By Andreas Mehrguth
Director, e3 Legacy
Our team
of 21 people between ages 11 and 59 experienced lots of firsts in Cambodia:
sharing the story of God’s love with people who have never heard the name of
Jesus, praying with Buddhists to receive Christ, praying over someone for
healing and seeing God’s miraculous power heal the person, developing a love
for people in a far off Asian country who are steeped in idol worship.
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| Our amazing team of 42 |
Getting
our minds around the Buddhist worldview took a few days. While we had done some
study on Buddhism, each village seemed to have its own idiosyncrasies. We’ve
shared the gospel on five continents and dozens of countries, but we’ve never
shared with people with so many questions. It was encouraging!
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| So awesome having our boys with us once again |
When we
approached the Buddhist villagers, they were pleased to greet us and to allow
us to share the story of God’s love with them. They were mesmerized by God’s
love for them in sending Jesus to pay the penalty for their sin; yet, they
wanted to make sure we understood that “Cambodians are Buddhists.” Finally, on
Wednesday when Chante, a young mother, said, “Our ancestors were Buddhists, and
so we are Buddhists,” Terri commented that just because their ancestors were
Buddhists, that did not make Buddhism true. Surprisingly, she agreed. Terri
then shared a story: “There was a king, and he fed his people rice. Sadly, this
rice had poison in it, so whenever the people ate the rice, they died. Now, the
children and grandchildren were going to eat the rice. A foreigner asked them
why they were going to eat the rice when they knew that it had poison in it,
and that they would die. The people all replied that they ate it because that
was the way it had always been done.”
The young woman’s eyes lighted up, indicting that Terri’s story
resonated with her. She continued to meet with Terri for Bible study, came to
the Friday celebration, and agreed to attend church while she learned more
about Jesus and then make a decision about following Him.
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| The intricate ancestral shrines were supposed to keep the evil spirits away |
Many
people wanted to follow Jesus, but they were afraid to give up Buddhism, afraid
of what the spirits would do to them. That was Nit’s situation. As a 51-year
old widow, she was poor and lonely with her only child living in Phnom Penh
three hours away. After meeting with her daily, sometimes twice in a day to
disciple her, she prayed to receive Christ on Wednesday. Thursday she said that
a few of her neighbors had been mocking her all week about meeting with us and
now she was only 60% sure she wanted to follow Christ. The honesty was so
refreshing! By Thursday afternoon, she was ready to follow Him completely. On
Friday afternoon, while a team member was discipling her neighbor Makim, Nit
stormed in the house, throwing a gospel track on the table and stating, “I’m
not going to follow Jesus! It’s too hard!” She went on to share that in
addition to the mocking from her neighbors, she was having frightening
nightmares since she had received the gospel track and she was afraid of the
bad things that were going to happen to her. This provided the team member the opportunity to explain
spiritual warfare and the reality of what was happening. She was taught the
truth of a loving God who wanted to protect her, that while spiritual warfare
is real, Jesus is the victor and that she could trust Him. The team member went
on to battle in prayer for her, asking for God’s peace to reign in her life. As
that was prayed, it became immediately clear to Nit and everyone else present
that she was filled with the peace of God. It was absolutely beautiful! She
bowed her head and received Christ 100%!
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| Nit on the left and Makim meet with Terri |
Cambodians,
culturally speaking, do not touch, at least not in the villages where we
worked. There is no hand shake, but rather a slight bend at the waist as the
hands are pressed together with fingertips being placed just below the nose.
Our team found that the benefit of protection from germs exchanged in a hand
shake or a hug, did not outweigh people’s need to experience connectedness or
love through a simple touch or pat on the back. Loneliness, compounded by the
lack of touch, was evident most everywhere we ministered.
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| Rebecca and her translator pray over sick woman |
Terri met
daily with Makim, a 71-year-old widow who was desperately lonely even though
she lived with 13 other people in a large, subdivided home. Finally on Friday,
after many Bible studies, sometimes two a day, Makim opened up and told her
story. She was widowed about six years previously. She had adopted two sons,
age 23 and 18. Her 23-year-old was married, living in Phnom Penh with his wife
and newborn baby, and she saw him infrequently. She then wept as she showed us
a picture of her other son at his wake; he had hung himself 15 months earlier
as he sat in jail after being accused of raping an eight-year-old girl in the
village. Makim insisted it was impossible he could have done such a terrible
thing; she remains friends with Rom and Chhor Vichea, the parents of the little
girl, a couple we discipled each day. As Makim wept, Terri asked if she could
touch her. When Makim agreed, Terri wrapped her arms around Makim, repeatedly
kissing her on the forehead and wiping her tears away. Terri was able to share
how God had seen every tear she had shed, was grieved by her loss, and wanted
to be her Comforter. After 10 hours spent with her over eight visits, Makim
gave her life to Christ! Yes, people need the Lord. Often they don’t realize it
until we come representing the hands and feet of Jesus. It’s all so very
humbling to be used by God in this way!
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| Makim studied for hours with Terri each day |
Mouy, a
godly woman who has been radically transformed by God’s grace and is living in
Chante, Nit, and Makim’s village, is committed to continue to teach these women
about Jesus and what it means to walk with God. Thank you for praying, fasting, and giving, so that more than
270 Cambodians could hear about and choose to follow Jesus Christ. You will be
so blessed to meet Nit and Makim someday in heaven, when they will personally
thank you for being obedient to God’s call on your life. You are making a
difference in the Kingdom of God! We’re privileged to know you and partner with
you.
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