Greetings from Cambodia,

The following story comes from a local newspaper:

Supernatural sightings are being blamed by some for a rash of high school girls falling faint and writhing uncontrollably at two schools in Kratie province, local officials said. Dr. Cheam Sa Em, provincial director of the Kratie health department, said nine students from Prek Prasap district’s Chambok High School became faint and writhed on the ground while 10 other female students displayed the same symptoms in Kratie City in incidents that occurred on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. Though the principal at one of the schools affected believes the convulsions were brought on by the appearance of a ghost, Dr. Sa Em offered a less spooky explanation for the girls’ strange behavior: bad diets. “The affected students were the same. They are on diets to be slim and only eating two times a day. They are lacking glucose,” he said. Dr. Sa Em said that the military police and doctors are investigating the incidents, closely monitoring what the girls are eating and drinking and have ordered the schools’ grounds to be cleaned thoroughly. He added that drugs or poison could also be a possible explanation for the students’ symptoms. However, Vin Sokheng, principal of Kratie City’s Preah Mohaksatany Kossamak High School, said that he believed the reason for his students falling ill was supernatural. “When they entered the classroom, they were scared, shouting and then some of them became faint and were writhing on the ground,” Mr Sokheng said of the possession-like symptoms of the teenaged girls studying in 10th through 12th grades. Teachers at the high school and parents of the students were not taking any chances either and invited local Buddhist monks and pagoda laymen to hold a prayer ceremony at the school on Thursday. However, two students showed the same symptoms on Friday and the religious figures were invited back to continue their efforts to bring to continue their efforts to bring an end to the problem. – Chansy, Chhorn. “Girls’ Convulsion Enigma: Ghosts or Crash Diets?” The Cambodian Daily

I would say that the above article provides a fairly fitting description of the spiritual mindset in Cambodia. Obviously, it is much different than what most of us are used to in the States. The Cambodian Daily is daily mainstream newspaper that is mostly written in English. I think that before I came here the only time I saw a headline like the one above was probably on the cover of a National Enquirer in a supermarket checkout line. Most Cambodians believe in a very rich supernatural realm. The religion here is usually described as a type of Folk Buddhism that is Buddhism mixed with a belief in guardian spirits, ancestral spirits, ghosts, and Brahman deities.

Back towards the end of October, I was walking around the Buddhist temple that is close to my house. A monk greeted me in English and invited me to sit at a table with him and talk. I spent about an hour with him. I did not really think that I would see him again when I left that day. But after about 5 months, I have been able to see him 2 or 3 times per month. He is in his early twenties and studying English literature. It has provided a good opportunity for me to practice speaking Khmer and to learn some about Buddhism, and he enjoys practicing his English. His main duty as a monk is to pray for people that come to the temple with health or other problems. Many of the prayers that are recited are in the Pali language, so the average person often does not understand the content of the prayer.

Language learning continues to plod along. I am getting more comfortable using what I know in talking with Khmer people. It is always a bit of an adventure talking to people when your vocabulary is so limited. It is a random of assortment of questions that I know how to ask now ranging from: “What is your favorite color?” to “Does your family have ducks?” so many of my conversations are not very cohesive. Please pray that my ability to speak Khmer progresses, and that I would find my strength and comfort in Christ as I continue to adjust and learn to function in this culture.

In Christ,
Luke

Greetings from Cambodia,

Well, here in Cambodia we are in the midst of the cold season. That is if you can consider a low of 72 degrees at night to be cold. Nonetheless, I am really enjoying this weather compared to the weather when I first arrived. But I hear the hottest weather will come in April. While the weather here hasn’t reminded me that Christmas is only a few days away, the “consumerism” spirit of the season seems to be alive and well here in malls and other businesses. Hopefully, someday soon more people here will hear about and embrace a distinctive Christian understanding of Christmas as the incarnation of our Redeemer. Learning the Khmer language is progressing, but learning a new language is much more like a long distance race than a sprint.  I am not for sure that I am all that fast at running this race, but it seems like if one runs long enough that fluency will eventually come. For most of you, I am sure that some days your jobs are enjoyable and other days they seem somewhat monotonous and at times boring. I feel the someway with language learning.

