The Wood Between the Worlds

In C.S. Lewis’s "The Magician’s Nephew", there is a place that the book’s characters discern as “not a world at all—an in-between place.”The Suh family seems to be in just such a place now. We are not yet in Cambodia; we aren’t fully in San Jose anymore either. Our hearts and minds belong partly to both places, partly to some no-man’s land in between. It is an uncomfortable place to be at times. We feel torn between so many things and people and drained by balancing it all. I was almost feeling sorry for myself. Then yesterday I chatted with an acquaintance who had seen the “for rent” sign in our yard. I told him that we were moving to Cambodia to do mission work. I had thought he was Vietnamese, but he shared that he spent the first 14 years of his life in Cambodia—third generation ethnic Chinese living as Vietnamese in Cambodia. His family was warned to flee their village before the Khmer Rouge came into their area in the early seventies. So they immediately left their home, and lived in Vietnam for a time. Then he, as a young single man, he had the opportunity to take a boat to Malaysia. His relative was a mechanic and helped him get on a “good boat” that actually reached its destination without major hardship. From there, he came as a refugee to Denver and eventually moved to San Jose. He considers himself to be one of the “lucky ones”—but every single step was difficult. Of course, that put things into perspective for me. Our transition has the luxuries of time and resources, preparation and closure. How do we live “between worlds”? One day at a time; one step at a time. With thanks in our hearts. We are not alone, after all: the“Wood between the Worlds” is Christ’s country too. - Joyce

*We have set our departure date: December 27. David, Isaac and Mary’s school in Phnom Penh begins on January 5.

First Impressions

We had the opportunity to go to Cambodia in August, for the purpose of meeting church leaders and potential partners for our ministry. We feel happy about ministry prospects and feel that the problem won't be finding ministry, but discerning what to do among all the possible ways in which we could serve. We will share as that discernment process happens. It was the first time in Cambodia for both of us. What was our first impression? It is difficult to sort all the sights and sounds and smells of a new country. Let me describe some of the smells. There were cooking spices and herbs (our hotel was called "anise")—obviously we won't suffer for food. There were streets in Phnom Penh that smelled bad—there is a large open waste water canal. It took a few days for me to figure out that behind everything was the smell of incense. Shrines are so ubiquitous that incense suffuses the air even of a burgeoning city like Phnom Penh. We did not go out in the streets once without seeing the saffron robes of the monks. The most striking and ornate buildings are the temples and pagodas. These are every where too. People come from all over the world to see them. Interestingly, of the few Khmer words that we learned, two of them might be translated sacred or holy. The sense of the sacred seems to suffuse the language. What is sacred? Mostly it seems to be places. We took our shoes off a lot. Juxtaposed to these impressions, my most difficult moment was at Choeung Ek, the Killing field that we visited a short distance outside of the city. Over 8,000 bodies have been excavated from mass graves at that particular site: including children and young people, women and men (there are more that haven't been excavated). It's hard to gather one's thoughts in such a place. There is a shrine of skulls. What got to me the most though was that, as we walked among the open pits, we were stepping on clothes that were coming up from the ground. I felt like it was such an indignity for those who had been buried there, a violation on top of all the dehumanizing that had happened to them. When it comes to the sacred, it's everywhere, but people don't seem to be included. The regime of the Khmer Rouge was intent on eradicating every vestige of human dignity. As I learn more about the history of Cambodia, I wonder whether the culture ever gave people the sense that they are in the image of God and therefore imbued with basic dignity and worth. Could the average person, working in his field, ever feel the holiness of his calling, think of himself as a temple of the Living God? Of course, these are first impressions. People and places are always more complex than they first seem. We do hope, however, that as we bring the gospel, people may find dignity in that they are made in the image of God, rejoice that God considers them worthy of giving his Son for their salvation, and live their lives as vessels of Christ. - Joyce (see the related photo on the side bar)

Do you hear the Wind?

Some months ago, the Wind blew and stirred up an unnamed restlessness in the Suh family. We began to consider whether God might be calling us in a new direction.

One morning, Gil casually scanned the Christian Reformed World Missions website. A new ministry position in Cambodia had been posted: ministry coordinator/leadership trainer. We had considered ministry there when we came back from Nigeria, but we couldn’t make such a big change at that time. No one had ever stepped forward in the meantime.

Was God giving us a second chance? We felt that we’ve been able to process our experiences in Nigeria and been better equipped to work at leadership development. We’ve felt anew the urgent call to bring Good News to the nations. We’ve remembered our roots and commitments as a couple and our first love of cross-cultural mission.

At the same time, and more importantly, the Wind has been blowing in Cambodia. God is on the move. “Now is the time,” we’ve been told by a new Cambodian friend, “the door is open.” We want to follow after Christ’s love for this still largely un-reached nation. Christ is calling followers--which means that there is a need for leadership development and training for the church. We accepted the call with the great excitement and joy. We believe that Cambodia can become a beacon of faith and hope in Southeast Asia. We will be working out of San Jose until December when we hope to go to Phnom Penh to begin our ministry there.

Is the wind blowing your way? Will you consider whether God is calling you to join our ministry through financial, prayer or family support? If you want to receive our ministry updates, newsletters, and prayer requests, please let us know joycesuh@sbcglobal.net or gilsuh@sbcglobal.net
We are hoping for engaged and committed partners—in whatever capacity you are able. Do you feel the Wind?

“You hear it rustling through the trees…. That’s the way it is with everyone ‘born from above’ by the wind of God, the Spirit of God.” (John 3, The Message)