The Pnong are a communal society. People find security in following the wisdom of their elders and their council to keep evil spirits from making their families sick. To become a follower of Christ and set aside customary rituals of spirit appeasement is to put yourself and others you love in danger.
Chumpri and Kaak live in Punih Village. Chumpri’s home village, Dumchi, is about 25 miles from Punih. Chumpri owns land near Dumchi that until now has been unfarmed and unoccupied. The Khmer government says that if you do not use your land for a certain number of years, it can be taken from you. So, last year, Chumpri and Kaak decided to plant lowland rice on this land to keep from forfeiting it.
Chumpri made many trips to Dumchi to build dikes around the rice paddy and to plant the rice. It was challenging for them to live so far from their field. They invested a lot into the field, though they knew that rice paddies typically don’t produce very well in their first year. Kaak had hopes of getting a small amount of rice from the field, maybe enough to feed them for a few months of the year.
Often, Chumpri’s relatives would come and help them. One day when they were planting rice, Chumpri’s brother-in-law began to pressure him into making a spirit pole for the field. Chumpri calmly told him that they had asked Chief God to protect and bless the field, and they were not going to ask the help of any other spirit. Various family members kept bringing up the topic, but Chumpri and Kaak stood firm.
Kaak told me about this later, and I encouraged her in their stand. We all watched to see how well the field would do. At harvest time, our family was in Phnom Penh for some business, so we were not able to help. Kaak had hoped they might get 20 large bags of rice from the field. But when they went to harvest, it rained for several days. Kaak called me and asked us to pray that it would stop raining so the rice could be harvested before it went bad. We prayed for them, but it continued to rain in Phnom Penh, which meant it was probably raining at their field, too.
Two weeks later, I spoke with Kaak again on the phone. I was shocked when she told me they had harvested 36 bags of rice, more than enough to feed them for an entire year! Daniel helped them transport the rice back to Punih and talked with them about tithing their harvest. They were so happy to learn how they could give back to God for His blessings. They are preparing their tithe to bring to church this week.
When we are faithful to God, He will bless us abundantly. Chumpri and Kaak have been praying for Chumpri’s family and telling them about Chief God. We look forward to seeing what impact this will have.
