Cambodia is one of the most beautiful places I’ve been yet. My ministry this month has been to go to a village, an hour away from the village I am living in, and teach English and the Bible to children there. I go Tuesday thru Friday and visit homes, share the Gospel and teach the children.
The village I live in is remote, but the village I work in is like going back in time over a hundred years, with the exception of a few motorcycles. Its the first time in my life I have seen ox pulling carts and hay stacks. There is no electricity or running water and the bathroom we use is at least a quarter of a mile from where we teach, there are always several dogs, ducks, and chickens under your feet and sometimes a pig or a baby calf. The houses are on stilts and the underneath is where the ox and chickens get put up at night, the roofs are made of leaves and they all cook with wood in outdoor kitchens. Every evening I watch the sunset over the mountains, while sketching or practicing my ukelele next to a pond.
The people are mostly Buddhist with the exception of a handful of Christians and we are believing the children we teach will rise up as a generation of believers. I love the people here so much, day one we were treated as family.
A little back story about my ministry host Vutee (this is the short version). Vutee was raised in a buddhist home he moved from his village to Phenom Penh he bought a tuk-tuk and became a tuk-tuk driver he was driving some YMAMers, one day and asked them why white people come to Cambodia and they told him about Jesus and he accepted Christ. He sold his tuk-tuk to go to YWAMs discipleship training school and ended up moving back to his village to teach the children English and the Bible, this is where I currently live, two of his siblings and his parents came to know Christ through him as well as more of his students than I can count. At some point in this story his grandmother got sick and died and he prayed and Jesus raised her from the dead, his grandmother lives in the village I teach at, and because of this miracle his grandmother, cousins, and many of the people from that village also came to know Jesus.
Vutee is 29, the same age as me, and his story is over a period of many years, God is moving like crazy through the faith of this one man. He has a vision of trade schools as well as English and bible classes and right now there are over 30 volunteers, including myself, here helping him with what ever he needs. In the past year he has been able to build a church, dorm rooms, and class rooms as well as get electricity. He has taken in a couple of orphaned children as well as some adults. He is building a classroom and bathroom at the village I work at and the vision just keeps expanding.
His life builds my faith, He dreams big and God provides. God is moving so much here in Cambodia this generation rising up, carry the hope of Jesus, a name many in these remote places have never heard before, they are going to change this place because of what they carry, this nation is being claimed for Christ and I am so honored to play even the smallest part in this.
