Changing a Family’s Life for $200

Article written by Anna Brown, Go Intern

Upon arriving at a small village surrounding a church on our third day in Cambodia, we were warmly invited by smiling faces, respectful bows, and bashful giggles from the children. Both ministry teams were able to participate at this site, making a team of twenty-five total. We performed our dramas for the enthusiastic crowd and after praying over the small congregation, we began connecting with the people.

After an intense game of “keep-away” with the kids, Greg called the group together for a quick update. He informed us of a woman whose husband had passed away the Monday prior to our arrival. A month before, our contacts had lead him to the Lord and left him a Bible to read to his family. Through this the wife and her children had personally decided to follow God with him.

The widow and her family currently lived far away from the church, but close to one of the many Buddhist temples in the area. She feared raising her children apart from a Christian community would cause them to follow Buddhist beliefs, but could not afford the $200 cost to build a house near the church.

We had been learning about hardships in other countries in our “Eyes Wide Open” series just a couple of weeks ago in the Go Internship, but it was totally different seeing it for ourselves. Greg presented us with the opportunity to give. So we prayed about it briefly and decided it was something we wanted to do. About ten minutes later Greg came to us with the total amount of money we had come up with: $356! Our contact brought her over to our group and Greg told her the situation through the translator. The look of appreciation in her eyes as she looked at each one of us is something I’ll never forget. To us, it was roughly ten dollars each; to her it was something that could change her children’s lives.

Watch the video below!