One of the highlights of Laos for me was meeting and befriending Denil, said like Daniel. Denil arrived the same day as our team to stay with our contacts. Denil had met Peter and Noi a year before when he went to Laos to renew his Thailand visa. Here is some of Denil’s story:
Denil is from Cameroon. His parents died when he was a baby and his Grandfather cared for him until an Aunt took him in. Life with his Aunt was hard, she would remind Denil often that he was an orphan, that she did not have to help him. Denil knew that he wasn’t loved or wanted so he did his best to be good, to try to win his Aunt’s approval. She sent him to the same school as her children would become angry each time Denil brought home a better report or grade than her children. He loved football (soccer) from an early age and was enrolled in a program to learn more. When Denil was 15, he was sent an offer letter and a plane ticket from a football team in Thailand to go play for them. He was excited about his dreams coming true, to become a professional footballer, to make something of himself, to make his family proud of him. When he landed in Thailand, he was alone, he spoke French and some Cameroon dialects but no Thai or English. The offer letter turned out to be fake, a sort of scam but the plane ticket had been real. Here he found himself out of his home country, in a new land where he could not communicate with anyone, did not know how to understand Thai bhat or how to exchange his money into Thai bhat. He was stranded at the airport. But the Lord was looking out for him and he was able to try out and earn a spot on a different football team. Denil has now played professional football for 6 years now on 3 different teams. He was in Laos trying out for a Laotian team. He dreams of playing for Manchester United one day and also of teaching children how to play while sharing Christ with them.
Denil was enthusiastic about practicing his English with us. He had taught himself Thai and English. One morning Ashley and I got to have a Bible Study with Denil. We started in 1 John and only got about 4 verses in when Denil opened up and told us a lot of his story, asked a bunch of questions about how God can allow certain things to happen in our lives and then began sharing about his struggle with pornography. We were all able to share openly and allow the Holy Spirit to speak through us. We had a time of prayer, speaking things over each other and commanding things out in the name of Jesus. We all had break troughs during our time together. Because of this time, we had so many other talks about life together. I feel so privileged to have had this month with Denil.
Please keep Denil in your prayers as he continues to grow in his relationship with the Lord, he is seeking direction for his career and life.
