Kham La was locked inside the tiny, windowless cell by Laotian officers.
“I couldn’t see anything,” he said. “I only knew it was daytime when I heard a cow outside.”
After four days of imprisonment, the policemen let him out of the cell and demanded a written confession of his gospel activities. They interrogated him about his travel to other villages and his meetings with other Christians.
Kham La was then transported to a larger jail and locked in a cell with 61 other inmates. Though he was denied contact with family members or an attorney and didn’t even know the charges against him, he wasted no time in sharing the Good News with his cellmates.
The prisoners, who boasted of their criminal activities or justified their actions, could tell Kham La was different and wanted to know why he was in prison when he didn’t appear to be a criminal.
Kham La took every opportunity to tell his story and share the gospel. And in the process, he gently corrected the braggers and encouraged them to choose a better path.
In Laotian jails, a prisoner’s family often must provide daily essentials for their loved one. Since Kham La had not been allowed contact with his family, he had very little food.
“I was very weak when I was in the jail,” he said. “I lost a lot of weight in that time. Sometimes I could not talk much because I was very tired from not having enough food.”
Thankful for Imprisonment
While Kham La was detained, his family worked diligently to find him and get legal help for him. Eventually, a front-line worker who supports persecuted Christians in Laos helped them track Kham La through the prison system.
Three weeks after his arrest, Kham La finally got to see his family. And their reunion was accompanied by some surprising information about why he was detained in the first place: A debt of less than $25, resulting from a fine of which Kham La had not been notified, had led to his arrest.
The prison officials were shocked at the mishandling of his case. A flurry of bureaucratic and legal proceedings followed, during which Kham La, still in jail, could finally see his family and receive food from them — food that he shared with other prisoners in need. A week later, Kham La was released.
Some still ask Kham La if he will sue the authorities who imprisoned him, but his answer is always the same: “I tell them I have given it to God. I will not sue.”
Although local police officials continue to threaten him and other Christians in the district, Kham La welcomes them to Christmas celebrations and lets them know that the Christians are praying for, not against, the welfare of the police and the community.
Kham La also continues to pray for the 61 men he ministered to in jail. Some have died and others have been released, but Kham La believes all of them got a chance to hear the gospel.
“Thank God that I got arrested,” he said. “I was never upset about that. In fact, I am happy. God gave me a good experience in the prison.”