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Called to Cambodia

By MaryHelen Swanson
ìRed and yellow, black and white, they are precious in His sight, Jesus loves the little children of the world.î
When Tammy Lind was a little girl, she sang these words with joy as she attended Sunday school at Calvary Ev. Lutheran Church at Rush Point.
She wasnít exactly sure what red or yellow children looked like, but the song was planted in her heart and something wonderful was to grow from that seed.
Sunday school and church experiences at Calvary were an important part of her childhood, even the liturgy that spoke of sin and forgiveness. But as a young girl, it was a bit confusing, and she found herself asking, ìWhat sins have I committed?î
When Lind, a 1984 graduate of Rush City High School, attended college, her spiritual life was enhanced by participating in a group where she realized she had shortcomings. But she also came to believe that God forgives us our sins and she promised to follow Christ.
Lind, who spoke to the Rush Point congregation April 27, said at an early age she felt Godís calling and that her heart was opened to the needs of people living in foreign countries that she saw on television.
After college graduation, she spent two years in Western Samoa, but still did not feel the gratification of having made a difference.
For a while, she said, upon returning to the United States, she put away thoughts of helping people.
It was while living in Rochester, Minn., that the feeling returned that she must be about helping people. She studied her Bible and felt more strongly that people needed forgiveness and hope more than anything. The desire to help people in third world countries was rekindled.
Preparing herself for a future that was at the time unknown, she got a nursing degree. While caring for alcoholics at a hospital, she realized that recovery was not going to be successful unless the people had the will and strength to make changes and that, she believes, is where they need Christ.
Still feeling lacking in the skills to make a difference, she took a year of biblical studies and finally felt confident in herself. But she needed experience.
While working in South Carolina, she met some Asian girls who inspired her as they came to know God. More experience came while working with youths at a juvenile center where she shared the love of God also.
In all these experiences, she told her home congregation, she saw how God works in peopleís lives.
It was then she was introduced to Cambodia. But it wasnít a matter of choosing a place and moving forward. There were obstacles and there was doubt.
Finally, through Overseas Missionaries Fellowship, International, OMF, (formerly China Inland Mission) she found a way to serve those in need in the middle of Indo-China.
She has made a long-term commitment, a four-year service, and beyond. She will spend time at first becoming familiar with the country and learning the language.
Eventually, her vision is to introduce the people of Cambodia to Jesus, to care for their physical needs using her nursing skills and their spiritual needs using her background of faith that started in Sunday school at her Rush Point church.
Lind will need financial support in the amount of about $2,400 a month. OMF is a faith mission, she said, they operate on the premise that the funds will come when needed.
More importantly, Lind is asking for prayer partners as she embarks on her mission next fall. As planned, she expects to leave for Cambodia at the end of October.
What she will find? The place to which she goes has more amputees than anywhere in the world due to land mines left from war from 1975-1979.
The countryside was the site of death and refugee camps when Phnom Penh fell to the Khmer Rouge in 1975. Known as the ìKilling Fields,î the land remains a constant threat to the people of Cambodia.
The countryside, in fact, still has so many mines the land is unsuitable for agriculture.
Lind expects to find a poor people with little education and lacking in food, but a people in need of her care, both spiritually and physically.

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