Book review: “From the Killing Fields to the Blessing Field” – a story of two nations and their peoples

“From the Killing Fields to the Blessing Field” taught me what I didn't learn during the fear-filled years of that ugly war. The recently published book chronicles the daily bombing raids by the United States on Cambodia from 1969 to 1973, with a total of 115,000 bombing targets.

The American bombers found the North Vietnamese loopholes. I never knew that. I knew only vaguely years later that Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge massacred the more than 2 million Cambodians who did not starve from 1975 to 1979, and I knew that because of a 1984 film called The Killing Fields..”

The back pages of the book contain a chronology of Cambodia's history from 1950 to 1999, compiled by Yale University's Genocide Studies Program. The front 271 pages contain a retelling of the love story of Seang Yiv, Vijila Prom, and God.

“God made me fast”

Yiv had an idyllic childhood. He lived in a house full of love, although there was not much else that most Americans would consider necessary. It was a quiet place that was flooded by the Mekong River every year, which delighted a boy who could swim safely in water that was chest-to-boy high beneath his house.

“God made me fast,” writes Yiv. He was fast at math. His numerical skills earned him a scholarship to study for graduate studies in France in 1972 and later made him an internationally known scientist with expertise in the petroleum and pharmaceutical industries.

During this time, he also became a Christian, pastor, church founder, and leader of the Cambodian Southern Baptists in the United States. Yiv writes all this in his 302-page book, From the Killing Fields to the Blessing Field, which was released on June 3 and is available on Amazon in hardcover, paperback, and e-book.

The book also includes the story of the woman who would become his wife, Vijila Irene Prom, the daughter of a judge who grew up in the city. She was three years away from finishing high school when Yiv left for France in 1972, but they did not know each other then. Two months before her graduation, the capital where she lived was overthrown by Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge. On that very day – April 17, 1975 – all of the nearly two million residents of Phnom Phen, whose population had swelled as people moved from the countryside because of American bombing, were forced to leave the city with little more than what they could carry on their backs or bicycles.

Find peace

In her book, Prom describes the harrowing trials she and her once-wealthy family faced during the first three and a half months of Khmer Rouge rule. She and her sister devised a way to kill themselves if they attracted the unwanted attention of the soldiers. The next 18 months were horrific, as the family of 18 spent the time fleeing via Vietnam, Laos and back to France.

The book also tells the couple's stories of redemption and how their complementary skills helped them plant and grow churches in Pennsylvania, Minnesota, and California. Their travels across the country included the God-led purchase of their homes “cheap and expensive,” which eventually led to their purchase of a 75-acre property in Georgia for $100,000, which they transformed into a 7-acre “field of blessing” valued at $3.5 million or more, now owned by the Cambodian Southern Baptist Fellowship, of which Yiv is president.

The Blessing Field – with its two spacious buildings, pavilions, fountains and a figure-eight pond fed by a stream – offers visitors an oasis of peace and serenity. Future plans include a three-wing museum that will showcase Cambodia, particularly its Christian past, present and people.

“From the Killing Fields to the Blessing Field” is an easy but compelling read.

IIt is peppered throughout with references to God's work among His people, such as the biblical meaning of ancient Chinese characters. The book's cover, reminiscent of an old silk carpet, was designed by Raksa Yin, a Christian graphic artist from Asia. The book was edited by JoEllen Claypool, the wife of a pastor in Idaho who works as a book coach.