Peter, one of the leaders of the
Global Ventures team starts talking with the kids underneath the
stage. He shares with them about God and Jesus and shows them a clip
of Jesus’ crucifixion. Their attention is fixed as they listen to
him and watch the small screen of his portable DVD player. After the
video, Peter leads them in what is for many of them their first
prayer to God.
Before I leave to go back to the
hotel, the rain has lessened to a drizzle. The kids have come out
from under the stage and are standing in a group with the old
grandfather in the middle. They are singing some songs and the spry
old man is dancing.
The next day, the meeting goes off as
planned. At least a thousand people, probably more, crowd around the
stage. Again, the rain falls, but determined, the group waits it out
and has another meeting later in the night for another 500 people.
The crowd is responsive to the Gospel and many of them open their
hearts to Jesus.
The amazing thing about the work done
here in the Kratie province is how well the Cambodians and foreign
teams work together. The Cambodians multi-generation unity is
mirrored by the Americans’. The Global Ventures team has a mix of
teenagers, young adults, middle-aged adults, and even one grandmother
from Indiana who is in her 70s. They come from Oklahoma, California,
Texas, and the East Coast. Like the Cambodian team, some are from
the city and some are from more rural areas, but they’ve come
together and partnered with other Cambodian Christians to pursue the
mission of Christ, to make his name known among all the peoples of
the world.
And in Snuol, their work is bearing
fruit.