As you will see from a couple of the pictures, I recently had the chance to see firsthand what rice harvest in the countryside is like. The couple that lives next door invited me to come along for the day to her family’s village. Although I have seen some modern machinery being used, most of the field work in Cambodia is still done by hand and with animals. The family in the village is representative of about 80% of Cambodia’s population who are subsistence rice farmers. While I grew up on a farm and spent several years studying agriculture in college, practices here are much different. The field that the family spent most of the day harvesting would have taken about 5 minutes to harvest with a combine. The process of hand harvesting involves several steps. First, the seed head and upper part of the stalk are cut off with a hand sickle and tied together in small bundles. The bundles are left to dry on top of the stubble for several days and then hauled to the threshing floor. Threshing is often done by beating the bundles against pieces of slatted wood. The final step before bagging is cleaning the grain. This can be done by winnowing which involves tossing the seeds in the air and allowing the wind to blow away the lighter chaff and weed seeds. But often machines are used for this last step. I was reminded of the many Bible stories about harvesting as I worked. I thought about Gideon who was threshing wheat in a winepress to hide from the Midianites. But ironically the Lord calls him a mighty man of valor and tells him that he will be with him as he delivers Israel. And such are you and I – ones that are weak and timid, but are used by God because his grace in Christ is sufficient in our weakness.

Thanks for your prayers and encouragement over the past few weeks. I am feeling much more settled in than when I last wrote. I pray that you know the love of our God to us, his undeserving children, as you celebrate the incarnation of our Savior during the Christmas Season.

In Christ,

Luke

Friends,

I don’t think that it has fully sunk in for me, but I am leaving for Cambodia on Tuesday morning. I remember just a few months ago having lunch with a  friend after church and telling him that I was at a loss for what to do next in the support raising process. Yet, even in all my doubts, God was faithful to answer our prayers and bring in the needed support. It is easy now to look back on this initial support raising process and think that it was much easier than it was. There were many joys along the way from seeing ways God provided and from many encouraging friends, but some days were filled with disappointment and frustration. You have prayed with me during this time, and now you can offer thanksgiving to God with me for answering our prayers and his faithfulness during this time. I’ll write more in a few days to give more details about moving to Cambodia.

Thanks,

Luke

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Friends,

I want to invite those of you in the DFW area to my ordination/commissioning service. It will be on Sunday, September, 20th. It will be part of the regular service at my church, New St.

Peter’s Presbyterian Church. It will start at 9:30 am. We meet in the main theater of the Dallas Children’s Theater.

Here is the address:

5938 Skillman Road

Dallas, Texas 75231

If you don’t regularly attend New St. Peter’s, let me know if you plan on attending.

Thanks,

Luke

Dear friends,

I passed all my ordination tests this weekend at presbytery. With this now complete, I’ll start preparations to move and focus more time on support raising. There is about 15% more needed in monthly pledges before I can leave. Depending on how the next couple weeks unfold, I am tentatively planning on leaving for Cambodia the first week of October. Also, this upcoming weekend, September 4^th – 6^th, I’ll be preaching and speaking at New Life Mission Church of Northern California (PCA) in San Jose.

Sermon: On August 8^th, I preached at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Godfrey, IL. Here is a link to the sermon: John 15 sermon

Prayer: You can join me in thanking God for his faithfulness during a hectic summer of travel, training, study, and testing. Also, the weeks ahead will be filled with many transitions and goodbyes.

Thanks,

Luke

P.S. In case you are curious what the ordination process looks like that I just completed, below is the description given in the Book of Church Order.

Trials for ordination shall consist of:

a. A careful examination as to:

1. his acquaintance with experiential religion, especially his

personal character and family management (based on the

qualifications set out in 1 Timothy 3:1-7, and Titus 1:6-9),

2. his knowledge of the Greek and Hebrew languages,

3. Bible content,

4. theology,

5. the Sacraments,

6. Church history,

7. the history of the Presbyterian Church in America, and

8. the principles and rules of the government and discipline of

the church.

A Presbytery may accept a seminary degree which includes

study in the original languages in lieu of an oral examination in

the original languages.

b. He shall prepare a thesis on some theological topic assigned by

Presbytery.

c. The candidate shall prepare an exegesis on an assigned portion of

Scripture, requiring the use of the original language or languages.

d. He shall further be required to preach a sermon before the

Presbytery or committee thereof, upon three-fourths (3/4) vote.

