A Cambodian family comes full circle: Replacing the horror of the ‘Killing Fields’ with the love and peace of the Savior

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Leang and Saroeun Eav slipped out of Cambodia in 1979 under the most desperate of circumstances. After nearly four years of witnessing murder, starvation, torture, and barely avoiding death under the genocidal Khmer Rouge regime, they miraculously escaped with two young children to a refugee camp in Thailand, eventually making their way to the United States.

Today, 46 years later, four young grandsons of Leang and Saroeun have returned to Cambodia as missionaries of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Another cousin, a granddaughter, will begin serving this summer.

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When these cousins look over the tranquil rice paddies of the Cambodian countryside, or ride their bicycles in the teeming cities, they don’t see the atrocities of the Killing Fields. Instead, they see beautiful landscapes and growing communities filled with humble, peace-loving people.

Elders Ethan Nielsen, Alain Eav, Anthony Eav, and Jaden Grunkemeier are all first cousins from Utah. They are the four oldest grandchildren of Leang and Saroeun Eav. To them and their families, it is a miracle that they were called by God’s prophet to serve together in the homeland of their grandparents. They love Cambodia and feel a special kinship with the Cambodian people. 

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Remarkably, a fifth first cousin, Sister Arleigh Eav, from Valencia, CA, received her call to Cambodia in January 2025. She will arrive in August after language training at the Provo MTC.   

In their ministry, the young cousins are helping supplant the fear and horror of their grandparents’ traumatic experiences with the hope, peace and love of the Savior Jesus Christ.

Having their oldest five grandchildren all serve in Cambodia is a dream come true for Leang and Saroeun. They never could have envisioned it more than 40 years ago when their only thought was to escape Cambodia alive with their little family.

The five cousins grew up as typical American kids, playing sports, video games and having good times with friends. They were aware of Cambodia and the experiences of their grandparents. But for most of their young lives, that seemed a world away, a long time ago.

But it all became more real when the entire family of Leang and Saroeun (25 people in all) visited Cambodia in April 2023. For many years after their escape, the grandparents had no desire to return to Cambodia with all its painful memories. But eventually, the homeland and their extended family remaining there beckoned, and they decided to return with all their children and grandchildren.

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It was a poignant trip as the family visited places Leang and Saroeun lived happily before the Khmer Rouge, and also places where they suffered, worked as slaves, and faced the possibility of death every day. They were also able to reunite with surviving relatives. Their eldest son, Alain, recalled memories as a young child playing in the fields, hiding from soldiers and trekking through the mud. Remarkably, he never felt his parents’ fear and anxiety as a child. “They shielded their pain and worries from me.”

The young cousins said that 2023 trip helped them mature. It was a turning point for them to understand the dire experiences of their grandparents and why the country of Cambodia held both sweet and bitter memories for them.

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Saroeun Eav was born in 1952 in Battambang, Cambodia. She wrote in a family history that she grew up in a poor farm family, but was able to attend primary school through seven grades. She had to drop out to work on the farm, carrying buckets of river water on a yoke across her shoulders to nurture their vegetables and fruit.

In 1969, a young man named Leang Eav, who had been taking a teacher training program in Pursat City, moved to Saroeun’s town to begin his first position as a teacher. He rented the home next door and they became friends, then fell in love, became engaged, and then married. “While we were engaged, we could not go anywhere alone. For 13 months before we were married, we had a chaperone whenever we were together,” Saroeun wrote.

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In 1973, a “cute baby boy” was born to the couple. They named him Alain. “We loved him very much,” wrote Saroeun. “Our life was filled with blessings and gratitude.”

But the joy did not last. “The Khmer Rouge destroyed our happiness.” The rebel group led by Pol Pot defeated government troops and took over Cambodia, murdering 1.5 to 2 million people, emptying all the major cities, and forcing most people not killed into slave labor on farms. Pol Pot especially targeted teachers, doctors, business leaders -- anyone who was educated and successful.

