Testimonies
Team Members
Pastor Seang Yiv, Chairman
Pastor Caleb Soch, Vice Chairman
Pastor Sithon Nuon, Secretary
Mrs. Tzi Wei Wong, Woman’s Director
Pastor Map Voun, Treasurer
Pastor Seang Yiv, Chairman
He and his twelve siblings were born to a family of a small businessman, ½ dozen years after WWII, in a small village on the bank of the Mekong river, 40 miles northeast of the capital. He was the 6th child, the 2nd boy, and the one who got to go to school much longer than his siblings. After his early education in a Chinese School, he continued in a Cambodian school and finished his HS in Chi Hê and a BS degree in Physics & Chemistry in Phnom Penh University. He finished 2nd and was rewarded with a scholarship to France for higher education in 1972. That scholarship was truly a gift from out of this world because it would be impossible for him to dream of flying oversea given his family’s limited finances.
It was in Strasbourg, France where he spent 8 years from before to after the Killing Fields (1972-1980), received a Master and Ph.D. degree (Doctorat d’Etat in Physical Chemistry, Mention Très Honorable) while his residency status changed. He came as a student but became a refugee after the KR rose to power in 1975. His scholarship abruptly ended, and he received a salary from Strasbourg University instead. He was married in 1978 to a young woman, a victim of the KR, who managed to flee with her family 3½ months after the fall.
Pastor Yiv did not know the Lord till after the couple came to the United States in 1980. His advanced degree allowed him to come through an H1B visa. A few months after they arrived, they became permanent US residents. In Austin, TX. When their 1st baby was born in 1982, they had great trials when both the baby and her mother nearly died. He often compares his encounter with God to the story of Nathaniel when Jesus saw him under a fig tree (John 1:48). Also, a short but vivid dream the night he received Christ sealed his faith.
Seven years after his conversion in 1989 was when he began to put a song he memorized in Cambodian and English “I have decided to follow Jesus” into practice. That year, the Yiv got to meet several Cambodian refugees who recently came from the refugees’ camp in Thailand. These survivors began life in the US with nearly nothing, although they were glad to be in a land of freedom and opportunity. Those that we met in Philadelphia had no knowledge of English, Christianity, or American life. But as recent survivors of the Killing Fiends, they were relentless fighters.
The Yiv started to minister to them. A year later, seeing the growth, worship services began in a church building. An Anglo churches understood our shortfall and gave them a space to meet free of charge. While holding a job in a suburb of Philadelphia, he and his family volunteered their time, talents, and treasures to the Lord for the sake of the gospel. Without any formal Bible training, Dr. Yiv shepherded the Philadelphia church for nearly 10 years. But his career as a pharmaceutical R&D scientist took his family to many states, the Twin Cities, MN, San Diego, and Los Angeles, CA. When he was in the LA, he teamed up with Pastor Caleb Soch, a young generation, to plant a Church in Long Beach, the largest hub of the Cambodian people in the US.
In 1989, He began to get involved with the Fellowship. The Cambodian Baptist Church in Philadelphia started attending the annual conference in Bolivar, MO regularly (>20 hours’ drive). He was elected as a Vice President in 1992 and President in 1996-2000. He paused a short while and skipped a few annual conferences. Then in 2004, when the Fellowship called for an end to the election, Dr. Yiv was present, and he was elected Chairman.
in 2014, Pastor Yiv became ill due to a stroke, but no paralysis occurred. That illness led him to retire in 2015. The timing of his illness was good because his retirement fell on a date when he was supposed to retire anyway. Another good thing was that it resulted in the whole family including their children and grandchildren moving to North Carolina. It feels so good to be with the whole family for a Christmas celebration and other events.
Life in North Carolina was good. Now we have a total of three children and six grandchildren. The retirement from his secular job freed Dr. Yiv from his duties as a scientist and allowed him to fully focus on God’s Kingdom, especially the Fellowship, disciples-making, leading a Bible study group, starting a website for the Blessing Field, and writing an autobiography which will be release in 2024, the 40th Annual Conference of the Fellowship.
Pastor Sithon Nuon, Secretary
Pastor Sithon Nuon is the most senior member of the Blessing Field Team and is its Secretary. He was at the very 1st conference of the Fellowship in Bolivar. He is great at keeping good relations and communications with all churches and church members who attend the Blessing Field’s events throughout the years. He is skilled and knowledgeable in all things related to the work of the Blessing Field Foundation, including development, construction, workdays, conferences, retreats, etc.
