A staff member in Cambodia shares his testimony with kids in schools where we are doing hygiene education classes
By Michelle de Carion, Samaritan’s Purse staff writer
I looked up to the sky as I started to make my way back to our truck and saw a group of birds flying overhead in a perfect V formation. “Wow” I thought. “Those birds are ordering themselves all on their own.” I had never stopped to think about the unsuspecting nature of this amazing phenomenon.
It reminded me of a conversation I had with one of our WASH staff just a few days before in Poipet, Cambodia. Sreng Chamraen shared with me how he became a Christian and started working with Samaritan’s Purse.
About two percent of the population is Christian in Cambodia, with over 2,000 evangelical churches. One of these churches happened to be in Sreng’s neighborhood. But, he grew up believing that people became Christians only for the money or because they were stupid. However, all of that changed when his aunt converted to Christianity.
“I asked myself, ‘why did she become a Christian?’” Sreng said. “She is not stupid or crazy. She didn’t need money and had a good education.
“She told me that Jesus is a good and living God and that I should try to talk to Him. So I started to pray to God and went to a church near my house.”
The day Sreng attended a church service, the pastor talked about the creation story. He was very interested because he had always wondered about the order in nature.
“It was a question I had always asked when I was young,” Sreng said. “I looked at the coconut tree and wondered how the coconut was so perfect. It had the water inside and a tough outside. I thought, why was creation so special like this? That day my questions were answered. God must be the creator. So I told the pastor I wanted to believe in Jesus and I became a Christian.”
Now when Sreng shares the Gospel with people he uses the order and design found in the world to witness. When the iphone 5 came out, he would tell people that because it was such a special device we know someone made it. Why do we not think the same way about the universe? It is special, so it must have a creator too.
Since Sreng is now working with Samaritan’s Purse, he has the opportunity to share the Good News of Jesus with many kids in school. He became one of our hygiene education staff in 2009.
“In the meetings we share the Gospel, that Jesus is the one thing that can fill you and your heart and never spoils,” Sreng said. “We tell them that the reason we give things to them is because we love them and that love comes from God. We encourage them to love others too and to pray to Him.”
It is encouraging to see our staff so passionate about the Lord. Sreng is using his testimony every day as a powerful witness to children throughout Cambodia. I’m thankful that we have people like him who are so dedicated to getting the Gospel message out to people who have either never heard of Jesus or have gotten the wrong impression of Him—just like Sreng did years ago.
