One evening when I was serving as a student missionary in Cambodia, I saw two ladies peering through the door as I began my English class. I knew they probably needed help for someone who was sick, so I promised to meet with them right after class.

Many Cambodians have no access to qualified doctors. So, when I started driving patients to Mercy Medical Center in Phnom Penh, and they came back healed or much improved, it caused quite a stir in the community. I helped people with natural remedies, massage and lots of charcoal as I was able, but I was very glad to be able to refer difficult cases to Mercy, a Christian hospital with a strong evangelistic approach. Patients began coming to me from as far as three hours away. Frequently when I got up in the morning, I would find someone waiting on my front door with a sick friend. As a mere student missionary, I never could have imagined that I would be attracting hundreds of medical patients! And still there were hundreds more who were too poor or too sick to even dream that I could help them.

After English class, one of the ladies took me to see her husband. They didn’t even ask to go to Mercy. They just wanted me to come and listen. In a hoarse whisper, the sick man began to tell me his story. “How can I take care of my family? My liver is failing. I am only able to walk short distances and can barely speak. I am 33 years old, and I have seven children.” Their house, perched on long poles, extended out over the river. A few pots and a metal tray for the cooking fire made up the kitchen, and one step up was an open platform where they all slept. A tattered old mattress and some palm leaves blocked the wind coming off the water. The dying man told me how he had worked a day’s labor for each pole, and bought the tin roof one sheet at a time.
There are rampant health problems in Cambodia. I have English students only 16 years old who are already developing goiter. Roughly half of all the women have goiter. Many men suffer liver failure from hepatitis. Diabetes strikes both sexes. In Cambodia I worked with Adam and Ruby Clay who were developing simple, locally available treatments for these hurting people.

I held the dying man’s hand and listened to his story, and I made friends with his children. I prayed with them and told them I would be thinking about them and come back tomorrow or the next day. Empathy was all I could give them, but they seemed to greatly appreciate it.

During my time as a student missionary, God taught my heart what it means to give to everyone who asks. No matter how many patients I packed into my truck, I could never take everyone in need to the hospital. And, for many, it was already too late. That is when just giving them a little time and love goes a long way.

Thank you for supporting young people like me as we take our first steps into God’s mission field. Your gifts to the SM fund makes it possible for AFM to train young people at the feet of seasoned missionaries, counselors, linguists, journalists, photo journalists and doctors. The SM fund helps AFM projects feed and house their SMs for the year and buy their plane tickets, language study materials and visas as they delve into a brand new ministry in a brand new culture.

Please include AFM’s youngest missionaries in your giving this year. Thank you in advance from all of us!

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