Culture Changes Everything

Culture changes everything. I have numerous embarrassing, comical, and even tragic stories from my previous visits to Cambodia that can support this fact. Every year is a cultural learning experience and this year has been no different.

Visiting the garbage dump was one of the most sobering experiences of the trip. Hundreds of people live amongst the mounds of garbage. They spend their days wandering through the waste in search of plastic or anything valuable that can be exchanged for money.

The thought running through my head that day and for the rest of the trip has been, “No one deserves to live like this.”

Learning what these people think about their living conditions has moved me to tears. In a culture that accepts a religion that believes in reincarnation, the Cambodian people believe that the life they were born into is a direct result of a previous life. Each time I see a beggar with a missing limb, a child with a swollen belly, and a family that has made its home on a lake or on a mound of garbage, my heart is broken. It is impossible for me to understand that these people dare not to hope of a better future.

I have found little comfort for I know that no matter how much I wish to change the life of each of these people, it is impossible for one 18 year old girl to reach out to every person in this impoverished country. In my devotions this morning, I was reminded of a verse that I have read many times. In light of the things that I have seen the past few weeks, Jeremiah 29:11 has a new meaning to me. “’For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’”

Imagine what this verse would say to people that believe they deserve to live in a garbage dump. Imagine what it would be like for these people to learn that God, the creator of the heavens and the earth, has a plan for their lives – a plan that includes prosperity, a hope and a future.

My comfort is in knowing that God changes everything.

Melissa Minay traveled in June 2008 to Cambodia with People for Care and Learning. People for Care and Learning (PCL) is a Non-Profit Humanitarian Foundation, chartered in 2001, to provide "Care and Learning" opportunities around the world to give the poor a "working chance.

Change the Youth, Change the Nation

In January-July of 2007, I worked with missionaries in South Africa. The missions work was a little bit of everything--children's ministry, youth ministry, school assemblies, women's meetings, door-to-door evangelism, compassion ministry to HIV/AIDS victims, and much more.

While there, God confirmed the call on my life into full-time missions work. The youth of South Africa need the hope of Jesus Christ.

If we can change the youth of a nation, we change the nation.

~ Sarah Careins

Sarah Careins is a newly-appointed missionary with the Assemblies of God. She hopes to return to South Africa in April of 2009. She will be serving the youth of South Africa, training disciples and leaders in youth ministry.

Relief in Myanmar

Cyclone Nargis recently wrecked havoc in Myanmar. The estimated death total has reached up to 134,000 people.

In addition to the staggering number of deaths, confusion about allowing aid workers and supplies into the country delayed needed medicine, food and drinking water. The Church of God has 22 churches, four missions, over 2,200 members and an orphanage in the areas affected by the storm. Some churches and members’ homes have been damaged or destroyed. The orphanage has also been damaged, and the need for food, water, and others supplies is great.

World Missions Field Director for Asia/Pacific W. Harold McLeod and Special Projects Coordinator Richard Baker were able to travel to Myanmar. With the help of a Muslim businessman who translated for them, Baker and McLeod were able to get food to three refugee camps.




“When we arrived the refugees had no food,” said Baker. “We were able to bring them rice, pasta, salt, and beans.” While handing out food to the refugees, some food fell to the ground. The people were so desperate for food they fought to eat it off the ground. Baker further states: “God was definitely in this. He put people in our paths to help get the food where it needed to go. Only God could have Christians, Buddhists, and Muslims working side by side in an effort to bring relief to a hurting nation.”




If you would like contribute funds to help with relief supplies, please contact our office (1-800-535-9343) and designate your donations to:

Project # 765-0039 - Myanmar Disaster Relief.

Sharing Bread

The bread ministry team at Lee University woke up early every Saturday morning to hand out various items--mainly bread, bagels, and treats. Our goal was to reach people through our actions. This did not usually entail an intense Bible study or prayer, but rather a smiling face and helping hand. Yet, for weeks, there were no real opportunities to witness, and we were becoming discouraged.

