FROM THE
HEART OF ERIC FUNG / Executive Director, Asian Outreach Malaysia
The Lost Story
Cambodia once known as the ‘Killing fields’ is
one of the poorest countries in the world where 80% of the 9.3 million
population live in poverty up till 1994. Although the standard of living has
improved, the people still live with the painful memories of the radical
communist Khmer Rouge's time in power under the leadership of Pol Pot between
1975 and 1978, when two million people died in the regime's brutal pursuit of
power.
Today, Cambodia still lags behind their Asian
neighbours in their progress being one of the most impoverished and worst
countries in the world to grow up in. Nearly half of all the children are malnourished
largely due to lack of proper medical attention. In the villages they have no
access to healthcare and there is no social system in place to care for the
poor, the old and the vulnerable. Children are
the ones who pay a heavy price, often falling prey to child traffickers and paedophiles and sadly it is
not that uncommon for children to be sold into the sex trade for a few dollars
when their family can no longer feed or support them. One third of the
prostitutes in Phnom Penh are very young and children as young as six years old
have been discovered in brothels, starved, beaten and horrendously abused. Thousands
of children have become orphans due to AIDS and thousands are HIV infected.
Looking Back
In 1991, I was invited by a Malaysian businessman to visit Cambodia to access the possibility of preaching the Gospel to a population of 9.3 million with an estimate of 400 known Christian. On the next day after my arrival I was taken to a village along the river banks when a group of children saw me, a stranger, and out of curiosity they surrounded me. All the children were barefooted and many were naked except for a few older girls who had their underwear on. Upon a closer encounter with the children I noticed many of them had mucus running down their noses and their hair was unkempt and dirty. As they drew closer to me and as I looked into their innocent faces, their big round eyes stared back at me and I could not resist reaching out and touching one of them. The very next moment they grabbed on to my fingers tightly and some of them were clinging to my legs causing me to stumble as I walked. They climbed at the back of me and some in front of me, all fighting to touch me but at the same time smearing their mucus on my hands, all over my clothes and eventually my face. My immediate reaction was to regret touching them.
In 1991, I was invited by a Malaysian businessman to visit Cambodia to access the possibility of preaching the Gospel to a population of 9.3 million with an estimate of 400 known Christian. On the next day after my arrival I was taken to a village along the river banks when a group of children saw me, a stranger, and out of curiosity they surrounded me. All the children were barefooted and many were naked except for a few older girls who had their underwear on. Upon a closer encounter with the children I noticed many of them had mucus running down their noses and their hair was unkempt and dirty. As they drew closer to me and as I looked into their innocent faces, their big round eyes stared back at me and I could not resist reaching out and touching one of them. The very next moment they grabbed on to my fingers tightly and some of them were clinging to my legs causing me to stumble as I walked. They climbed at the back of me and some in front of me, all fighting to touch me but at the same time smearing their mucus on my hands, all over my clothes and eventually my face. My immediate reaction was to regret touching them.
At that very precise moment I heard the voice
of God telling me “Eric I do not want you to preach on my love alone but make
my love tangible. So often we talk about the love of Jesus Christ as shown in John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that
whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” But
here God is telling me to make His love tangible. I was saved because of John
3:16. Growing up as a Christian I recited on John 3:16, when I started to share
about Jesus I shared on John 3:16 and when I went into ministry I preached on
John 3:16. But God wants us not only to talk about His love but make His love
tangible, something people can touch and feel or benefit from. Praise God after
ministering in the village, several souls was saved at my first meeting. That
night I struggled to sleep because those words continued to pound my mind which
led me to pray and eventually God gave me a vision and a strategy which was to
provide free medical and dental care to the villages along the Mekong River
banks which comprises of 85% of the population. God gave me a vision to start a
medical boat that would ply up and down the river banks, reaching villages that
were only accessible by boat.
