�Life out of Death�
After his brother was executed, Seng Bun left Cambodia to save his own life. Over land and between mines he traveled, hoping not to be caught. He was sick and his only hope was escape to the Thai border refugee camp.
After recovering there, he was invited to a YWAM Bible study where he came to know Jesus. Four years later, he came to America, where his wife ran off with another man. Then Seng was stabbed 16 times and nearly died, losing sight in one eye. After that, he made a serious commitment to God and started to lead other Cambodians to the Lord. Without planning, a church was born in America and Seng became the pastor. As his church grew, so did Seng�s desire to reach the lost around him. For three years, he helped organize and lead outreaches to feed the poor and tell them the good news.
Seng did not want to return to Cambodia; he had not recovered from his experiences there. But a desire to visit his family grew strong. Finally, in June 1999, he decided to go. Without warning, he reappeared in his village. His family was amazed; they thought he died long ago.
Now, when he returned to America, he found he could hardly wait to get back to his homeland. A vision and passion to reach his people was birthed in his heart. He wanted the killing fields to be turned into fields of redemption, to see new life in a land of death. During the scourge of the Khmer Rouge in the late 1970�s and early 80�s, there was an attempt to annihilate Cambodian history and culture. Killing was rampant. Perhaps millions of lives were lost. Their individual and national identity was dislocated.
Seng himself represents the people of Cambodia well, in their past and in the promise of their future. He has experienced the death they have and also has found new life. He invites two Americans in his church to return with him. One is a Vietnam veteran, Ward Ohlsson, who has hoped to revisit Southeast Asia as a missionary. He and Seng share a common past and have the same hope for the future.
The other team member is Rose Ann Iffland, who works in Seng�s church. She has a heart for evangelism, especially cross-culturally. Although they have a common goal, there are differences among them that God must change. After discussion, they all pray and the Holy Spirit fills the room with His powerful presence. There are tears as God does a work in their hearts. The team also prays with other leaders, and God confirms His plan for the Cambodian trip. From then on, they pray for unity under the leadership of Jesus. Throughout the journey, the Lord is faithful to grant their request.
Upon arrival in Thailand, they meet with a publisher who gives them 35,000 scripture booklets. They rest overnight and leave the next morning. En route to Cambodia, there is a strong military presence. They have also read there are still bandits and unexploded mines on the road they are taking and ask the Lord for safety and wisdom.
At the Cambodian border, they are delayed for two hours. Before leaving, friends prayed for the group to have divine appointments. �Look for opportunities in delays,� they said. � Just show up and trust God for what to do or say.� They start to give scripture booklets to children standing around. Something goes to work in the children. Without reading them first, they give out about 5000 booklets to others. Soon the border is being saturated with the good news in print. The people are hungry for every word. �If our trip is starting out this way, then I wonder how good it can get,� one missionary says. They are all encouraged.
In the village, the people treat all the visitors like long-lost family. The people are shy, friendly and gentle; the children�s eyes are filled with a disarming innocence and wonder. The poverty in the village is hard to describe. It�s hard to find a refrigerator, telephone, television, running water, bed, chair, car, doctor, therapist, more than two shirts or the things Americans need.
The children play in the dirt street and are happy. They have an inner life and don�t know they are missing anything. Many eat frogs and rats, but give the missionary team their best, receiving them like ambassadors.
Once settled in the village, the team prays in a bamboo house. An afternoon thunderstorm pours down heavy rain and they pray for God to rain down His Spirit on the people. Then they start making friends with the villagers before sharing the good news, a practice they follow throughout the trip.
The next day they visit homes. As they approach, they bless the people in Jesus� name and speak peace to them. They pray for a few sick people with no apparent results, but lead some to the Lord. Then, at one house they pray for a woman who is instantly healed of symptoms of hypertension. She receives Jesus as her Lord. She gets up and walks with them. People gather around, curious about her being able to walk. The team tells them Jesus healed her.
The next day the team goes to the public school and Seng asks if they can speak to the student body. One of the Americans speaks while Seng translates. Afterward, about 730 students pray and ask Jesus into their lives. Then the team prays for the teachers and principal and blesses them in Jesus� name.
The schools are very poor. The team knew that and brought thousands of pens, pencils and reading glasses, which they give to the students. Each student receives a scripture booklet. They read them, then take them back to their villages for family members to read. The people are hungry to read something in their language.
During the day the Jesus film is being watched regularly, then the team puts on some music at night and people show up. Children sit in front and sing while the adults watch and listen from behind them. The missionaries tell stories and share about knowing Jesus, and many villagers ask Him into their lives each night.
The team decides to leave the village and go to a nearby town to escape the heat and get some rest. They stay in an air-conditioned room with a shower and a toilet you can sit on.
They bring some of the youth from the village for training and to build friendships. They all give out booklets in the market place.
They also meet other missionaries and church planters, and like divine coincidence, several are from their own town in America. From this meeting, an interdenominational network begins; together they plan strategies for extending the kingdom of God. In the town there is a young church led by Cambodians. There are already a few pastors and apostles. The apostles go to the villages to evangelize and plant churches. They join with the American team to ensure the work continues after they leave.
The team returns to the village. They revisit the healed woman and find her strong and active. Her daughter and friends are smiling; they say she can carry water again. The woman says she now loves Jesus and prays to Him. The team is encouraged again.
