Hi, my name is Sokion Ki and I became involved with Saving Susan Ministry (SSM) last year in 2020. Early in the year, my wife and I met Tracy and Adam at a missions conference in Atlanta, Georgia. At that time, my family was in the process of moving to serve the Lord in Cambodia with an organization. We connected with Tracy and Adam and shared our story and heart for the young people in Cambodia. My wife had a plan to teach at a school in Phnom Penh, and I was praying for God to show me an opportunity to use my free time to teach the Bible to people in Khmer.
Now I serve as the Next Steps Discipleship Pastor for the SSM college students in Phnom Penh. First, I spent time getting to know these eight young people and built relationships with them. Six of them live in the same city as us, so we can meet together, have meals, hang out and play games at my house. (Mostly, since we came to Cambodia last July, the country has not had many problems with COVID-19, so we get to meet a lot in person and spend time together.) Also, my role is to disciple and encourage these students to walk with the Lord, so we have Bible study every other week and we worship and pray together. We can read the Bible, sing, talk and pray in Khmer and understand how to apply God’s word in Khmer culture. I am happy that I have my life experience growing up in Cambodia as a Christian and also living in the United States that I can share with them and help mentor them.
Even in the short time of the last six months, I can see we have become close in our relationships and have built trust like family with the students. They always seem warm and happy to come to our house. They are comfortable here and they like to eat dinner with us and play with our kids. There is always a lot of laughter when the students come. Also, I can see by the questions they ask me and the way they open up about their life to me that they are growing in their faith. I can see their heart for other people by the way they pray and talk to me. When they have opportunity, they use their experience and knowledge to help others.
For me and my family, we have a lot of joy to know these students and help them in their life, but they are a blessing to us too. My kids look up to them and always look forward to them coming to visit our house. My kids are learning a good example from these students because they can see them worship God in Khmer and treat each other with kindness and love. My 5-year-old daughter loves to sit and sing the worship song with them even though she cannot understand Khmer yet. We all enjoy the community together and hope to keep these friendships for many years to come.
