Part Three
February 22, 2016
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Dear CCAM Partners and Friends,
In September 2015, soon after Gioia returned to Cambodia after her U.S. trip, Soky Hong, a former CCAMS student, who had been taken away from us against her will by relatives years ago, came to visit CCAMS with her friend Youda (Vieng Veing You). Youda had heard about CCAMS from Soky in July when they first met. She told him that she was hoping to return to CCAMS to become a staff member there. Youda loved the idea of serving God at a Christian school like CCAMS. So they both decided to inquire about working with us as staff members.
Since Soky had left CCAMS, we had moved, and at first they had trouble finding our new location. Finally, by asking around, they were able to meet us at our present facility! We were excited to discuss the prospect of their becoming staff members, but at that time we were planning to move to new facilities, because our present facilities were too crowded. Therefore, we asked them to help us pray for a new house, and also for God to confirm to all of us His will about their future partnership with us.
Soky shared that, after her abduction from CCAMS under false pretenses, she had pleaded with her relatives to bring her back, but they had refused, forcing her to serve as their housekeeper and nanny for many years. Later, she got the opportunity to attend public school and has now passed the 12th grade government exam!
Youda shared that, while growing up, he was constantly abused by his stepfather. He never got the opportunity to go to school, because he was expected to help his stepfather in his fishing business; therefore, he never learned to read or write.
Youda received his nickname Youda (Judah) from a godly woman at a local church near his home, who took him under her wing to nurture him in spiritual things and to provide for him in practical ways. When Youda eventually made a strong confession of faith in Jesus, the pastor of the church baptized him. Sometimes, Youda ran away from his abusive home to live at the church or with his mentor, supporting himself by working at restaurants. That’s where he learned how to cook!
In the past, we have often rescued from difficult circumstances the widowed mothers or grandmothers of our students to work as CCAMS cooks. However, most of these women turned out to be troublemakers, eventually abandoning their children to our care while they went out to seek greener pastures, often involving potential relationships with men. Each time this happened, I prayed that God would send us a cook who was a mature Christian, who would set up “a seminary in the kitchen,” guiding the students and helping them solve problems by biblical principles, instead of inciting rebellion behind our backs.
In those early years, CCAMS students had always helped with the work in the kitchen, but at a certain point, we stopped taking in adult women to serve as cooks, and began to train a few of our older students to share the major cooking responsibilities. However, when all of our older students departed in December, we were left with a remnant of nine children and four leaders, who suddenly had to share all of the many responsibilities of shopping for, preparing and cleaning up after three meals a day!
That’s when we renewed our prayers for God to send us a mature Christian staff member with the gifts of spiritual exhortation and delicious cooking! We were also praying that this person would come before Kelsey departed for her trip to America, in order to be trained to shoulder some of her responsibilities in her absence.
On Valentine’s Day, Youda came to our Sunday morning worship, bringing flowers and candies that he and Soky had prepared for everyone! Then he announced that God had confirmed to him His calling to join CCAMS as our cook, our market coordinator, and as one of our student supervisors! Praise the Lord!
We met with Youda that day to discuss and pray about the details of his becoming a staff member, including the amount of our love offering to him each month. We also explained about the opportunities we could offer him to learn how to read and write Khmer and English, as well as other skills that he was interested in, like playing musical instruments, drawing pictures, and especially seriously studying the Bible and being further discipled by the leaders. This seemed to be a match made in heaven for both parties!
Youda moved to CCAMS three days later. He is temporarily living in our medical clinic until we move to the new house, where he will have his own room just off of the kitchen. On his first day, we took him to complete medical tests, which were all good! Observing him among our students so far, we have been encouraged by his gentle spirit, servant’s heart, and spiritual wisdom! And his culinary dishes are very tasty!
There is another very important benefit to having a full-time staff member responsible for the cooking. Just as deacons were appointed in the early church to serve tables, so that the teachers would have more time to prepare their lessons (Acts 6:2-4), so the CCAMS teachers are now released from cooking duties to focus on their primary responsibilities. Students are also released from carrying the burden of the cooking and restored to merely helping with the preparations at specified times, so that they may focus primarily on their school work. Praise the Lord!
Soky is still seeking God about how she can follow His calling to return to CCAMS, because her relatives are now putting pressure on her to work at some secular job to support them financially! Please pray for Soky to hear clearly from God and to have courage to follow whatever He tells her. Please pray also for the salvation of Soky’s and Youda’s relatives.
The fact that God is adding more members to the Body of Christ at CCAMS is additional evidence of His intention to restore us again! We wonder whom He will call next!
“God (is placing) the members, each one of them, in the body, just as He (desires).”1 Corinthians 12:18
Chosen Members of Christ’s Body,
The CCAMS Family