BY JULIA O'CAREY
On August 20, over two hundred workers and trainers converged on the SALT Center near Siem Reap, Cambodia. Tim and Wendy Maddocks, founders of SALT Ministries, their children and staff worked tirelessly preparing the grounds for this training. Due to the generosity and vision of key donors, ASAP was able to invite ASAP workers and workers supported by the Cambodian Adventist Mission, International Children’s Care, Gospel Outreach, Global Mission, Jesus for Asia, Adventist Frontier Missions, and the Caleb Center.
Each day began with singing, an inspirational message, and united prayer. Then, the workers separated into four groups. Come with me as we take a quick look around.
As we peek into the Intergenerational Discipleship Training room, groups of children, leaders, parents, principals, and church planters are excitedly sharing ideas as they discuss Pr. Don MacLafferty’s book Follow. You hear laughing and chatter as they respond to Pr. Don and his training team: George Carr, Gerard Carter, Curtis Letniak and the Cambodia Adventist Mission leaders. You see simple, powerful illustrations and eyes lighting up as concepts come to life. You don’t want to leave because they just began a fun group activity to illustrate discipleship.
Let’s head to the Education classes. Your eyes scan over eighty fully-engaged teachers in the open-air building, writing in journals and then discussing in groups with Dr. Shirley Freed and her team of teacher trainers from church-sponsored Burman University in Alberta, Canada. You see brightly colored poster-boards on the wall, illustrating active learning techniques they have experienced. You spot a group of children poring over colorful, Bible-based easy readers in Khmer. They just can’t wait for school to start! The atmosphere is fresh and alive as the teachers “eat up” every chapter of the book Education, translated and condensed into a teachers’ manual for them.
Next, we visit the church and see an earnest group of church planters listening to a practical presentation from Pr. Saeng Saengthip, ASAP Associate Director, on how to craft a powerful sermon. Tears well up as you listen to church planters share their testimonies of souls saved. Your heart aches as you hear their questions on how to deal with the challenges they face in the field. You had no idea how hard it is for these workers.
In a school room, medical missionaries perfect their massage techniques on one another. You offer to be their “guinea pig.” Their trainer, Dr. Htwe Lay from Myanmar, systematically gives positive feedback to each person in her gentle way. Now they know how to diagnose and treat diseases, Bible verses to share with the sick, and much more. Navy, ASAP’s newest medical missionary, spontaneously shares, “Everything in the training is so helpful. I feel equipped to go back to my Muslim village and help my Cham people.”
After a delicious meal of brown rice, Cambodian curry, stir-fry, salad, and fresh tropical fruit, lovingly prepared by Wendy Maddocks and her team, we end our tour back with the trainers, debriefing and praying together at day’s end. You discover the training touched the trainers just as much as the trainees. Listen to a few of the sixteen trainers who sacrificed time, money, and sleep to share their hearts and knowledge with these precious workers.
“One of the things that impacted me most is the fact that some people who were at the training were not paid ASAP workers, but volunteers…. We often do a cost-benefit analysis before we take on responsibilities or work, and if we don't feel that the work is worth what we'll be getting in return, we don't do it. But these precious workers realize the urgency of bringing Christ to the unreached and realize that the promise of an eternal reward is more than they could ask for.”
--Angy Plata
“The most meaningful part of the training for me was seeing the light of the Holy Spirit on the faces of God’s workers as they were showered with His love and knowledge.”
--Gerard Carter
"Going to Cambodia with ASAP was a life-changing experience for my husband and I because it has inspired us towards a future calling in missions…. Chomnea Noeum (ASAP church planter)… spoke of his trials… and how strong the devil is working in Cambodia…. Usually every Sabbath, people bring their friends who are demon possessed to the church for Chomnea to heal them, and God answers his prayers. God works visible miracles in Cambodia, which was a wake-up call for me living in North America….
--Melissa Barritt
“I was delighted to see how the literacy schools were really the beginning of church plants. Clearly the community appreciated the efforts to help their children learn to read and write.… The teachers who came for the training were so dedicated and constantly acknowledged God’s leading in their personal lives and in the life of their schools. They were an inspiration to our Burman team.”
--Shirley Freed
We came together for one main purpose, to unite in seeking the Holy Spirit, our greatest need. And the Lord showed up in a powerful way. Some workers were in tears and did not want to leave, but we know that the Holy Spirit went with them. In the dark, difficult corners of Cambodia, where Buddhist and Muslim neighbors do not understand the efforts of these workers, Jesus is there.
