Galatians 1:15 “But when God, who set me apart from birth and called me by his grace…”
Ephesians 2:10 “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”
Sometimes I forget that God is outside of time. That means He’s not limited by who we are right now, our history, our current abilities, current knowledge etc. He knows exactly who He’s created us to be and what He’s created us to do, in a way that we cannot even imagine. Doesn’t that fill you with reassurance, that someone knows, and actually even prepared something that He has only for you to do? Sometimes, He reveals it in a way that blows you away.
Last month in Malaysia, we met a young Mexican woman named Eli. We met her at just the right time; when we were at the end of our rope, completely lost in translation with our contact in our last week of ministry, Eli (who – praise God – spoke wonderful English!) took us into her home and made us feel welcome.
Thank God for bringing us to wonderful Eli!
Now when we first heard that we were going to be taken to a Mexican lady’s house, we were a bit in disbelief. We had just been in the villages of Malaysia, filled with only Asian people. What was a Mexican woman doing here? We were to learn that Eli’s story is quite incredible.
Eli grew up in Mexico, where she came to Christ through outreach by missionaries. She grew up to want to be a missionary herself, with a special heart for South-east Asia. Around this time, she had a dream, a vision a very muddy market. She had no idea what it meant, but thought it might be her future mission field. Soon she had the opportunity to go on a missions trip to Indonesia, a country she was really excited about.
While in Indonesia, she saw markets, but none like the market she had dreamt about. Not sure what it meant, she went on another missions trip to Malaysia. One day, she went to a market. It had just rained the day before, and when she arrived, there was her muddy market as she had seen it in her dream! After much prayer and receiving further confirmation from the Lord, she obeyed His call and went to Malaysia. She found that, although not originally enthusiastic about Malaysia, God now gave her a heart for the people that moved her to tears.
When I think about Eli’s story, I am reminded that God knows. He gave Eli a vision for Malaysia before she even had a heart for the country. And when she went, it was all because He sent her there. It was Him who had the heart for the country, and was intentionally sending missionaries to share His love and Word there. He is the original dreamer of the dream.
I think – and this thought seems incredible to me, because it’s different when you think of God doing something that special for someone else, and then Him doing it for you – that He might be dreaming a special dream for me by placing a special country on my heart too. And that country is Cambodia.
The way that Cambodia came to be on my heart is very random. I was in high school, and I had this brilliant idea to cut out newspaper articles and clothespin them onto a line, taped to my bathroom mirror, in order to pray for current events in the world. Sadly, this fervour lasted only a week (since I usually never read the news) and the same three articles I had cut out the first day hung there for a month. One of the articles was about two little girls, aged 6 and 7, working many hours in a clothing factory in Cambodia. I remember wanting to help improve the lives of children like them someday.
Picture from a recent article in the BBC news about mass fainting incidents of young workers in Cambodia due to working in high temperatures and dangerous fumes.
As time went by, I tried to find out more about Cambodia. I borrowed a book about Cambodian history, but it was dry with big words and I couldn’t really get into it. I couldn’t decide if this obsession about Cambodia was just a whim or if there was really something to it.
When the time came when I decided to sign up for the World Race, the country Cambodia caught my eye. This is it, I decided, this is the route I am going on. I need to find out if there’s something for me there.
Cambodia became the country I looked forward most to on the Race. Finally, it was the end of month 9, and we were pulling out of our hostel in Kuala Lumpur and into the airport. I shared my excitement and trepidation with my squadmate sitting next to me. “This is your country,” he enthused, having heard me talk about Cambodia during previous months, “This could be even better than Nepal for you.” I was slightly stunned at the thought that this month could top my then-favourite month and ministry.
Sometimes, we look forward to things, but we get let down and find out it wasn’t all we thought it would be. I am so thankful that in my case, Cambodia is all that I have imagined.
One wouldn’t think so, with the lifestyle my teammates and I now live. We live in an elevated wooden house with no furniture; our tents and mats, along with a few plastic chairs, are our only reprieve from the hardwood floor. The first night we were here, it was sweltering hot, and hundreds of winged termites swarmed into our room, dancing around our ceiling lights and covering our clothing and tents, shedding their paper-light wings all over our belongings. In the mornings, we wake up to the peeping of little chicks running frantically around their pens, and sometimes the hum of Buddhist chants blasting at unimaginable decibels from loudspeakers. In the yard next door, there are bananas growing from a tree over a barbed-wire fence. We do our morning jogs along a winding dirt path where we occasionally have to make way for ox-carts heading to the fields. Showers and laundry are conducted with water in large basins collected from the rain. At night, our sleep is occasionally interrupted by squawking geckos (who knew they made sounds?) and misinformed roosters reporting the sunrise at 3:30am. And one day, as I was beating off a nest of ants I had found gathering in my sweaty towel, I smiled to myself, my mom would be freaking out if she saw this! This was definitely unlike anywhere I have ever called home, but strangely it did feel like a home to me.
Our lovely wooden house.
Bugged out!
Well…they feel clean when I'm done with them anyways.
But even more than bringing me to this country, God brought me to this specific ministry.
I knew beforehand that I had a special heart for street people, especially homeless children. God placed our team at Teen Challenge, a place that ministers to street boys and men, and helps to rehabilitate them from their drug addictions. All this month I have been falling in love with these kids (and that’s not a term I use lightly, or with many kids from other countries!). I have been teaching English to them, just 5 hours a week, and spending time with them playing football and volleyball, or learning Khmer (the Cambodian language, pronounced “k’mai”) from them. I don’t really have to put forth very much effort at all to win their love; they just love, calling out our names, pleading with us to play games with them, or showing us something they made or drew. They have hilarious personalities and, it seems, are always up to something new. I just felt a bit of God’s incredible love for them flow through me.
I really have no idea what it means; and I think it’s too early to say that God has called me to this place or this ministry (so don’t freak out yet, Mom and Dad! *grin*) I do know, however, that at the beginning of the Race; even before that, God planted a seed in my heart. It was a dream, and it was called Cambodia. It brought me on the Race, to month 10. Now, that dream has come to fruition in the full and fulfilling month of ministry that we have had. Is there a bigger dream, a bigger flower yet to come into bloom? These are things to ponder about. Sometimes my thinking scares me, such as, what if this is all just some crazy honeymoon phase or if the circumstances set up in the ministry (e.g. that these precious kids just happen to be here during this season) are just a fluke. Either way, I believe God knows and He will guide me as He has done, honeymoon phase or not.
“God, who set me apart from birth and called me by his grace…” …you don’t think God has a plan? He does. And sometimes, it takes a lifetime to find out where He’s gonna lead you.
Wusang* loved the Jesus comics Hannah handed out in class.
Brothers. Yu* (right) is the best student in class, and Van* (left) may act cool, but he loves and takes care of his brother so well.
Raiden* gets in all sorts of mischief and trouble, but he also loves to cook and help with chores, and has a kid's heart underneath.
Logan has a lot of fun with the kids. Can you tell?
Preparing for Water Day – a sports day-like relay we planned for them.
It's a race to see who can eat 3 crackers and whistle first!
4-man push-ups. Much harder than they look.
3-legged race!
Nothing more fun than launching and catching water balloons on a burning hot day.
True to their favourite hero, Bruce Lee…bring it on!
*Names changed for privacy
