Our two weeks of ministry in a remote village 1 hour from Siem Reap, Cambodia has been so good. I have done things that I never thought I would ever do before; like teach English classes and preach. I am learning so much by being forced to do things that I am uncomfortable with.
We are in Cambodia at the same time as the most important Buddhist holiday unique to Cambodia, Pchum Ben Festival (or Ancestor’s Day). The holiday occurs during the months of September/October. This year the “climax” of the 15 day festival fell on September 22-24. Because families get together to celebrate the holiday those days were slow for our ministry team because all the children were with with their families (we did not teach English for 2 days because no children showed up). We were still able to lead Bible studies with the local village church congregation.
I am no expert on the Buddhist religion or the Pchum Ben festival, but here’s what the holiday entails (as I have learned from our ministry contacts & a little research):
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During the day, particularly in the mornings, Cambodians pay respect to their ancestors (up to 7 generations)
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Monks chant overnight to open the gates of hell
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Ghosts of dead ancestors are believed to return and are especially active
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A common practice for living family members is to burn incense and bring food offerings to the pagodas (meat, bananas, water, anything really, even money)
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Dead ancestors are able to “receive” and benefit from these offerings in the afterlife
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Everyone goes to the pagoda to give something to their ancestors because they do not want their ancestors ghosts seeking offerings in vain
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If ancestor spirits cannot find any offerings given by their living relatives, the spirits will curse their own family members
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When the festival is over, ghosts return to hell or heaven
When Cambodians are not offering things to the ghosts of their ancestors the festival is a time for families to get together and celebrate, eat special cakes, go to the lake for the afternoon, etc. It is also a time for family unity.
EVERYONE goes to the pagoda to give offerings. The spiritual world is strongly accepted and believed in here than in North America I have learned. It is apparent that we are in a spiritual war and it is even more evident while we are in the village. Some team members have not been sleeping well, a teammate was sick the whole week, there were physical altercations, and most of us just had an uneasiness about us all week. It reminded me of the verse Ephesians 6:12. I don’t want to attribute everything we experienced this week as being caused by this especially spiritual time in Cambodia; I just think that we should become more and more aware of the spiritual world everyday.
Because many members of the village church (who we are ministering to) grew up with a buddhist background we held a prayer service on Wednesday night. The service discussed how God is sovereign over curses, that Christ is the ultimate bearer of the curse that we deserved from God (Galatians 3:13), and that ghosts/spirits cannot come back from hell or heaven (Luke 16:26). We had a time where people could write down curses spoken over them and physically nail them to the cross. The night ended with us blessing the villagers. It was powerful.
Keep praying that the light of God shines brighter and brighter through the people God has specially placed in the village, particularly our ministry contacts and their team of 3 Cambodians. Pray that the fear of the spirits no longer has hold of the lives of many of the villagers.
Thank you for your continuous support! I couldn’t do this without you or God.
