I finally finished language school and I got my first taste of what ministry will look like without having to get up every morning and do school first.

Finishing School

The final month of school, Tori and I were joined in our online classes by a third student, a middle-aged Singaporean man. We were grateful for the freshness he brought to our in class conversations since it seemed like Tori and I had already discussed every recurring topic about 100 times over already and already knew full well what the other person would say on any given issue.

The last couple months I really struggled to apply myself and dreaded preparing presentations; but I did well and scored high despite that.

Expedition

When I was booking my flights to America for me and Bonnie, Theara told me to push them back a week so that I could join his expedition of Cambodians going to an unreached village.

I drove Bonnie by moto for 3 hours to Oddar Meanchey province to join the expedition. There were other ways to get there, but Bonnie really loves riding on motorcycles. I stayed back to finish my last day of school while Bonnie joined the rest of the expedition team in Thnal village.

After school, I rode out and met up with the team. They’d done a day of evangelism there already and Thanak’s little sister (hereafter referred to as girl Chai) had translated for Bonnie a bit. This was a village where barely anybody had even heard of Jesus let alone believed in him. For the next 4 days we went house to house sharing the gospel with the people who were home. Most of the people were in the cassava and rice fields except for the kids and the aged. We prayed for people, encouraged them, and showed them love. I translated to and from Bonnie pretty much the whole time, trying to keep her involved. (But sometimes I kinda forgot she was there)

Every day we taught the kids songs about Jesus and Bible stories. We invited the whole village to watch the Jesus film and hoards of children showed up (and a few adults) to watch it projected onto my bedsheet. It’s amazing how much the Jesus film communicates in just 2 hours (though we split it into 2 nights).

It was great to see the Cambodians that we were working with growing in confidence and them seeing that they really can reach their country for Christ.

5 adults and 35 children gave their lives to Jesus that week and I look forward to going back to that village someday. In the mean time, I think Charles is gonna keep going back there every so often and get some Bible studies going.

I didn’t want to leave Cambodia, a lot of exciting stuff is just starting and I’m gonna miss all my Khmer friends. I’ve been in Cambodia 14 months, and it’s my home now. It’s also hard knowing that when I go back to Cambodia I’m gonna be working in a different province from where I’ve lived up to this point, seeing all my closest friends only occasionally.

But I relish the opportunity to work with Charles in Oddar Meanchey and assist him and learn from him.

Back

I’ve been in the States for 2 weeks now and I definitely feel like a foreigner here, but the truth is that I’ve always felt that way and it’s nothing new. I long to go back to Cambodia, but I know that my real residence is the kingdom of heaven. Wherever I go, God goes with me, and the people of God are my family.

As much as I love and enjoy being with my family, (especially the nieces) I just can’t stay here. The call of Cambodia will continue to echo through my mind until they’re reconciled to Christ.

In the meantime I’m in the States until March having meetings and partnering with people to get fully funded for my next couple years in Cambodia. So reach out to me and let’s catch up, I’d love to share what’s been happening, and hear from all of you.

I’m back,

Tommy Downs.