Her name is Heng; she’s a Christian. She came to know Christ while in a camp during the Khmer Rouge reign. There were missionaries at the camp that showed her love and that love led her to believe in Christ. Her husband and two of her children died from starvation during that time. She was 29. She was sponsored by Americans through World Vision in Seattle and that moved her and her remaining two children to the Philippines for six months so she could learn English, and then after that they moved to Seattle to live in hopes for a better life. The year was 1979. They have lived there ever since. She now comes back to Cambodia to visit family and help her church in Seattle plant churches here. She is so full of joy and life.
She said the Khmer Rouge time was such a horrible three and a half years. She remembers being hungry all the time. She says she loves the United States because of the opportunities her children have been given. I told her about going to the genocide museum and the killing fields and how sad it made me. “Yes,” she agreed, and then paused. “Most of the people at the camps believed in Christ,” she told us, and my heart jumped. This was my hope when visiting the killing fields, and I felt like I had been given a gift from God in Heng when she told us this. “It is sad though,” she mentioned, “for after leaving the camps, many drift away from thinking about and believing in Christ. They forget. Pray for them, and pray for my children. They have forgotten.”
I sit here taking this moment in and relishing in it, and it occurs to Karen, Elizabeth, and myself what has just transpired. We look at each other with a twinkle in our eyes, no need for words, for we all just realized that we have encountered a divine moment…
About three hours before this meeting, my team and I get on a bus to head back to our village from our weekend beach trip. It was worth the trip, but nonetheless, we have six hours of traveling ahead of us. I noticed Heng and her sister when they first got on the bus. There was something different about them. They were loud, not in an annoying way, but in a free way, and they were happy. Asians in general are not loud people, so I took notice. Heng and her sister sat in the seats across the isle from Karen and myself. I would occasionally look over as they talked and laughed; they were speaking in Khmer so I had no idea what they were saying. They would turn around and talk to the ladies behind them, and, again, it was their demeanor that drew my attention. About an hour into the bus ride, I noticed Heng was wearing a gold cross. I looked closer and it looked like they were both wearing crosses.
We traveled on doing our own thing, Karen sleeping, me texting my friend Tiffany, Elizabeth behind us listening to music, and our other teammates doing a mixture of the same… I’m sure there was some journaling and reading in there too. The bus started having complications and stopped on the side of the road. All of the passengers got off, including Heng, but my team and I remained on the bus. Elizabeth stood up and we all started talking. I shared with them, “Hey guys, the ladies in those seats are wearing crosses,” and we began to discuss how interesting that was, us being in a Buddhist nation and her clearly being Cambodian, and we wondered what her story might be… Missionary, grew up in a Christian home, visiting, converted to Christianity???
Elizabeth started playing a song she wanted to share with us, a worship song from the Bethel Church praise band cd that she had downloaded this past weekend since we had wifi at our hostel. The song was playing aloud and we were enjoying the sound, then Heng stepped on to the bus, just Heng. She came to her seat, smiling at us, and asked, “Are you Christians?” And so our exchange began…
The bus was broken down just long enough for us to have our conversation. Look at that!?! As the bulk of our chat came to a close, the bus started and the other riders started coming aboard. When her sister got back on the bus, Heng touched her sister’s arm and proudly proclaimed, “She’s a Christian too.” Big smile on her face.
We began rolling again, and Karen leaned over to Heng and mentioned noticing her cross to her. Heng began to feel around on her hat and her clothing, forgetting she had one on… then she touched her necklace and laughed. “I forgot I was wearing my cross,” she said, and I thought, “You’re always wearing your cross, it’s all over you, it’s in your face.” Her light shines so bright.
She showed us a picture of her grandkids. 🙂