Saroeun wrote that their nightmare began on April 17, 1975, when the Khmer Rouge ordered people in her community to attend a meeting the next morning. Most of the city’s leaders and educated people were told to go to an elementary school near a lake. “Most of them were killed right away,” wrote Saroeun. Her family was told to go to a meeting with a different group, and their lives were spared.

Thus began nearly four years of terror, suffering, hunger and degradation. The young Eav family, with millions of others, was forced into labor camps far out in the country. Anyone caught trying to escape was killed. Families were separated. “The Khmer Rouge forced their authority so cruelly on the people of Cambodia,” Saroeun wrote. When they were taken from their homes, “There were children crying and calling for their parents . . . all I heard was crying, praying, people calling out each other’s names and distraught voices all around me.”

The Eavs pushed a wooden handcart with everything they owned through water and mud over rough roads to their labor camp. “I felt so sorry for my baby. He was having such a difficult time . . . I was crying inside my heart because I didn’t want Alain to know that I was crying.”

In the labor camp, they woke at 4 a.m. and worked until 7 p.m. in rice paddies with little to eat. “We had to work in wet clothes all day. It is too hard to describe how difficult and miserable it was. We were always tired and hungry.”

People who couldn’t work were killed. Anyone who tried to escape was killed.

“We often were forced to take many difficult and sad trips” to new locations, Saroeun said. With each move, Saroeun was terrified that the family would be separated and that her husband, Leang, would be killed. The Pol Pot regime continued to murder “all those who were educated, businessmen, teachers and those who had ever served in the former government.”

In March 1976, Saroeun gave birth to a “beautiful baby girl.” They named her Rachna. The hard labor continued, made more difficult with two small children to care for. Saroeun was ordered to braid thatches for roofs and walls of huts and was also forced to grind rice. “Both of my arms trembled and were weak. I didn’t have any sensation in my arms. I had a very hard time giving my baby a bath and carrying her when she needed me.”

Saroeun said she prayed to God constantly, even though she didn’t know about God. She felt something was out there. “I prayed to whoever had the most power in the world to please help my family and please save us from the harm. After I prayed I still felt sad, but at the same time I felt happy because at least we were going to die together, rather than apart.”

The third year under the Khmer Rouge was “miserable and bitter.” Leang worked long hours making roof tile and Saroeun harvested rice. They took care of their children as best they could, taking turns checking on them. Their children were their only joy in life. “We felt so lucky to have them. We both agreed that our life was so blessed because of our children, and we both thanked God for the blessing that we received.”

Their daughter Mithona, who was born later, believes it was the children that gave Leang and Saroeun the strength to continue. Instead of being a burden in such difficult circumstances, the children were a blessing. “My parents were able to live outside of their terrible problems and live for their children.”

Everyone at their labor camp was slowly starving to death, Saroeun wrote. “One cup of rice soup had about 15 to 20 grains of rice in it.” One evening baby Rachna dropped a grain of rice from her spoon onto the wood floor. She tried to pick it up, but couldn’t. She laid down on the floor and licked it up with her tongue. Saroeun heard her say, “I got it. I got it, mom.” “I felt so sad that she was so hungry that if even a grain of rice dropped on the floor, she would try to get it.”

On days without rain, Alain liked to play in the fields. He would catch grasshoppers, crickets and frogs. He learned to cook them in the fire and shared them with his sister and mother. “I couldn’t believe that my hungry son who was not even five years old would try to feed his mom a baby frog’s leg.”

In January 1979, Vietnamese communist troops invaded Cambodia and fought the Khmer Rouge. The Eav family thought that in the chaos they might escape the work camp and return to their home city. But if caught, they would be killed. And the Vietnamese soldiers were also very dangerous.

The prospect of escaping was frightening. “I didn’t know if we could go through with it,” wrote Saroeun. “There was a dark cloud in my head.” That night, she knelt down and prayed to “whoever has the most power on earth and in the heavens.” She pleaded for her family to be safe and asked to know if they should leave or stay. For the next three nights she repeated the same prayer.

