Even though Sol and I are not very used to planting crops, since we arrived in Cambodia, we have learned a few agricultural skills that our industrious Pnong church brothers and sisters use to grow different fruits, vegetables and legumes in their fields.
MaDavid, one of our sisters, recently asked our team to help plant cassava in her field. Together, we went to plant a good portion of the field, digging holes, placing a piece of cassava stem in them, and covering them up. Simple! The rain and the fertile soil do the rest.
When we arrived, we found that some of MaDavid’s relatives from Oreang village had come to help. As is common, they were very shy. They are not used to seeing so many foreigners—especially not in the place where they feel most at ease: the farm.
But little by little, they saw that we were not there to supervise or sit around with clean hands and not help like they are used to seeing with other visitors. Sol especially knows how to work hard!
Sol and Alexia, one of our student missionaries, went to dig holes while Bridget and Dome (short for Domenica), two of our other student missionaries, stayed in the kitchen. I took my knife and started cutting cassava stems.
If there is one thing I have learned from our beloved Pnong friends, it is that once you share something with them, they start to open up. You do not force a conversation or interrupt them while they work. You just do your part, quietly. That is what I did.
One or two hours later, MaDavid’s relatives started making jokes and comments. After another half hour, I already knew how the ten people working there were all related to each other, where they lived, how many children they had, and whether or not they believed in Jesus. Beautiful, right?
I also learned about some of their family tragedies. One of the women in the family (women are usually the head of the household) had lost her twelve-year-old son in a motorcycle accident just six months earlier. Her relatives told us that sometimes she sits in her field, staring into the distance and crying, as if remembering her son. Respectfully, they do not say anything.
MaDavid, our church sister and a respected leader, has started talking to her about Christ and teaching her to pray—to lay those heavy feelings at Jesus’ feet. The woman has been listening for a few months already and is becoming interested in Jesus.
After about five hours of work that morning, others from our team joined, and we had a delicious lunch. After a few hours of afternoon work, we finished our time in the field. With smiles and kind words, we said goodbye and told everyone that we would love to visit them sometime in Oreang village.
MaDavid later told us that the woman who had lost her son asked her, “These foreigners—why do they come? What benefit do they get? We have other foreigners from NGOs [non-governmental organizations] in our village, but they do not help like this. Why do they do it?”
It was not that she did not enjoy our company—she just found our behavior surprising.
MaDavid explained that there was no benefit at all—only the joy of spending time together as a family in Christ.
The implications of MaDavid’s answer really stood out to the woman, and MaDavid began sharing more and more about the Christian community and how we help each other simply out of brotherly love.
A few weeks later, MaDavid came to us with good news—this family had decided to follow Christ.
Oh, what special power cassava planting has, right? (Read that with a pinch of sarcasm.)
Clearly, there is much more behind this conversion than just helping plant cassava. As always, the Holy Spirit is at work in people’s hearts, convincing them. And He is so convincing that even rough, inexperienced cassava planters like we were for a day can provide witness to a tender heart willing to hear Christ’s voice.
That day, we planted more than just cassava; we planted relationships, love and the seed of the gospel.
