I first met 25 year old Soc Heath at the Rainbow hostel in Cambodia. James, the western name he uses after watching James Bond in the 007 movies, taught himself guitar via YouTube. James plays guitar during the hostels worship times. “Music is a big part of the Khmer culture and we use many original […]
Kim Lita sits in front of Erin and I at the Rainbow Hostel in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. She is a young, bubbly, intelligent lady with, what we were to discover, a disarming and beautiful honesty. To keep the story true to her honesty, I have only made ‘flow’ edits to her conversation about life, a […]
Eight years ago we were challenged to become volunteer program assistants for LCA International Mission. We had no idea what this would mean for us. We had heard of the LCA/NZ’s work partnering with overseas churches, but had not been involved. The timing was perfect, as we considered God’s purpose for us while moving into […]
I sit, legs folded to the side, on the floor of a family home. Voices sing around me in words I don’t understand, but words aren’t needed to recognise songs of praise. Tomorrow is a day of great significance in Krus village, Kampong Chhnang province, Cambodia. This home is the second we’ve been welcomed into […]
Srey Lin is a 17-year old student from the Cambodian village of Phum Krus, a small village in which the Lutheran Church in Cambodian has a base. She has a high school scholarship with the church. When she has time off from school she always comes to the church to help with village preschool classes, […]
Yeay Souch is no ordinary person in the village of Krus. As the 63-year-old wife of the Buddhist high priest she has status among the people of this rural community in the province of Kampong Chhnang, Cambodia. Despite this prominence, Yeay Souch’s life has been a tormented one, as she has battled illness and spirit […]
As churches, when we work together in partnership, we use and develop each other’s God given gifts and great things happen! In 2017, Grow Ministries and LCA International Mission worked together to train 9 young church leaders from the Lutheran Church of Australia, 2 young leaders from the Lutheran Church in Cambodia and 2 from […]
Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ … And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God… we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because […]
Moments. Captured seconds. Some moments in time capture an emotion, a feeling, a celebration of something bigger than the other moments that continually tick through our lives. What’s special about this photo? It captures a moment in a story. It doesn’t just encapsulate the start or the end of a journey, but it embodies the […]
Well what an experience! The MATES 2017 experience in Cambodia has come and gone and left heads spinning, hearts racing and lives expanded around Tatachilla Lutheran College! Mates was an acronym arrived at by the students before ordering their T-shirts for this Service Learning experience. It stands for mission, awareness, transformation, encounter/enlightenment and service. It […]