Griffith Gleanings MAY 2016

Hebrews 11:6 And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

GRIFFITH GLEANINGS MAY 2016 Here we are in the month of May. In many of the Christian communities that we are visiting this month there is a focus on cross-cultural interaction called: “May Mission Month”. We encourage you to explore the Global Interaction suggestions for your own action that involves everything from praying for cross cultural workers, to joining a short term Global Exposure team with members of your church, or consider yourself becoming a long-term cross cultural worker. There are options in giving towards one of the May projects. Why not read through the five themes for the month of May examining Luke 10: 1-12? The link for these resources is http://www.globalinteraction.org.au/be-involved/may-mission-month A warm welcome to those we have just met and are receiving this newsletter for the first time. We are encouraged by the response of people from so many places we are visiting who seek to track with us. We appreciate your support and prayers. Rob: Thinking that this could be the last Autumn in South Australia that we experience for a few years helps me to be thankful for cool mornings and sunny mild weather. We certainly have  a lot to be grateful for living in our part of the Adelaide Hills: green parks and gardens, lavish displays of autumn colours in the trees, dust that appears so infrequently that when it does it gets mentioned on the radio, friendly neighbours who speak a language we understand! I have learnt to be grateful for cold drizzle when I’m going for a morning run (thinking how one day soon I will be feeling so hot and sweaty most of the time that I will long for a run in the cold drizzle). Paul expressed that he had “learned the secret of being content in any and every situation (Phillipians 4:12). Surely contentment has something to do with what Paul mentions earlier in the chapter to think about good things like “what ever is pure…lovely…admirable…excellent or praiseworthy.” In this season of working, studying and preparing for many unknowns in the days ahead, I gain a lot from “re-framing” my circumstances to consider the good things I have been gifted with today. Resourceful Cambodians banana moto Typical Cambodian home we saw skirting the rice fields May 2016We have privilege of sharing among churches, small groups and with individuals. We want to introduce our Cambodian team to you. Click here http://www.globalinteraction.org.au/be-involved/may-mission-month/team-updates Autumns rainbow of colours at Mount Lofty Botanical Gardens, South Australia Gardening together from root bound pots to open garden beds. Click Here for Support & Information Thank you to those who have already committed to supporting us in prayer or in a financial way. Please seek God’s leading in this area of what supporting us means for you. We welcome opportunities to share with individuals and small groups about areas where you can partner with us. A commitment for regular financial support of any amount can be made online or in person. For those who are helped by giving suggestions on amounts needed to be raised we require around 50 people to pledge support of $100 per month. www.globalinteraction.org.au/RobDeb  Deb: The season of autumn has held some lessons and insights for me. Firstly preparing our garden to take in some of our potted plants. Some of the potted plants we have transplanted into the garden have had pot bound roots. For these plants to thrive when they are transplanted they need their roots to be loosened. Sometimes life can make us grow like a root bound pot plant. I can relate to needing encouragement to tease my roots in preparation to be planted among the Khmer people. The autumn leaves with the splendour of the colour palette sink their beauty into me at a deep level. Allowing the leaf as it detaches from the tree speak to me as it peacefully and gracefully twirls to the ground. An autumn leaf is a dying leaf, may the things in my life that I am choosing this season to let go of reflect God’s love, grace and hope. May God’s Spirit fall afresh on you. Prayer Requests   That the relationships with the Khmer may open doors towards Jesus. For Janelle Windus’ father and family; God will lift them up in His arms of love and carry them. For all 5 families support raising to return/go to Cambodia with Global Interaction. Praise Points  Time with extended family to prepare well in leaving. Meeting with church families that share in God’s mission

