Cambodia Mission Trip — October 2024
A group of GBC members regularly visit Cambodia to love and serve the people, and to also share the gospel with them. A team also made a trip this October, and Eng Ching shares with us her reflections and what she learnt about God from this trip.
On 7 October 2024, Monday, I traveled to Phnom Penh, Cambodia with six other brothers and sisters – Tan Kim Cheng, Dr. Benjamin Wee, Dr. Wee Thiem Heng, Dr Ong Yu Jie, Jeannie Cheang, Steven Ngiam and I. All of us are from GBC except Dr. Benjamin Wee and Dr. Ong Yu Jie who both worship at St. Andrews Cathedral.
Kim Cheng (in black shirt on the left), Dr. Ben (with a cap and stooping on the left), Dr. Yu Jie (Dr. Ben’s wife next to him), Dr. Thiem Heng (in blue shirt on the right), Jeannie (in the khaki shirt on the right), Eng Ching (next to Jeannie) and Elder Steven (in grey shirt, at the center).
This is my second ‘mobile dental clinic’ mission trip with GBC. You can read about my first trip, the intention of these trips, and the people we serve via this link. Instead, I will focus in this article my testimony of how in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose (Romans 8:28 NIV).
Many of us planned to join this since our trip a year ago. I committed to it by buying my air ticket a year ago even after I knew I would be working in Taiwan!
A God who provides
In the last trip, there were 9 people and I thought that was insufficient to support the two dentists. The dentists often worked long hours for 5 days without facilities and lighting. With only two dentists, if one of them fell ill, the remaining one would have a greater load. So, I prayed for more dentists to join.
God answered the prayer, and so this year we had three dentists in the team. But God sent only seven of us to Cambodia and with fewer people on this trip, I questioned if we have enough people to adequately serve the Cambodian people we would be visiting. With fewer people in the team, I was mentally prepared and ready to serve and to do more on this trip.
A God who is worthy of praise
Unfortunately, from the first day of my trip, I felt unwell and extremely tired. The team from Singapore were gracious and allowed me to rest and join them a bit later. Each volunteer in the team had a specific task, and my role was to connect with the students while they wait their turn to see the dentists.
I thought about how to make this waiting time more meaningful. Do I just screen movies to keep the students preoccupied? How could I use their waiting time to connect with them about Christ? How would Christ reach out to these students? Soon, I found myself praying in my heart, “God, help me hear from you what I should say or do to share the gospel to the students I am meeting? Grant me wisdom on what to say and what to screen.”
As usual, God is good and the Holy Spirit directed me with promptings in my heart. We normally screen the ‘Jesus’ movie but as the students may not get to watch the full movie, nor understand the meaning of the gospel from watching, I started screening worship songs in their language. Since these children are training to enter the hospitality industry they could speak English, and I was able to communicate with some of them.
I started asking, “why do you think Christians sing so much to God?” Also, seeing that the singers in the worship videos the students had been watching were singing with joy, I also asked the students, “why do you think Christians can sing so joyfully to God?”
They did not know the answers. So, I started sharing with them that Christians sing to God because He is praiseworthy. And I asked, “why do you think God is praiseworthy?” The children tried to answer but were unsure and I told them because God created us. In addition to that, I told them as Creator God, He did a very mighty thing for us sinners whose penalty is to live life once and then we all die and are eternally separated from God. God gave us a gift that we may have hope to be made right with God again and be in His presence forever. I asked them if they knew what this gift is, and while some of them could answer Jesus, most could not.
I took the opportunity to share with them a short video I made about the gospel. I used the visuals in the video to explain the gospel story to the students in simpler English. It was encouraging to see the children pointing at the visuals that spoke to them.
I also shared with them a video based on John 8:12 to encourage them to turn to Jesus and ask Him to reveal the truth to them if listening to the gospel truth or reading the Bible is hard for them.
I was initially hesitant to screen a third video as I thought it could be irrelevant to my gospel sharing. But the Holy Spirit prompted me to use the video to share with the students how Jesus can transform a person’s life. While watching, one of the children exclaimed, “Wow!” at one of the scenes. I told them that though only seven worshippers were depicted in the video, in heaven, there will be many more worshippers and it will be a grander and more wonderful.
I shared with the students that one of the minifigures represented me, and the student who exclaimed identified with one of the long-haired figure. I was encouraged that my videos could be used to share the gospel and decided to add Khmer’s subtitles in these videos for my next trip.
A God who works
As I reflected on this trip, I realized even though my role as the “connector” was physically relaxing, this was a role that God had fitted me for. God works all things for good for those who love Him and who are called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28). Though I was initially feeling unwell and fatigued, thus not being able to gather in time with the others for a ‘meatier’ role as dental assistant etc, I already had some videos to tell the gospel story which God inclined my heart to prepare a few years ago.
As I interacted with the students, I saw how God was using me to share the gospel in this way, while the other members of the team had other opportunities in different circumstances to do so. The image of one body and many parts described in 1 Corinthians 12 came to mind. These verses, especially 1 Corinthians 12:11, describe perfectly how our gifts and our availability are the work of the Holy Spirit who gives to each one of us as He wills. Knowing that we were working in the will of God gave me much peace and delight.
With regards to my uneasiness at the beginning of the trip that we may not have enough people to serve the Cambodian students and staff workers, somehow, in His perfect plan, there were fewer students and staff workers who needed dental services this year. God was indeed sovereign over all things, and it worked out – we had less volunteers but also less patients.
In this trip, I also had the chance to share with the students about many other things, ranging from God’s faithfulness to them, my testimony of how I became a Christian and what motivates Christians to do good works. While I am not sure how deep into the students’ hearts my sharing of the gospel and teachings went, one thing I know and trust – as 1 Corinthians 3:6 puts it, some plant the gospel seed in the students’ lives and some water but it is God who gives the growth.
As Christians, we are to find opportunities to share the full gospel message whenever we can, and to this end, I obeyed Jesus. In James 2:26, we are told that faith apart from works is dead. The essence of Christian’s good works is to do as Jesus did with the faith He appropriated to us. Jesus did not only share the gospel but Jesus also met people’s physical needs with love.
God was gracious to also allow us to catch a glimpse of His work among the PKH centres. We learnt that on the day we departed, 26 students from these centers were baptized. What a glorious day and what encouragement and privilege it is to learn that God is at work! The work of His people in the sharing of His word will never be returned void. Praise be to God! Amen!