Just Say His Name!!!

Borey and just a couple kids from the LightBridge school she oversees in the slums of Poi Pet.

We call Borey the Cambodian Mother Teresa. As the director of our school in the slums of Poi Pet, Borey has an enormous heart especially for children. Not only does she operate the slums school, she — along with her parents — choose to live in those slums to be near the vulnerable and poor on a daily basis. Borey works with and loves kids; but, her love doesn’t stop there. She ministers to street kids, glue kids, homeless families, young mothers, remote villages, senior adults — you name it! She ministers all over that little town and beyond!

The young mom laying in the hospital bed surrounded by other dying patients (not within the picture frame).

Last year, Borey asked me to go with her to the local hospital in Poi Pet. A run-down building where the sick are given minimal aid. The smell and grime pack a punch foreign to our western ideals of medical care. Borey invited me to visit a young mom.

We made our way to the back buildings. Infected with AIDS, this young mom (along with others) was sectioned off to this area. It was out of the way; doctors and nurses were hard to find; the stench of death was pungent; the filth was foul. Never had I seen someone so terribly thin or weak.

We sat next to this young mom listening to her tell of the pain she was experiencing. Living, while so close to death in that horrid place, was something I wasn’t prepared to see. We sat. We listened. And then we prayed over her asking the Lord to comfort, heal, and ease the intense pain. After our prayer time, the young mom thanked us and said she didn’t know how to pray. She asked us to come back and pray more because she didn’t know what to say, but she believed in Jesus.

  • It was at this point that the Mother Teresa of Cambodia taught me something I hope I never forget. Borey took the hands of that young, dying mom and said: “You don’t have to know how to pray. Just say the name Prai Yesu (Jesus). Just say HIS NAME!” Nodding and now crying, this young mom cried out His Name again and again…

  • Prai Yesu

    Prai Yesu

    Prai Yesu

    Jesus, Jesus, Jesus

    We all sat weeping.

  • I was so convicted and challenged — wrecked in wonderful ways. That young mom only lived a few more days, but she knew to say the NAME that is above EVERY name! She knew there is POWER in His NAME. And she passed into glory where she met the Person who carries the Name — JESUS Himself!

Desperate for her life, Borey brought the young mom, via taxi, to a recognized hospital in Phnom Penh where, days later, she breathed her last.

In February this year, we sat on a dirt road at the border of Cambodia feeding glue kids. These are kids, addicted to glue, who roam the border of Cambodia begging (or worse) for money to buy more glue to keep themselves high. It’s vile, and terrible, and evil. We often minister with Borey to feed, bandage wounds, brush hair, clip finger nails, and just love on these glue kids — God’s Kids (Borey changed the name of this group from ‘Glue Kids’ to ‘God’s Kids’…and she often corrects my terminology….I hear you Borey!)

Towards the end of our ‘dinner time’, a young man approached our group. He was timid and extremely thin. I noticed him and asked if he was hungry. He apprehensively replied: “Yes”, so we welcomed him to eat with us as we asked about his life. Through translation, we learned the sicknesses he was battling and the hunger he endured. We asked if we could pray for him and told him how much Jesus loves him. He received our words and testimony and bowed his head with us on that dusty street. After praying, he looked up and said he often feels like he can’t breath, the tightness in his chest is frequently overpowering. I encouraged him to pray to Prai Yesu (Jesus) when he is going through those scary moments. Like the woman dying from AIDS, he said he didn’t know how to pray. Not fully aware of where that idea came from at first, I encouraged him to “just say His Name: Prai Yesu!” He practiced saying the Name that is above EVERY Name! And then shared how his chest was no longer tight. Praise Jesus!

In the days since that encounter, I’ve thought often about it and realized the person who taught me to speak those words was my sister, Borey. Both instances were such small moments, honestly. But, they were moments in which the Mother Teresa of Cambodia taught me so very much about even the very Name of Jesus! His Name is Power and Healing and Authority! How grateful I am to learn from my sister, Borey, about inviting people, on the very margins of life and poverty, to call on His Name — to simply cry out His Name! He hears them; He cares about them; His heart is for them! Oh how thankful I am for His kindness to listen — if only to His Name!!

The Cambodian Mother Teresa in her natural habitat! Borey is in the back middle with the hat and white shirt. She can be found multiple times every day with kids surrounding her — all calling her mom!

How grateful I am for your ongoing prayer covering and generous support for the work of LightBridge especially during these days. How I covet your prayers especially as needs intensify during this time. While the virus hasn’t hit Cambodia or Thailand hard so far, widespread food shortages and job losses are pushing already severely impoverished people into desperation. We trust the faithfulness of God! He is a good Father and His work continues even when the world seems to have gone upside down. Thank you for being a part of this work in such vital ways.

Gace,

Karla