He was born and raised in a Buddhist family. During the reign of the KR, more than 2 million Cambodians were killed including his entire family. He was the only person who survived. This is a familiar story of many who lived in the Killing Fields. He served in the National Army of the Khmer Republic and fought against the KR until the KR took power. Although he was not a Christian, he prayed to God. The KR killed all the soldiers. He told the KR that he was a soldier of the Khmer Republic. Strangely they let him live but he didn’t know why. They never let any soldiers escape. He became one of their most hated prisoners during those years.
“I was escorted by the young gun-toting KR soldiers around the clock. They took me out to work in the field any time they wished. After work, they locked me up in a very small room with at least 30 other prisoners.”, Pastor Sithon said. The cell, about 300 sqft, had no bathroom. Each prisoner had to come up a container while working in the field for his personal use at night. “That building still stood there when I visited Cambodia in the 90’s.”, Sithon said, “How would you feel if you were in my shoes?”
They kept him in this confinement for a few months until the end of 1975. Starting in 1976, they forced them to work and live in the field day and night, rain, or shine, with little time to rest and not enough food to eat. “We only had a pair of clothes for all seasons, wet and dry. They would not let us rest in the shelter when we were ill. We had to be in the field with the rest of them”, Lok Sithon said.
In 1979, when the Vietnamese freed the infamous Security Prison 21 in the capital, they found 14 bodies chained to beds, with dried blood stains all over the floor. But the KR captors were gone. Today, at the Killing Fields site of Chœung Ek, located within the same county as the village where Lokru Sithon was born, laid 129 mass graves.
The skulls, hundreds upon hundreds of them, were stacked up one on top of another inside a see-through glass tower, resembling toys’ displayed in a department store. That place was built in memory of the deceased victims. It is the gloomiest sight in all of Cambodia. Tears were shed while the survivors’ and visitors’ minds were transported back to a time when the abominable acts occurred.
“At the end of 1978, after four years of hard labors, my seven-month pregnant wife and I fled to Thailand”, Lok Sithon said. “Earlier, they forced us into a marriage although we never met before.” They found a refugee camp and lived there from late 1979 to 1981. In the camp, he worked for a Christian organization called Food for the Hungry International. The staffs were all Christians.
Every Sunday, they invited a Cambodian preacher to preach to the Cambodian workers. One Sunday, at the end of the message, the preacher gave an invitation to the attendants to receive Jesus as their Lord and Savior. Although Lok Sithon did not understand what the preacher meant by “receive Jesus as Lord and Savior”, he raised his hand. He thought that by becoming a Christian, he could find a sponsor to take his family to the United States. In the record book at church, his profession of faith occurred on December 25th, but he didn’t even know that it was Christmas Day when he received Christ. The preacher that day was pastor Chan Ham.
He began attending the Bible study and was baptized on February 6th, 1980. While studying the Bible, he was taught that as a Christian he will go to heaven to be with his Lord Jesus. This was far more than just having the right to live in the United States. “Later that year, I felt the Lord’s call me to serve Him among my countrymen”, Dr. Sithon said, “Then, it hit me. This was the reason why the Lord kept me alive when I was a KR’s captive for four years”.
In March 1981, they moved to another refugees camp, Mairut, where he met Dan & Fan Cobb, Southern Baptist missionaries, who had been in Thailand for over 30 years. There, he felt the Lord’s call and gave his life to Him. Rev. Cobb taught the Bible class every Thursday and he tried his best to translate for him. He was richly blessed using his modest gift. he learned a lot from Rev. Dan Cobb. There were also other missionaries in Mairut, including the late Miss Alice Compain, who helped him grow more mature.
“The memories of serving the Lord with all these precious servants of God still remain with me ever since and was a milestone in my life”, Lokru Sithon said, “By the way, we still hold on to a blanket the Cobbs gave to our baby girl Maria on her birthday. We clung to it for it was a symbol of the love of God. In November 1981, we arrived in the United States, a land of dream in our mind. Some people thought that America was heaven”. A few days later, they came to a small town called Zion, 45 min drive North of Chicago. His second cousin who sponsored them lived there.
Soon after their arrival, they got involved in an Evangelical Church affiliated with the Moody Institute and served the Lord among the Cambodian people. He also worked with World Relief, an agency that sponsored refugees. Later, they joined a Khmer Church in Uptown, Chicago where he learned to serve the Lord with his pastor Kevin Kane. In July 1988, he took a month off from work to explore a church planter position in Lowell, MA. In December 1988, the Lord called him to be a pastor at the Cambodian Baptist church in Jacksonville, FL where he has been serving and shepherding His sheep until today. He also travels regularly to Cambodia to share the gospel with his people.