Dear friends,

I was in New York City for the month of July at pre-field training. There were 16 missionaries going through the training in preparation to go to Cambodia, Mexico, Japan, East Asia, Ethiopia, Bulgaria, and England. Our time was split between the classroom and field ministry. Our classroom time focused around language acquisition skills, cross-cultural adjustment, evangelism, contextualization, and church planting. For our field ministry, the group I was in partnered with Uptown Community Church, which is a granddaughter church plant of Redeemer NYC. With the help of a few members from the church, our team ran a ten day kids’ club in a local park to help connect families in the community with the church. Another part of pre-field training was to help establish realistic expectations before going to the missions field.

Currently, I am in Illinois spending a few days with my family before going back to Dallas. On Sunday, I spoke during Sunday school to the congregation at my parents’ church. It will likely be the last time that I am in the area and see my family before leaving.

Upcoming schedule:
*August 9th – Preaching and speaking at Westminster Presbyterian Church (PCA) in Godfrey, IL.
*August 28th – Being examined for ordination by the Theological Examining Committee of the North Texas Presbytery.
*August 29th – Preach and be examined before the presbytery.
*September 4th- 6th – Preaching and speaking at New Life Mission Church of Northern California (PCA) in San Jose.

Thanks for your prayers and support.

-Luke

Travel: From June 7^th to the 12^th, I was at Living in Grace in North Carolina. It is a grace-based discipleship course for all Mission to the World (MTW) missionaries preparing for the field to help us in understanding and applying the gospel of grace to our own lives and ministries. Among many other sins and struggles, team conflict is one of the main reason why missionaries leave the mission field. But this is only an external outworking of not living in God’s grace. If I am I one that knows and lives in the Father’s love for me through Christ then I will be one that can repent and forgive. So pray God’s grace would work in my life for that is my only hope for putting away sin.

It was also great to catch up with several friends that I have met along the way at other MTW training events. It was nice to be around others that could relate with the joys and frustrations of the itineration process. It is encouraging to see Christ’s church sending out missionaries throughout the world.

Then from June 12^th to the 14^th I was at New Life Mission Church Fullerton (Presbyterian Church in America) in California. This is a Korean American church and part of New Life Mission Association which is made up of several Korean American PCA churches that are focused on church planting in Cambodia. They welcomed me with open arms, and I enjoyed meeting with several of their pastors and elders.

Support: My monthly pledged support is now at about 80% of what is needed. For the next couple weeks my time will be spent on studying for ordination and support raising. Then, for the month of July, I will be in New York City for pre-field training.

Thanks for your prayers and support.

-Luke

This is my first update that I am sending to everyone. Since the time is getting closer for my departure to Cambodia, and I have a busy summer ahead, I’ll plan on sending out updates once or twice a month. For the next two weeks, I’ll be focusing on support raising and studying for ordination. Currently, I have 68% of my monthly ongoing support pledged, and 100% of my one-time support has been raised. Here are the places that I’ll be traveling this summer:

–June 7-12 – I will be at Ridge Haven, North Carolina for Living in Grace. It is a “grace-based discipleship course that guides attendees in understanding and applying the gospel of grace to their own lives and ministries.”

–June 12-14 – I will be at New Life Mission Church (Presbyterian Church in America) in Fullerton, CA. I will be speaking in their services about the mission work, and I will be meeting with their session (elders) and missions committee.

–July 1-31 – I will be at pre-field training in New York City. The time will be spent in the field and classroom studying language acquisition techniques, church planting and evangelism, and team building skills.

–July 31- August 3 – I am tentatively planning on being in Illinois and seeing my family and possibly speaking at their church.

Reflections on graduating from seminary

On May 9th, I graduated from Dallas Theological Seminary. Four years and 120 hours later, the degree is finally complete. It is nice to be done, but in many ways it doesn’t mean much. A seminary is one of the few places that when you complete your degree you really have nothing. Sure, I learned many things that will help me in the gospel ministry. But according to Paul in 2 Corinthians 2-3, no one is sufficient for the work of the gospel. No degree, no award, no refined speaking or writing skills, or other human ability gives us the qualifications necessary for the work of the gospel. Paul’s answer is that the sufficiency for the task of ministry and for that matter all of the Christian life only comes from God’s grace. And so may our boasting be only in the cross of Christ for that is all we have and that is fine for that is all we need.

Newspaper article

The Alton Telegraph interviewed me for a story that ran in last Sunday’s paper. Alton is located north of St. Louis on the Illinois side of the river. Here is a link to the article: Newspaper article

Thanks for your prayers and support. Feel free to send me a note to tell me how you are doing.

-Luke

Please note: my new email address is Luke.Bryant.Smith@gmail.com