Journey of Faith (13) - Qiqi

Mission Unrestricted by Location

Written by: Qiqi (served in Permai Cambodia Church)

Translated by: Chloe Woo

As a family in Christ, we might be scattered to different regions and areas of serving, having different theological backgrounds and cultural characteristics, or witnessing the good news of the gospel in various languages and methods. Despite the differences, we have the same calling, the same heavenly Father, in the same family!

Let me introduce myself. My name is Qiqi, I am from China and I’m serving in Cambodia with Pastor Sok Fong.

People often say: "Clothes are not as good as new, and friends are not as good as old. To serve is to repeatedly love different people everyday."

There are both sweetness and bitterness in the life of serving as one experiences it at different stages. As time goes by, life is constantly taking root and growing (rooting inward and growing outward).

Time flies, and it’s nearly two years since I’ve been here. Whenever I look back and think carefully about the things that had happened in the past two years, I always experience His abundant and sufficient grace and the trace of His presence.

The grace that I received was always so overwhelming and empowering whenever I think of it.

God had led me onto the path of following Him when I was 15 years old, and He brought me to serve in the land of Cambodia. In this place, I went from being completely unfamiliar to familiar, passive to proactive, moved to burdened, hesitant to deciding to stay here. Until now, I still have inexplicable feelings for this country. Although many aspects of Cambodia differ drastically from China, the burden in my heart makes the situation less important. As long as He leads me, I am willing to follow and move forward with the burdens. As the days went by, He placed the precious vision, burden and touch of mission in my heart, so I stayed after completing the theology course; it was this touch that moved me to deciding to spend my lifetime to manage and complete the mission.

This place is a good turning point in my life of serving. Moving from a city to the countryside was a great challenge, along with the challenges from the differences in language, eating habits, culture and many more. However, God did not leave me to suffer. On every little thing, He gave me help, favour, comfort, and guidance. I truly witnessed His work in my life. He helped me to overcome the moments of inferiority as I learned the language, moments when I wanted to flee due to my weaknesses, feelings of being homesick… All these solidified and laid the foundation for my journey of serving.

Character shaped through the growth in experience

The people that we keep company are really important in life, as both would benefit from each other when they have aligned views. I am especially grateful to have met a mature and excellent leader here who has given me great encouragement, companionship, comfort and care. In Pastor Sok Fong, I see a person that believes in God. There is sparkle in her eyes, hope in her heart, and determination to devote her entire life to her mission. It is the influence of one’s life that is able to impact or inspire others and this can be felt from a simple touch. I hope that we can be keen-sighted to find the group of people that God has specially tailored for us.

When I was here, not only did my command of the language improved, my experience in God had also grown, as He trained and moulded me. Witnessing the pure faith in the brothers and sisters as well as students here had also inspired me a lot. I also learned more about myself. In the process of understanding and discovering oneself, the feelings of inferiority and longing for love will be healed. I realised that everything that I went through helped me accumulate life experiences, they taught me how to be even more grateful. Gradually, I understood the meaning of hope.

Hope is not holding on to anything else, but to the Heavenly Father’s good will for me, and this instills extraordinary joy in me. I firmly believe that a life touched by God will definitely have an impact on the lives of others.

I benefit from several good values inherited in the family of the well-known missionary - David Livingston, such as the virtues of diligence, frugality, the habit of reading, and the fear for God. I am convinced that a person, who is willing to be trained in character, self-disciplined in life, delve into the truth and equipped with God-fearing attitude, will be able to overcome all the challenges, and reach the land of abundance from the valley of tears!

A new chapter in life

As my work here is about to come to an end, I am filled with emotions. I will miss everything here, but due to certain circumstances, I have to adjust the orientation of my serving. Despite this, I believe that God will create other opportunities to lead me back here. Our mission is not restricted by location. No matter where we are, it is indeed precious as long as we remain steadfast and continue to move forward, because we’re walking on a blessed path!

Without His help, I don't think anyone can walk on steadily.

- May His words become our spiritual guide, so that we can find a way home when we are tired and lost.

- May His love strengthen us and illuminate the vision of our hearts, so that when the line between right and wrong is blurred, we can still see the light of truth.

- May He prepare our lives so that when we stand at an intersection, we are willing to choose a path that is less travelled, so that we will not be left behind or absent in the missionary movement driven by God.

I hope that despite the complexity and repetitiveness of life, we will not forget how to love. Instead, we should practise our faith and remember the way that led us to where we are.

May we write beautiful and extraordinary testimonies for this faith with our lives!

Sister Qiqi. She furthered her studies in a seminary school in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. After her graduation, she served at Permai Cambodia Church from May 2019- December 2020. She plans to come back and continue her serving in the church after the pandemic.