50 Years Building His Kingdom - Far Eastern Bible College

Brother Surish
Dharmalingam
teaching the children
day on, Laos was on my prayer list. In the
meantime, I was instructed by Pastor to
help at the Indonesian service, which I did
till my graduation. At the request of Dr
David Cheong, I also assisted with the mission
team to Chiang Mai, Thailand, in between
my semester holidays.
After graduation, I still did not receive
any clear indication from the Lord
regarding Laos, but I continued praying
and waiting on Him. It was then that the
door to Cambodia opened for our Korean
brethren—Rev. Jonathan Lee, Rev. Moses
Hahn and Rev. David Koo—and the urgent
need for missionaries there became
clear. After much prayer, I consulted Rev.
Dr Tow and asked for his advice on Cambodia.
He encouraged me to assist our
Korean brethren in Cambodia while waiting
for an open door to Laos.
I immediately e-mailed Rev. Lee to
inform him that I was available for Cambodian
missions. However, he replied that
he had enough workers and referred me to
Rev. Koo. When I called Rev. Koo about
helping him in his ministry, he responded
joyfully and asked me to go over as soon
as possible. After gathering as much information
as I could about mission work
from our B-P missionaries, a date was set
for me to be commissioned by the pastors
of Life B-P Church.
I arrived in Phnom Penh on March
12, 1999. Rev. Lee warmly welcomed me
to his mission station and the next morning,
I caught a bus to my next destination,
Kompong Som, which is about four hours
away. Rev. Koo and his Bible students were
on hand to greet and welcome me when I
got there.
On the first week of my stay at Rev.
Koo’s mission house, I was given a oneweek
orientation of the classes conducted
and the province churches. The following
week, I was told to teach in the Bible school
and preach at the churches.
Thank God for exposing me to missions
in my student days! This gave me
the experience I needed to adapt to the various
difficulties I encountered, especially
in the water, the language and the Cambodian
sanitary system. By God’s grace, I
managed to overcome culture shock. I
praise and thank God for His grace which
is sufficient in overcoming every obstacle
I face as a missionary. God has been so
good to me all my days in Kompong Som.
By guiding me each step of the way as I do
His work here—pastoring the church members
and seeing to their spiritual and physical
needs—He has kept me safe and sound.
The Lord has given the increase. Over
a period of a few months, through weekly
evangelism with the student body, the total
number of churches has grown to 12.
About 200 church members have been baptised
within the year. The Cambodian mission
field is vast, but manpower and resources
are limited. There are still many
villages that have not heard of our Lord
Jesus. If only our brethren in Singapore
were constrained by the love of God to
come over as co-labourers to work in His
vineyard!
compiled by Joscelyne Chan
Page 185