End of March 2025 Update
It’s one thing to learn about the Khmer Rouge atrocities through museums and history books; it’s quite another to listen to a survivor’s story of living through it.
This month, we were privileged to meet a high-ranking government official, six years my junior, who endured the entire regime. Though openly Christian, he is now a trusted advisor to the top Khmer Ministers, all Buddhists…truly a modern-day Daniel in Babylon. The account of the loss of his family, the horror of forced labor under the Khmer Rouge regime when he was 17 and not yet a Christian, his escape to a refugee camp and UN resettlement to the USA where he was a janitor by day and student by night learning English and getting his GED, how he met the LORD, attended Bible school, and then returned to Cambodia to help his country…left us humbled and weeping. An upright and just official in a corrupt system, he has been protected by God and has incredible influence because of his supernatural wisdom. Through him, God opened a door for us to help reach Cambodian soldiers we never could have accessed; he can witness to soldiers and provides them radios programmed to Christian stations, which we helped provide. We continue to be amazed at how God makes the Impossible Possible!
When working with rural pastors in the provinces, our focus has been on training disciple-makers and church planters. In partnership with AMG Cambodia, our supported pastors work each week in unreached villages, bringing the Good News to adults and children alike. Weekly, we are sent the most amazing pictures of their gatherings, of them praying for the sick, teaching the Bible, and assisting in their communities. Recently, 42 new believers, some from these new church plants, traveled to Kep in the southern part of Kampot province to be baptized in the sea in a glorious celebration of obedience!
When working with urban pastors, where the churches are established, our focus has been training leaders in all aspects of pastoring, including church growth and local outreaches. Interestingly, many mission-minded churches are involved in what is called Dormitory Ministry. As you may know, post-Khmer Rouge regime, the standard of education in Cambodia is the lowest in ALL Asia, and the country is struggling to produce and educate new leaders. While academically gifted students from the provinces may receive scholarships from universities, they cannot afford the cost of living in the city. To help these kids get an education, some churches rent large “shop” houses (sort of narrow town houses with the large first floor area where they house their motorcycles, and the upper three to four floors bedrooms and kitchen), hire a Christian house-parent couple to manage the dormitory, and invite students to live there rent-free. The students must provide and cook their own meals (often working part-time to earn sufficient funds) and attend daily devotions and weekly services. Many give their lives to the LORD over the 4 years of study and become wonderful, Godly leaders capable of earning a living and helping rebuild Cambodia, largely through the help of these ministries.
Recently, we were asked to minister to the students of one newly established dormitory (Alpha Fellowship with Theo Gangmei), and we invited the students of another dormitory (Glory Church with Pastor Sun Sokha) to come and share with the newcomers in a night of praise, testimonies, fellowship, and food. We were delighted by the enthusiasm of the “seasoned dormitory believers” to share their stories and experiences, and even more thrilled when 8 young people yielded to the urgings of the Holy Spirit and gave their lives to the LORD! What a joyous evening!
Of course, being March, the heat has returned with a vengeance; how is it that we so quickly forgot the fierceness and intensity of the midday sun in Cambodia? One amazing ministry pair we support, Joe and Ima from Hope Organization, battles the heat weekly, riding their motorcycles to unreached villages in the province, bringing the Good News to children. When they put out a plea for a portable tent to shelter those who come for lessons, we were thrilled to be able to help with the resources you provided.
Another ministry we’re honored to support is Mercy Village Church (Rin Yame), whose young leaders we’ve been training on Monday nights. Not only do they minister to their own village with its growing church plant, K to 4th grade school, feeding program, and four children’s outreaches in the provinces, but they recently began a new work in Bamboo Village, which suffered a devastating fire. I’ve included some pictures; be sure to look at the living conditions! Both Mercy Village and Bamboo Village are inner-city “picker” communities (people sort through trash for recyclables and saleable treasures) and present a host of societal problems ranging from extreme poverty, lack of education and skills, drugs, alcoholism, violence, mental illness, witchcraft, and despair. The work this ministry does in changing street kids into Christian leaders is nothing short of miraculous.
In the Dominican Republic, Pastor Jaime continues with his multi-pronged ministries, this month ramping up Manna Pack deliveries to Haitian church plants and sending a mission team into Haiti itself for the second time. Another Dominican church has been established, the Saturday Kids’ Clubs are bursting at the seams, while the 7 Haitian church plants continue to grow and “birth” daughter churches as their pastors are trained and new ones developed. Pastor Jaime is managing all these ministries, mind you, with only one “wing,” as his broken arm, patched with rods, has yet to heal properly. When you pray, remember that all this Kingdom explosion is taking place in a crucible of Dominican and Haitian antagonism, the latter living with the looming threat of deportation to their gang-controlled country.
I'm calling our Cambodian adventure this month “Close Encounters of the Electrical Kind.” In Asia, to have hot water, you need an in-shower wall-mounted heater. (In Ecuador, we called these “widow-makers” due to the clear and present danger of touching them mid-shower with fatal results.) The heater in our shower began behaving poorly, heating in spurts and dashes, sometimes refusing to cooperate, and occasionally cutting off ALL electricity to the whole apartment. No amount of fiddling with the breakers restored power, so maintenance was summoned and (eventually) sorted things out by doing something mysterious somewhere in the bowels of the building. For a couple of days, all was well until an exact repeat occurred…with maintenance again v-e-r-y slow to respond and anxious to disappear once power was restored. By the third “close encounter,” however, we insisted on a closer examination (using Google Translate with a LOT of exclamation marks and CAPITALS and emojis ) which eventually uncovered a burnt socket, blackened wires, and a myriad of horribly melted bits. I wish I had been quick enough to snap a picture! “Want fixed?” they queried. Well, yes, most definitely, we do! Interestingly, when you rent here (as in many Third World countries), the renter is responsible for repairs! I just hope the air conditioner holds up!
Although we find Cambodia’s climate (and sometimes living conditions) trying, it is part and parcel of a country and a people we have grown to love and appreciate deeply. There is gentleness and openness we’ve not often encountered before in Asia. We thank our LORD daily for the doors He’s opened for us to minister and the opportunity to partner with His Cambodian and foreign servants doing incredible work for His Kingdom.
“After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb.” Revelation 7:9