Living Fields

I'm in Cambodia and found this book at the market...Title: Killing Fields, Living Fields. The book tells the complex story through the lives and testimonies of a handful of strategic Christians. From the back cover: "The Cambodian Church was first planted among the rice farmers of North-West Cambodia in the mid-1920s. Growth was slow and painful. Then fifty years of nearly fruitless toil culminated in the incredible decade of the 1970s, when joyous spiritual awakening was juxtaposed with indescribable devastation. Communist rule forced the massively depleted Church underground in Cambodia, drove it across into Thailand's crowded camps, and scattered it across six continents. At that time almost all the mature leadership perished under the Khmer Rouge. The camps are now closed; the Church is free; the time is ripe for growth and development."




Yesterday Jordan and I went to Tol Sleng: S-21, now a museum but between the years of 1976-1979 it served as the Khmer Rouge mass concentration camp and interrogation site. It was sickening. We just walked through the place in silence. How could these things happen? What did the people feel and think? How is God revealing His healing and power in this and its aftermath? What is the Cambodian Church now? Pray for the believers here. Pray for their witness in this heavily Buddhist country. I think back to Aceh and what I saw...devastation, opening to life. Pray for the living fields!

Let me tell you who Jordan is! She worked with MTI in Aceh for 6 months last year and has just joined me this month. We will be traveling companions for the next little while - she's from Knoxville, TN, is 24 years old too, and is supervising our construction projects in Indonesia and now Cambodia - she's just great and is becoming a dear friend. I praise the Lord for the provision of sending us "out" as a pair!...

I arrived in Phnom Penh on Monday and then went straight to the province (about 2 hours away) with Jordan and Mary Joy (from the Philippines!). The three of us stayed there overnight, hosted by the family of the Cambodian lady who has had the vision to take the love of Christ to her village (she is the only believer in her family and there is no Christian witness in this Buddhist village). We are working on a preschool for the lady to develop into a place of ministry and training...cultivating young hearts!). While there Jordan monitored the progress of the construction and the three of us ran a little "kids club" - 40 + kids came, accompanied by their mothers. It was amazing to just begin to be present with them, to pray for them while we laughed and played. Pray for these children, many of whom haven't heard of Jesus. Just 15 minutes after the children went home, it poured in a torrential storm - we're told storms this big only happen once a year! But it was refreshing.

...there's more to share...about the kids program in PP...just returned this afternoon from doing basic first-aid in the local community - putting medicine and bandages on the children's wounds. They get scrapes and bites that become infected quite easily.

I've been thinking to myself how many of my "wounds" are just sanitized before I even know they're there. I've been learning a lot - the Lord's been dealing in my heart of hearts in great ways. I look forward to sharing more with you when I'm next able.

-Grace and Peace from the Living Fields