Giving a Gift of Joy
When someone wrongs you how do you respond? With anger, retreat, revenge or self-blame?
Not so long ago, Channy, a hardworking Cambodian shop owner was robbed in her store by a teenage boy. Her initial thought was to contact the police, have the boy arrested and force him to hand her money back. However, as she studied the video footage of the robbery she recognised the 10 year old boy as someone she had seen living on the streets with a gang. Channy was overcome with a deep sense of compassion. This wave of compassion was not motivated by her usual desire to make merit in order to bring good karma, as was her Buddhist tradition. It was different; a profound heartfelt concern for the young thief and an unfamiliar desire to help him.
She went out and found him, gave him some food and convinced a local welfare organisation to accept him into their housing and life-skills program. And she began on a quest of faith to find out where this urge had come from. A friend of Channy introduced her to Janelle, one of Global Interaction’s cross-cultural workers. Janelle sensed that Channy’s response to the homeless boy was prompted by Jesus even though Channy did not personally know Him. Over the coming months Channy and Janelle caught up regularly with Channy asking more and more questions about Jesus.
She excitedly read and watched anything she could find about Jesus and she started reading the Bible. Channy prayed with Janelle that God would show her that He was real. Of course Janelle was only available to be present with Channy because of her partnership with a team of people back in Australia. A team of people just like you who faithfully pray and give.
Churches, individuals and the Global Interaction Team have joined together to ensure that people like Channy have the opportunity to come to know Jesus. Your generosity is bringing hope and transformation among nine least-reached communities of the world. God answered Channy and Janelle’s prayer. Jesus met Channy through His Spirit in a real and powerful way. She shares about Jesus with everyone she knows and her friends say that she literally glows with joy. Her transformation is impacting others and now they too are asking about Jesus. Janelle writes, “It’s a truly beautiful thing to see, and I feel so honoured to have had the opportunity to play some part in God’s plan for her community.”
Right now there are four Australian families preparing to join Janelle and Global Interaction’s team in Cambodia. God is certainly moving people’s hearts!
Your gift will make an immediate impact enabling these new families to join the teams as soon as possible. They will finalise their preparations, pack and move, learn culture and language and build friendships to ensure that as God moves in communities they can help the Channys of this world meet Jesus for themselves. In time these Khmer communities will be transformed spiritually, socially and
economically as they develop their own distinctive ways of following Jesus.
http://www.globalinteraction.org.au/who-we-are/people-groups/khmer/rob-and-deb
As you can appreciate, it is essential that Global Interaction properly trains and equip new workers and as quickly as possible send them to where they can begin sharing the joy of Jesus. Every financial contribution makes a difference. For example, some of the typical costs to get a family out to Cambodia include:
$55 for a Typhoid vaccination to ensure the team members can stay healthy while eating and drinking with local people
$125 for a passport for each child to allow them to travel
$300 for a new cross-cultural worker to participate in a course that prepares them to share the Good News in a cross-cultural setting
$600 for the cost of an adult’s airfare from Sydney to Siem Reap
$1,500 for visas and work permits for a family for a year to enable them to live and work in Cambodia
$5,500 to learn language and study culture for a year so that they can communicate at a heart level with people like Channy.
God is certainly working in people’s lives and we have been called to join Him in His work. Your partnership is helping to see His Kingdom come. On earth. Right now.
We are grateful for your generosity of spirit and simply ask you to pray; and respond as God lays on your heart.
May you know His grace and peace as we approach the Christmas season.
https://support.globalinteraction.org.au/Cambodia-RobandDeb