After my
one week in Cambodia visiting several villages and government departments I was
informed by the local authorities that there are only 20 doctors and 3 dentists
in the country of 9.3 million people. To me this information confirmed what the
Lord wanted me to do for these people. Registering
Asian Outreach as a registered NGO in Cambodia was a bit of a struggle and
after 16 months we finally got our licence to operate as an NGO. We then started looking for suitable boats
and saw God’s faithfulness in providing the funds. With great excitement and thankfulness
to God, on the 21st January 1994 the medical Boat was launched.
There were 22
pastors/leaders from Malaysia at the launching of the boat, and with a God
given name, ‘The Boat of Hope’ was launched. Local government officials,
foreign dignitaries and local pastors and leaders were also present and we had
to hire two additional boats to ferry everyone to the first village. During the
launch I shared how God gave me the vision of the boat and the strategy to give
free medical and dental care as a tool to demonstrate God’s love in a tangible
way. We gave thanks to God and worshipped Him in the open, witnessed by
hundreds of locals. After praising and worshipping
God for half an hour the
boat began its cruise to the 1st village which took about half an
hour.
On arrival
at the village we began to look for a proper place to set up our Dental clinic
which was a mere plastic chair and a place for our medical clinic. After having
done that our Dental and Medical clinic commenced seeing patients and many were
waiting their turn. We were fortunate that we found large shady places under
the trees and a big house on stilts that shaded us from the midday sun. After an
hour we deliberately stopped the clinic, telling the people that we would
resume in half an hour. We then seized that opportunity to preach on the love
of God in a very simple way. That day 4 adults and 50 children accepted the
Lord in this village. While we were leading them into the Salvation Prayer we
heard the sirens calling the villagers to pray. Only then we noticed that we
had landed up in an Ishmaelite village and our Dental clinic was set up
underneath their Prayer House.
I was taken
aback and to a certain extent stricken with fear not knowing if there was any
penalty to what we were doing. I immediately uttered a prayer to God for
boldness and I continued with the Sinners Prayer. Although the siren was
buzzing more frequently those who accepted the Lord remained and did not go
with the others to pray. Suddenly I felt a tap on my shoulder and as I turned
back I saw a man in a white robe telling me through an interpreter that we
should stay on as he wanted to talk to me. But we already had an appointment in
another village so I told him that I had to go but I promised to return.
We returned
to the village a week later and the man with the white robe came to welcome us,
particularly myself. While the Medical and Dental clinics were in progress I
began to share with the man about God’s love and salvation through Jesus
Christ. After I had finished he accepted Jesus as His Lord and Saviour and I
led him in the Prayer of Salvation. In the duration of 8 days covering 5
villages we witnessed 390 children and 85 adults accept Jesus as their Lord and
Saviour.
This
testimony became the ‘Lost Story’. Due to its sensitiveness it did not find its
place in our magazine earlier. However a
month ago God revived this memory in me and I felt that the ‘Lost Story’ must
be told for His glory. My Partners in Missions, your financial and prayer support
for Asian Outreach has empowered us in many ways to reach the unreached and to
touch many lives that has been bounded and blinded by the principalities of
darkness. With your support, unaccountable numbers have been set free and today
thousands upon thousands are enjoying an intimate relationship with our Lord
Jesus Christ and an assurance of eternal life. There are many more ‘lost
stories’ and upon revelation by the Holy Spirit I will be sharing it with you.
Never
underestimate your contribution no matter how small or big it is. You have been
a tool to help spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the most outer parts of
Asia. Once again it is with deepest gratitude to God for using you to partner
with Him to ensure that His Word is preached and His love made tangible. All
Glory to God.
I know in
this time of high cost of living and economic uncertainty the tendency to give
less or not to give will pound our minds. My faith tells me that God Himself
will encourage you to make sacrifices for His Kingdom sake. Let me end with a
scripture verse.
Galatians 6:8-10
“Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the
flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit
will reap eternal life. Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the
proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore, as we have
opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to
the family of believers.”
1 Chronicles 29:14
“But who am I, and who are my people, that we
should be able to give as generously as this? Everything comes from you, and we
have given you only what comes from your hand.”
My
prayer is “As you give He will give back to you a good measure pressed down,
shaken together and running over.”
