Go: A 40-Day Journey To The Never ReachedSample

Where You Do Not Want to Go 

By: Rebekah Zeiler

Nay-uhk-jit-khan roe-boh khey-nom means “the neighbor that belongs to me.”

Our house is incredibly noisy, our neighbors don’t like us. My neighbor had a baby—a beautiful boy with round cheeks and chocolatey-brown skin—named Nano. 

I want to move. I’m day-dreaming about my imaginary house in the English countryside 

The pipes break again. Sewage pours onto the floor. Bleach won’t make the smell go away. 

We tell our mentors. They’re supportive because sewage in the living room isn’t okay. They remind us: “You said this was where God wanted you.” I don’t like it.

Our neighbor’s baby died. I’m terrified. Tears flow. 

Outside, Cambodians gather in the dark with that hushed sadness marking death. 

We slip off our shoes and enter their house. The baby lies by a burial box. His siblings crouch stoically nearby.

The neighbor that belongs to me clutches me and sobs. I sob and embrace her. I whisper, “Jesus.” 

I tell her we are Christians. I tell her we will pray. I cry myself to sleep.

We take her flowers because when your baby dies, someone should give you flowers. 

She sends me a picture of her baby’s grave with bottles of milk on it. And dead chickens. And offerings for the spirits.

She wants to talk. We talk about Nano. We talk about Jesus. She listens and asks questions. She is mourning. No mama should lose a baby.

Holding her hands, I pray. She fights back tears. She talks about suffering, I talk about Jesus, who suffered and died for us. We talk for a long time.

“Do you like living here?” she asks me.

I pause. “I like being your neighbor. I think I’m supposed to tell you about Jesus.” 

We are where we belong. It’s not where we wanted to go. But Jesus asks us to go here, so we go anyway. 

Go Anyway

Find a way to silence the noise of life and seek God’s face. Look for evidence of his calling and working through you in the place you have been reluctant to go or remain. Ask God to give you grace as you go anyway.

Pray for Never Reached People Group: Cambodia’s Western Cham

Ask God to prepare the hearts of the Cham for the coming of the gospel and the hearts of workers to go and tell them.