First Expedition

We had an expedition in Srah Keo village last month which is one of the many villages which I’m responsible for ministry-wise. There were no believers when we started other than the pastor and his family. It was so cool to see the Americans come in with no knowledge of the culture and no knowledge of the language and just hit the village hard with the gospel. People were miraculously healed, people heard of Jesus for the first time, and others received the gospel and rushed to tell their neighbors.

Also our Cambodian coministers got to see for the first time what an Overland Missions expedition is like. We’ve all grown in faith having seen the things we’ve seen and we’re gonna contend harder for healing from now on. I was out with the expedition every day and I assisted the team by translating Khmer into English while the translators translated English into Khmer. It was fun to take a more backseat role and encourage the American team and assist them.

Testimonies

We met this grandpa who had stepped on a landmine 27 years ago; because of that his legs were weak and every morning when he gets up he walks “like a drunk man.” His vision was also affected. He told us that 3 weeks before some shrapnel had made its way out of his chest. We shared the gospel with him and we prayed for his eyes, and his legs. He stood up and the pain was gone, and he was able to see clearly (his eyes seemed to be good, but he said he only has problems when it’s bright). Then we helped him pray to receive Jesus.

There was a family we shared the gospel with, we answered their many questions and they were so interested in Jesus. In the middle of praying for them, an old man showed up who had lost his arm and his eye in an landmine explosion. He had believed the gospel 30 years ago in the refugee camp and he wanted to learn more and had been waiting since then. Over the next few days, the team visited that family and their neighbor many times. One of the men wanted to know how to pray, and after Micah told him that you can pray any way and that it’s like talking to anybody, he began to teach others how to pray as well.

Second Expedition

Then this month we had an expedition in Pul Village which is not only under Matt and Kim’s “jurisdiction” but also where they live.

Testimonies

The expedition team went to a house and sat with an old woman on her wooden platform and broke it so that it tipped over, she however was unharmed. “It’s been broken 3 times before,” she assured them. She said that she had pain in her knees for a long time, so the team prayed for her 3 times and she felt better and was ecstatic. She proceeded to take them to her neighbor who also had a similar affliction so that they too could be healed.

There was an old woman with bad vision, dark in one eye, and blurry in the other. The expedition team prayed for the blurry eye and she began to see clearer. Then they prayed for her dark eye and it too was healed and she was then able to count fingers with that eye alone.

The expedition team prayed for a sick grandpa and grandpa who could not walk. They felt better and in excitement the grandpa said that he was gonna go tell his whole village about Jesus.

The expedition team met a man who wanted to see a miracle. He had issues with his hand, his knees, and his lungs; so they prayed 3 times and he was healed and in excitement declared that Jesus really is the son of God.

One of my friends lives in the village, so the team asked her to gather the kids. The team ministered to and prayed for the kdis and 11 or 12 of them gave their lives to Jesus. When individually asked why they wanted to receive Jesus, a lot of them said because of sadness and nightmares.

There was an blind man with back and leg problems. After sharing the gospel, Micah declared to him, “If God doesn’t heal you, then everything we told you is a lie.” And he was healed.

The team went to a house and Sahara said to the 10 year old girl on the team, “Jasmine, tell the lady how God gave you confidence.” So Jasmine and her mom and Sahara prayed for God to give Jasmine wisdom. The woman they were visiting was a Christian. Jasmine started to read John 3:16 and she kept reading all the way to verse 21: “But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.” (Joh 3:21, ESV2011) Jasmine encouraged the woman that she could share the gospel with everyone. The lady was captivated by Jasmine and the power that filled her and insisted that Jasmine stay with her while the rest of the team moves on to other houses.

South African Reece was free, so he also joined the expedition. At one of the houses a man told Reece, “I saw you walking around and I knew you were gonna tell me about Jesus because 5 years ago you told me about Jesus. Reece panicked for a second and asked God to help him remember. Reece said, “I remember you. I was preaching at a school here in Cambodia and you were walking back and forth in the back. But hold on, that school wasn’t in this area, it was 1.5 hours away actually.” Reece began to tell the man all the things that Jesus had showed him and done in the last 5 years. Reece knew that nothing had changed for that man in 5 years. “Has Buddha done anything in that time?” Reece asked. “No, Buddha has done nothing.” Responded the man.

There was a Christian family who’s only son and granddaughter died in a car crash that month, so the team comforted them. One of the ladies, who had lost her husband a few years ago really connected with them and consoled them with her experience of God’s faithfulness through her hardship.

Answered Prayers

• Lokkru Nguen has started preaching at the Korean Missionary’s church, it’s awesome to hear they’re working together.
• The expeditions were awesome with miracles and signs and wonders and the people on the expedition were encouraged and will probably go into full time missions eventually.

Pray

• For my trip to Africa next week, that God would use me to recruit people to help grow the work in Cambodia.
• That my team would operate well without me and that we’d solidify some ministry and move beyond evangelism into discipleship.
• For the base that they’re still working on getting.

Love you,

Tommy