The receptivity to the good news is almost hard to believe. They speak at another school and again lead hundreds to the Lord. �No one ever came to tell us about Jesus and salvation,� the principal says.
Friendship and power evangelism work well here. The team plays with children, gives out medicine and toys, and shares about knowing God. While they pray for people, they experience a demonstration of God�s presence. Sometimes the people weep; many have never been touched by love in this way.
To another group Rose Ann speaks about knowing Jesus as a husband and God as a father who will never leave us. She then leads the listeners to the Lord.
Afterward, she speaks with a young woman who tells her that her husband has just divorced her. Divorce is rare here; usually men just take an additional wife. She was moved by the message and came to Jesus.
On the way to another village, the team stops to pray in front of a Buddhist temple. A woman walks by and is invited to join them. She tells them her husband beats her and that in anger she has just had an abortion; she carries a bag of herbal roots meant to prevent infection. She is in pain and feels guilty.
The team shares about God�s love and His plan of salvation with her. They pray for her healing and watch her come alive as she receives the Savior. Immediately after, about a hundred school children walk by on the way home from school. They stop to observe and listen. The team proclaims the good news to them and they too receive Jesus.
Inside the other village, the Americans pass out hundreds of booklets, then visit a small church. Buddhist temples in the villages are common but a Christian church is rare. They meet the pastor and a team member speaks to him. He says he sees the light of God in him. �You feel alone and cut off out here in this remote village. But there is as much of God out here as there is in China, America or anywhere and He is always with you,� he says. �And God is bringing the tribes together as one nation, like He did with Israel in time of war. Join with our interdenominational network and let us work together to bring in the harvest.�
The pastor and his wife look surprised and happy. The pastor says he has not heard from his denomination or received any support for more than 9 years. He wants to join the growing network.
Returning to their host village, the group receives an invitation to dinner with the village mayor. The head of village security owns fourteen ducks and kills five for the occasion.
�We know you speak the truth to the people,� says the mayor. He tells them the leaders are glad the Americans stay with the people rather than just observe them; they wish the village could pay them to stay and teach their children.
One of the Americans apologizes for some American�s attitude of superiority towards Asians. It is not clear if the apology is understood, but the Cambodians receive their friendship.
Another day, they are invited to a wedding dinner. After the meal, a Cambodian man asks one of the American men to dance. The American is confused. The other missionary explains that the men dance together as a sign of friendship. He feels awkward but finally accepts. This appears to have a powerful effect on the Cambodians. After the dancing, the Cambodian man asks if the team will come and plant a church in his village also. The man still does not know Jesus, but is moved by friendship.
After the wedding they have the first Sunday morning service, attended by many children and adults. The pastor from the other village is present with some of his people. He invites the team to teach at his church that afternoon. It was hot and crowded in the building. The speaker draws a cross on the black board. He writes curses on one side of the cross and blessings on the other and explains salvation. He breaks curses off everyone present and off the land, then proclaims blessings over each person. There is a noisy and powerful response from many of the people. Something has happened in the spiritual realm. Seng, who always translates, leads them in a prayer to receive Christ.
Back in the village Seng buys a lot and the team works with villagers to clear the land. Some of Seng�s family has come to the Lord and they help build a bamboo church. He is a happy man. Their first service reveals that the structure is too small. The building cannot contain all the people. The village has a population of about 4200. There are poor and more affluent groups within the village. They don�t mix well, so the need for an additional meeting place is apparent.
They decide to go to another village and show the Jesus film. As the people gather they discover that the VCR doesn�t work. They decide to use loud speakers to proclaim the good news to the people who are waiting. It has grown dark and the missionaries see lights bobbing up and down the road about 40 yards away. Young boys with lights on their helmets walk down the road. They are on their way out to the fields for nighttime hunting, hoping to bring back rats and frogs for food. Many adults line up in the dark, listening to the speaker�s invitation to receive Christ. In America, one in a hundred might respond to the invitation; here nearly all of them raise their hands and pray to receive Christ.
�In America, many speak of the stronghold against the gospel in the 10-40 window,� says Seng, �but the stronghold in America is greater.� Everywhere the team goes the people are thirsty for the water of life. It�s as if the people have been waiting to know a Savior like Jesus. The team brings the good news of Jesus Christ and many things to share. The two veterans of war are having a different kind of experience in a former war zone. Instead of bullets flying they are being touched by the friendship of the people. They are deeply affected.
�I see the fire of God�s love, the refreshing rain of the Holy Spirit and the wind of His miraculous power moving across this nation,� says one. �We need a thousand missionaries here while the window is open.� Another missionary, Jerry Mishler, says he has been to many countries and this is the most receptive people he has ever seen. The team wants to come back. The potential harvest here is great.
It is hard to imagine the suffering these people have experienced. They are recovering from great personal loss and extreme poverty. Violence and death affect each family; many continue to grieve, broken-hearted. Perhaps this brokenness provides an opening to God�s healing love and message of hope.
The team has a vision for bringing the light of God�s love to a people who sit in a land under the shadow of death. They want to return with a medical and church planting team. It appears life comes out of death and great pain, at least in this land.
March 2000 by Ward!
