November 8, 2010
By Joyce Johns, serving in Cambodia
Joyce Johns and her colleagues demonstrate Christ’s love for the “least of these” through hospital visitation, literacy training, and prison ministry. The following is an adapted excerpt from Joyce’s recent prayer letter.
King David had many things to say about God, such as, “The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliver . . . my refuge . . . my shield . . . the horn of my salvation . . . my stronghold . . . my Savior. I will call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised.” Since God is all of these things to us, we can be confident that when we call upon Him, He will answer.
From the time I wrote my last prayer letter, there have been several patients with burns. The two youth with lower extremity burns are doing well, though one still needs some skin grafts. Following that, there were four children burned. They came from one of the outlying villages where travel is difficult in rainy season. One of the children came in by motorbike, and two came in by elephant.
One child was too dehydrated and died soon after coming to the hospital. The two youngest were sent to Phnom Penh, but one of them died there. That child’s name was Kom Sot, which means “sorrow.” Surely, there was much sorrow for this family. They are not believers, so pray that God will somehow touch them.
The third incident involved a woman with burns sustained when someone dumped a large pan of hot water on her. She is recovering, but she is also nine months pregnant; pray that there won’t be any complications in all of this.
We continue to visit patients at the hospital to pray for them, and we still look for ways to interact with hospital staff. Pray that we will use opportunities to share about Christ.
In Pulong Village where we are doing some outreach, one pregnant woman was quite sick. Since she was already a bit malnourished, the baby died in the seventh month of pregnancy. This family lives in a rather small house (we might call it a shack), and the husband drinks. Pray that we can find appropriate ways to help this family and share more about Jesus with them. Several of their relatives live nearby, so we would like to see God bring them to Himself and start a small house church there.
At the local prison, we are teaching Khmer literacy. Many of the incarcerated don’t know how to read, because they had a poor education. Some of those who can read and write have been trained to be teachers. The students seem happy to be studying because they know they can then read other books like the Bible (several have requested one). Also, when they leave prison, they will have a better opportunity for meaningful work. Pray that God will open their hearts and minds to the deeper things in life. Pray also for Vanna, a Christian guard, who helps to oversee the literacy classes.
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