During the 1970's, a young missionary couple went to Cambodia during a turbulent time in the country's history. Image Attribution: Steve Dunne Gary Wagner USAF / CC-BY-SA-3.0
During the 1970s, it was a turbulent time in Southeast Asia with ongoing war in Vietnam and Cambodia. Two young missionaries, fresh out of college arrived in Cambodia to establish new mission work.
We got married and right after honeymoon we came to Phnom Penh, Cambodia which was our mission field for five years or so we thought. And we set foot in this building which was supposed to be our honeymoon suite.
The first floor was classrooms. The second floor were more classrooms plus the church. Then the third floor were the apartments for the five student missionaries who came from America to work here to teach English. So the sign in front said SDA English Language Center.On the fourth story you would see the balcony, just above the flag; And that's the place we spent a lot of time praying because in those in those years we had frequent blackouts.
We could see during the day F-111 fighter bombers coming from angle swooping down and then going up again. Then before going up you could see rockets being fired from the plane. Up and down, up and down. They came in waves. So there was some military campaigns. On top on the fourth floor many a times we claimed Psalms 91. You shall not be afraid of the danger by night nor the arrow that flies by day.
We said Lord you have promised we shall not be afraid of the B-52 bombers by day and the rockets that flew by night. The rockets were very dangerous. And so I told my wife there's nothing to worry about. When you hear the sound you're okay. And when you don't hear the sound either you're alive or dead. Just one of those two options. So we were dependent on the Lord a lot on that fourth floor balcony.
And one night. We heard a lot of rocket fires in the city. So we went to the fifth floor and we looked out almost the entire outskirts of Phnom Penh was on fire. So we said this is it. This is it. Whichever direction you look, everywhere was fire.
GT, Ivy, and the student missionaries were evacuated to Vietnam, but their story didn’t end there. They prepared to return to Cambodia and face new challenges.
To be continued…
