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Developing Whole Leaders for the whole World

Healing In Cambodia: Holy Spirit Works Through ORU Missions Team

by Deborah Laker

cambodia missionsOral Roberts University upheld the vision of spreading the gospel to the "uttermost bounds of the earth" this summer by sending students on mission trips around the world.

Kristin Hopkins, a team leader on ORU’s missions team to Cambodia, speaks with enthusiasm when reflecting on the four weeks she spent abroad sharing her faith.
Along with her team members, Hopkins interacted with, ministered to and served families in a nearby village on a daily basis.

One of her most impactful encounters took place while ministering to an elderly blind man named Soy.

Throughout the houses they visited, Team Cambodia sought to form a relationship with each of the individuals before introducing them to the gospel.

When engaging in a conversation with Soy, the 84-year-old disclosed that his wife and children had been massacred during the Cambodian genocide. Under the Khmer Rouge, a communist regime from 1975 to 1979, more than 1.7 million people in this southeast Asian country died due to torture, forced labor, and starvation.

After the conflict, Soy remarried and, at the age of 70, had a daughter. He then informed the ORU team members that the local witch doctor had recently told him he would die within two years. In spite of this, Soy expressed his desire to live longer to see more of his 14-year-old daughter’s life.

Hopkins and her team members shared the good news of Jesus’ ultimate sacrifice with the blind man, for he had never heard the Savior’s name. With genuine joy, Soy whole-heartedly accepted Christ.

“…He believed Jesus was real and that He was his Creator,” says Hopkins excitedly while emphasizing that Soy promised to pray continually.

The missions team returned to Soy’s home the following day, where he joyfully told them he had been praying for his wife and she had come to know Christ as well.

In faith, the Spirit-empowered ORU students laid hands on Soy's blind eyes and his sight was immediately restored. For years he could only perceive vague shadows, but by the power of the Holy Spirit, his eyes were opened to see clearly.

A smile brightens Hopkins’ face as she declares, “Soy found new hope.”

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