You could say that the Cambodians have plenty of justification. From the U.S. carpet bombing of their country during the Vietnam war to the years of the Pol Pot regime when three million fell victim to the horrors of the killing fields, you can understand why these people have had the fight knocked out of them. Even the latest global economic crisis has resulted in a huge number of closed clothing factories forcing thousands of workers out on the streets. It's little wonder there is a general passivity and overall resignation here that kills rugged individualism and undermines creative vision. Which is why rampant corruption now rules business and politics and extreme poverty is so widespread.

But there are some bright lights of hope in this dark sea of despair. Many of them come from the ministry partners we have the privilege of working with here in Cambodia. Take the Love Center, for example, a ministry of the Khmer Evangelical Association. Located in a city two hours north of Phnom Penh, it is a creative mix of business venture and new church plant. The church is on the second floor, and a community computer training school is on the first. Complete with seven PC workstations and a trained instructor, the school is popular with locals because of its affordability and comprehensive course offerings. Whether it's learning to type or becoming comfortable with Microsoft Excel, the Love Center has what people are looking for. Believe it or not, the day I visited two of the workstations were manned by young Buddhist monks learning how to cut and paste in a print shop program!

On another day, I was able to visit Crossroads, a ministry of our partners International affiliate, CNEC Southeast Asia. Dedicated to reaching out to university students, Crossroads offers dormitory accommodations to young people looking for an affordable way to get an education. By agreeing to participate in a daily Bible study time, these Buddhist-background students learn over time that Christianity is not the corrupt "foreign" religion they were taught at home. David Ooi, director of Crossroads, introduced me to a dozen young leaders, each now leading student ministries around town. "Each one of these folks comes from a non-Christian home," he explains proudly. "But there are a half million more students like them in this city that still need to be reached." He goes on to share how their ministry is seeing success primarily because it is taking the time necessary to build lasting relationships with young people who otherwise reject more direct evangelism methods.

One last example of a creative ministry method is the use of an MP3 device for making audio Scripture and discipleship lessons available to the illiterate rural populations. Readily available in flea-market shops for a mere six dollars, this unit is the perfect "appropriate technology" for Cambodia. Both an SD card or USB thumb drive can be plugged directly into the unit and its internal battery is rechargeable using a normal cell phone charger which many people already own. Inexpensive SD cards can be distributed with new lessons or Scripture passages on them all presented in local tribal languages or dialects.

There is still much that our Cambodian brothers and sisters could use in the way of ministry vision and leadership training. But this visit has definitely helped me see that partnership effort is paying off and progress is being made. It will be fun to see what further advances have happened and how God has continued to bless the outreach of our ministry partners the next time I have a chance to visit this country.

Under His wings,

Jon Lewis

It looked like it could have been a scene out of the classic movie, "African Queen."  Except there was no Katharine Hepburn and I was probably the closest thing to Humphrey Bogart. There was no Africa either. Why? Because this was a tributary of the Mekong River in central Cambodia. And what was I doing there? It happened to be the only way to get to some of the remote villages where the Khmer Evangelical Association (KEA) had planted some of their fellowships and I had been invited to make a personal visit to one of them.

For an hour and a half, the greasy diesel engine pounded its single piston with a deafening roar but faithfully kept the little propeller churning away at the other end of the direct-drive shaft. Our captain for the day was a pastor from Kompong Chhnang, the large town where we launched off on our cruise. Crouched at the very stern of the boat, he kept one bare foot on the driveshaft assuring the propeller stayed submerged in the water. His wife, the helmsman, joined the rest of us under the low-hanging shelter keeping one hand on an old automobile steering wheel attached to the floorboards and connected to the rudder with what looked like a long piece of surgical tubing.

Before boarding our "Cambodian Queen" river launch, the two leaders from the KEA hosting me for the day explained the unusual river system we were to travel as well as the huge Tonle Sap Lake connected to it further north. Being linked to the mighty Mekong River, the current in our river literally runs north half the year and south the other half, depending on whether it is the rainy or dry season. Swelling and contracting annually, Lake Tonle Sap is like a giant beating heart for this whole part of Cambodia, bringing life to its inhabitants through a supply of fish and critical irrigation of rice paddies.

Finally, we reach our destination: the village of Plorng. With ears still ringing from the diesel drumbeat, I scramble up the steep bank with the others to greet a cluster of local church folk who have prepared us a fresh-fish lunch. This was followed by a three kilometer hike down a dirt road to the site of their new church building still in construction. Along the way, I'm told how the river will rise some 30 to 40 feet during the wet season, totally flooding the ground we are walking on. Thus the reason for the high stilts on which each home is built - including the new church. "You mean you literally go from house to house in your boats?" I ask incredulously. "Yes!" everyone laughs at me. "Our boats are like our motorcycles."

Even more incredible was the next visit to the home of one church member. The recipient of a single cow from a Partners International Harvest of Hope project eight years ago, he and his family have been able to transform their poverty-stricken lives into a stable and relatively prosperous lifestyle complete with newly expanded metal-roof home. The one cow has now turned into eight, two of which were given back to the church for other needy families and two cows sold for profit. We climb a small mound next to his stilt home where the remaining cows are sheltered. "We built this little mound so that it becomes a safe island for the cows when the river floods," our Cambodian farmer friend explains proudly, surrounded by his wife and five beaming kids.

As the sun started sinking towards the west and some rainclouds began to threaten, we knew it was time to head back up the river for home. But before that, we circled up and I had the privilege of thanking God for blessing this family through a successful "animal bank" project that involved generous people thousands of miles away back in America.   

Wow - it sure has been one long, complicated journey to get from Spokane, Washington, all the way to Plorng village and the other end of a Partners International project, but what a treat to see the successful impact of a partnership investment and, most of all, the love of Christ on the lives of this little family here on a riverbank in central Cambodia.

Under His wings,

Jon Lewis