They decided to go. They pretended to walk to work as usual at 6 a.m., then ran on bare feet through fields and forests. At times they carried Rachna and a young niece on a shoulder yoke, wrapped in large cloths tied onto each end of a bamboo stick.

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In their hometown, they were able to evade the Khmer Rouge and Vietnamese soldiers. In November 1979, in another harrowing journey, they escaped to a refugee camp in Thailand. “We were so afraid because many families who attempted to escape were robbed and killed by Vietnamese and Khmer Rouge soldiers and by Thai robbers.”

After 18 months and the arrival of their third child, Mithona, the Eav family was sponsored to come to the United States by Ralph and Charlotte Yeakley, a Latter-day Saint family in Bellevue, Washington.

The Eav family was grateful to finally be safe. But integrating into such a different world was difficult. “The exit door from the big airport went around and around and made me dizzy,” wrote Saroeun.

After a short time with the Yeakleys, on July 1, 1981, the Eav family moved into a low-income apartment in Redmond, Washington. A few days later, at about 10 p.m. on July 4, they were awakened and frightened by loud popping noises. “I started to pack some clothes for all of my kids with shaking hands,” wrote Saroeun. She had nowhere to go, but running “was what I was used to when I heard gunfire in Cambodia. I was desperate. Living in the United States was supposed to be safe.”

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Leang crawled over to the window and opened the curtain. Instead of soldiers shooting guns, he saw fireworks and people having fun, celebrating the nation’s birthday.

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After a few weeks in America, the Eav family was introduced to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by the Yeakleys. Missionaries began visiting and teaching them. Daughter Mithona Eav Nielsen said her father, Leang, was baptized within a few months, on Dec. 26, 1981, along with the oldest child, Alain. “With the language barriers, my dad didn’t fully grasp all the doctrines, but he immediately felt the love and spirit and strength of the families in the church. He wanted that love and those strong family connections in his own family. He was all in, right off.”

Saroeun prayed frequently and carefully studied the scriptures for another several months before she was baptized on August 14, 1982. The family was sealed in the Seattle Temple in 1984.

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“My parents had been Buddhists,” said Mithona. “They saw in the gospel a lot of principles that aligned with their traditional beliefs. They didn’t immediately understand all the doctrines, but the commonalities felt safe and comforting.”

The young family, now with four children, had very little money starting out in America, but they worked hard and stayed close to the church. The children did very well, with the two sons, Alain and Michael, serving missions, and all four children graduating from Brigham Young University, marrying, and raising families of their own. Most of the family now lives in Utah.

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Mithona said the love and service of ward members made such a difference in their early days in America. “They helped my parents get jobs and become citizens. They picked up us children for youth activities and Scouts. They brought us Christmas. They had such an impact on the whole family and our trajectory forward.”

“Our family has been greatly blessed for living the gospel truths together, learning, praying, and obeying God’s commandments,” wrote Saroeun. “I am grateful to Heavenly Father and His Son Jesus Christ for leading, guiding, protecting, and comforting my family’s life.”

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The next generation of Eavs quickly grew up. The first grandchild to submit his missionary papers was Ethan Nielsen, son of Rawley and Mithona Nielsen. Knowing of his heritage and his grandparents’ experiences, Ethan held out a “tiny bit” of hope he would be called to Cambodia. But he didn’t expect it, knowing that the world is a big place, with so many possible places to serve.

But the big family trip to Cambodia in April 2023 changed him. “We attended fast and testimony meeting in Siem Reap and I heard my grandparents bear their testimonies in the Cambodian language. I didn’t understand it, but I felt the spirit so strongly and I remember thinking it would be such an amazing blessing to be called here. And I started to have a feeling that it would happen.”

