Sweetpeas in Wisconsin - and Sunday School in Cambodia

I am in Wisconsin for the summer... a working holiday as I enjoy the cool breezes, fresh air, wildflowers, among which are these sweet peas, which grow in the thin rocky soil of my little yard.

What I'm also doing is getting caught up on some of my work.. I'm so grateful for the internet.... just this morning I've already been in touch with Christians in Australia, Cambodia, Myanmar, India, Geneva, and of course, Hong Kong! "God's big back yard" is more connected than ever.

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As part of getting caught up I want to show you the pictures from my most recent trip to Cambodia last month.

I got to visit Kirany, a Lutheran Theological Seminary (Hong Kong) Alumna from Cambodia who is now back in Cambodia, putting her intelligence, training, and loving faithfulness to work with children at a small local church.

 
Kirany works in an NGO during the week, which helps support her and her family (parents, siblings, and beautiful, beautiful little niece) but on the weekends, she's deeply involved with children... who grow in the thin rocky economic conditions of life in the outskirts of Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

The view as Kirany took me on a slightly harrowing motorbike ride from my hotel to church in the LIGHT traffic of Sunday morning.  And yes, there were THREE of us on her small motorbike.

The "garden" where Kirany's "flowers" grow!

Lots of laughter and multi-media punctuate the lessons. Creative Christian Education is one of the emphases of the "practical theology" programs at the Lutheran Theological Seminary (LTS) in Hong Kong

Teaching English through Bible songs is an "added value" for children who need English to access the wider world.

See how God's garden grows... in Cambodia!

For as the soil makes the sprout come up
    and a garden causes seeds to grow,
so the Sovereign Lord will make righteousness     and praise spring up before all nations.

 -- the prophet Isaiah 61:11