Vibol Uong, Pastor to Cambodia

His Story- God's magnificent project (with a little Cambodian History thrown in):

This is a story that challenges our preconceived ideas about conversion and how God "ought" to work in a person's life, the means He "ought" to use (it challenged mine).  I transcribed these notes as Vibol told us his story, and the only editing I did was to make sentences more seamless and the story more readable overall, simply because English is his second language.  Read and be awed at the power of our mighty God to transform a life.

In the 1800s the French came to Cambodia, and stayed for 100 years.  They split up Cambodia, which was originally 54 provinces, into the current 24.  Interestingly, several of the main leaders in the Khmer rouge would study in France years later, and the same principles that gave France her revolution would tear Cambodia apart on the killing fields.

Vibol was born in a small province far away from the capitol.  His mother died giving birth to him so people thought he was an evil boy.  They left him to himself, and neglected him almost entirely.  Once they threw him in a bush for a whole day to die.  People couldn't believe it when they found he was still alive.

When he was about ten the Cambodian civil war began.  In 1975 the Khmer rouge came to power, making many promises of better living for Cambodia's citizens.  In three short days, the Khmer Rouge forced all the people out of the cities, shooting those who were too slow.  The cities themselves became ghost towns.  Over the course of the next twenty-three years the nation would be wracked by war, and millions of its citizens brutally executed in the one thousand five hundred killing fields scattered across Cambodia.

Everyone was afraid, and many dug holes to hide in.  Young people were put to hard labor raising animals for food, and building dams, but since Vibol knew how to cook, a group of Khmer soldiers kept him in their military base to make their meals.  He was about eleven at the time.

The Khmer put people in trucks, beat them, threw them in wells, and abused them.  Vibol heard these people crying for help out of the wells.  He asked the soldiers why they were mistreating these people.  Their reply was: "Don't worry, they are enemies".

The three neighboring countries of Cambodia, Vietnam, and Laos have a close alliance to help each other against enemies.  For this reason Cambodia aided Vietnam in the Vietnam War, and for this reason also, Cambodia as a nation was preserved from complete ruin.  While Cambodia was collapsing and hope fast waning, Vietnam sent soldiers, supplies and food to the Cambodian people.  Many also fled over the borders into these countries for safety.

While Vibol was living at the Khmer base, the Vietnam soldiers came from the north and attacked that region; in their village the battle centered on a certain field.  As Vibol described it, “A rain of bullets flew over our heads.  There were men and animals running everywhere”.  His father found him and they both ran away from the village through the forest.  When they became exhausted they caught two water buffaloes and rode them for about 7km till they got to another village where they killed the buffalo and cooked them for the people. 

The Vietnamese came to that village too, but they only occupied (Vibol didn't say why, but it was likely because there was no military presence).  In 1979 they sent everyone back to their own villages.

When Vibol, his father and friends returned to their village they had nothing to live on.  They tried to survive on a little rice, and some leaves and other vegetables from the jungle.  Vibol climbed palm trees, retrieved the sweet palm juice from the flowers and made syrup and sugar out of it which they took to other villages and traded for food. 

Young people were being drafted for the national army, but Vibol realized that the only way to break out of his poverty was to get an education.  He told his father he wanted to go to Phnom Penh to be educated so he would have more opportunity.  His father wouldn't let him at first, but finally he was persuaded, and he gave his son three cents for travel.

In 1981 Vibol left his home and traveled to the city of Phnom Penh.  He was sixteen at the time.

He rode hidden in a truck because he didn't have any pass or identification, and he would get arrested if he were found. 

All his life he had lived in small villages, and he had no knowledge of cities.  He was awed and surprised by all the buildings and asked what they were called, because he had never seen anything like them.  He was told, “This is Phnom Penh”.

That night he stayed in the truck station and hid from soldiers.  He didn't get any sleep all night because of the mosquitoes. 

