SIHANOUKVILLE PROVINCE, Cambodia (Mennonite Misison Network) — In a country that is 95 percent Buddhist, lessons about Christianity are likely more effective when lived out rather than read about.
Petrus Handoyo, an international partnership associate, with Mennonite Mission Network in Cambodia, has taken part in many such lessons, especially concerning what it means to be saved and to be assured of eternal life.
Handoyo, his wife, Yuliana, and their sons, Hizkia, 10, and Yonas, 5 have been in Cambodia since September 2012. Handoyo is a volunteer lecturer in Theology courses at Life University, a private Christian institution in Sihanoukville province. Yuliana volunteers at Village D’enfant de Sihanoukville, the largest orphanage in the province. Recently Handoyo traveled to the hometown of one of his students, Thou Khemra, to Saray Village, near the town of Veal Rehn in Sihanoukville Province. The men slept on the floor at Thou’s church, which is an independent Christian congregation. At the request of one of the children who attends the church’s Sunday school, Handoyo and Thou ministered to the child’s mother who was very ill.
At her home, the woman’s five children explained to Handoyo and Thou that their mother had been extremely sick for three months. The woman’s children knew that Handoyo and Thou were Christians. They were seeking their message of hope.
Lying in bed, the woman, who was in her 50s, gathered the strength to whisper questions to Handoyo and Thou. She asked where they were from, what they did in the village and how they had come to know her family.
“Those were common questions for the local culture,” Handoyo said. The men patiently answered her.
As the men talked with the sick woman, her eyes welled with tears.
“Both of us could truly feel how miserable she was feeling,” Handoyo said. “I knew that she physically and also probably spiritually suffered a lot. I could feel that there was a spiritual battle deep in her heart and soul. I really sensed that God wanted me to pray for her that day.”
Buddhism is intertwined with Cambodian culture, Handoyo said. One of the key ways in which the ancient Asian religion differs from Christianity is in regards to life after physical death. In Buddhism a person’s spirit lives on as it finds other physical bodies to inhabit. The quality of a spirit’s existence from body to body depends on how well or bad the previous life has been lived. Meanwhile, Christians believe in an eternal life in heaven for those who confess their sins and accept Jesus as Lord and Savior. The Handoyos interest in Cambodia is an outgrowth of their passion for Christian service in Buddhist cultures. They have also served for several years as Mission Network workers in Mongolia, which is also predominantly Buddhist.
Handoyo and Thou asked the woman for permission to pray. During the prayer, Handoyo avoided touching her hands out of respect.
“In daily practices in the Cambodian society, generally the women avoid touching physically and to have some direct eye contacts,” Handoyo said. “At the time I preferred not to touch her hands because I wanted to show her some cultural respect and because it was my first time meeting her.”
But then Thou grabbed Handoyo’s right hand and put it on the woman’s hands. The woman was thankful.
“I prayed that God would give the woman peace of heart and forgive her sins as well as her wrongdoings and that she might sense the presence and love of God in her life,” Handoyo said. “And if God willing, she might get well physically.”
Soon after the prayer, the men left the woman and her family.
“I hoped that she and her family might sense God’s presence in their lives,” Thou said.
Mennonite Mission workers are encouraged to always share their faith in a way that respects the culture and the people in which they serve. Handoyo said that the majority of Cambodia’s 14.3 million people see Christianity as a Western religion that doesn’t fit their Southeast Asian culture. Theravada Buddhism shrines, temples and family altars in front of houses can be seen throughout the areas of the country that the Handoyos have visited. The Handoyos are from Indonesia, an 87 percent Muslim country that is about 3,200 miles southeast of Cambodia across the South China Sea. That the Handoyos are Christians from a Muslim country raises further curiosities.
Buddhism is such a part of Cambodian culture that even some family members of theology students like Thou, who has been studying 4 ½ years at Life University, expect them to still enter a community of Buddhist monks (Sangha) or get connected with the monkhood, Handoyo said. However, many of the Life students are determined to be the light and the salt for their families, friends and neighbors. They look forward to opportunities to put theology into practice – like praying for the sick mother of a Sunday school child.
About two weeks after that visit, Handoyo asked Thou about the woman’s fate. She had passed away in her home.
“She died peacefully in the morning and was surrounded by her five children,” Handoyo said. “A day before she died, all of her children were with her and had a good time with her in the evening.”
“The woman had felt peace and was excited about her life since that Sunday prayer,” Thou said. “The family was able to accept the reality of their mother’s death with an open heart.”
The children have since moved from the town. Handoyo and Thou are unsure of whether the children’s lives were transformed by the prayer experience. They remain hopeful, though.
“Our hope is that people may know that Jesus is gracious to them and will bless them in a special way,” Handoyo said. “We pray God’s salvation also may be known by people as they realize that they need the true Savior in their lives.”
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Mennonite Mission Network, the mission agency of Mennonite Church USA, leads, mobilizes and equips the church to participate in holistic witness to Jesus Christ in a broken world. Media may contact news@mennonitemission.net
