Our first day of ministry in Cambodia we were told that we would each be teaching our own English classes beginning that afternoon. My English class started at 2:00 PM. I was given an English book for beginners and told that the students in my class were just beginning to learn English. I would not have a translator with me. So I had a few hours to prepare and thats all I knew.
How old were my students? How many students will I have? How much have they already learned? Nothing. I knew nothing. I tried to prepare a lesson, but as I am not a teacher and knew nothing about my class I did not know where to begin. “Lord, help me to teach them and give them your best,” I prayed.
As unprepared as I ever could be, 2:00 rolled around and my days as a teacher began!
I was delightfully greeted with, “Hello Teacher!” by three beautifully sweet college age women. I discovered that two are Buddhist and one is a Christian. I also discovered that its extremely difficult to teach English to Khmer speaking students without prior training and without the assistance of a translator. But, you know what else I discovered? I discovered that the power of the Holy Spirit does not need training or a translator to transcend any language or cultural barriers.
My lessons from the (Non-Christian) English Beginner Book consisted of a list of vocabulary words each day. We were encouraged by our contact and leader of the ministry to share the gospel with our students. I had no idea how to explain the meaning of linking verbs to my Cambodian students much less how to explain that the one true God of the universe is not only in Heaven but is here with us, His son died for our sins, and that we get to live because of His glory. The first lesson was ‘the days of the week and months of the year’ so I decided to began teaching them the story of creation. I found online a children’s story with pictures to explain the story of creation.
After creation, I decided to end each day with a children’s Bible story online to visually explain who God is and to allow my students to practice reading out loud. On the first day when we ran out of time my students asked to stay after class to finish reading the story of creation. One of the girls concluded with, “So God really is wonderful?” They were hooked.
The days followed and we then read about Heaven, sin (both the literal definition and it’s implication in our lives), the birth of Jesus, the cross, and the resurrection. At the end of every day no matter where we picked up in the story, and totally unplanned by me, at least half of the lesson’s vocabulary words showed up in the Bible story reading and God continued to clearly explain himself to them and me. At one point I was in tears because of how perfectly He was making himself known.
At the end of the month it was time for us to leave and for the next group of missionaries to take over. As much as I would like to say that my two Buddhist students decided to become Christians, I cannot. But what I can say is that God showed up and with excitement they heard the truth about the one true God who actually loves them in return. And I have no doubt that God has these sweet lovely ladies in the palm of his hands exactly where He wants them to be.
