Student Snapshots

Hello All,

Another week of teaching is almost over so I thought I'd share a few stories about my students. It's been amazing to tell people about God's love for them and Jesus' life for the first time. I have one student named Boch who is not a Christian and has a ton of questions about each lesson. For example this week I got, "What was God's purpose in creating Satan?" and "Do you go to Hell if you've never heard of God?" It goes without saying that he's forced me to strengthen my faith and had given new depth to the way I see these bible stories. However, a few days ago he asked me, "Does God love people who don't believe in Him?" It was amazing to be able to tell him how all encompassing God's love is and how, like the father in the prodigal son, he loves us no matter what we do or how far away we go because he is the one who made us.

Another of my students is named Vannak. He's been a Christian for about 4 years and has a job supervising the installation of green energy generators that allow farmers to use fumes from cow dung to fuel lamps and stoves. He has been without a church home for a while and has been coming to almost every church event we've mentioned since he started studying. When we were talking about Abraham leaving Ur and coming out of idolatry, he mentioned how difficult it is to be a Christian when you're surrounded by Buddhists. He said when his coworkers found out he was a Christian they made fun of him and have never acted the same around him. He said he hopes he can show those around him who Jesus really is and get past the misconceptions that some people have. 

Pisey is about 22 and is a university student. He is not a Christian, but wants to explore all the religions before he decides which to follow. He has great grammar and watches a lot of American movies to improve his English. After a few lessons, he asked me who a man he saw hung on a piece of wood with his arms out in a movie was. I have never met anyone before who can't even recognize the cross and heve some idea what it stands for. It was great to be able to talk about Jesus' sacrifice and love to someone who was so intrigued. 

I pray that God will give us strength to put all of our effort into our lessons. When I stop to think about it, I see the importance of the work God is doing here and what powerful instruments we can be for him. Please pray that our spirits are revitalized as we approach the last week of teaching. I hope we can finish strong!

Abigail