Cambodia 2

I wanted to share a couple more things with you all from my time in Cambodia a week ago.

Unit 51:
We broke ground on the community center for the village and I had the chance to see the progress the families were making with their chicken houses and organic gardens. I was very encouraged by these things. There are now fruit trees and vegetable gardens scattered throughout the village.

Prayer of dedication for the community center
As I met with the brigade commander there he expressed great encouragement about how the living conditions and attitudes of his military families was improving.

We also had a couple of teaching opportunities with our leadership families.

Unit 14:
In addition to the amazing story I shared with you already I am very encouraged about how organized the Christian leaders are at the brigade.

They have appointed a shepherd for each of the 12 military family subdivisions surrounding the unit. They meet regularly for prayer and training.

The shepherds of Unit 14
I met with the new incoming commander and shared with him our joy in helping them get clean water to the families in the brigade. He of course is elated that we are helping them this way as it shows his superiors that he is taking care of his men. The truly wonderful thing about this is that his Christian troops are initiating this project.

I can’t express enough how encouraged I am by the growth of these young believers.

Village Witch Doctor becomes a Christian

We were invited to the home of Captain Savorn, which is located at a small jungle village in northern Cambodia. Captain Savorn is our main contact at the Royal Cambodian Armed Forces Unit 14. For almost 2 years now we have been training and discipling him as he leads the Christian officers in this area.

We gathered under Savorn’s home (typical Cambodian stilt house) with more than 30 of his neighbors to share with them our faith. Savorn has been speaking with them about Christ for some time now and has led several to the Lord.

Captain Savorn to the right of me.

One of the guys with me, an American from Oregon, spent a few minutes outlining what faith in Jesus looks like and then Sareth, our national leader who was translating, clarified further. When Sareth was finished speaking he asked if there were any questions regarding faith in Christ. One man stood up and said that he only had one question, “How do I become a Christian?”
While no “invitation” was given, it was clear that the Lord was moving in the hearts of these people as more than 20 responded that same way! Sareth spent another 30 minutes further explaining faith in Christ and then led them in prayer.

An older woman got up after this and said she wanted to share her story with us. She began by telling us she was the village witch doctor. Up until about 3 weeks ago she was the spiritual go-to person when people were ill or had demons that needed to be controlled. She would use idols, charms, incantations, and natural medicines to cure people and control bad spirits.
One evening she was called to a villager’s home to help someone who was having terrible stomach pains. She performed her usual routine of things but was not able to cure the person. As she returned home she contracted terrible stomach pains herself and began trying everything she knew to get rid of the pain but nothing was working.

Former witch doctor

After some time she called her son to come and pray over her. (Captain Savorn had led her son to the Lord some time ago and she was aware that he was now a Christian.) Her son prayed over her but still she was in great pain. Not knowing what else to do the son called on Savorn to come to the hut to help. (Savorn relates that as soon as he entered the hut he could tell that this woman was under spiritual attack.)

Both Savorn and the son then prayed over this woman and she was instantly healed! They related to her the gospel and she accepted Jesus as her Lord. They immediately began destroying the idols and charms that she had been using knowing now that they were evil.
As I pondered her story later it seemed obvious to me that this event had prepared the people in the village to hear the good news. When a spiritual guide destroys all her idols and charms and becomes a Christian it has a huge impact!
 

Just for Fun- That is a washing machine.