Greetings from Cambodia! ２００９年もあとわずかとなりました。今回は皆さんの日ごろのお祈り、ご支援に対し感謝の気持ちを込めて今年最後のニュースレターをお送りさせて頂きます。
振り返って
この一年を振り返ると、本当にたくさんの感謝すべき出来事にあらためて驚かされます。どのように祈ればよいのかもわからないようなことまで、神様は私たちのすべての必要を満たして下さりました。ご存知の通り新しい家が与えられ、この家にはすべての女子と二人のハウス・マザーが住んでいます。現在、限られたスペースをより効率的に使い、現在の倍の数の子供を受け入れられるようにしようとしているところです。
さらには夏から秋にかけて、数人のボランティアの訪問を受けました。彼らの奉仕、そして交わりを通して私たちはもちろん子供たちも大いに学び、励まされ、恵みを受けました。
２００９年の初めから、ゲートウェイを去って行く者があれば、新たにファミリーに加わる者もあり、それを繰り返しながらも、確実に成長を続けてきました。
現在の状況
ハウスマザー：現在１９人の子供に３人のハウスマザー（内２人は研修期間中）、目の不自由な未亡人１人、そして妻クリスティーナと私の総勢２５人がゲートウェイで共に生活しています。さらには約１２人の子供たちが受け入れを待っている状態です。この夏より、突然子供の数が増え始めたことを受けて、既にハウスマザーとして働いてくれているスライ・ルアッに加え新たに二人のハウスマザー候補を受け入れました。ただこれが自動的に長期の契約に結びつくわけではありません。この仕事はその響きほど簡単なものではありません。一日２４時間、一週間のうちほぼ７日間（月に二日休暇を取れます）子供のケアをすることを意味します。カンボジアに限らず、子供は愛の中にあって育てられるべきです。 ハウスマザーは与えられた仕事をこなすだけではなく、子供たちが本来受けるべきその愛をもってケアをすることを要求されます。そういった意味では、この二人の候補が３ヶ月の研修期間を終えた後もゲートウェイに残るという保障はありません。この仕事を単なる生活収入を得るための手段の一つとしてしか見れないようなスタッフなら、これまでどおり私たち自身の手で子供たちの世話をすることを選びます。この件に関して、きちんと見極め、正しい判断を下せるようお祈り下さい。
健康面：咳を伴った風邪はいまだにゲートウェイを苦しめており、より深刻な病気を引き起こすケースが相次いでいます。肺炎やPharyngitis, Rhinitis, Sinusitis, Tonsillitisといったこれまであまり聞いたこともないような病名から中耳炎やマラリア、腸チフスといったメジャーなものまで幅広くカバーしています。一冊の本が書けてしまいそうです。うち３人は数週間前に扁桃腺を除去する手術を受けました。彼らの素早い回復に感謝しています。
実り
ゲートウェイの子供１９人中１６人は現在小学校・中学校へ通っています。その内の数人は読み書きや計算、また学ぼうという意欲全般に問題を抱えていますが、多くは学校できちんと学べることを大いに喜んでいます。１年生としてスタートしたドラーは優秀なため、新学年が始まってわずか一ヶ月で２年生へと進級させられました。またクラスで順位が１番、２番の子供たちも多くいます。
その一方で、彼らの多くは手のつけられない野生のサルのように私たちの目に映ることがしばしばです。しかしつい最近、ゲートウェイの子供たちとそうでない子供たちを見比べる機会に恵まれ、そのあまりの違いに驚かされました。他の子供と並んで比べると、ゲートウェイの子供たちはサルどころか天使のように見えました！日ごろの小さな教え一つ一つ、しつけの一つ一つがすでに実を結び始めています。これらの実りは、まだ比較するべき他の子供がいなければ気付かないかもしれないような小さなものではあります。しかし、これは単なる一日二日の話ではなく、主イエスキリストと共にある永遠の命へと導かれる人一人の命・人生です。
子供によっては何ヶ月、何年もの継続的な教えとしつけが必要です。ゲートウェイの子供たちにこういった建設的な変化が芽生え始めていることに感謝しています。
クリスマス
現在クリスマスのメッセージをより深く理解してもらうべく、準備を進めています。クリスマスのプログラムについては聞いて知っているだけという子供が多く、今年は劇を含めてもう少し内容の濃いプログラムにしようと考えてます。クリスティーナは主イエスキリスト誕生のストーリーをクメール語に訳し、子供たちと共に劇の練習をしているところです。プログラム自体はゲートウェイファミリーだけの小さなものです。１２月２７日に予定しています。
感謝
最後に、日ごろから私たちと共に歩んで下さる皆さんがあって初めて、今日のゲートウェイがあることをあらためて心より感謝いたします。
お祈り下さい
1- 主が引き続き子供たちの霊的成長を豊かに祝福してくださりますように。
2- 現在健康上の問題を抱える子供たちが速やかに癒されますように。
3- 新たに受け入れたハウスマザー候補が聖書に基づいたゲートウェイ独特の子供へのケアを身につけ、３ヶ月後には正式に受け入れるまでに育ってくれますように。
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Gateway News December 2009 (English)
Dear Brothers and sisters, friends and family,
Greetings from Cambodia! As we approach the end of 2009, we wanted to write you to express our thankfulness for your faithful prayers and support.
