Discovering the Grace of God

My father left my mother when I was one years old. At six, our house was set on fire by a military air raid and from then forward, my mother and I became refugees.

At 15 years old, I joined the army, the Special Civilian Unit (SCU), which was funded by the CIA in the USA. I was deployed to the front line. By 1972, fighting in our country had lessened. I then joined another unit, but left after I was to be sent to a very dangerous area.

When communism took over, I realized that anyone in my SCU would be targeted and I went to a labour camp. In 1975, my mother and I escaped to Thailand where we lived in a refugee camp. I became part of a movement to form a guerrilla army which would go back into Laos to fight the communist government.

I joined them and became a guerrilla fighter because I wanted to help my people and my country. Without knowing God, and without the calling from God, that's how I believed I could best help. We went into Laos, totally unarmed, with the goal of stealing weapons from the communist soldiers. The mission failed and I was almost killed on my way back to Thailand, in a firing raid conducted by the communist troops

At the camp in Thailand, I had a close friend who I had grown up with. He had become a Christian and invited me to church numerous times. My initial response was "You've got to be kidding! You have been brain washed by the West." He continued to invite me, and one day I agreed. I listened to the preacher, but did not believe one word that he said.

However, since the church offered an opportunity to leave the refugee camp and after each service we were given a nice meal at the church, I continued to attend. One time the preacher said "Everything is created by God" and I thought "maybe yes, maybe no." Another time I heard him say "If you don't believe in God and that He really exists, then challenge Him by prayer and He will show Himself to you." 

So I did. I started to pray very seriously and God called me personally in a clear, soft voice spoken in Lao, "My child, get up and read Acts 15:14." I was never really interested in reading the Bible. Worse still, I used the Bible for my personal use such as, rolling tobacco and for toilet paper.

In Acts 15:14, Simon has just explained how God first showed his care for the Gentiles by taking from among them a people to belong to him. This convinced me that God is alive and that he had a purpose for my life and in the lives of the Lao people who were called to be God's people. I was saved by God's grace and that changed the path of my life. God also had shown many miracles in my life beyond my belief and therefore I am so grateful and so thankful.

From the beginning, God called me to serve and plant churches. A group of us started a church in the refugee camp. I was elected to be the youth leader. We soon had 300-400 members. I met my wife through this youth group. Many of the youth I worked with are now pastors and leaders in the church.

I met a missionary and she offered to arrange sponsorship for me by a church in Belgium. I replied, "No, I want to go to Canada." When offered an opportunity to go the USA, I refused. I think I was attracted to Canada because it was known as a peace making country. After so much war, I wanted to be a peace maker.

The missionary found a church in London, ON that offered to sponsor my wife and I to come to Canada. In Canada, I studied a trade and became a tool and die maker. At the time, I was attending a Baptist church but was not comfortable with some of their theology; their belief in fighting did not fit my understanding of how Jesus' disciples should live. I moved to Toronto and attended a number of different churches, but did not find a place where I felt at home. I became discouraged and began to reconsider whether I really wanted to serve God.

In 1998, Boris Sithedith paid me a visit. Boris knew of me through his brother-in-law who was my pastor while in the refugee camp in Thailand. Boris was facing difficulties in his work with one Lao church in Toronto and asked for my help. When Boris and his wife left my house I said to my wife, Khien, "I think God is calling me back to serve him. Should we follow this challenge?" My whole family said yes!

Through Boris I was introduced to some Mennonite leaders. Later in 2000, the Toronto United Lao Mennonite Church was formed. There I had opportunity to learn more about Anabaptism and I took some courses. As I learned more and more, my interest and excitement increased. I realized that this was what I was looking for. This was what I believed about how Christians were supposed to live. We need to be peace makers and love our enemies. I felt like I had finally found my home.

In 2004, God called me to plant churches - specifically to help start Lao Canadian Evangelical Mennonite Church (Toronto, ON), a multi-cultural church with people from Laos, Thailand, Vietnam, China and Canada. God has called us to invite our friends and neighbours to follow him.