Chinese New Year 

It has been four years since I left Hong Kong for Cambodia, and until this year I hadn't had the chance to be in Hong Kong for Chinese New Year.  Thank the Lord that this year He provided me the opportunity to visit my family, friends and church members during this wonderful festive time.  There were many things that I needed to adjust myself to,  both physically and mentally.

The chilly weather

This year has been extremely cold because of the impact of the snow storms in mainland China.  The temperature has been as low as 5°C in the rural areas of Hong Kong.  It had not been that cold for the last few years when I came back to Hong Kong in December. When I arrived at the Hong Kong airport, I could feel the freezing temperature and needed to take out my jacket from my suitcase immediately.  However, I was excited to feel the ‘cool’ feelings that I could not experience in Cambodia.  I thank God that I could feel 'the fire and the ice' in one day's time.

The food and eating habits

Chinese cuisine is delicious to me: dim sum, hot pot, and barbecued meat, to name a few.  Moreover, the traditional New Year foods are also wonderful: the deep fried dumplings, radish cake, yam cake and the like.  However, I had a stomach ache after two days because my stomach no longer is used to the greasy foods.  Cambodian foods have less meat and grease than Chinese ones.  On the other hand, in Hong Kong I usually ate meals much later than in Cambodia, sometimes due to the fact that my family or friends came back late after work, and then some restaurants offer cheaper prices at the non-peak dining times.    Nevertheless, I enjoyed the ‘home’ cuisine especially when I dined at some senior church members’ homes.  Some cooked the New Year cake for me as breakfast and some cooked sophisticated dishes at dinner time. I think I gained at least 5Kg  -  my trousers are not big enough for my tummy.

The language

I felt relieved to use my mother tongue to communicate with people again.  No need to think of the ‘right’ words as when I am in Cambodia.  However, I sometimes spoke out Khmer words to express myself, like ‘Baat’- meaning yes; ‘Tuk’ – meaning to put or keep; ‘Som Though’- meaning sorry; etc.  Strangers might be confused and think that I was a tourist instead of a native speaker.  Sometimes, I translated Chinese words into Khmer in my mind in order to refresh my memory of vocabulary. Language is a funny thing that you can easily forget when you seldom practice it in daily living.

Actually, I did not have much rest during my 3-week leave in Hong Kong because my schedule was almost full to meet friends and relatives.  Sometimes, I rushed to 4-5 appointments in one day, but I really enjoyed sharing  stories of the past year.

Prayer points

1.  Pray for health and strength to pick up the work, especially preparing for the coming of the annual meeting in March

2.  Pray for piglet raising scheme at Coconut village, where we will complete the scheme in late February.  May God guide us in the future planning for that village

3.  Pray for the training of the church committee at Takhmau church, where there are 6 young people to act as the leaders to help the church ministries.  Moreover, there are 4 members of the church who will receive baptism on March 30.

4.  Pray for home assignment of Pastor Joel and Grace and Rebecca in 2008, and may God grant us (the rest of the team members) the strength and wisdom to share their workload

5.  Pray for our local pastors and leaders who are not well in health (Pastor Joshua Kung Ty, Pastor Samuel Sar, Brother Gideon and Brother Nop Sokha)

Psalm 4:7

Davis Lam( )

Cambodia Mail Address: P.O Box 602, Phnom Penh, Cambodia