An elderly woman bows down before the spirit house in her backyard.  She has placed there an offering of a bouquet of flowers and a small bunch of bananas. She lights a stick of incense and mutters her prayers.  The flowers will remain until they wilt, the bananas she will eat herself later in the day. Shuffling away, she hopes she has appeased the spirits.  She will repeat the ritual tomorrow.  This is a tradition she has held all her life.It offers her no lasting peace, but it is all she knows.

A family in their finest clothing crowds into their car. They are headed for a three-day holiday in their home village.  Once there, they will offer the annual sacrifice to their departed ancestors in an attempt to gain a year of blessings rather than a year of curses.  They will spend time with distant relatives, laughing and feasting.  This is a major holiday, maybe like our American cultural celebrations of Easter and Christmas: after an obligatory visit to the church, everyone gathers together, eating and joking and enjoying one another’s company.

Cambodia is 95% Buddhist, and Buddhism is considered to be a peaceful, gentle religion.  Indeed, in many respects the Cambodian people are meek, quiet and content.  Our extroverted, outspoken American ways often startle, perplex and offend them. But in the estimation of Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace, external temperament and demeanor have little to do with the condition of this world’s people.  The Cambodian people, like all people, are lost sheep in need of a Shepherd and Savior.  All we like sheep have gone astray. We all do what seems best in our own eyes. We all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. However, God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Jesus declared Himself the only way to God and to true worship and everlasting life. We believe Him.

We do not come to Cambodia with an agenda to change culture or tradition; we do come with a message of life, hope and peace for a nation in pain and suffering...we come bringing Jesus, the giver and sustainer of life.  We trust the Holy Spirit will move in the lives of those who put their trust in Him. He will mold them with godly character and faithfulness. He will deal with the issues surrounding culture, tradition and religion.

We are confident that like all true followers of the Lord Jesus, those who come to know and love Him will count their losses a very small price to pay for the incredible gain of knowing Christ Jesus as Lord and Savior .

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The Buddhist monks stroll serenely through the market, their bare feet peeking from beneath their saffron robes.  Stopping at each vendor to beg for food or money, they speak in soft tones, and quietly receive the prayers and offerings of each person they approach.  They have been trained to be peaceful and gentle, and have taken a vow of poverty…they can own no material possessions.  Peaceful, quiet, gentle, and seemingly non-materialistic: this has been a way of life for hundreds of years...