On one particularly cold and damp winter morning, we prepared for our routine of handing out bread in low-income areas and shelters. This morning, however, we met some people waiting outside of an abandoned building. Within moments, we divided into prayer groups. People began showing us the magnitude of their need. Together we wept at the sight of an elderly man severely underweight, crippled and abandoned. That day turned into weeks. From a humble bread ministry of 3 people, God began building lasting bonds and souls for His Kingdom.

It still astonishes me the way God works through our weaknesses. Even here in Cleveland, where hundreds of churches exist, He reaches out to the poor and weak of heart. He provides His redemption and allows us ambassadors to delight in Him. What a privilege it is to those blessed and burdened by His call!

- Melody Bonilla

Melody (far right) graduated in May 2008 from Lee University. She was an Intercultural Studies major.

Making Disciples Instead of Converts

“Then Jesus came to them and said, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.’” (Matthew 28:18-20, NIV)



I wake up for yet another day of my 10-week intercultural studies internship in Cambodia, fully aware of the tropical heat, dusty streets, and eventful day that await me. After eating some breakfast and running around, as usual, trying to get ready in time to leave, my two internship teammates and I leave our apartment and head out for the orphanage a few minutes outside of Siem Reap town. Today will not be a typical day, for my two teammates and I will be helping a short-term missions team from the U.S. conduct a one-day Vacation Bible School at the orphanage for the orphans and the children from the surrounding community. We arrive at the orphanage and, upon the short-term team’s arrival, strategize and commence the day’s activities. My job is to pass out coloring books and crayons to each of the rotating groups of children that come into my small classroom. Simple enough.



Today becomes a significant point of reflection for me, but not so much due to my repetitive yet fast-paced rotating coloring regimen. Instead, I find the day to be particularly significant when I meet a young Cambodian boy with a clear dedication to conscientious coloring. Unlike many of the children who, like many American children, fail to remain or to even strive to remain inside the lines, this young boy has obvious concern for the quality of his work. When it is time for the boys’ group to finish coloring and meet the other children in the mess hall to eat lunch and conclude Vacation Bible School, the boy asks me, nonverbally of course, if he can keep his box of crayons. This presents a dilemma, for while the children are supposed to keep their coloring books, I have no permission to give them the crayons. I struggle to communicate to the little boy that I will ask someone and give him the crayons if I can.

Now I have something really substantial to do today, for the coloring books the children have been coloring tell the story of Jesus, and, if the little boy I’ve met takes a box of crayons home, I really believe he will take the time to color his coloring book and learn of Jesus every page along the way. I ask around about giving the boy the crayons and, eventually, find the little boy again and discreetly hand him his gift of colored wax. I’ve done my deed.

But have I? There’s no doubt in my mind that I’ve done the right thing, no doubt that it is good for the little boy to have those crayons and to color his story-of-Jesus coloring book. There is doubt about how much I’ve really done, however, and about how the story will progress or end. By the end of my internship, after one of my teammates and I have given a Khmer-English Bible to two of our Buddhist friends, this question is not just something that I’m forced to think about in terms of one pack of crayons, one little boy, and one story-of-Jesus coloring book. This question is something I’m forced to think about in terms of missions in general.

So many times those of us with a heart for missions pride ourselves on how many “converts” we can claim. Perhaps we even pride ourselves on how many “seeds” we’ve planted, never really being concerned with how those seeds are watered or what fruit those seeds bear. Aside from the fact that missions should be about working for a greater realization of the kingdom of God and not just about saving souls, when we’re specifically talking about confessing Christ as Lord and Savior, we need to understand that Jesus’ desire is not converts but disciples (Matthew 28:19). And here we find the down-and-dirty work of the many long-term missionaries on the field. My giving crayons to the little boy who wanted to keep coloring his story-of-Jesus coloring book was undoubtedly a worthy action, not unlike giving a Bible to a Buddhist friend.