In the morning he took his directions from the sun and walked north.  He came to a Buddhist temple where he told his story to a monk.  The monk was afraid to let him stay because he didn't have a pass from the army, but he gave him directions to the army headquarters by the river.  There, after hearing his story they wrote him an official letter that granted him safety. 

He came back to the temple, and they showed him a room he could stay in.  When he entered he found many dead bodies bloody and smelling; but he cleared them aside and stayed in the room.   At the time there were only about 75 people living in Phnom Penh, and practically all the buildings had been demolished.

He found a school to study at, but he was drafted into the army, and made the leader of a group of soldiers.  He would fight, and come back and study for several months, then go out again.  One time they almost died because a group of Khmer troops ambushed them.  They spent two weeks in the jungle, eating monkeys and other animals, and sleeping in trees. 

He saved money as a luggage carrier, transporting goods from the river boats to land, then used that money to buy a motorbike.  He taxied people in the early morning, went to school in the day, and studied into the night.  

While at school he went to the library, which was in bad shape from the fighting.  The books were disorganized, dirty, and dusty.  It was there he found out about many different religions.  Earlier in his life he had been a Buddhist monk for a couple years, so he knew about Buddhism, but when he read about Christianity, he was surprised—it was a new thing, completely unlike anything he had heard of.  The word for Jesus in Cambodian is “Jesu”: “Je”- mother, “su”- name, so the picture he got was of some sort of “mother god”.  He asked his teacher about it, and he said that that religion was Catholic, and the followers were called Christians.  This fascinated Vibol, and he kept reading about Christianity, comparing it to Buddhism. 

One day he was walking on top of the temple and looking out over the city, when he saw a man walking past below.  He called to him, "I have a question to ask you!"  The man stopped, and Vibol came down and asked him about Christianity: had he ever heard of it?  What did he think about it?  He told him about reading the books in the library, and about what his teacher had told him, and said he was very confused.  The man questioned him closely about who he was, and why he wanted to know about Christianity.

Then the man then took him an hour's walk to a house church meeting.  It was all very strange to Vibol, and he wondered why these people didn't go to the temple, but met instead in a house.  After the service the teacher talked with him and explained the gospel, beginning at Genesis.  Vibol thought God very proud for claiming to be the only true God, because Buddha doesn't claim to be a god, only a teacher to direct people in the true way.  When the pastor said that God had created him, Vibol, who had been taught evolution in school, decided that this religion was too hard to believe. 

They talked back and forth for awhile, and finally the teacher told him that God doesn't force anyone to believe, but that if Vibol was ever in trouble he was to call on His name, because “His name is powerful and mighty to save”.  As he left, Vibol still didn't understand.  He thought he could just add Jesus to the other gods he already had and be done with it.

One night shortly after this he forgot to lock up his motorbike and someone stole it.  That was the end of his education.  He had been earning just enough money each day for his food and to pay for school, and now he had no means to make a living.

He got sick from lack of food and couldn't go to school.  He got very serious, and didn't have water, food, or anyone to help.  No one even knew he was sick, and he lay for six days in his room in the temple, alone.  He tried to plead with all his gods, but he just got sicker and sicker. 

On the sixth day he knew he was going to die that night.  Then he remembered the words of the pastor.  He cried out to God for help, saying that if He was really powerful, if He could save him from death he would give the rest of his life to Him.

At about eleven o'clock that night he heard music, and thought it was the death king coming to get him.  He became very scared, and got up from the floor.  Then he saw a bright light and a Man, and he heard a voice, "I am Jesus, and you called upon My name".  After that, the light disappeared, and he was completely well in that hour.  Vibol got on his knees and cried and cried.  All night he looked to the sky, and wondered what he could do . . . he didn't know much about Christianity, and had no idea what he could do to serve Jesus.

In the morning he went to the house where the underground church meeting had been held.  The pastor was gone but his wife was there and cooked some porridge for Vibol, who was thin and hungry.  When the pastor returned and heard Vibol's story he said, "God has called you to be his servant". 

