Hello, my name is Fam Seng and I was born in Namkeng, Laos. I was the youngest of the six children in my family, when I was a few days old my parents dedicated me to our ancestor’s spirits, then once a year they would dedicated me again. This is common in Animism belief to dedicate children to spirit year after year. Then my family moved to a remote village up in the high mountain to do farming there.
My grandfather was the chief of that village, he was very strict in his Animism belief combining with Taoism just like his fathers before him. As young as I can remember my dad was an influential man in our village, and he practiced divination and preformed spiritual rituals regularly. So was my mom she got me involved in ritual preparation and taught me black magic. She said they were healing magic to heal an injured person or animal. As I was growing up I got bullied by one of my older brother to the point that I didn’t think I was worth anything and I was traumatized by my parent’s troubled marriage. There were times I felt unloved and unwanted, so I suffered from depression and anxiety. I became suicidal, I had no self-esteem or self-confidence. I became very quiet and lonely person in my teenage year, but I did a good job of hiding it from everybody.Then I thought of marring my husband would help me solved my problems, but it didn’t, it got worst. Shortly after we had our first daughter, out of fear of evil spirit my mother-in-law, who was not a Christian, told my husband to take our daughter and me to church so we could ask Jesus for protection.
We did attended a local church, in that there was a woman who befriended me and started to disciple me in the way of Jesus. She quoted John 3:16 to me she told me that God loves me so much that he did not keep his Son for Himself. God sent Jesus to die on the cross to set me free from sin and bondage. It was the greatest news I have ever heard, I couldn’t fathom such love with my feeble mind. I asked who is this God that he would do such thing for me? Then she also quoted Psalm 50:10-12 after I have heard those words right away I felt the love of God pulling me towards Him.
At that time I was under spiritual attack, day and night and I knew I couldn’t get out of it myself because I involved myself in so many years of practicing dark spiritual rituals. I told my husband I needed Jesus and I have decided to follow Jesus and he told me he wanted to wait so he could make a few more sacrifices to his dad, who had passed away few years before. I respected his decision, but thanks to God he had sent two young men from the church to disciple him. They help him see that he needed Jesus too so my husband also made that decision to make Jesus his Lord and Savior.
We asked mother-in-law to follow Jesus with us and she said, “No, no I have other children and I can not leave them nor can I leave our culture and tradition. We prayed for her over the years she came to church with us often, but she didn’t ask Jesus to be her Lord and Savior.
Until one day my daughter said “Grandma you have been coming to church with us many times and we love you. But if were to die today you wouldn’t be going to heaven. You will end up in hell and be separated from us forever.” Be as little as my daughter was, she was telling her grandma the truth and it hit her hard. A few weeks later, one morning in the church she went up and kneel down and prayed the sinner’s prayer and made Jesus her Lord and Savior.
You see it only take one woman in that church who cared about me and decided to be friend and help me. She shared the good news of Jesus Christ and I got save.
It only two young men who cared enough to spend some time with my husband and explained the good news to him and he got saved.
My little daughter was concerned about her grandma’s salvation and started to share simple message of Jesus Christ’s saving grace and her grandma got saved. (End)
And, in the Mien language:
Baengh orn dorm mienh muoc doic aac, I laengz zingh Tin-Hungh bun yie maaih naaiv norm jangx duqv faaux naaiv daaih gorngv deix taux yie nyei zengc-gingx.
Se gorngv taux yie cuotv seix daaih se duqv Ong, Gux, Diex, Maac njaaux yie caux jienv ninh mbuo fux-sux mienv hnangv ong-taaigx doic jiex doic njaaux njiec daaih nyei gueix-jeiv leiz-nyeic.
Njaaux mbuo fiou-zienh, gengx-singx, mbuo mienh nyei zong-zei jauv, yaamc hiuv duqv ganh zoux zaqv nzaaic Tin-Hungh dongh zeix mbuo daaih wouv dauh yaac bun mbuo maaih maengc ziangh jienv caux maaih qiex tauv.
Liuz yie nyei maengc jiex gorn yietc deix yaac maiv maaih baengh orn kungx haiz kouv yiem hnyouv caux yiem sin zangc. Buangh youc-nzauh yaac maiv lamh kaux dorngc.
Taux maaih norm hnoi maaih laanh mienh daaih bun yie Yesu hnamv haic yie yaac daic weic yie yiem wuov ziepc nzaangc jaax, liuz yie nyiemc zuiz bun Yesu yaac zipv Ninh daaih zoux Ziouv yaac zoux Njoux Ziouv yiem yie nyei maengc.
Yie nyei maengc duqv goiv yienc daaih maaih lamh hnamv dorngx.
Laengz-zingh oc, tov Tin-Hungh ceix fuqv ceix baengh orn bun meih mbuo oc.