It was the last night of street ministry my team would do before coming back to the states. It started out like most of a street ministry times. We traveled 30 min. across town in tuk tuk's (google it) to get to the river in Phnom Phen where a large tourist area was. We were walking around waiting for God to highlight someone or tell us to go somewhere. Not much was happening so we stopped to eat dinner at a local restraint. After dinner we crossed the street to go sit on a bench by the river and pray for direction. As we sat down a Cami man waved at us and said, "hello" as he walked past. I was with three of my team mates and in unison with huge grins on our faces we waved and said hello back. The man stopped and turned towards us and began talking about how nice that was of us to smile and say hi. He introduced himself as, "Hong, oh you know like Hong Kong!!"
As he approached us he began to tell us why the four of us girls simply replying to his hello had stopped him in his tracks. Here is what he then explained to us:
During the Khmer Rouge in the 70's he had fled to the United States and had since lived there. After being in the States for thirty-something years he was driving in the mountains when he hit some ice and slid into another car causing it to fall off the mountain. The car he hit had four girls inside (just like us he pointed out). All four of those girls died. Hong was charged with four accounts of involuntary man slaughter and was going to be sentenced to life in prison. Somehow, by God's grace, the Judge told Hong that if he could get Cambodia to welcome him back into the country then the Judge would deport Hong instead of sending him to prison. (There were more details to this but that is the gist of what I remember) Cambodia DID welcome Hong back and the Judge deported him. Hong has now been in Cambodia for a year but has a serious problem... When he fled the country, during the Khmer Rouge, all of his papers proving that he was a Cami citizen were lost. With out papers saying that he is a citizen Hong can not work. It takes three years of living in Cambodia to be able to gain new papers. So he is stuck, with no way of making money and no way to get papers but to wait it out. He is homeless, sleeps under Buddhist temple pagodas, and tries to get 5 dollars a day begging so that he can feed himself. After Hong completed his story we told him that we were Christians and if he would allow us we would love to pray for him. He looked at us and began to tell us that when he went to America he was Buddhist but got saved and was very involved in church until the accident. He said that since he had been in Cambodia he had forgotten about God and that no one had prayed for him in a year. He then said, yes, and allowed us to begin praying for him.
As we were praying for Hong tears began to roll down his cheeks. We began to feel as though the Lord was giving us specific things to pray for such as lost family and bad dreams of the accident. When we asked Hong if he needed prayer for those things he began to cry more and explained the horrible dreams he had been having and the sleep he had lost over flashbacks of the crash. He also told us that he lost all of his family when he went to America and had no idea if they were even still alive. We began to pray. This happened a couple more times; we would sense there was something particular we were suppose to pray for and then Hong would confirm what we were feeling with some heart aching stories. Every time we prayed Hong would begin to cry more and more until the last time we prayed. As we said amen Hong lifted his head to look at us and proceeded to say, "I am sorry, I didn't really hear that last prayer because I was walking with Jesus." He then stood up thanked us repeatedly and asked if he could return the favor by praying for us. This poor broken homeless man began to pray a prayer I will never forget. I can't recall the words and maybe never will but I have never heard such a simple heartfelt prayer from a man who had just met his savor once again.
Hong walked up to us a hurt hopeless man. He walked away filled with a joy and security that only Jesus brings. This story impacts me every time I think back to it, yes because of what God did in Hong's life, but also because of the promise God kept to me. All through my time in Cambodia God did exactly what he told me he would do on the buss to Battambang. (reference to"Cambodia" post) GOD did work in Hong. JESUS transformed and comforted Hong in a way that my words, money, or actions could never do. We did not even seek this man out. God brought him to us. God was so faithful to drop divine appointments in my lap; He was faithful to the last day and continues to be faithful in his promise. He is the savior of the world and loves his children.
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