When I was about three years old, my father was shot and killed by a thief who stole his motorcycle. After that, my mother tried to support us alone, but eventually had to sell our house to get money for food, and so we became homeless.

Then my mom sent my older brother and me to live with relatives, while she worked at various jobs. However, my auntie was poor, and sometimes we had only rice with fish sauce to eat. Every day, she worked us like slaves.

One day, my auntie's rice was all gone, so she sent us back to live with our mom. After that, my mom sent my brother far away to live with some other relatives, but she kept me with her.

During that time, my mom started living with a man who said that he loved her, and she gave birth to my little brother. I helped her take care of him. But then that man left us and went to live with another woman.

After that, my mom found HAGAR organization, where she was allowed to stay with all three of us children, so she brought my older brother back to live with us again. My mom participated in HAGAR's sewing school for two years. But at the end of that time, we were all required to leave.

And so, we ended up living in a shack along the railroad tracks. My mom could not find any sewing work, and when she couldn't pay the rent for the shack, the landlord kicked us out.

My mom left us children with a neighbor temporarily, while she went to find some other help for us. In the meantime, the neighbor gave us only rice with fish sauce to eat and made us work for them.

Later, my mom came back for us and said that she had found a Christian orphanage school where we could stay. All four of us piled onto the back of a moto taxi and started to go there, but my mom forgot the way and couldn't find it. So she asked the moto driver if he knew where any Christian orphanage school was.

The driver said that he knew. Then he brought us straight to the gate of CCAMS (Cambodian Christian Arts Ministry School). Now I know that it was the Lord Jesus Christ who used that moto driver to bring us to His place. That day, when I was nine years old, I first met Makom Noren, Mommy Gioia, and Teacher Tikhia. They have been my mothers and my teachers ever since.

At CCAMS, I have been so happy and have finally felt truly loved. Here all of us children have good food, a safe place to stay, and nice clothes to wear. Here we are taught right from wrong. And here we have a chance to study all kinds of education, especially the arts that I love so much.

Although I had heard the name of the Lord Jesus Christ at HAGAR, I only understood the Bible and what salvation was all about at CCAMS. But I had never received Jesus as my personal Savior and Lord, until I began to have headaches and couldn't see out of my right eye. The CCAMS doctor asked Makom to take me to get a scan of my head.

The scan pictures showed that there was a tumor growing inside my head! When Makom and Mommy told me the truth, I was so afraid. But they encouraged me to trust the Lord Jesus. They led me to confess my sins and to receive the Holy Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ into my heart. After praying that day, I felt so peaceful inside.

At CCAMS, we prayed every day that the Lord Jesus would do a miracle and cause the tumor to disappear! But God has many ways of healing. I'm so thankful to God for using Mommy Gioia to take me outside Cambodia to a special doctor in America who knew how to remove the tumor. It was truly a miracle how God provided airfares and eight months of treatments all free of charge!

I knew that I might die because of the tumor, but if so, I also knew that I would go to heaven to be with my Lord Jesus and to receive my complete healing over there. In any case, I hoped and prayed that the Lord would spare my life on this earth, so that I could have a chance to give my life back to Him as a living sacrifice, to finish my training, and then to serve Him at CCAMS for the rest of my life.

And that's exactly what has happened! When the tumor was first diagnosed, I was 12 years old. Now I am 17 years old and completely healed. I have my whole life ahead of me to help CCAMS rescue more disadvantaged children like I used to be and to proclaim the Good News of Christ using my artistic gifts. Praise the Lord!

Buntheep Chun

P.S. To read more details about my life, click here.