4th March 2012
The Barbados Advocate
By Patricia Thangaraj
Lindie-Ann Taylor comes from a strong Christian family unit, so helping God’s people was always something that she did. However, growing up in Tobago, no one could envision that her faith would lead her across the world to Cambodia.
For six months, Lindie-Ann was having dreams of living in a rural village in the countryside surrounded by rice fields with people who lived in shacks and she would be teaching the people there the Word of God. There was only one problem – she had no idea where that village was and what country it was located in.
So she prayed about it and then one day, she heard a voice clearly and distinctly saying “Cambodia.” She rushed from the room and asked her parents if they said anything and when they replied ‘no’, she went back to her room only to hear the voice repeating the same word. Having no idea at the time about Cambodia, she ‘googled’ it and found out that it was a country in Asia and after praying about it for some more time, God spoke to her and told her that He wanted her to go there.
About one week later, she sat in her pastor’s office at Maranatha Christian Assembly and spoke to Reverend Dr. Eggbert Brebnor and while talking to him, she noticed an Operation Mobilization newsletter on the shelf behind him which talked about Ministry in Cambodia. She picked up the newsletter and called the Tobago number for Operation Mobilization and found out that they could get her there.
Running away
However, going away to a far-off place where the culture, language and people are entirely different from what she experienced growing up in Tobago was not an easy task and naturally, she said that she spent the better part of 2007 to 2008 running from the Lord and trying not to go. Then one day, she turned on the television to hear a Minister of the Gospel talking about how the Lord is calling people to the mission field. The Lord also spoke to her through different people and she realised that she could not runanymore.
So, in November 2008, she made the decision to go.
She spent the earlier part of 2009 putting her affairs in order, getting the necessary immunizations and networking to get financial backing. In August 2009, she went to Holland and Singapore for two weeks to get training before heading off to Cambodia where she spent the first week living in the slums with the people so that she could get an idea of what the people experienced.
Difficult conditions
“The poverty is mind-boggling. The kids are so sick with rashes, infections, diarrhea, stomach problems and worms. They eat from the dump and garbage and they have no access to health care, not even getting immunization shots,” she described.
She is currently doing work in another slum – Pysar Norrow But, a village located in Kampong Speu, “where the reality of poverty struck home again. The houses are built of coconut branches and wood and even through the village is surrounded by rice fields, they have no access to water, which means that they can only grow and reap the rice during the rainy season. This means that they only have food for a part of the year.”
In the earlier stages, she lived in a community centre with Sonn, the first Christian Cambodian in the village who envisioned that her village would be evangelized and transformed for Jesus. Together, in the first three months, the church baptised 38 people.
They work with New Life Church, a Cambodian church and they have their own branch of this church within the village, catering to the needs of the 10 000 residents. There are three Sunday Schools, which have approximately 600 children; a Youth Ministry for children 21 years and under where the older children help to teach the younger ones the Bible and English; a House to House Prayer Ministry, where they go from house to house and pray for families and a Women’s Ministry where aside from learning about the Gospel, the ladies are also taught sewing so that they can earn a living for themselves and their families.
The Mission Director for the Pentecostal Assemblies of the West Indies then sponsored a house for her directly outside the village where she now lives. Since then, she has started a Ministry for children, from five to 14 years old, sharing the Gospel and teaching them English and craft.
Spreading the Word
Lindie-Ann has seen lives transformed for Christ as people become more involved in church activities. Five people even received two months of training in Theology from their mother church so that they can return to the village and help with evangelizing the people. Not bad for a country that many consider “unreachable” in terms of spreading the Gospel.
This is because “among the 15 million people, 95 per cent of the population are Buddhist, three percent are Hindus and only two per cent are Christian. Fifty per cent of the population are under the age of 19. The main social problems is poverty, which leads to the sexual exploitation of women and children and a high incidence of human trafficking,” explained Lindie-Ann.
This is why both full-time and short-term missionaries, medical teams and financial aid are so needed to help feed the people and share the Gospel with them, said Lindie-Ann, the only full-time, non-Cambodian missionary working in that particular village.
Persons interested in becoming missionaries or donating finances to help feed Cambodians, both spiritually and bodily, can contact The People’s Cathedral for further information.