But Vibol had another problem . . . he had been gone for a week, and the school exams were in several days, so he asked the pastor what he should do. He told him to ask God for help.  So he prayed, “Jesus, I need You again.  I have exams coming, but I don’t think the teachers will let me take them since I haven't been in class.  I need Your help, and I trust that You can help me".

Then he went to his teacher and told him why he hadn't come.  The school directors discussed it among themselves and decided to allow him to study for the tests on condition that he read all the lessons from every class he had missed.  (Schools in Cambodia are far more rigorous than in America, and this was a Herculean task.)  He borrowed other students' books, and studied all day and all night for a week, asking God for memory to retain all the information; as he studied, he found that all the material stayed in his head, and he was able to process it.  The exam was three days long, and he passed it. 

That was in September, and in October of that year he was baptized.  After graduation he taught monks and others in order to earn money.  In addition he began to teach people about Christ, using scriptures he had memorized.  The Cambodian church was persecuted at the time, and his pastor had to keep his Bible buried.  Vibol would come to his house to read it and to memorize portions.  It would be four and a half more years before Vibol would own his own copy.

1993 the Phnom Penh troops won out against the Khmer rouge, and in 1994, three of the four fighting groups (the Phnom Penh troops, the king's troops, and the freedom fighters were the other three) formed a coalition (because of the guerilla nature of the Khmer Rouge army, they still held out in certain parts of the country).  These events granted greater freedom to Cambodian Christians, and the church grew rapidly during the next years.  

In April the first Bible school in the country opened in Phnom Penh.  The first class of twenty-four students (of which Vibol was one) studied and worked at the same time.  They had one full-time teacher, and guest teachers came from overseas.  At the time there were only sixteen house churches in all of Cambodia.  That Christmas, the Christians were able to hold a public celebration, the first time the government had allowed them to gather for such an event.  Vibol also received a Bible which he used it as his greatest tool.  He still has that Bible, and he shows it to other pastors as a witness to the value of the Word of God and its necessity in ministry. 

On one occasion an English-speaking teacher was coming to the Bible school but the regular teacher who knew English was sick.  Everyone told Vibol he should interpret, although he didn't know English.  When the teacher gave out the day's passage from Matthew, Vibol had no idea what Matthew was, everyone laughed, and he became very discouraged.  The teacher dismissed class and for the rest of the day taught him the books of the Bible in English.   The next day he taught him how to read English.  The day after that Vibol started to read and memorize the English Bible, comparing the Cambodian and English Bibles to find the meaning.  After that week he began translating for the teacher.  The only training he has received in English to this day is the little from the teacher, who mainly taught him the pronunciation of words. 

In 1997 Vibol was pastoring a small church.  Fighting broke out in the city, and many fled, but Vibol didn’t have the means.  He told his family that they couldn't run, but "if God wants us here he can protect us".  So they stayed.  A short while after that he was able to buy a house, and he continued as ever his church planting work. 

In 1995 the Bible League came to Cambodia.  Starting in 1997, Vibol assisted them with translation work.  His passion, as he said it, was "to see the cross rise up in all the regions of Cambodia".  While he didn't have the means and connections necessary for extensive evangelism, he saw that Bible League provided an opportunity for both, and he began helping them more and more.  At the time, a Filipino was the BL director for Cambodia (as well as other countries in the region), but he didn't know much about Cambodia, so Vibol volunteered to help him.   He began working Monday through Thursday for BL, and although he got no compensation, he was seeing the gospel go forth, and that was his heart's desire.

In 1998 the Khmer surrendered, ending the civil war at last.  Cambodia now has a parliamentarian government with elections every five years (one of which is coming up in the next couple months).

Only two members of the Khmer Rouge who perpetrated the killing fields are still alive.  One died just a couple weeks ago.  The trials continue to drag on and, unbelievably, not one of the main leaders has actually been convicted, though millions of international dollars have been spent on the trials.

