Youth With A Mission

Testimonies

“My team and I spent September and October 2004 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia alternately teaching and going out into the provinces (1-2 hours away from the city) to do clinics for the villagers. Quite the experience for us all! In November we flew to Thailand where we had a totally different outreach experience than in Cambodia. Wow. We flew into Bangkok and took a 12 hour train ride up to Chiang Mai in Northern Thailand. From Chiang Mai, we went South along the mountains bordering Myanmar (Burma) for 2 weeks. Packed in 3 pickup trucks, our team and 3 drivers/translators journeyed deep into the mountains to work in the villages of the Karen (kuh-REN) people. The Karen are a tribal people displaced from Burma (mostly) and are considered neither Thai nor refugees. They live in the mountains and grow crops (tomatoes, cabbage, coffee, chili peppers, etc.) which they then sell in the towns/cities nearby. They have little, if any, access to healthcare due in part to the cost and distance to the nearest hospital/clinic. We had our work cut-out for us that is for sure!

“During our two weeks in the mountains, we journeyed over some interesting roads, through rivers and across bridges that we simply prayed over before crossing. We went to 4 different Karen villages, had 11 all-day clinics, and treated over 1,100 patients in those villages alone! We were in Christian and non-Christian villages alike, and the difference between them was quite obvious: the different illnesses; the attitudes of the people; their homes; the success (or lack thereof) in their crops. Truly God blesses those who honor and seek Him. Among the usual cases of worms, abdominal pains, anemia, lung congestion and parasites, there were a few amazing cases. In one village a girl about 10yrs old came to us with her finger smashed by a rice mill. She had gone to the doctor, but because of her tribal status, was given one day of anti-biotic and sent home. She came to us with her finger in serious condition, it looked like she was going to lose it. With prayer and some basic wound treatment and anti-biotics, after a few days we saw remarkable improvement the kind that anti-biotics cannot bring about. God was working a miracle! The stories continue of hearing restored, wounds healed, eyesight being improved and things of which we do not know the outcome. God was showing Himself very real to us and the villagers. What a great witness to them! In addition to treating the patients at our clinics, there was an occasion that I had to treat myself. I picked up amoebic dysentery at some point and had quite the experience with that for several weeks. After much prayer and a strong regimen of medicine, thankfully I conquered it and returned to the States healthy.”
Megan from Montana