Griffith Gleanings APRIL 2016

1 Colossians 1:3 We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you

Prayer Partners ANSWERED PRAYER The Bible College study disciplines are shaping us deeply. The rich privilege Rob & Deb are having sharing with churches, small groups and individuals. Good health. Thank God for connecting with others who have served in Cambodia in various contexts. Our eldest daughter Rebekah graduated last week with her law degree. ONGOING AND NEW PRAYER NEEDS For wisdom and God’s inspiration of the Global Interaction board, directors and teams. Pray for Catherine Rogers as she has celebrated Khmer New Year with her Khmer relationships; that Jesus’ hope will be made evident there. Continue to pray for our preparation as a family, couple, and as individuals that we will seek and hear God in season. Uphold our team members the Crilley family as they celebrate new life of their son Samuel James, and transition through this time as they prepare as a family to go to Cambodia with Global Interaction. Please remember Rob and Deb as we visit with others that we share God’s missional plan for all to partake in. Pray with us that God will prompt others to partner with us. We seek prayer and financial support needed to send us to the Khmer of Cambodia in December 2016. Here’s a video of insights from our Team Leader for Cambodia Mark Holt. Click on this link https://www.dropbox.com/s/uepb6ji6umo8k5a/Cambodia%20-%20Mark%20Holt.mp4?dl=0 Thank you, once again for supporting us in prayer. For information about partnership support below is a Global Interaction link – http://www.globalinteraction.org.au/RobDeb

Griffith Gleanings March 2016

2 Peter 1:5-8 For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

GRIFFITH GLEANINGS MARCH 2016

It will soon be a quarter of the way through 2016, so we are fast approaching the end of the year and the prospect that we will be in another country and facing some new challenges living cross-culturally and learning new words so that we can one day be understood by our neighbours. It is a wonderful privilege to be on this journey and sharing our passion to be responding to God’s call to Cambodia. It is encouraging to have so many groups and individuals respond positively and seeking to track with us, pray for us and even contribute financially towards our next steps. Cambodia is a very different place to live than Australia, as we hope you might appreciate a little more in this update.

The following information comparing living in Cambodia to Australia is borrowed from: https://www.ifitweremyhome.com/

Rob:

When our children were younger our family was a home for a variety of pets. One guinea pig in particular taught me a life lesson about living life to the full. The guinea pigs were quite productive and when little guinea pigs were born they received a lot of attention and our children and their friends loved to take them out of the cage to pat them. On one of these occasions one of them escaped into a refuge of long grass and could not be found. I expected the little creature would become a meal for one of the local foxes and didn’t expect to see him again. It turned out that this risky life outside the guinea pig cage was not all bad. When we were reunited weeks later, the surprising part was that he had grown to be much larger than all his siblings and clearly had lived a more abundant life where the grass grew greener.
As I reflect on the risks that Deb and I are taking to leave the relative security of stable employment, a comfortable home where we press a button to control the lighting and temperature, a beautiful leafy suburb with footpaths, a friendly and encouraging church family, it is easy to think we must be crazy! It would indeed be easier at this stage of our life to live peaceful lives and maybe prepare for retirement in 15 or 20 years’ time.
However, Deb and I will be crossing a big cultural divide where we expect to be tested and challenged living in a very different part of the world. I hope that our experience will be similar to the guinea pig that escaped his ‘comfortable’ cage and thrived despite the risks and challenges. I am confident that God is present in the place where we will be and what could be a more abundant life than partnering with Him in His mission activity.

We have continued visiting churches and small groups this month. There are still plenty of dates available for those who haven’t seen or heard from us yet. So drop us a line if you would like to hear what God is up to choosing to use an ordinary couple to do extraordinary things in Cambodia.

Pastor Arthur Tzanakis Millicent Baptist Church, Dorothy Fawcett Missions Representative, Nita Tzanakis Khmer wife of Arthur who prayed in Khmer over the church and Rob Griffith

Small group meets Gumtree Lodge Rest Haven, Bellevue Heights South Australia

Click for Support and Information
Click Here for Support & Information
Thank you to those of you who have already committed to supporting us in prayer and in a financial way. Financially we have now reached 17% of the budget that needs to be raised in full before we can book tickets and head to Cambodia for our first 3 year term. As we complete our cross-cultural studies in early November this year we hope to reach the financial target to leave mid-December.
If you would like to know more about financially supporting us or you are ready to make a pledge please drop us a line or visit the Global Interaction web page. The URL link is: www.globalinteraction.org.au/RobDeb

Deb:
Rob & I recently travelled to Millicent, South Australia to visit the church family there. A favourite past time for us all has been camping we recognise opportunities to camp in Cambodia maybe non-existent. Savouring opportunities to farewell our Aussie bushland we grabbed our swags so we could sleep under the stars. The stellar display occasionally covered with a thin blanket of cloud; the wind would move the cloud cover on to reveal the starry formations that are familiar. We saw the Milky Way and Saturn. This reminded me of trusting God in the many changes as he remains the same. Hebrews 13:8 “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever”.