Mrs. Tzi Wei Wong, Woman’s Director
Mrs. Tzi Wei Wong, better known as Chê Chu, and her husband Mr. Thai Ku have two daughters both married, and five grandkids. The whole family of eleven attends the same church in Northern Virginia and occupy one whole row on Sunday. She has served as the Woman’s Leader and Director for over 30 years.
“Praise the Lord for He has poured out his blessing on me abundantly! It is a joy for me to share my testimony. But I cannot describe them all here all the overwhelming grace of the Lord. Today, I just want to share with you the reason I received Him as my Lord and Savior, was born again, and put my faith in Him and trust Him”, Mrs. Wong said.
The war Japan vs China frightened her father that the Japanese would seize and use him as their slave. Because of the bitterness, anger, and hatred toward the Japanese, he fled his homeland China and immigrated to seek shelter in Cambodia. “I was born in Phnom Penh. I never heard of Jesus during that time. Back then, the good news was not at all present in our heart.”, Mrs. Chu said.
As Chinese descendants who lived in a foreign country, her family kept and practiced the Chinese tradition. They honored and respected their ancestors. They also worshipped all things in nature. During the Chinese new year, they regularly went to the temple to offer foods to the spirits of the ancestors. Every year and every day, they must fulfill these obligations, worship and praise, according to the tradition.
When she was young, she had a girlfriend, a classmate, whose family was believers in God. Her friend never told her about the gospel but one day, she invited Chê Chu to visit her church when there was a church celebration. Mrs. Chu remember that she thought of the visit this way in her heart: That is your God, not mine. But she wanted to go to visit. She told herself that she just goes but would not listen or want to know about what they say. In reality, she actually did not pay attention to what they said. She firmly made up her mind to not listen. During that time, Mrs. Chu was about ten, but her heart was already rebellious against God.
One day, an extraordinary and wonderful day, she saw her mother burn the incenses, kneeling and joining her palms together to worship something. Instantly, a bad thought developed in her mind. She felt almost ashamed. She asked herself, why does mother kneel and worship that way? It seemed like she was performing some kind of theatrical show?
But Mrs. Wong didn’t ask any question. She knew that if she said anything, she would certainly be blamed for raising questions. When they offered food to the spirits of their ancestors, they always set chairs for the ancestors to sit. She always tiptoed discreetly to the area to check whether or not there was anyone sitting on any chair. She hoped to see if there were any weight pressing on the chair, making sound if indeed there were someone sitting on it.
Since that day, each time the family gathered to offer food to the ancestors’ sprits, her parents asked all family members to go through the same routine. She waited till her parents were distracted before she burned the incenses quickly but skipped the kneeling part. If they asked, she would say that she had done her part. Deep down, she knew there was a battle, but she couldn’t tell what it was, not until after she became a believer that she understood it more clearly. In fact, the Lord was near at that time, which caused her spirit to feel great conflicts going on between right and wrong.
On April 17, 1975, the KR broke through the line of the Cambodian Republic and took Phnom Penh. After they had secured all the power, they went door-to-door to order everyone to leave their home urgently. They kicked us out of our own house and forced us to walk to the countryside. Then, they left us the displaced people in the jungle to care for ourselves for almost four years till the Vietnamese intervened and freed us from the KR grips.
During the KR, there was nothing that can be called normal for human beings. Every second there were shouts of pain, suffering, and despair. Separation, hostilities, disasters, deaths, and mourning occurred daily. Among the Chinese who were forced to live under these circumstances, only five percent survived.
For those who perished, their bodies would be the meals of the scavengers the next days. For the survivors, they breathed but there were no life in them. The dragged their feet and teetered like zombies. If there were any moderate wind blowing, their feeble bodies would bent and fall. Poor souls, they agonized over suffering, sadness, starvation, fear, and sickness. They fell ill and lost weight but there were no doctors, no nurses, no medications to treat them.
“We had our home but they won’t let us return. After four years, it was damaged. My whole family was gone, and everything was gone. We were forced to be separated with no chance of ever seeing one anther again”, Mrs. Chu said. “In my family, there were thirteen people, all had died. I was the only one left. I was orphaned and the solitude struck me. I looked around, I saw no one in my family who used to live and fight together to survive, but no was left. At that time, I remembered all the gods that my family used to worship.”
