Gregory and Heidi Whitaker, missionaries to Cambodia, tell about the spiritual journey of a man named Yang:

Yang’s son, Mabt, belongs to the Bunong people, a tribal group in Cambodia. Mabt met the Lord when he moved to a city to continue his education and stayed with Christian dorm parents. For years, he was the only believer in his family.

During one of his visits to his home village, Mabt prayed in his home, welcoming the Holy Spirit and breaking the curses of the mountain gods. He then began playing the guitar and worshipping Jesus. As he sang, the high shelf holding the family idol crashed to the floor, and the idol shattered. His father, Yang, rushed in, saying, “My son, what have you done? Now I will not believe in anything. Not in the mountain gods, and not in your God.”

Yang held to that statement for years, before his heart softened toward the truth and he slowly turned to the Lord. During that time, his vision deteriorated. Yang had lost an eye to trauma decades earlier, and now his remaining eye was becoming cloudy. Mabt approached us to ask for advice, and we referred Yang to Mercy Medical Center for evaluation. He made the daylong trip by bus from the province and underwent successful cataract surgery.

After Yang returned home with restored vision, he was able to read the beautiful words of the Gospel in his own language for the first time. Yang has become a follower of Christ, and freely shares his story with other villagers. “I received my sight back, and then I could read God’s words for myself, and now I believe Jesus.”

It took a team effort of the Body of Christ to touch Yang’s life--from dorm parents to Bible translators to medical personnel.