The call to cross cultural life and work has turned our lives upside down. There are already many changes taking place: personally, as a family, in our home, at work, through friendships. Suddenly things have a narrowed focus, even though there is so much newness and demand for expanding and flexing. The many people supporting us prayerfully, practically, serving us with encouragements and financially have delighted us greatly. Thank you BIGTIME <3.
Prayer Requests
That the Khmer may know living hope in Jesus.

For Catherine Rogers coordinating needs in Cambodia.

For all 6 families support raising to go to Cambodia with Global Interaction.

Praise Points
Opportunities opening to build relationships with churches, prayer groups etc.

Home maintenance and preparations for leaving progressing.

Financial supporters are partnering with us as a further confirmation of God’s call to his mission in Cambodia.

Gifted lunch by son Jeremy; with friend of family Alana de Hoog

Griffith Gleanings February 2016

Romans 8:38-39 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

GRIFFITH GLEANINGS FEBRUARY 2016
Thank you to those Adelaide friends who came along to the Adelaide Global Interaction Inspire event at the end of January. We appreciate your encouragement. We shared with a group of Global Interaction supporters and friends some of the conviction we have to serve as long term cross cultural workers. We also gave an update on

As part of our training we had a week recently in Melbourne to gain insight into the learning approach we will experience to grow in participation with the Khmer language and culture. Above you can see that we are still smiling after a week of learning some Portuguese vocabulary (Portuguese will sadly not help us speak Khmer). Gaining an “insiders” understanding of the Khmer culture is at the heart of the learning approach. We expect that as we are learning the culture and language in Cambodia that we will often feel sorry for the Khmer people who patiently help us, but the progress we made in our training gives us encouragement about our future learning. During the week we were provided with a great host family who role modelled servant hearts to us. It was also a highlight to be with two of the other families also preparing to be part of the team in Siem Reap, Cambodia with Global Interaction.

We have begun visiting churches and small groups for 2016. There are still plenty of dates available for those who haven’t seen or heard from us yet. So drop us a line if you would like to hear what God is up to choosing to use an ordinary couple to do extraordinary things in Cambodia.
Deb:
I have it before the Lord as to when I leave my workplace as I am planning to leave well. I am presently putting likely candidates in touch with my manager for my job role as nurse/midwife with the homeless and refugee communities of Adelaide. Considering around Sept/October; God knows.
There are many things to treasure at this stage, such as valuing the times with our family all together, the one on ones, the richness and diversity of our stages and celebrating each one’s steps in their adult lives, ministry, careers, friendships and openness to trust God in the many unknowns.

Rob:
As someone who was nicknamed “Pumpkin Bob” for a while at school when my classmates heard how much I had spent on pumpkin seeds, I have planted my share of seeds and nurtured the plants that emerged through to harvest. As I tried to find an illustration of what our journey has been like over the past two years, Jesus’ words came to mind in John 12:24 “unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.” The journey to a conviction to serve cross-culturally in Cambodia has been a lot like lying down to let die our worldly ambitions and skills to see something far more fruitful and worthwhile in God’s kingdom emerge. Our lives are like seeds that are only truly fruitful when we give up on our selfish plans and see what emerges when the master nurturer has his way.
Thank you to those of you who have already committed to supporting us in prayer and in a financial way. We will soon start giving an update on the financial progress towards the target we need to reach by December.
Interaction web page: the URL link is www.globalinteraction.org.au/RobDeb

Prayer Requests
As we talk with churches that sustaining relationships will be built for the long term.
That our family will know God’s wisdom in many changes.
For God’s strength sustaining Catherine Rogers daily in Cambodia.
The Windus family will know God’s sufficiency on home assignment.
Praise Points
People are building into us with prayer support that has been so encouraging.
Preparations at home level of sorting and packing.
Celebrating Bek (eldest daughter) being admitted to the Supreme Court of South Australia as a lawyer.
Financial supporters are partnering with us confirming God’s call to his mission in Cambodia.

