Life with a Vision

February of 2025 was still cold in CN, but we were already sweating in the hot weather of Cambodia building a fence. This is my first time to this country. Though having been to quite a lot of places around the world, Cambodia was not on my list ever before. But here we are, for the work of God.

The pictures were taken at a small church of Srayang near Siem Reap.

The squad of 4 brothers arrived in Cambodia on different flights to rendezvous before going to the church in this village to support their fence building project.

It is interesting to note that each of the other 3 brothers has been settling in GZ for over 20 years. Together with me, they often joked that altogether we have been in GZ for over 100 years.

Here I met brother Savy and his family, who had a vision from God to leave the city and come to this poor village to live a simple and quiet life, with the needs of every family on their mind.

After I returned to CH, God urged me to think about this "vision" issue constantly. Therefore, I would like to take this opportunity to share with you the things that I saw and did during the short-term mission trip in this theme. I hope that we can all learn about God's good and special will, and work diligently for the vision He has given to us.

In chapter 3 of Exodus, we all witnessed God’s call on Moses. From this passage, we can summarize the element of a vision.

Vision is a special call from the one true God to serve Him.

This is not a general call. It involves God's special will in the life of a particular person or small group of people, calling them to stand firmly and do a special work for God. However, the core of a vision is still the gospel, revealing Jesus as the only Savior.

Because the theme of the book of Nehemiah is the building of the walls of Jerusalem, and we are going on this trip to build the fence of a church compound. We are both building the walls of God’s Kingdom, both driven by vision.

The compound of the church

Church hall and dormitory for Savy’s family

The fence we built together, which is over 300 meters long

As I mentioned above, this project shares the same heavenly significance as what Nehemiah did, let’s talk about the book of Nehemiah a little bit first.

At the beginning of the book, we learned that the walls of Jerusalem were torn down and its gate was destroyed by fire, which brought deep sorrow into Nehemiah’s heart.

However, at that time there was a fire to destroy Jerusalem, and at this very moment there is another fire being lit in Nehemiah's heart, not a fire of anger, but a fire of devotion to the Lord. By this time he already understood that God produced the zeal in him to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. And he even asked for the permit and support from the emperor.

Nehemiah did not boast for his achievement, but realized that it was "God's gracious hand that has helped me".

Thinking about the fencing project in Cambodia, we faced likewise tremendous difficulties at the beginning. But by God’s helping hand, we broke through them all. Who can deny that our God is almighty!

Returning to the book of Nehemiah and seeing that things were going well with the emperor, Nehemiah made his way back to Jerusalem without stop.

Let's take a look at the historical context.

There are totally three waves of exiles.

The first wave was authorized by Cyrus. They were supplied by the emperor and did not go home empty-handed. The first thing these exiles did was to rebuild the temple.

The second wave was under the leadership of Ezra the scribe. What he did was like a religious reform that brought the heavily secularized Jews back to God and restored the holy worship in the temple.

And the third wave had Nehemiah as their governor. They were called to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem so that the social and economic life of the Jews would return to a biblical way.

We are not going into the details of Nehemiah’s building project. But instead I will share what we did during the first three days in Cambodia.

We were praying for the gate of this compound. Following the example in the chapter 3 of Nehemiah, we prayed that the Lord would sanctify this gate, so that everyone coming through it would be open to the gospel and their lives would be different.

Our daily work is digging holes, with both powered tool and hands.

Cutting and settling tubes

Welding the wire nets

By the third day, we worked late into the night and got all the mesh welded on.

Although we did not suffer from any enemy around like Nehemiah, we were all under the scorching sunlight and covered with wounds. In this way we had a small taste of the hardship for the Israelites at that time.

Let's think about this question, "Why is it so important to build the walls?"

First of all, city walls mean protection and preservation. A city without walls exposes itself to danger. Enemies can easily enslave the people of that city and there is no peace. Tall and strong walls make people feel safe.

