So the Betsy situation from my last blog brought me to a place of brokenness before the Lord. This brokenness is what allowed me to know that God requires a humble servant that will rely on his guidance every second of life.  Thanks to this epiphany, the week of September 19-23 ministry was crazy amazing, and God showed me how truly joyous it is to serve him.

“How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?” Romans 10:14

To begin the week, the TransformAsia center opened its doors to the community of Battambang in the hopes of empowering its people by teaching them Bible and English classes. My co-teachers, Emily and Erin, and I volunteered to teach the morning intermediate English class. Since Emily is going to grad school for education and Erin also desires to be a teacher, their jobs were to prepare the English lesson and I prepared the Bible lesson for our class.

        
After assisting Emily and Erin in their English course, my Bible section started. The class was made up of roughly eight Cambodians placed into a small room huddled around two tables. As I stood before my students and saw their disinterested looks, I was quickly reminded of the monks and Buddhist temples on every corner and the Cambodian people’s allegiance to Buddhism. So, I proceeded with great caution as I entered into my Bible lesson.  

Apprehensive I started out on “even ground”, talking about myself and then easing into Christ.  Immediately I noticed their confused looks at the mention of “God’s Son” and “the cross, so I paused to look them each in their eyes.  Holding up my cross earrings, I got our translator to ask them if they knew the story of the cross or if they could tell me who Christ is. They all said no! They have NEVER heard the GOSPEL! I was shocked! I knew there are people who had never heard the gospel, but I had never been in a situation where it was right in my face. I could have jumped out of my skin with chills and joy! God entrusted me to be the first one to offer his story of redemption and love! Wow!!  

This was too much too fast! My heart started pumping and I went into overdrive! Where to start? Where to start? I prayed a silent prayer and started off with the creation story! I went into how God is powerful and how he, his son, and the Holy Spirit created the world and everything in it. I went into how God formed man in his likeness from the dust and breathed life into his body. I spoke about how woman was uniquely created out of the rib of Adam. This part of the Gospel really got the attention of two students— Chin and Le Lo. The looks on their faces, especially Chin’s, was pure amazement of God’s power and creativity!

After explaining this perfect world and God’s perfect relationship with humanity, I went into Satan’s role in deceiving humanity and the consequences of the fall. I spoke of how the fall torments our daily reality and how many of our goals are just to achieve momentary happiness in life, but with Christ we can have joy in this fallen world, and we can be seen as right in the eyes of the Lord. My time was running out and I only had seconds left to wrap up, so I left them with this cliff-hanger.  (Holding up my cross earrings) “If you want to know how this cross brings us back into intimacy with God, come back to tomorrow.”
 

After ending the day of ministry, you could only image how excited and joyful I felt. God’s message was going forth, and the Cambodian people seemed interested in the Gospel. This was a blessed experience and a blessed day.

Prayer Request: Please left up Chin and Le Lo in prayer.  Out of the many students that we get throughout the week their hearts appear to be the most yearning for an understanding to life. God has done a lot in the weeks after Sept 19-23 in their lives. I just ask that you pray for the hearts to continue to be softened towards the Gospel!