Griffith Gleanings January 2016

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Isaiah 43:19 See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland.
GRIFFITH GLEANINGS

In January we returned from our first visit to Siem Reap (where our team is based), as well as the nation’s capital Phnom Penh. Through the initiative of Scott Windus a relationship has been established in Siem Reap with Tennis Cambodia. Although we don’t see ourselves having tennis couching skills, below we are pictured sharing with some of the team (Cate Rogers and Som) with the school principal of a 6000 children primary school.

We were well looked after by Global Interaction team member Cate Rogers who introduced us to many places to “eat rice”. We explored some tourist attractions and caught many glimpses into the life of resourceful Khmer people, such as this lady below sewing handbags out of used cement bags.

JANUARY 2015

The People and the Need

We introduced some information about Cambodia in the November edition. Here are some more things we thought you might be interested in. There are more than 15 million Khmer people, 10 million under 25 years old, who mostly live in rural regions with many working as subsistence farmers. While several years of war and genocide left the nation broken and economically stagnant, an emerging and youthful generation is engaging with the modern world and constructing a different future.

Today the Khmer people hold to a culturally Buddhist worldview influenced by animistic and ancestral beliefs. Only 1% of the population profess to follow Jesus and those who do live with a constant tension of following the traditional values and norms of their culture while being influenced by a rising Western culture.

The cross-cultural team we will be a part of live in the North West region of Cambodia among communities struggling with poor health, low literacy rates and high unemployment. We are committed to seeing faith communities emerge and develop. We are focused on building relationships and identifying the needs and opportunities for ministry in this region. Our team is committed to working in partnership with local people to see holistic transformation that only Jesus can bring to a community.
Rob: We enjoyed small opportunities to escape from tourists and see the country side and Khmer people, both in rural areas and cities. While visiting a Khmer church community celebrating Christmas I was looking for confirmation that this location was truly where God was placing us, I was reminded of Matthew 7:9-11 where Jesus explained how God the Father gives good gifts…beyond what human fathers give their children. This reminded me of how much God loves and has blessed me in the past and the goodness of His future plans as well. We grew in a peaceful confirmation of God transplanting us.

We welcome you to partner with us in God’s mission in Cambodia. Your prayers are invaluable. Thank you to those who have already made financial donations, or submitted a pledge of a regular amount. Your support of us and what God is doing amongst the Khmer in Cambodia is a wonderful blessing. For those choosing to make financial contributions, you can contact us or go online to the Global Interaction web page: the URL link is www.globalinteraction.org.au/RobDeb

Deb: We found the privilege of being in Cambodia for a visit helped keep the focus as we engaged with different aspects of Khmer culture. On one occasion during Christmas celebrations after the church service we were welcomed into playing musical chairs with other adult Khmer women and men and required to perform some form of an “Apsara” dance (traditional classical dance) completely foreign to us so we mimicked as best we could to the delight of the Khmer families gathered. This activity with the laughter that ensued had a way of tearing down barriers between us with some level of connection being forged. I was confronted by the lack of vitality due to climatic changes of heat and humidity, and this is only the dry period. The markets were overall my favourite place to absorb culture; although the collective smells, sights and random sections of unrefrigerated meat throughout the market caught me out at times dry-retching. However the delights of the displays of selections in spices, legumes, rice, vegetables, fruit and families working together in close quarters makes this a vibrant place to be. I look forward to returning to live in December this year to listen to the Khmer people discuss their personal beliefs, hopes, fears and dreams. So as we work on language learning and culture; deeper relationships can evolve to share the living hope of Jesus.
Prayer Requests
Connecting with churches, home groups and individuals throughout SA.
Preparation to live in Cambodia by Dec 2016.
Family transitions in the year ahead.

Praise Points The enlightening visit to Cambodia.
Rebekah & friends finding shared home; Nathan finished his apprenticeship; Miriam has interview for work; Jeremy entering 2nd year of working at a Murray River Christian camp site.

http://www.globalinteraction.org.au/be-involved/events/sa-nt/global-inspire-(1)

STOP PRESS…RSVP and please come to the ‘Global Inspire’ event & our commission. When: Saturday 30th of January, 2-4:30pm At Glen Osmond Baptist Church, 1 Fisher Street, Myrtle Bank, Adelaide. RSVP: By 5pm Thursday 28th January 2016 to sa@globalinteraction.org.au