Yet, as someone in Cambodia for only a short time, I must acknowledge the limitations of my actions and highly value the ongoing efforts of the long-term missionaries who work day and night not only sowing but also watering and reaping the harvest. Only as we come to understand the significance of making disciples instead of converts can those of us involved in short-term internships or missions trips understand our true place of supporting the work of the missionaries in it for the long haul.

May the hard work be done in this world, Lord, and may You use us in whatever way You see fit to accomplish Your purpose. Amen.

~ Breanna Dillon

Breanna is a senior intercultural studies major at Lee University. She traveled to Cambodia for her required 10-week internship during the summer of 2007.

A Handful of Hope

Just a few nights ago, Dad and I met with Leinie and Norvie (two incredible missionaries) and a handful of Thai Christians to talk about planting a youth church here in Chang Rai. If you are a Christian in Thailand, you are most probably ostracized by your family and your culture as a whole. It’s not because Thais don’t like Christians. In fact, one young man, Job, has been very interested in Christianity since he met Norvie and Leinie. We asked him why and he explained, “Christianity is a religion of love.” He told us that no other religion even comes close to expressing the love that he has found in Christians.



Unfortunately, to be Thai is to be buddhist, which makes it very hard for a Thai to choose to accept Christ as the only way. In doing so, Thais believe they are turning their backs on their family and their nation. When that happens, they are often cast off. Those who are cast off either choose to revert to Buddhism to be accepted or they tough it out, resilient, but undiscipled.

Mae Fah Luang University is right around the corner from where Jacki and I will live here and is home to some 50 Christians like those we’ve been talking about. Many of them are just worn down from a culture that views them as dissidents and punishes them with silence. We want to create a haven for these Christians, a place of open arms and the healing love of Jesus. As we bond together we will begin discipling them further. In discipling them we will be not only strengthening their faith, but teaching them how to engage their culture and to bring their lost and hurting friends into the community. In the next few months Leinie, Norvie, and my family will be building a foundation in their lives. Please pray for them and for this brave handful that will mature and be tossed like seed into their school and their culture. Their names are: Job, Sadudee, Mai, Fang, Ying, Meow, and MangPat.

I love Thai names :o)

~ Andrew Quinley

Andrew and his soon-to-be-bride Jacki are a young missionary couple in southeast Asia. Check out Andrew's blog for more information on their lives and adventures, including pictures and videos. If you have facebook, you can add an application developed by Andrew called the Q-nection.

No fisherman should work or eat alone

I woke up this morning to a typical beautiful, sunny day. As I was drinking African tea in my tiny mud house on the Island of Lake Victoria, I watched people go about their business. All these people have arrived to the island from different ends of Uganda and neighboring countries.

They are fishermen and work very much as a community. They are a village and together they build it. They have a common saying: “No fisherman works alone and no fisherman eats alone.

Last night a storm washed back into the lake most of the “mukene” or silver fish they had laid out to dry on the hills earlier that day. This morning women and children were selecting thousands of tiny fish to bring back up to the hill and discarding the fish that had gotten spoiled. This reminds me of the vast task we have: to go out and work together, as fishermen do, from dusk to dawn; in the tempestuous nights, as well as in the quiet and calm; in the dangerous waters, and in the peaceful lakes; mending the nets together, throwing them together and as one team, pulling them in to shore, together.



I see the call of Mark 1:17 repeat itself daily in the African waters: “Follow me and I will make you fishers of men.” If the contemporary church had the same approach toward laboring for God as the fishermen of Lake Victoria, working together as one, we would have committed church members seeking to pull together in the same direction: the Kingdom of God.

Ironically, the very fishermen who remind me of the Great Commission are the same people to whom we need to throw out the net of the gospel, bringing them to Christ. Many of them are lost in their ancestral ways and urgently need God, even if they do not admit it. Let us mend our nets, throw them out together, pull them together, and in due time, we shall all sit at the table together. No fisherman should work or eat alone.

~Ruth Palomo

Ruth was born and raised in Mexico, where she first heard the gospel from a missionary couple. After graduating from the Hispanic Institute of Ministry, she moved to Uganda to share the love of Christ with the people living there.