These pictures were taken by Masy Tuy; he is the second person from the right in the group photo.

Children of Choeng Prey Methodist Church singing. December 2011 (Photo courtesy of Tuy Masy, a member of the church.) The children are singing a song called “It’s a Great Thing to Praise the Lord.”

Amelia tells Genesis 1:1-5 with help from a translator at Sunday afternoon worship, Choeng Prey Methodist Church. The congregation are repeating the words and gestures. September 2011 (Photo courtesy of Tuy Masy, a member of the church.)

Half of our biblical storytelling mission team to Cambodia, members of Choeng Prey Methodist Church, and Irene (missionary from Zimbabwe) following worship. September 2011 (Photo courtesy of Tuy Masy, a member of the church.)

Children living in a Methodist orphanage in Phenom Pehn, Cambodia June 2007

GoTell in Cambodia Blog

http://gotellcambodia.wordpress.com/

Cambodia Fact Sheet

Click here to download this pdf.

10-Day Teaching Mission

Be a part of the journey: click here for the trip’s blog

Pray for our Mission Trip to Cambodia

by Rev. Dr. Tom Rand

On January 14, Lavelle Prine, Deacon Michelle Perram and I will be heading south for the winter. We are looking forward to our mission trip to Cambodia, sponsored by the West Ohio Conference of the United Methodist Church and led by two parishioners from the last church I served, Summerside UMC [near Cincinnati, OH].  Below is a general sense of our travel itinerary.

• Wednesday, January 14- depart Columbus, OH
• Thursday, January 15- arrive in Bangkok, Thailand
• Friday, January 16- day of touring and adjusting to the time difference in Bangkok (twelve hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time)
• Saturday, January 17- arrive in Phnom Penh, Cambodia
• Sunday, January 18- likely day to worship with Glory Methodist Church in Kampong Chnnang Province
• Monday-Wednesday, January 19-21- teaching Bible study methods at the Cambodian Methodist Bible School
• Thursday-Friday, January 22-23- visit UM mission sites around Phnom Penh
• Saturday, January 24- boat ride up the Tonle Sap River to Siem Riep, Cambodia
• Sunday, January 25- visit silk farm and ancient temple ruins at Angkor Wat
• Monday, January 26- depart from Siem Riep
• Tuesday, January 27- arrive in Columbus, OH

We ask for your prayers throughout our trip, not only for the safety of our travels, but also for the significance of the encounters that we have, that we may both teach and learn from our sisters and brothers in Christ in Cambodia.

The missional work we will be doing is teaching Bible study methods. While we have many tools available to us in modern America that help us make sense of the Bible, these modern tools are not easily found in Cambodia. We will be using one of the most basic techniques for studying and learning the Bible as the root of our work: storytelling.

Each of our team members will learn all or part of a Bible story to tell from memory. We will be teaching our Cambodian friends these techniques as well because the literacy rate in Cambodia is quite low. We can’t just hand out Bibles and expect people to be able to read them. We have to teach them how to take the scriptures into their hearts and tell them as their own story.  It is our shared story.

I have wondered often how we might be different if we took the Biblical story so seriously that we committed it not only to memory, but brought it into our hearts. Perhaps our encounter with the Cambodian people will help teach us how to live the story as well.

In addition to those of us from Concord, we ask you to pray for our traveling companions as well, Steve and Nancy Layton, Mitch and Lynn Arnold, Ken and Karen Rogers, Debbie Swats and Carol Trenn. And, of course, pray for Pastor Lun Sokhom and Glory Methodist Church, our partner church in Kompong Chnnang Province.

If you are interested in following along with us or even making comments or sending messages to us, you can logon to my blog. There we will be writing reflections and posting pictures from the trip whenever we have access to the Internet.  Please feel free to post comments or prayers for us. We will be able to read them along the way and they will be a blessing to us.