By Andrew Neufeld | Dove's YESIC's Intern
It has been nearly eight months since my volunteer term at YESIC ended. Since then, I’ve moved back to the US, relocated to a new city, and started a new career. Yet, the lessons I learned at DOVE/YES IC have stayed with me and continue to influence my perspectives on community outreach, church, outreach, discipleship, and what it means to live like Jesus.
My months interning at YES IC were my first experience being a “foreigner in a foreign land.” I went from knowing what I was about and having all appearances of having my life together to being virtually helpless and confused as I tried to navigate daily life. It was in that state of being that I was able to experience the hospitality and acceptance that the YES IC/ DOVE staff show everyone that comes through their doors. I was immediately brought into the family. Despite my abysmal Khmer language skills, the staff communicated quite clearly that they were happy that I was present through invitations to join them in their devotionals, events, and especially at meals. They gave freely to me without a second thought and offered help in any way they could. It wasn’t that I was somehow a VIP that the staff was giving me unique treatment. I witnessed the staff spend hours and hours of their own time and own money building relationships with youth in the surrounding community. It is no wonder that people who are invited or find their way to DOVE stay around. DOVE and YES IC give students a safe place to belong, and it is from this sense of belonging and community that the staff can not only tell students about Jesus but give them a framework of understanding who He is through their own care for each individual and posture of hope.
The results of the work being done in and through DOVE and YES IC are not fast, cheap, or easily “marketable”. Rather, it is slow, costly, and vastly disappointing to anyone focused only on the numbers of people coming to Christ in a perverse “return on investment” mentality. My belief, in having had the privilege to spend eight months at DOVE, is that they are giving more to the youth of Cambodia than a cursory understanding of Jesus and the bible. They are transforming the next generation into a solid foundation of people that truly know and follow Jesus. It is my hope that I can take what I’ve learned from them and do the same thing in America.
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