Secondly, the walls are also boundary. And boundary means identity of a group of people. It echoes how God places his people in the world. Yet they shouldn’t be assimilated into this world, but are set apart and sanctified to influence the world in reverse.

Thirdly, the walls of the city serve another purpose, which is to attract people. In the New Testament it says, "[Mt 5:14] A city built on a hill cannot be hidden." How can a city be seen from afar? It is the tall walls that are the main attraction. Anyone who seeks peace from afar is attracted to the strong walls so he is willing to commit himself to it.

And when it comes to this Cambodian church fence building project, we see the same thing.

The church in this village is currently run only by Savy’s family. The fence is of course protection, both for the church property and for the missionary family. At the same time, fences are boundaries and attractions. The church has become a magnet for the whole village.

Let's see what's so attractive about this place.

The picture shows the interior of the church building. It was built with wood, metal and a few bricks, which was the place of worship. The missionary doesn't stay here and wait for people to come, he visits every family in the village. And the building is not just for worship, it is also a favorite classroom for the children.

Elementary schools in Cambodia have half-day classes which end at 10:30 a.m. After that these kids rush home for dinner and arrive at the church before 1:00 p.m. to have lessons in the Bible, English, Cambodian and other subjects delivered by Savy.

The parents entrusted their children to the church. The children also love this missionary couple so much that they thirst for every opportunity to learn with them. The seed of gospel has been planted in their hearts

There is also a soccer field in the compound. The children can enjoy playing football everyday.

In rural Cambodia, it is common for children to stop going to school after the sixth grade of elementary school. For one thing, they can't afford it, and for another, they have to travel a long way to attend secondary school. The church has successfully persuaded two families to let their children attend secondary school in the city, and the church pays for their charges. Later when we got back to the city, we met these two kids.

With cooperation and support from BIC, this church established a soccer mission. Many middle school students come to have soccer training for free every week, and most of them show up in Bible study once a week.

In the city of Siem Reap, we visited such a missionary site called ICF CAMPUS.

I took this photo from the top floor of their office building. Under the huge roof, it is easy to identify the basketball court, rock climbing facilities, cafeteria, plaza, and a hall for both worship and classrooms. In the distance, there are soccer and volleyball fields. On the right there are various classrooms in the form of containers. Next to it is a tent for service.

The classrooms in containers are all facilitated with air-conditioners.

One of the creative classrooms.

There are various creative classrooms for children to learn arts and music. They are all elementary school students in the city. As well they go to school for half a day and are dismissed at 10:30a.m. Again, they spend their afternoons at this ICF campus, where tuition is free. What’s more, there are free meals to distribute.

Parents can send their children to the campus by signing a letter of consent. There are currently about 800 children enrolled on the campus.

Church-run education as a public service is especially welcomed by the local government in Cambodia, which in turn facilitates a great tolerance for evangelistic ministries. This is a huge entry point for gospel. And God made His way!

On Friday evenings, many of the youth came on their own for fellowship. I did a rough estimation. The attendance could be over one hundred

In addition to education, they have built a drinking water station in front of the campus that provides the best filtered water in the entire city, all free of charge. From day to night, people come here to get water, hence ICF has become a landmark of this city.

Concerning the fast growing number of worshipers and students, they have planned a new base to complete the move by 2028. They are fervently praying that God will make this happen, in spite of the huge need for funding.

They always share the information in this way, “God has opened a window for Cambodia and no one knows when it will close. But until then, we need to work diligently to bring the Gospel into the country as thorough as possible, so that the local church can run on their own.

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, if I am going to quote some verses to summarize our trip, it would be like this.

[NKJV Heb 12:1-2] Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

I wrote this article to testify what I witnessed during my visit. Yet we don’t know how it will go for those missions in Cambodia. What we do know is that “Those who leave everything in God's hands will see His hand in everything”. In this case, anyone who would like to visit there should pray first and keep updated. Even though things might be different afterwards, we are still committed to our vision in Christ.

LOVE JESUS. LOVE FOOTBALL.

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