Reflections:
When we think about all that has happened in this last year, we have much to be thankful for. God has provided for us in ways that we didn’t even know to ask for. He is so good to care of all matters in our lives here. As you know He blessed us with the ability to build an addition which currently houses all our girls and two housemothers. We are currently working towards making more use of the space available that will enable us to more than double the current capacity.
We have had several volunteers come to join with us and not only to help, but to teach us and our children, to encourage and fellowship and to pray with us in this life here at Gateway.
Since the beginning of the year, we have had our share of comings and goings among staff and also among the children here at Gateway. All in all, we have had 3 staff and 9 children come and go. On the other hand, we have continued to increase in number. In January we had 11 children (8 girls and 3 boys). Now we have a total of 19 children (14 girls and 5 boys).
With this increase, we knew that we needed to start reorganizing our means of caring for the children. This led us to start teaching our cook to become a housemother who is now in charge of 10 of our girls. Srey Ruah has proved to be a quick learner with many resources. It is a blessing to have such a self-motivated and caring woman to look after our girls.
All but 3 of our kids are currently in school and they are doing well, with the exception of some struggles here and there in reading and arithmetic. We are quite proud of their efforts and their desire to improve their knowledge (some of the girls in grade 4 who are weak in their reading abilities have asked for additional tutoring). God has blessed one of our boys with the ability to advance from grade 1 to grade 2 within the first month of school and several children are ranked number 1 or 2 in their class.
Life as it is:
Aside from the 19 children currently living at Gateway, we have met with roughly 12 other children who are still waiting to be accepted. Due to the sudden increase since this summer, we have recently hired two more housemothers in addition to Srey Ruah, our first housemother. They have just started their three month provisional period for training. To be a housemother is not as simple as it may sound. This position requires them to be at service 24/7.
Furthermore, it’s not about getting given tasks done, but more about caring for our children in the love they rightly deserve. In this sense, there is no guarantee at this moment that those two ladies will still be with us after three months of training. We would rather take care of the children by ourselves just as we have been doing than have someone who only takes this position just as a source of income. Please join us in prayer that God will help us have discernment in this matter.
Bearing Fruits:
Very often our children look like nothing but wild monkeys to our eyes! But lately we have had opportunities to compare Gateway children with others from outside, and the difference is remarkable, making our children seem more like angels than monkeys; and so we now know that the small teachings and small disciplines we place on our children daily have actually begun to bear fruits already. Those fruits may still be tiny in a sense that we need outsiders to compare in order to realize. Yet, this is about life, which we hope will be led to eternal life in Christ Jesus. We have to understand that some children may need months or years of steady teaching and discipline. We are so thankful for such positive changes growing in the lives of our children. Some of them have even started sharing with their friends at school what they learn from our daily teaching sessions from the Bible. These precious lives have already begun to be used as His beautiful instruments!
Currently at Gateway:
Health: The long-lasting cold still persists and in several cases has morphed into more serious illnesses including Pneumonia, Pharyngitis, Rhinitis, Sinusitis, Tonsillitis and ear infections. We could write a medical journal, I think. Three of our girls have recently had Tonsillectomies and we thank and praise God for their speedy recovery.
Christmas: We are currently readying our children for the message of Christmas. They have heard all about it before, but we are taking it a step further with actually having a program this year. Christina found a play to translate and is currently working with the children to practice in preparation for our Christmas celebration, which will be held on 27th of December.
