Eyeglass Clinic at New Life Church, Siem Reap, Cambodia.
New Life Church in Siem Reap is the second eyeglass clinic day that was done on January 17th of this year. We are privileged to have one other barang still here, who arrived with her mom back in December to do some footwork on her own agenda while she was here. She has been a terrific resource helper along the way, providing some business sense on areas that would benefit the ministry. She leaves in two days, so it is great she is able to share one of her last days with us. Humbly, we stood with the local community of New Life Church to do an eyeglass clinic on this day. This day was so much Jesus joy. Leadership folk from here had partnered with Pastor Ravy on our first outing at his church. They learned very well how to bring this to their local community. Excellent day. It was fun, plain and simple.
5 1/2 hours on our feet and over 100 pair of glasses fitted. No one was turned away. We were able to find something for each person. So blessed in the hand of God. A breathtaking, humbling additional moment is when sister Trephina found kid size glasses in the front of one of her reading boxes. When school let out, we had 17 kiddos to add to our list. Yes, kids too sometimes need glasses. There was never a denial that this wasn’t a physically exhausting day. It always is. Fortunately, it was a cool 92 degrees feel temp midday and fans flew with air overhead. On a personal note, this opened up a new door in ministry on this day.
Perhaps even a new chapter for Hope Lutheran Evangelical Church as the core community comes together to help those who, under normal circumstances, would never be able to have an eye exam nor glasses. It felt like a church is meant to feel. Gratefulness is extended to Pastor Ravy and his pastor dad for inviting two barang to share us into their world. They so loved us both. We serviced 78 people today.
One thing I am noticing is that each clinic is one of its own. The eye issues are fairly consistent village to village, the ‘kind’ of glasses reflects the status of the village, and perhaps even the ‘why’ of those folks who live there with eye stress. At this location there were numerous areas of ‘cricket’ farming being done. That is one area that always amazes me, and yet I know it is a successful endeavor to do. It is not something that I reckon can be done anywhere, nor everyone would be doing it, and enjoying the fare of these edible creatures. Amazing isn’t it, that God gave us crickets as a food source, and yet in our western culture I have never seen them either harvested, nor eaten. They are crunchy if cooked correctly, and with appropriate spices are actually quite tasty. The clinic was by far one of the best in the list of seven that was done in the first three months of the year. Enjoy the photos and videos, and get to see first hand the life and faces of the folks in this village.