By Patricia Thangaraj
Lindie-Ann Taylor comes from a strong Christian family unit, so helping God’s people was always something that she did. However, growing up in Tobago, no one could envision that her faith would lead her across the world to Cambodia.
For six months, Lindie-Ann was having dreams of living in a rural village in the countryside surrounded by rice fields with people who lived in shacks and she would be teaching the people there the Word of God. There was only one problem – she had no idea where that village was and what country it was located in.
So she prayed about it and then one day, she heard a voice clearly and distinctly saying “Cambodia.” She rushed from the room and asked her parents if they said anything and when they replied ‘no’, she went back to her room only to hear the voice repeating the same word. Having no idea at the time about Cambodia, she ‘googled’ it and found out that it was a country in Asia and after praying about it for some more time, God spoke to her and told her that He wanted her to go there.
About one week later, she sat in her pastor’s office at Maranatha Christian Assembly and spoke to Reverend Dr. Eggbert Brebnor and while talking to him, she noticed an Operation Mobilization newsletter on the shelf behind him which talked about Ministry in Cambodia. She picked up the newsletter and called the Tobago number for Operation Mobilization and found out that they could get her there.
Running away
However, going away to a far-off place where the culture, language and people are entirely different from what she experienced growing up in Tobago was not an easy task and naturally, she said that she spent the better part of 2007 to 2008 running from the Lord and trying not to go. Then one day, she turned on the television to hear a Minister of the Gospel talking about how the Lord is calling people to the mission field. The Lord also spoke to her through different people and she realised that she could not runanymore.
So, in November 2008, she made the decision to go.
She spent the earlier part of 2009 putting her affairs in order, getting the necessary immunizations and networking to get financial backing. In August 2009, she went to Holland and Singapore for two weeks to get training before heading off to Cambodia where she spent the first week living in the slums with the people so that she could get an idea of what the people experienced.
Difficult conditions
“The poverty is mind-boggling. The kids are so sick with rashes, infections, diarrhea, stomach problems and worms. They eat from the dump and garbage and they have no access to health care, not even getting immunization shots,” she described.
She is currently doing work in another slum – Pysar Norrow But, a village located in Kampong Speu, “where the reality of poverty struck home again. The houses are built of coconut branches and wood and even through the village is surrounded by rice fields, they have no access to water, which means that they can only grow and reap the rice during the rainy season. This means that they only have food for a part of the year.”
In the earlier stages, she lived in a community centre with Sonn, the first Christian Cambodian in the village who envisioned that her village would be evangelized and transformed for Jesus. Together, in the first three months, the church baptised 38 people.
They work with New Life Church, a Cambodian church and they have their own branch of this church within the village, catering to the needs of the 10 000 residents. There are three Sunday Schools, which have approximately 600 children; a Youth Ministry for children 21 years and under where the older children help to teach the younger ones the Bible and English; a House to House Prayer Ministry, where they go from house to house and pray for families and a Women’s Ministry where aside from learning about the Gospel, the ladies are also taught sewing so that they can earn a living for themselves and their families.
The Mission Director for the Pentecostal Assemblies of the West Indies then sponsored a house for her directly outside the village where she now lives. Since then, she has started a Ministry for children, from five to 14 years old, sharing the Gospel and teaching them English and craft.
Spreading the Word
Lindie-Ann has seen lives transformed for Christ as people become more involved in church activities. Five people even received two months of training in Theology from their mother church so that they can return to the village and help with evangelizing the people. Not bad for a country that many consider “unreachable” in terms of spreading the Gospel.
This is because “among the 15 million people, 95 per cent of the population are Buddhist, three percent are Hindus and only two per cent are Christian. Fifty per cent of the population are under the age of 19. The main social problems is poverty, which leads to the sexual exploitation of women and children and a high incidence of human trafficking,” explained Lindie-Ann.
This is why both full-time and short-term missionaries, medical teams and financial aid are so needed to help feed the people and share the Gospel with them, said Lindie-Ann, the only full-time, non-Cambodian missionary working in that particular village.
Persons interested in becoming missionaries or donating finances to help feed Cambodians, both spiritually and bodily, can contact The People’s Cathedral for further information.
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