Home Assignment

As you will already know we are coming back to the UK this summer for one year so that Dan can do a masters course. Becky and the kids fly at the end of July and Dan will fly back 10 days later in August, arriving the day before Becky’s cousin gets married. So hopefully the jetlag won’t be too bad!

We are still going to complete a home assignment but spread it throughout the year as we don’t have a 3 month gap between Dan finishing work here and starting his course in the UK. If you would like us to come and speak at your church then you need to contact the church relations team at BMS (churchrelations@bmsworldmission.org).  Under the new system they will not contact you if you are a church partner, you need to contact them!

Please be aware that this is a request and not a booking. The Church Relations Team will do their best to accommodate your request. The dates we are available are below. BMS will book them on a first come first served basis. However, we will be offering some more dates later in the year (once we know what Dan’s course timetable will be). So if you miss out on these first dates then there will be opportunity later in the academic year.

29^th, 30^th and 31^st August and 1^st September

12^th-13^th October – Leicester

26-27^th October

9-10^th November

23^rd-24^th November

The diggers move in

Plans for the Land

If you’ve followed these blogs for a while, or our prayer letters, or heard us talk, you’ll know that one of the biggest frustrations KISC has faced has been lack of space.

We have been praying for 5 years for more space. The facilities we have are great, especially in terms of classrooms, but we’ve constantly lacked play space. We’ve been inventive; the roof of our main teaching building is used as a small sports pitch, squashed 4-a-side football size. We’ve hired other venues; especially for special events or for sports teams training. But ultimately we are squashed. Especially when you consider in August we will top 200 students for the first time in our history.

So it was with great delight that a couple of weeks ago we were able to sign a deal to rent a piece of vacant land right next to the KISC site. This land has been vacant for a while, but for various reasons we have only been able to even discuss renting it in the last few months. The things that have happened to enable this to come about showed this was a real answer to prayer and the students and staff are all very excited. 

 

Digger gets to work

At the end of last week the diggers moved in to start to clear the remains of the buildings that once stood on the site and level the land. Hopefully by the Autumn it will be a basketball court, a small field/football pitch and parking space that will keep the existing campus clear of bikes. 

Basically, providing space to run!

Cambodia

In 1975 Pol Pot lead the Khmer Rouge to power in Cambodia and proceeded to orchestrate genocide. Although no one can be sure how many people were killed during the 4 years they ruled Cambodia, it’s likely that 1.5-2 million people (of a population of 8 million) died. The capital, Phnom Penh became a ghost town as people were moved all over the country to work on cooperative farms, often separated from their family.

The course participants and trainers

Last month I was able to travel to Cambodia with another colleague from KISC to attend the Leadership Matters course. This was a great course as it looked at many elements of leadership, from management to communication, from motivation to relationship skills and how all the theory on doing these well stem from biblical principles. Most of the course was focused on practical skills that we could use straight away in our roles to enable us to be better leaders. I really enjoyed it.

While we were in Cambodia we didn't have a lot of time for sightseeing, but we were able to visit the Genocide Museum, a former High School that was turned into a concentration camp during the Khmer Rouge. We saw pictures of those who had been detained there, all but a handful of the 12,000 inmates over 4 years didn't survive and were able to enter the cells and read their stories. 

At the Genocide Museum

But what was particularly special was being able to spend time with people from all over South Asia, and further afield, people who had a desire to serve God in whatever role they were placed in, and hearing many stories about how God was at work across the region.

In particular hearing from the Cambodians on the course and those living and working in Cambodia. Hearing how 80% of the Christians were martyred under the Khmer Rouge, about how, despite all that was going on, the church had effectively reformed and regrown in refugee camps during that time and hasn't stopped since. Meeting people who had lived under the regime and had personal experiences to share. Hearing about people who had nothing, yet risked everything to continue in their faith, and the results that was reaping 30 years later.