Suostei!! I yell as I walk past every person I see, expecting a smile back at my foreign white face. Most smiles seem to be for that reason alone, but I realize people here are just that friendly in this Asian land. Lots of hours sitting, listening intently, trying to translate just what the heck that person said in their broken english they’ve learned from talking to tourist for years. I highly respect it, that is, for taking the time to talk to us young ignorant guys from America. I realize I have no idea the reality I’ve stepped into. A culture with a language that is read backwards and with more letters and syllables than you could ever count.  A people that have so much joy and life, yet so far from walking in a life of joy. A people that believe there’s more to what they see and know, just not exactly confident where to put their faith. A people that have gone through the deep darkness of the Khmer Rouge. A people I’m humbled to be around in this time of the age.

God has made such a beautiful people and culture here and I get to live in it for the next two months. To share with them that the life they have isn’t just the end of what life is supposed to be. I get to share a hope that’s now and eternal. To speak of an everlasting message of life and life abundant. And they get to share with me just how small I am in this bigger world than I know. How beautiful. God has placed us in the inbetween. 

We are only a week into ministry and it’s felt like an entire month. It’s been a time of learning, observing, and a humbling of oneself. Our squad of 40 is finally settled in the city of Siem Reap at a ministry called New Day New Life. Our actual ministry is split across the city through different schools, churches, and people groups. My team of 6 guys (including me) has been in the ministry of evangelism for the past week. Again for us to come into such a culture has been a humbling experience. We’ve had to learn a lot of the cultural religions of Buddhism, Hinduism, and those mixed together. Siem Reap is made up of ancient Hindu temples and many Buddhist temples- where lots of Buddhist stay during the daytime. Mostly every business and house here have their own “Spirit House” where the people give sacrifices of incense and food to the “spirits” that abide on their property. The people live in fear that if they don’t stay at peace with the spirits they will have bad things happen to them. So again, lots of time has been learning of the culture and sitting and listening to the local people. 

During the week we have had some incredible encounters. One cool story is of a man named Vichet and his family. We connected very quickly with Vichet as he spoke great English. We talked and decided he could translate very well for us. We then came to an agreement of him taking us to his local village to meet the smaller communities, his family, and what life was is like for people outside the city. Most of our time here will actually be with smaller villages outside of the city, so we got a taste of what that will look like. It was a wonderful day of getting to tell them why we were there, that God had sent us here to tell them that they are loved by Him. The kids ended up taking us across the village, taking us fishing, throwing strange fruit back and forth, and many samplings of the strange fruit. We ended up forming true relationships with these people. And knowing that if we never saw them again, that’s okay because of the love we left them and they left us. But on the other hand I’m glad we get to partner with ministries that are established in villages and will continue reaching out to the people. Another incredible fact is the amount of people that have never heard the gospel of Jesus here-it’s 98 percent unreached. 

So as we transition into the next few weeks of visiting these villages and people, would you pray that God would grant us supernatural love to give away, that we can walk in the demonstration of the Spirit and of Power rather than walking and speaking in human wisdom. Can you pray for me, as I lead these guys, that I would walk in the fullness of my role in confidence. For our entire squad to walk in the fullness of this time for His glory to an unreached people. Thank you so much. 

Through Him, Zach Flowers