Stories

A testimony from Vichea

Dear Love-A-Village Supporters, 

My name is Vichea Un. On 4 June 2020, I declared to the world, “I believe in Jesus.” I grew up in a family who believes in Buddhism. Life in Cambodia, and in the village, is not easy. When I was a young adult, I had the opportunity to go to Siem Reap town to study and work. I grabbed it and left my village.

I found out that life in town was not easy too! I could not find a job and didn’t have enough money, so I had to stop studying. During this time, I was introduced to Jesus through my friend. At that time, I thought that Jesus was a god, so I prayed to him to bless me as I was going through difficult times.

However, I did not fully believe in Jesus. It took me a long time to learn and fully believe that Jesus is the Son of God and to have the courage to declare, “I believe in Jesus.”

On 4 June 2020, I did it! In front of my villagers, I did it! God gave me the power and courage to share my faith. I could not have done it on my own. 

In my journey to becoming a Christian, I have come to realize – when something bad happens, there is a reason. God is there with me throughout. God loves me and he wants good things for me. I am encouraged by Jesus when I face difficulties.

I know there is much for me to learn about Jesus. I have started to read the Bible daily, learning from a Bible teacher more about Jesus and sharing my faith with my family. Please pray for my family to believe in Jesus and for God to continue to provide for my family. 

(In Vichea’s words, with just a little editing to be more grammatically correct.)

This trip, I had dinner with four high school students who live in a Christian student dormitory in Siem Reap city. As I interacted with these young Christians, I found them to be hungry for God’s word. They are eager to learn more about God. They are trying their best to live out the Christian faith and serve God faithfully in a country that is known to be Buddhist.

During dinner, I asked them this question – Who is your favourite Bible character? 

I was pleasantly surprised by the variety of their answers.

Answer 1: Ruth – she was loyal to her husband’s family even though he had passed away. She loved her mother-in-law and followed her.

Answer 2: Abraham – he had great faith in God. He demonstrated this faith with the sacrifice of his only son.

Answer 3: Moses – he was a great leader who led the Israelites out of Egypt.

Answer 4: I don’t know who my favourite Bible character is. There are too many to remember! 

I had expected this last answer from all four of them actually! And to be honest, I think many Singaporean youths might also have given this answer too, should they be asked.

For me, one of my favourite Bible characters is King David. Why? Like all of us, King David was imperfect and sinned multiple times. Yet, each time he sinned, King David repented and came before the Lord. This knowledge gives me encouragement that I don’t need to be perfect, but I need to ask God for forgiveness and repent each time I sin. God himself said that King David was a man after his own heart. 

So, who is your favourite Bible character and why? 😊

As I was swiping through the photos from this trip, it suddenly came to my mind that God has been good to Love-A-Village. We have much to be thankful for.

Let me share with you some snapshots of our year.

We enlarged the size of 3 classrooms in Thansure School as the children became bigger. Can you see the difference in the tiles?

We repaired the roof at Thansure School as there were holes in the roof.

We tiled the last kindergarten classroom for Lovea Primary School. The students now have a conducive place to study in!

We bought 4 new blackboards for Lovea Primary School as their old blackboards were so old that any writing could not be seen.

We renovated the toilets at Lovea Primary School.

We have our very first scholarship student – Sithorn!

We found a supporter for Sriesros to teach English to 73 Grade 4 students in Peam Primary School.

Om E has stopped drinking – once again! 🙂

All glory be to God. And a huge THANK YOU to all our supporters who have made it possible. Many of you responded to our last-minute requests with big hearts. YOU have made a difference in the lives of these people.

It has been a while! The last time I did manual labour was back in 2017 when I went with San San and a few others to help with the building of the library in Lovea Primary School. This experience definitely brought back fond memories, and left me with an aching body!

I had a wonderful trip accompanying two student groups from two different Singapore secondary schools who embarked on service-learning trips to Siem Reap. One group built an outdoor shelter at Peam Village Foundation and the other group tiled the outdoor courtyard at Lovea Primary School. Each of these projects translates into a more conducive teaching and learning environment for the Cambodian teachers and students in these two schools.

Being a part of these two projects, I am reminded of Love-A-Village’s guiding principle that faith must be followed up with good deeds. Building education facilities to meet the needs of the community is faith in action. As we continue to do God’s work in Cambodia, we pray that the Cambodians experience God’s love through improved lives.

I have known Sina for just over 2 years and am always amazed by her faith in God. In every decision in her life, she submits and surrenders it to the Lord in prayer.

During this trip, I met up with her and her boyfriend. She has known him for 5 years but she has never been sure about marrying him. She has been praying for his faith, for him to truly know Jesus, and for God to affirm that he is the one for her. God has finally answered her prayers, and she has peace in her heart which could only come from God when she decided that she will marry him. Their upcoming engagement is later this month and the wedding will be in November.

When I saw Sina and her boyfriend together, I could tell that she was happy and there was an inner glow from her being. I pray that God will bless their marriage and their life together.

Seeing how Sina trusted and submitted to God for her life partner made me reflect on my faith in God and whether I really do submit and surrender everything to God. Would I have waited for 5 years for God’s answer or would I have taken everything into my own hands? I wonder.

What about you?

Praise the Lord! Om E, the gentleman in the orange t-shirt, has stopped drinking. Om Chomrern (the lady in black, standing in the background) shared with us that he was touched by the Lord during her sharing and decided to stop drinking and be a good husband to Om Han, his wife.

This brought to my mind:

Now, Om E helps out at home with the household chores, cooking and making furniture. He also goes fishing to catch fish. Here is a piece of his work:

Om E made this table/chair/bench out of wooden pieces lying around the house and from collecting them around the village. Truly, the old has gone and the new has come! Praise the Lord!

During this trip, I was more intentional about outreach.

The reason why? Studying at bible college has made me more aware of the need to share my faith with others. As Paul says in Romans 10:14, “But how can they call on him to save them unless they believe in him? And how can they believe in him if they have never heard about him? And how can they hear about him unless someone tells them?”

We witness with our lives but we still need to share the good news with nonbelievers.

Thus, this trip, I took the time to have spiritual conversations about Jesus with Mr Vichea and Mr Pagna.

With Mr Pagna, I shared with him Mark 1:21­-34. I wanted to show him that Jesus is greater than spirits, and he had power to heal. Mr Pagna has health issues and believes in animal spirits. Thus, I felt the Holy Spirit guiding me to tell him about Jesus’ power. I am praying that Mr Pagna continues to remain open to learning about the Bible and Jesus.

With Mr Vichea, we spoke about family pressures and the dominant religion in Cambodia being Buddhism. Thus, it is very hard for him to open up to his family about wanting to learn more about Christianity and even becoming a Christian. I am praying for him as he continues to learn more about Jesus and come to a decision for himself about his beliefs.

I am aware that what I am doing is just sowing seeds. However, we never know when these seeds will grow! Thus, I am urging you to be intentional in sowing seeds around you. People need to hear the good news presented to them!