Expressing Gratitude:
Again, we want to express our deep appreciation and gratitude to all of you: for bridging the gap and standing with us, for without you Gateway Cambodia would not exist!
Prayer Requests:
1- That God will continue to bless our children in their spiritual journeys
2- That God would bring healing to Gateway
3- That our new housemothers will be positive and long-term additions to our Gateway family
“Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways!”
Romans 11:33
Many blessings,
Taka & Christina
Gateway
Greetings from Cambodia! As we approach the end of 2009, we wanted to write you to express our thankfulness for your faithful prayers and support.
Reflections:
When we think about all that has happened in this last year, we have much to be thankful for. God has provided for us in ways that we didn’t even know to ask for. He is so good to care of all matters in our lives here. As you know He blessed us with the ability to build an addition which currently houses all our girls and two housemothers. We are currently working towards making more use of the space available that will enable us to more than double the current capacity.
We have had several volunteers come to join with us and not only to help, but to teach us and our children, to encourage and fellowship and to pray with us in this life here at Gateway.
Since the beginning of the year, we have had our share of comings and goings among staff and also among the children here at Gateway. All in all, we have had 3 staff and 9 children come and go. On the other hand, we have continued to increase in number. In January we had 11 children (8 girls and 3 boys). Now we have a total of 19 children (14 girls and 5 boys).
With this increase, we knew that we needed to start reorganizing our means of caring for the children. This led us to start teaching our cook to become a housemother who is now in charge of 10 of our girls. Srey Ruah has proved to be a quick learner with many resources. It is a blessing to have such a self-motivated and caring woman to look after our girls.
All but 3 of our kids are currently in school and they are doing well, with the exception of some struggles here and there in reading and arithmetic. We are quite proud of their efforts and their desire to improve their knowledge (some of the girls in grade 4 who are weak in their reading abilities have asked for additional tutoring). God has blessed one of our boys with the ability to advance from grade 1 to grade 2 within the first month of school and several children are ranked number 1 or 2 in their class.
Life as it is:
Aside from the 19 children currently living at Gateway, we have met with roughly 12 other children who are still waiting to be accepted. Due to the sudden increase since this summer, we have recently hired two more housemothers in addition to Srey Ruah, our first housemother. They have just started their three month provisional period for training. To be a housemother is not as simple as it may sound. This position requires them to be at service 24/7.
Furthermore, it’s not about getting given tasks done, but more about caring for our children in the love they rightly deserve. In this sense, there is no guarantee at this moment that those two ladies will still be with us after three months of training. We would rather take care of the children by ourselves just as we have been doing than have someone who only takes this position just as a source of income. Please join us in prayer that God will help us have discernment in this matter.
Bearing Fruits:
Very often our children look like nothing but wild monkeys to our eyes! But lately we have had opportunities to compare Gateway children with others from outside, and the difference is remarkable, making our children seem more like angels than monkeys; and so we now know that the small teachings and small disciplines we place on our children daily have actually begun to bear fruits already. Those fruits may still be tiny in a sense that we need outsiders to compare in order to realize. Yet, this is about life, which we hope will be led to eternal life in Christ Jesus. We have to understand that some children may need months or years of steady teaching and discipline. We are so thankful for such positive changes growing in the lives of our children. Some of them have even started sharing with their friends at school what they learn from our daily teaching sessions from the Bible. These precious lives have already begun to be used as His beautiful instruments!
Currently at Gateway:
Health: The long-lasting cold still persists and in several cases has morphed into more serious illnesses including Pneumonia, Pharyngitis, Rhinitis, Sinusitis, Tonsillitis and ear infections. We could write a medical journal, I think. Three of our girls have recently had Tonsillectomies and we thank and praise God for their speedy recovery.
Christmas: We are currently readying our children for the message of Christmas. They have heard all about it before, but we are taking it a step further with actually having a program this year. Christina found a play to translate and is currently working with the children to practice in preparation for our Christmas celebration, which will be held on 27th of December.
Expressing Gratitude:
Again, we want to express our deep appreciation and gratitude to all of you: for bridging the gap and standing with us, for without you Gateway Cambodia would not exist!
Prayer Requests:
1- That God will continue to bless our children in their spiritual journeys
2- That God would bring healing to Gateway
3- That our new housemothers will be positive and long-term additions to our Gateway family
“Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways!”
Romans 11:33
Many blessings,
Taka & Christina
Gateway
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