Dear brothers and sisters,

Peace in the Lord!

Grief

In my home church a very respected brother whom I have known for over 20 years passed away. Several times as I thought about him I could not help but weep. Although his life was cut short, still it was fully lived. I am sure that my home church's brothers and sisters, like me, were unable to set aside the pain of this loss. It was too bad that I was in Cambodia and unable to return to Hong Kong for the memorial service and grieve along with the brothers and sisters, but my heart was with you all. And, I believe that in Christ we have the hope of reunion in heaven.

Sabah trip

The end of May I traveled to Sabah, Malaysia to hike up Mount Kinabalu. Although it was only a two day trip I was totally exhausted. Starting to ascend I was already climbing at a snail's pace, and only with difficulty reached the hostel on the slopes at 3300 meters (10,825 ft) elevation. The four of us started off together, but because of our different climbing speeds each of us went at her own pace. In the early hours of the next morning with the moonlight shining brightly we headed on again to the peak. After climbing three hours the sun finally came up, but I was still not to the top. I thought, there's no need to go all the way to the peak, I need to reserve some energy for the descent. Just then I ran into a older seminary student and advisor. He said, "Keep climbing, I'll carry your pack for you!" This encouraged me to climb to the top. The scenic view from the mountain top was incomparable, well worth climbing another half an hour.

Right afterwards, at the begining of June, I participated in the Women's Missionary Convention and Women's Missionary Retreat sponsored by CCOWE and held in Sabah. I ran into quite a few old friends and got acquainted with women from various fields of service. This was a rare opportunity. We shared with each other about our struggles on the field, and then affirmed and prayed for each other. This was really a precious time.

Struck down with sickness

The day after returning from Malaysia to Cambodia, I fell sick. From being free from sickness for such a long time, I went to being housebound for four days. At first it didn't matter, I just thought it was a good chance to rest, right up to the day before I was to take a short term missions team to the village, when I began to be afraid I wouldn't be able to go. So that evening I sent out short messages to all the missionaries, friends and local brothers and sisters. I myself had no strength to pray, so I asked others to help me. This short term missions team of over ten brothers and sisters from my supporting church had come a long way to visit. It would be terrible if I couldn't see them and share with them because I was sick. The Heavenly Father heard everyone's prayers and in the end I was able to go according to the original plan and guide the team for two days. The most important was being able to see them and share together.

While I was sick, my co-workers cooked food and boiled water for me, or brought medicine, rice porridge and nutrional supplements to help me get better. Others sent text messages and e-mails to encourage me, while the local brothers and sisters made special trips to visit and wish me well, and so forth. These all helped me during this time of weakness by encouraging me so that I could keep going. After two weeks I was getting tired of being weak and asked the Lord why I had to be sick for so long. He showed me how during these weeks my pace of life had gotten under control. When I arose in the mornings I could put other things aside and spend some quiet time at the Lord's feet first. This was very different from the usual busyness, rushing to finish breakfast and get out the door or hurrying to study. God has His special way to help each of us whom He created as unique individuals.

Thanksgiving:

• For encouragement received during a time of sickness
• For the ten plus brothers and sisters from my supporting church who traveled a long way to visit, and who gained more awareness about Cambodia and our ministry here

Prayer Requests:

• Intimate communion with the Lord every day
• While sick, my left ear stopped up, making it hard to me to hear clearly and also giving me headaches and a cough. Pray for God to heal it.

Thank you brothers and sisters for working with me by your prayers!

Miu Ling
23 June 2005

Correspondence address:
Lee Miu-ling
PO Box 602, Phnom Penh, Cambodia