From Sunday 9/16/07
Today Started early, at least for us. Since we have been doing night ministry here, I normally stay up until about 1 am and get up around 9 am then take the morning slow, drink coffee, run on the treadmill, spend time with God, it’s wonderful! But this morning we had to be at the dorms at 7:30 am in order to make it out to the provinces. My teammates and I yawned our way to the dorm then all fell asleep in the car on the way out to our ministry sight.
The girls and me on a boat in the Mekong river
As we left the city things got greener and greener, the sky seemed to open up, it was a perfect sunny day. The land that we drove through looked like a painting with florescent green grass and white clouds speckling the sky. We pulled up to a tiny village, filled with houses on stilts, lots of cattle, and plenty of mud. My friend Sam, who is in my Bible study, goes out to the village called Tanon every week. He showed us the way to the family’s house. There were about 12 people there to greet us, the immediately got up and offered us their best seats and bottled water.
The Country Side
Later we found out that this family is the only Christian family in the area. We did church the way the book of Acts talks about church. We all prayed together, and then people shared testimonies and words of encouragement. It was wonderful to have both the Cambodians and the Americans sharing, not one group preaching at the other.
I was really encouraged by Sam’s testimony which he shared during the service. “I grew up in a very poor home, my mother died when I was 10 and my father was a Buddhist monk. A Christian missionary taught me English and told me about Christ. I knew it was the truth so I decided to accept Christ. My family and my province are very poor so now I am on scholarship to University in Phnom Penh. God has been teaching me to serve, even though it some times it is hard, and means doing things I don’t want to do.”
Sam has an amazing heart and has been encouraging the group of Christians in Tanon for the last few months. He eventually wants to be a missionary, and has asked me many times at Bible study if he could ever do a trip like the World Race. I love watching Sam because he not only talks about Christ but lives his faith out. This entire year I have never seen a man from any of the countries we are working in touch a dish after a meal and today Sam got up from the table and started helping the women clear the plates. That’s a miracle if I ever saw one.
It felt surreal to be at the home of the only Christian family in the entire village, praying to Jesus together, while Buddhist songs and prayers blared over the loud speaker to the entire town.
When the father of the family shared his testimony he said that many in the town gossip about him and say mean things because he has decided to follow Jesus, but he doesn’t mind, his faith is more valuable then his reputation. The churches are all too far away for their family to attend so Sam visits often to encourage their faith.
Through our conversations I also found out that we were the first foreigners to ever visit that family, and most likely the village. We took a walk around the serene landscape and got to watch the women weave intricate silk skirts on cumbersome wooden looms. Everyone wanted to practice their English with us. We went from house to house and would sit for about 10 min at each house them move on to the next one.
Silk weaving
After that we returned to the first house for lunch. They were so excited to serve us Kamai (Cambodian) food. It was actually really good, lots of rice, chicken, and some type of zucchini like vegetable. There was also ground up soft shell crab, shell and all, made into a green paste, it was edible, but not something I would order at a restaurant.
Lunch, Sam is second from the Left
After lunch we went to the next village where Sam and his friend teach the youth. Every Sunday they teach the children and the youth Bible and English. Candice, Andrew and I all stayed with the youth and got to share with them about how much Jesus loves them. They were all excited to practice their English on us and asked lots of great questions.
In the car on the way home I asked Sam what his dream would be for the villages there. He responded, “I would like to see the believers there have a church and eventually be their pastor, but I also want to be a missionary and bring the word of God to many places.”
