it is good
for me to go deeper in my understanding about the real meaning of the
Valentine’s Day. Yes, I already knew that Valentine’s Day was a day of love,
that all people around the world share their love with their partner, but I
never read the history of St. Valentine before today. It is clear now because I now know the
history and Teacher Oun Seila preached on it clearly.
Hello, my name is Ratanak. I’m 15 years old. I am a
student at Phsa Derm Thkao high school and also a student here, too. Today is
Women’s Right Day and my friends and I are here to join the celebration. I am
glad to be here because today I’m having fun with the programs like games and
other entertainment. I appreciate a celebration for this day, that we can share
about the women’s right to all people, especially to the men, that they would
know clearly about women’s values and rights. Because of this event I know more
about my rights, like what I can do and what I can’t. In addition, the
encouragement and the sharing from some students and teachers really makes me
hopeful, and I feel happy that we girls have the same rights as men, not like
before when society gave almost all the rights to the men. But now it has
changed a bit. It’s really cool now for us girls, in that we are beginning to
be able to do some of things that men have the right to do. Lastly, I want to
say thanks to all my friends and teachers here that let me be a part of this
event today. 
Hello everyone, I’m Sina. I am 23 years old. I’m from Steong Mean Chey, Phnom Penh. I am a staff person working
for a company in this city. I’m a part time
English student here, too. Yes, I came here today to join the Women’s Rights
Day Celebration. It is meaningful to me that YESIC chose today to celebrate
this day, to help people become aware of the issues of women’s rights because
for a long time, most people entitled the men, and that is why women has to
suffer in many situations. It has been a big and bad problem for the girls. But
nowadays is much better than before, but still in other countries they do not
recognize women as valuable. So celebrating this event today is a really good
to help change the attitudes of men, and help the women to have equal rights
along with the men. I really I appreciate that.
Elephant Laughs, Cries and
Run!
The DOVE Board meeting was
held in the Mekong Elephant restaurant, and while we were waiting for one of
the board members named Raju to come, I called him up. “Raju, are you coming to
the meeting?” he said, “In about ten
minutes I will be there.” I looked
around the room and there was a picture of an elephant on the wall, but not an
Asian elephant. It was an African elephant. I recalled a joke about an
elephant:
Once upon a time there was
an elephant contest that challenged people to compete in making an Elephant
laugh, cry and run. The organizer announced on the load speaker: “Now we begin
the contest with trying to make the elephant laugh. If anyone of you can make
this elephant laugh you will win a prize.” Everyone did their best trying to
get the elephant to laugh. Some tickled the elephant; others pushed and pulled
his ears but to no avail. No one could make elephant laugh. Then one particular
man came and whispered into the ear of the elephant. Soon after he finished
whispering, the elephant fell to it’s knees and laughed and laughed. Everyone cheered and clapped their hands in
appreciation. The judge announced over the loud speaker, “ Very impressive! And
now it is time to make the elephant cry.” The contestants then began to pull
the elephant’s trunk, kick it, and beat it with a stick, and someone even
played a dirge, but the elephant still did not cry. The same man whispered
something into the ear of the elephant again. Soon after that the elephant
cried and cried, until tears streamed down its face. Everyone cheered and
clapped their hands.
The judge of the contest
announced again, “This is the last part of contest when you try to get the
elephant to run.” Some tried to whack the elephant with stick, another burst a
balloon in the ear of the elephant, one stuck it with a pin, but still the
elephant did not run. The same man again whispered into the elephant’s ear and
then the elephant took off like a shot and ran and ran, not even taking time to
look back. Every one clapped and
clapped. Then the judge said to the man,
“You won the prize but you cannot receive it unless you tell us the secret of
how you made the elephant do all these things. The man said, “To get him laugh, I just told the elephant
that I am a pastor in Cambodia, and this is why he went out of his mind, insane
with laughter.”
“How did you get him to cry,
asked the Judge? I told the elephant
that I am a missionary with low support and I am holding an E-visa (business
visa) and will be forced to pay a fine at the airport if I leave to visit family
because I don’t have a work permit. I am a volunteer and need a visa and the
only one I can get is a business visa that requires an expensive work permit.
If I don’t get the work permit that I cannot afford, I will be fined for every
year I have spent in Cambodia without one.”
The elephant cried and cried because he took pity on me.
“How about getting it to
run?” “I told the elephant I quit just quit my role as a pastor, and I am now
turning over my mission and ministry to him and then he took off like he was
shot out of a canon and ran for his life because he knew only a crazy person
would agree to do such a job.” So the man got the prize but is still stuck in
his ministry role for the rest of his life.
The role of a pastor is
really a gift, not a job. If someone is not gifted he or she cannot pastor a
church well. Speaking of pastors, I connected with some of them recently in
Kompong Chhnang. DOVE had a small Pastor’s Fellowship meeting in Kampong
Chhnang city to discuss the impact of the ONYX program for their churches, and
our ongoing partnership with them. Pastor Chamroeun said; “I very much
appreciate that DOVE has a satellite office in Kampong Chhnang. You really
bring the training to the people.” Essentially, he paraphrased DOVE’s motto,
“Don’t bring people to church, bring the church to people.” Pastor Prak Vuthy is one our long time
partners whom we trained in the mid-90’s and he said that Onyx Program helped
the church grow stronger because we train the second tier leadership of the
church to get ready to receive the baton from the senior pastors. He promised
to promote ONYX among other pastors in the province, as he is now the leader of
the Kompong Chhnang Pastor’s Association for the whole province.
Pastors need to encourage
one another in both hard and happy times, and in the corporate running of
programs that help the church. When we laugh, we laugh together. In time of
crisis we cry together. Every time they
have a meeting, a DOVE representative will be invited to share about the
challenges and successes of the program. We all wish the program runs well in
the provinces, and want to help raise up more leaders for the future. Let’s
laugh, cry and run together.
Alongsiders Cambodia
YOUNG PEOPLE MAKE THE MOST IMPORTANT DECISIONS IN THE
ALONGSIDERS MOVEMENT
Important
decisions are made every time an Alongsiders coordinator shares the vision with
youth in a local church, and they decide to become an Alongsider.
These
young Christians pray and decide for themselves who they will choose as
their “little brother” or “little sister.” Then they form a group, and decide
who should be their group leader.
Before
these most important decisions are made, or even considered, coordinators
(staff) have gone out and connected with pastors one at a time. And as you may
guess, that’s easy to say and hard to do. To connect with many local
churches, coordinators have to bridge gaps and adapt to diverse styles,
structures, rules, and personalities. Then they persevere and do it again and
again. 
What
we’ve found over time is that the churches that respond most positively to the
Alongsiders movement aren’t the most “successful” mega-churches. They’re more
often small local churches in economically poor, rural communities off the
beaten track. And the youth who make the best Alongsiders are the ones who can
say, “I chose him, because he was like me.”
In
February, the coordinators in Cambodia went to visit an Anglican church in a
rural village almost three hours from Phnom Penh. It was like countless other
villages, an anonymous turn off the highway and down a narrow dirt road lined
with wooden homes of farmers. When we arrived, we found eleven youth
waiting to sign up as Alongsiders.
This is the kind of success we get excited
about. Local churches like this one, whose pastors and members identify
with being vulnerable as they have experienced it, are the cutting edges
of the Alongsider movement.
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