“When people encounter great upheaval, they seek a god who is the supreme god of all gods. But I couldn’t find one. I looked to my life ahead but couldn’t think of anything good. Thus, I ran with all my might to a clear spot in the jungle”, Mrs. Wong said, “I looked to the sky to search in the cloud, screamed, and asked as my tears ran down my face. Is there any great god out there? If there is, then do your eyes see me down here? There are so many people who suffered so much. These people did not commit any crimes. Why do they have to endure so much suffering? Why do they have to put up with all the pains, tortures, and oppressions?”
“Finally at the end of 1979, I fled Cambodia and went to Khao I Dang refugees camp in Thailand. In there, there were many Christian missionaries and workers. They came to share the good news”, Mrs. Chu said, “Other refugees told me to go to listen and seek Jesus. But they said they didn’t understand what the preachers were saying. I replied to them, let’s go, I will go to become a nun if I have to, I will go if they just feed me”.
Pastor Map Voun, Treasurer
Pastor Map Voun, a next generation leader, joined our team in 2019. He can speak both Khmer and English fluently and has a great voice, like Billy Graham. Map and Mrs. Sothong have five children ranging in ages from 11 to over 20. Map is the Treasurer of the Blessing Field and serves alongside pastor Sithon as Youth Pastor in Jacksonville, Florida.
Map came from a big family of twelve siblings and was the youngest one. In the early years, his father spent time with him and took him wherever he went. He sang and read poetry to Map as he fell asleep. But those golden years went by quickly. Soon after, came an unexpected disruption by the KR. An event that forever scared the Cambodian people.
It was during this time that he got separated from his family. He was about seven and too young to work at the labor camps. But soon, the KR saw that he was strong enough to work. Using their motto, “No work, no eat!”, they found a way to make him work. First, he worked with the children, then was transferred to the adult camps. For months, he drifted with the other children and adults. Eventually, they arrived in Pailin, a large city in Battambang. Their job was to care for the coffee plantation, clearing bushes, grass, and unwanted plants.
It was about this time when the Vietnamese intervened. As they got closer, the people had to walk a long treacherous path toward Thai border. Map saw many who suffered from starvation, sickness, and death. He nearly died due to lack of food and jaundice. He craved rubber and gunpowder. When they nearly reached the refugee camp, he could no longer walk. With no strength left, he hid inside tall grasses waiting to die.
Suddenly, a lady came and handed him a packet of powder and said, “Lad, eat.” So, he put some in his mouth. It was sweet! Immediately, his energy returned, and he was able to walk to the camp. There, the Red Cross sent him to a hospital in Aranh where he was treated. Then, the Thai workers took him to an orphanage in another camp called Khao Lahn.
He stayed there a few months. Everything went fine till the rockets landed on the beach next to the camp. A few nights later, the KR came to recruit kids. They convinced them that if they go with them, they might get to see their parents. They told them to wait till they come back. They returned the following night. The kids went with them. They had to cross a swamp near a bridge which was guarded by the Thai. As they waded through the marsh, a kid tripped and made a loud splash. The Thai soldiers began shooting, dispersing their group. Half went with the KR and the rest walked back to the camp. Map went with the 2nd group. A week later, Thai workers took the kids including Map from Khao Lahn to Meirut.
When they arrived, the relief workers gave them some rice and they walked a dirt road looking for firewood. On the way, They saw a group of older people. One of them asked Map, “Lad, what is your name?” He replied, “Map!” He then introduced himself, “I’m Saey! Do you know me?” Map said, “No!” He said, “I am your uncle!” Map was stunned and speechless. The man then asked Map to join his family. Map said yes. His uncle already had a sponsor and was waiting for their names to be called. Because of Map, they waited two extra months.
In 1981, Thai authority finally called Map’s uncle. They arrived in Rhode Island a few days later. Map stayed with his uncle for three years till he finished elementary school. In his middle school, he moved to live with an American guardian named Beverly. All she asked was to help her take care of her dog. “She always encouraged me to pray whenever I was sad or missed my parents”, Map said.
“In 1987-88, I moved to live with another uncle in Lowell, MA. I began my junior year and had many friends. It was a lot of fun when I hung out with them”, Map said, “But when night came, all my friends went with their family. I had no one. Most nights I went to bed crying. I missed my parents. I was desperate one night and knelt beside my bed to pray. I begged God or gods to answer my longing to see my parents once more.”
Weeks later, Map’s cousin Sareth called Map to help him at a store they owned in Atlanta. Once again, he stayed with his uncle’s family and worked at the store after school till midnight. Every Sunday, His aunt asked him to go visit her church, but he declined. Weeks later, he decided to check it out. The Sunday he went Pastor Bill Peeler was preaching. He recalled seeing him in Meirut. He taught songs to the kids at the orphanage. After the service, He asked Bill if he remembered him. Bill told him the work he did there but couldn’t recall Map.