For many years, land mines remained all over Cambodia, earning it the rating of one of the top two nations for active landmines.  Since then, teams have disabled many and travel is far safer today.  

In March of 2002, Bob, the Philippine BL director came to visit Cambodia with a photographer from New Zealand to capture the work.  The photographer, however, got sick in one of the villages they were visiting, and had to be hospitalized.  While he receiving care, Bob and Vibol had some time to talk in the hotel.  They talked for the whole day and into the night.  They shared the stories of their lives, talked about their vision to minister to the countries of Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam, and of their dreams and desires for the spreading of the gospel.

After that, Bob and the photographer went home, but BL administration heard about the work Vibol was doing, and in May 2002 he officially became part of the BL and the director of operations in Cambodia.  At that time they had about 70 church planters across the country.  He wrote much of the training material and books to be used in church planting and discipleship, and he has just completed a much needed, updated translation of the Bible with study notes to replace an older translation in need of corrections. 

In 2010 his wife suffered an acid attack and became extremely sick for the next two years.  He himself inhaled some of the acid and dealt with the health repercussions.  He spent so much time and energy nursing his wife that he became weakened, and came down with typhoid.  In 2012 his wife died, leaving four children behind, Joshua, John, Philip, and Sara.

Just a few months after his wife died, Vibol received an unexpected call from the Bible League, informing him that they were thankful for his work to spread the gospel in Cambodia, and it was great to see the progress, but they had changed their ministry policy and so were unable to provide him with any more support.  That was all--they cut him off in a single day.  It was without warning of any sort, and left him with no salary and no funds to meet the increasingly massive demand for Bibles and other literacy/training material.  This also put him in the middle of a fiscal year with no way to raise funds, and BL Canada, who would come through with some help a little later on had already set their budget schedule for the year.  

The Spirit was powerfully at work: hundreds of people were coming to know Christ and needed more training in the scriptures.  Vibol had to tell the workers they didn't have the funds to pay for transportation, to buy material, or even to transport it.  He went to each of the pastors in person, encouraging them to persevere, despite the need to slow the work.  This was a very discouraging time for them, and absolutely nothing was certain.

Vibol says, "We work together to see God transform life in Cambodia, that country which used to be a killing field but is now becoming a living field--we work to see people set free, and the country opened to the gospel.  Vietnam is now far more open than it used to be. God is moving, and even though we face hard times, God is with us."

Vibol told about carrying Bibles into closed countries, 2-300 at a time.  “They can arrest me any time.  I just pray God to protect me.  I tell people when I leave, ‘if I don’t come back, there’s only two ways, either I am in Heaven, or in prison’.”

He closed this grand story by saying confidently, "our Lord, Jehovah Jireh is Provider".

~~~

In the last ten years the demand for church planting material and scriptures has increased on a monthly basis. More than two thousand churches have been planted in the last thirteen years, and thousands of people are reached every month.  Currently there are more than two hundred church planters across Cambodia.  During training, each planter receives three books ($20ea.) and the New Testament upon completion.  The demand for Bibles ($7) is about 3,000 per month, and for New Testaments ($3) about 5,000 per month.

“In Cambodia there are still over 9000 villages which do not have a believer, a Bible or a church present. 98% of the population remains in traditional religions of Buddhism or local folk religion. These villages are often remote and isolated in agricultural areas. These villages will wait for many more years to hear the gospel unless Cambodians are trained, equipped and mobilized to enter these villages with the intent of bringing the kingdom of God into the village by sharing the story of the Creator God and Jesus Christ.”

 – from the Vision for Villages website.

To learn more about the work and mission of VFV in Cambodia, follow this link: http://visionforvillages.org/countries/  (please be aware that they are in the process of updating their website, so it is changing)

Here is their FB page:  https://www.facebook.com/VisionForVillages?fref=ts