Six Years and Counting

This past week has been so beautiful and inspiring. I am going to share with you the story of how I met Lahn and the great things God has birthed out of it! Prepare yourself, because this week has been phenomenal!

Two weeks ago I decided I wanted to start getting back into shape. Along with lifting weights at the local gym I have been eating nothing but clean and healthy foods. I have always enjoyed the gym and really thought I was going just for me but God had much bigger plans than I could have ever imagined.

One day as I was working out, the Lord impressed upon my heart that I was not coming to the gym just to get into shape. He shared that rather than to use my time just to focus on me to get big and lean, instead He wanted me to use my influence in the gym to expand His Kingdom. I had no idea what that would look like practically but I was encouraged to see what He had in store.

On Friday April 10th I was in the middle of a workout when I saw a young man on the other side of the room that the Lord highlighted to me. I immediately knew that I needed to tell him that Jesus loves him (Preah Yesu srolaun neak) before I left. After I finished up I walked over to him and told him what God had said. He gave me a smile, shook my hand, and then I went home not thinking much more about it.

Around the same time the next day I went back to the gym to workout. Near the end of my workout I did the same routine, walked around the gym saying bye to "the guys". I wanted to tell some big guy in the corner that Jesus loves him too, but I felt the Lord say no. Instead He led me to the same young man I had talked to the day before and I felt led to tell him once again, "Jesus loves you!" He was sitting down talking with a friend and I unconsciously sat down on the floor and started talking to both of them. I asked him if he was going to church tomorrow and his eyes got really big! He was so excited and told me that he had just been talking to his friend about how he wished he would one day be able to attend a Christian church but how he didn't think it would ever be possible. He told me that for the last six years he has prayed that he would one day be able to go to a Christian church and begin a new life with "his God". He said he had heard about Jesus from a small pamphlet someone gave him across the street from his middle school six years earlier and he said that even though he grew up in a Buddhist world he knew Jesus was the only true God.

It was so hard to process what I was hearing as I sat there talking to him. Was I really hearing this young man say that at 17 years old, he had spent the last six years dreaming that he would be able to go to church? and this felt like an impossible dream to him?

I immediately invited him to come with us to New Life Church the next morning. He got so excited, in ways I could never do justice by describing, and eagerly said yes that he would meet us outside the gym in the morning if I would pick him up and take him. After heading home I told Hillary the whole story and we couldn't believe what was unfolding before us.

The next morning as I approached the gym he came running out in a nice polo shirt and dress pants ready for church! On the way in the Tuk-Tuk he repeatedly told us he couldn't believe God had done all this for him! That God would send someone from America to help him find a church that he had been hoping to go to for so long. He kept thanking us over and over saying that he was so happy and acting like we had given this kid the greatest gift in the world. Hillary noticed that he was looking around very intently and asked what was going on to which he said: " I am trying to memorize the way to this church so I can come by myself every day!" We had to inform him the church services were just on Sunday morning!

Once we got inside he was grinning from ear to ear. He tapped me on the shoulder and said, "Look brother, look at all these people. Everyone here is so happy! Everyone here smiles and laughs, they are so happy. This is so great, I have never seen people like this, I want to come here every day!"

Getting excited before church starts.

Wow... The things I realized I had taken for granted were such refreshing and overwhelming experiences for him! Then he tapped me on the shoulder again and said, "I feel like I want to cry, this is so wonderful. Thank you for bringing me here." And he couldn't help but to tell everyone around him that it was his first time and that he had waited six years for this.

At the start of the service the pastor opened up the service in prayer. I felt another tap on my shoulder as Lahn said "brother I don't know how to pray, how do I hold my hands? Do I close my eyes?". I told him that it doesn't matter what you do with your eyes or hands, but you talk to God from your heart. 

As worship slowed down, the preacher asked if all the missionaries who had come to Cambodia would please raise their hands. Hillary and I raised our hands and he called for the congregation to pray for the missionaries around them that had come to bless their country. That's when the whole experience hit me hardest and I almost wanted to cry too. I looked over and here is this young man praying for me after his biggest dream of coming to church was fulfilled. We serve such a good God!

