CAMBODIA
Cambodia is a country located in South East Asia that is the approximate size of Utah and has a population of 17 million.
The Cambodian people live in 24 different provinces and there are a total of 44 different people groups. The capital is Phnom Penh where 2.3 million live.
The extreme Marxist Khmer Rouge (from 1975-1979) orchestrated one of the most horrific massacres of the 20th century, killing millions of its own people, especially targeting the educated and Christians. By the end of the massacre only a few thousand Christians remained.
Cambodia remains one of the world’s poorer countries to this day, greatly dependent on foreign aid. Political corruption, drug and sex trafficking and the exploitation of children are rampant in the country.
84% of the country is Buddhist, living in spiritual darkness. Less than 1% of the Cambodian people are considered evangelical Christians.
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I grew up in a strong Buddhist family. I was still very young when my father and mother separated. My grandmother took me from my mom to care for me. My grandma was a strong Buddhist devotee; so I was trained to help her render some religious duties in the temple. When my grandmother passed away, I was brought to live with my aunt’s family. She had so many children that she couldn’t feed us all. My aunt knew of a Christian orphanage that could take me in. That’s how I came to hear of Jesus Christ. I lived in that orphanage until I graduated from high school. In 2008, I went to a language center that offered free English classes and that’s how I began to know Jesus Christ clearly and more intimately as my Lord and Savior.
After seeking the Lord in His word and prayer, God put into my heart a different path to pursue, His path and that is to serve Him full time in the ministry. In 2014, I joined in church planting ministry. I am now serving as a pastor in the church. I am also reaching out to the neighboring villages through our community development program and English outreach program.