Reimund, from the Faroe Islands, whose English class I have taken over, married a local girl in a village wedding here. Starting at 7am with a fruit-carrying procession the colourful ceremony itself included worship songs, gospel message and the blessing plus a tradition which requires the bride and groom to wash the feet of their respective mothers and fathers -in- law. Close family descended upon Angkor Wat for the wedding photos followed by a meal and party at a large hotel venue later in the evening.
It was here that I experienced Cambodian dancing for the first time which I have to say that the wedding party from the Faroes had been excelling at (well sort of – a lot of arm-waving anyway). I'd only wandered off to find the gents toilet but on the way I was dragged onto the dance floor by some err.. let's say rather enthusiastic locals and before I knew it, I was participating in what can only be described as a sort of freestyle swimming motion with Bollywood hand movements whilst all following each around the dancefloor in a big circle. I managed a few circuits of the dance floor before realising what a prat I looked.
I have met many people out here, people with amazing stories of intervention, healing and of salvation. Some have been out here for years, others are more short-term. I heard one tale of some workers who were at one time going into the villages in Burma near to the border with Thailand. The atmosphere had felt very dark and heavy as the local witch doctors had not been happy about their visit and so the team moved on. Whilst traversing a river at the base of some mountains, the team felt something happening and there then followed what could only be described as a massive tremor during which everything around them shook violently for a few moments and then nothing.. complete peace. Although very shaken by this, the team moved on to the next village.
Upon arrival they were welcomed and they stayed and talked with the locals in their huts. They noticed a young boy hiding behind a tree who had been listening in as they talked. Later on, as they left the village, the boy came up to them and spoke - he told them that he lived in the last village where the witch doctors were. He told them that he'd listened and had accepted Jesus Christ but that the shamen had been furious about this and told how they had put a curse on the team and that they'd arranged that they would be killed as they left the village. He went on:
“I followed you out of our village but I knew that as they'd cursed you, I knew that something was going to happen. As you crossed the river at the base of that mountain, everything started to violently shake and I thought that this was it, that we were all about to die. But then I looked up and as the ground beneath me shook, I saw something bright and powerful reach down from the sky and suddenly everything was still. I knew that it was divine; I knew that we'd been saved”.
There have been recent reports of healings through prayer too; one lady in a village with a problematic broken shoulder was prayed for and regained full movement. Another, whose hand had been in some way deformed, was able to move it again. Whilst I was in this particular village though, a young man had just died after a long battle with a degenerative illness. His wife had left him too because of this and although it was a sad story it was one of salvation as he had accepted Jesus Christ after burning the idols he had set before him all of his life. He had become angry that they had not offered any solution to the illness that had gripped him but the pastor of the church where I teach had been one of the few who had visited him and prayed for him in the time running up to when God called him home.
I also had a purely-by-chance conversation with a Khmer guy who told me an amazing story: He said that he was orphaned at the age of one when the Khmer Rouge murdered his parents. He was then raised by an aunt as a Buddhist and then went on to become an actual monk. Fifteen years ago, he was visiting Angkor Wat in his orange robes (which many monks do and they can be seen at many of the pagodas here in town) when someone shared with him the concept of grace and of God's love and plan for his life which as a Buddhist, he had no comprehension of.
Attracted by this revelation, he started attending a local Khmer church and is now working as a local tour guide and has a ministry to local Khmers, leading many to the Lord. Amazingly, Christians have been be invited into the pagodas so that people can learn about the gospel; this nation is searching and those of us that are here to love these people, will hopefully get a glimpse of the love that God has for them.
To me, this is a prime example of what God is doing amongst the people here; they have an openness that I've not experienced before and seemingly a dissatisfaction with their thinly-veiled religiosity. At home, we have the Alpha Course to help people wrestle with the essential questions of life but out here, most, due to buddhism, are open for the truth to be taught. Many people respond and give their lives to Christ but it can take a long while for the roots of the spiritism in their lives to die away. In Phnom Penh however, the young people that move there to study, tend to leave their religious activity behind when they leave their villages and enter into a secular city lifestyle. So when they have a God-encounter, the deep-rooted ancestor-worship is no longer the barrier that it can be for the dwellers of more rural areas.
I have learned so much in this initial month; it has been hard getting to know the ex-pats already settled here but I'm hoping for opportunities to bless them instead of waiting for them to welcome me. It must be hard seeing people come and go – to build friendships only for that person to leave for their home country, so I do now understand. I want to continue to grow, to become bolder but to also just continue to be me, the way that I have been created, using the gifts that God has given me.
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