Christ Taught Us to Love Our Enemies

Kimberly Sang’s father and brother were among the two million people (approximately one quarter of the population of Cambodia) killed by the Khmer Rouge. Kimberly, who was a young woman at the time, made the dangerous trek to the refugee camps in Thailand with her family. The path was treacherous: Khmer Rouge soldiers had placed landmines, buried sharpened bamboo sticks, hung grenades from trees, and created other deadly traps to prevent people from safely fleeing. The Sangs survived hunger, thirst, and many narrow escapes from the traps on their journey.

Life in the camp was difficult. It was crowded, and food, clothing, and space were scarce. The threat of physical and sexual violence was constant for young women. Although many people stayed in the camps for as long as five years, the Sang family was selected by a sponsor in the United States after only six months.

The Sangs moved to Oakland, California, to be near other family members who had settled there. Kimberly soon found a job as a dental assistant. On her way to and from work, she often saw missionaries from the Church. She felt drawn to them because of their sincerity. She soon accepted an invitation to listen to their message. She eagerly embraced the restored gospel and was baptized in 1981. “I felt clean and fresh, excited, and ready to go to work to help make the world a better place,” Kimberly said. She helped the missionaries teach the gospel and translated material into Khmer. In 1985, she was called to serve in the Missouri Independence Mission.

During her mission, she saw the gospel improve the lives of many people. Kimberly spent most of her mission in Wichita, Kansas, working with other Asian refugees. “These were people much like me,” she said, “broken off from their past and searching for direction to guide them in a new life. They found it in the restored gospel.” Some of the people she taught were former Khmer Rouge soldiers. Some genuinely worked to change their lives and joined the Church, but she struggled to forgive them or forget the awful memories of her childhood. “I knew they were my former enemies,” Kimberly recalled, “but Christ taught us to love our enemies. There was no better test of this for me than learning to rejoice in their conversions.” As she prayed for them and taught them the gospel, Kimberly learned to forgive. “I learned to pray that he would help them change,” she recalled, and for “the Lord to change me and help me let go of the past.”

After her mission, Kimberly moved to Utah and married David Vanfleet in the Salt Lake Temple in 1987, and they raised their four children in the gospel. In 2012, their son, Andy, was called to serve in the Cambodia Phnom Penh Mission.