After service I was able to connect him with the senior pastor of the church as well as the regional pastor over the area that we live in. They gave him a Cambodian translation of the New Testament so that he would have something to study. What a blessing!

Timothy* getting prayer after service

As we were riding home Lahn asked us if we were hungry, it was around noon and my reply was, "Oh yes! I'm very hungry!" He laughed, telling us "Today was such a great day. I am too happy to be hungry."

Later that afternoon (just a few hours after church) I saw him at the gym. He came right up to me to show me that he had read the first six chapters of Matthew and had a page of notes he wanted to discuss! I was blown away by how hungry he was, especially the level of dedication he was putting towards studying. We talked about so many things after working out, I had to explain to him how a Bible works. He had no understanding of how to use the numbers for chapters and verses. I had told him that he should start with the first four books in the New Testament, and he said well I need three more books then! He thought that the entire Bible he had was only one book and he was looking for the other four! We were amazed at his hunger to read and to study so we decided that we would meet at eight o' clock every morning to read the Bible and discuss the questions he had.

In Cambodia it is very taboo to convert to Christianity, it would be the equivalent of an American Christian converting to be a Muslim.  He started coming to Bible study looking very tired. When asked if he was tired he said yes and informed us that his parents would be very upset to find out he was a Christian so he waits for them to go to sleep every night and then reads the Bible until 1:00 AM or later. By Tuesday he had read all of Matthew and part of Mark. Everyday I was blown away by his hunger and eagerness to learn. He came to us and asked me if he could be baptized because he had read that it was important! We talked about the meaning of baptism and what it symbolically stands for. After seeing that he clearly understood I told him that he could definitely be baptized and we set up a time.

All this week he has been reading through the gospels and when we would meet up we would read through Genesis together. It is amazing the things as a Christian culture we just grow up knowing about, but here there is absolutely no foundational knowledge of anything in Scripture. So we read about creation, Adam and Eve, the fall, sin, on up through Noah and the flood. As we read he would ask questions, take notes on all the English words he didn't know and try so hard to understand everything. By the end of the week we had read through Genesis chapter ten.

Today after church exactly one week from his first time at church, I had the great pleasure of taking him to a local club and baptized him in the pool. It was such an amazing opportunity on so many levels. He was so excited just like he always is, he couldn't wait to be baptized and to start his new life with Jesus. On top of that, it was the first time he ever had an opportunity to swim and play in the pool! At first he was terrified of the water (which was quite deep for a baptism and he had no clue how to swim)  and he was clinging on to me for dear life. He kept saying that he was praying to his God that he wouldn't drown, which we found funny. His desire for baptism was greater than his fear of drowning and we had the great opportunity to pray with him right there in the middle of the pool, and baptize him in the name of The Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit.  He was so thankful and constantly reminded us how grateful he was.

As I look back over this week it is so amazing that God can do such great things when we least expect it. I was just saying Jesus loves you, to a random stranger in the gym because the Lord put it on my heart and in only one week his life was radically transformed. It's so easy to walk past these opportunities the Lord places all around us, but because I stopped for the one God has blessed both of us in ways I never would have imagined!

Please pray for this young man. Pray for strength and maturity. Pray that his roots go deep and that the Lord will guide him in everything he does. Pray that he does well in his last four months of high-school. Pray for his future here in Cambodia because I know that he is going to touch the lives of so many people, he loves his country and the people who live here. Most of all pray that his family will have open hearts towards his walk with Christ and pray that he would have the strength to stand strong in his new faith. He has the heart of Christ and I am so blessed to be able to learn from him as we share our journey.

What an amazing example of how ripe Cambodia is for a spiritual harvest! We can't wait to continue our time of study and discipleship with this amazing young man. Please continue praying for this country!  Pray that God would continue putting people in our path that are ready to experience his love and pray that our eyes and ears would be open to His plans.

God bless you all!
Ward and Hillary Farrior