After his HS graduation, he moved to Jacksonville, FL and lived with Sareth. A year later, Sareth moved back to Georgia, but Map didn’t want to. He was stuck. Fortunately, he met some church members. They helped him look for a place, but no one had one. At the time, Lokru Sithon who lived in a small house let him stay in a room, the only one, a laundry room. He lived there and helped pay for his lodging. While living there, he learned more about Jesus with his Pastor. Bit by bit, he can read and understand Khmer Bible. He lived with Pastor Sithon and family for many years.
1994 was a turning point for Map. The Lord let him go visit his homeland. The Creator of heaven and earth heard his cry and answered his prayers. He had not seen his parents for twenty years. They chose to stay put for Map and didn’t want to leave the country without him. If they knew Map was alive and lived overseas, they would have left a long time ago.
Map then realized the depth of love his parents had. They sacrificed their own life for him. He began to reflect on how much more His heavenly Father loved him by sending His only begotten Son to earth to rescue him from his sin. His faith was strengthened, and he was able to share it with his parents. He did not know when he would see them again. He told them that if they trusted Jesus, they would see each other again.
“Six months later, the sad news came. Father passed away. My heart ached and a part of me went with him. About a year later, mother also died” Map said, “Shortly after, I met my future wife via close friends. We began a long-distance courtship. She lived in Marietta, GA and I lived in Jacksonville. We got engaged within six months and married a year later in Sept 1997. My life was complete when the Lord bonded us together. We committed to serve Him faithfully and wholeheartedly.”
Our faith in Christ continued to grow deeper by a study of God’s word. We both longed to know Him more and prayed for an in-depth study opportunity. Then, the Lord sent Pastor Saul Paul to our midst to lead the young people. A Bible study began through Theological Education by Extension (TEE). Shortly thereafter, it was completed, and God called brother Saul and family to be IMB’s full time missionaries in Cambodia.
Brother Jim Wilson filled the gap to lead the young people for a while, but he was called to another field too. It was about this time when an elder spoke to him about a youth pastor position, but he didn’t feel adequate. He offered to mow the lawn and clean the church building. But after much prayers, he obeyed His call and got ordained in Sept 2005. But after the ordination, he still felt ill-equipped. Deep down, he wished he could lead the young ones. He wished there was a pill that he could swallow to get wisdom. Instead, the Lord opened a door for him for Bible education, Southern Baptist Seminary for 1½ years.
They became very active in the ministry and held a Bible study weekly at their home for the young people. They held separate worship services for them too. The Khmer ministry thrived and outgrew the building. We moved to another church, Terry Road. Thy had only a handful of members. They asked us to merge with them. After much prayers, we accepted. The merger went smoothly, and we overcame all non-essential differences.
For the next many years, the Voun couple experienced hardships. After the merger with Terry Road, another group wanted to merge with Terry Road. We accepted but soon, Map realized that their purpose was bad. The Voun took a strong stance but some at Terry Road misunderstood their resolve. The young ones began to leave feeling they were not valued. The Voun tried to stop them at no avail. They spent many sleepless nights in tears. The Lord was their only solace. The burdens could have driven them away, but their comfort came from Joshua 24:15, “Choose you this day whom you will serve, but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
A Sunday afternoon, two leaders from the new group came to see us. They shared about what occurred in their secret meetings, that they failed to see what we saw till it was too late. They confessed that their eyes were set on Terry Road’s property, not us. They apologized and left the church right away. We thank God for giving us resilience. We realigned ourselves with Him for He wasn’t done with us yet. He had other plans for Terry Road.
In the following year, Terry Road had two more mergers, Epoch Church, and Chets Creek Church. Chets helped revive the church. Amazing things occurred and Map anticipated even more in the days ahead. “I’m glad that we hung tight to see His victory unfolds before our very eyes, “To God be the glory!”, Map said, “We are reminded that we all stumble at times. No one is immune to failure. Each of us is an instrument. But without Him, we’re nothing.”
“In closing, I know that I’m no longer lost. He saved me, set my feet on the rock, and gave me a purpose and direction. I see God ordaining each step even before I knew Him. He placed people in my life and led me to the cross. After I accepted His love and salvation, He began to cleanse me for the task He had before me. Thank you Lord for blessing me with a helper, partner, and wife”, Said Map, “We walked through fire, but our faith is stronger. We can gladly shout, For I know Whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I’ve committed, unto Him against that day” (2 Timothy 1:12).