Three days after returning home, Ethan received an email message with a call from the prophet to serve in Cambodia. There were tears and joy and wonder and gratitude among his grandparents, parents, aunts and uncles and cousins. “It was the greatest,” Elder Nielsen said. “I can’t even describe the feelings I had.”

“It was pure joy for all of us,” said Ethan’s mother, Mithona, becoming emotional as she remembered that moment. “Especially because we had just had such a powerful experience in Cambodia. Hearing our parents bear their testimonies in that country and tell their story. It was all so fresh, and then to come home and have Ethan called to Cambodia, it was a profound reminder that God is in our lives and was aware of my family for many decades, since my parents were young. They and my older siblings only survived through miracles. Miracle after miracle. When they escaped to Thailand, mom was eight weeks pregnant with me. I was born in a refugee camp. And the miracles continued as Ethan was called to return to Cambodia.”

Ethan’s call was only the beginning. Some months later, brothers Alain and Anthony Eav, sons of Alain and Wendy Eav and cousins to Ethan, sent their mission papers in at the same time. Neither had expectations that they would go to the same mission, let alone to Cambodia.

“Cambodia was on the top of my list, but I didn’t want to get my hopes up,” said Anthony.

The brothers waited patiently for their calls. “Wow, it was all pretty amazing,” said Anthony. “My call came on a Tuesday, and we thought Alain would get his call at about the same time. While we waited, I opened my call by myself and I was so happy. I told Alain where I was going and he was excited for me. A couple of hours later, his call came and he opened it privately, then told me. It was insane! We were so thrilled to be going together.”

They kept friends and the rest of the family in suspense until everyone gathered that evening. “I opened mine first,” said Anthony, “and everyone was going crazy that I was going to Cambodia where Ethan was. Then Alain opened his and no one could believe it.”

“My parents first thought I was joking,” said Alain. “It was surreal. The look on my grandparents’ faces said it all. God had answered their prayers. It was wild . . . super exciting.”

The Eav brothers said the calls were especially meaningful and emotional for their father, Alain, who Elder Alain was named after. “For him to have two sons go back to Cambodia where he experienced what he did as a little boy . . . It meant so much to him,” Anthony said. “Neither mom nor dad had words to express what they felt. Obviously, it wasn’t a coincidence. It was God’s will.”

Alain said, “Before my mission, I would sometimes forget that if my dad hadn’t lived through the Killing Fields and hadn’t been such a brave kid, I wouldn’t be here. I respect and love him so much. He’s gone through so much and still wants to give so much. The tragedy that happened here in Cambodia definitely hits home for me. This is my dad we’re talking about. He lived through it. It’s powerful to me.”

Alain and Anthony reported to the Missionary Training Center in July 2024 and arrived in Cambodia in September.

But the Lord was not through yet. Jaden Grunkemeier, the fourth cousin, son of Stefan and Rachna Grunkemeier, opened his call to much anticipation in June 2024. “I didn’t know what to expect, and didn’t want to get my hopes up, but I was thrilled to be called to Cambodia,” he said. It was another special day for the extended family.

Three of the missionary cousins will still be in Cambodia when the latest cousin, Arleigh Eav, daughter of Michael and Ashlee Eav, arrives in August 2025. She is from Valencia, CA, where her father serves in a stake presidency.

All four elders currently in Cambodia have firm testimonies that having five cousins serving in the homeland of their grandparents means something very important: “It is God’s plan for us,” said Elder Anthony Eav. “It means we have work to do here, the most important work of all. Each of us, and really every missionary everywhere, has a special mission. It is super special. I love these people so much. They are my people.”

The missionaries have drawn closer to their grandparents. “I have a strong testimony that God was there for them,” said Alain. “They are so strong in their faith. They didn’t know about God, but he was watching over them and helping them. I really love my grandparents. Without them, none of this would have happened. I wouldn’t have been able to help the people of Cambodia. I’m grateful to them for giving me life. They never gave up. They make my mission even more meaningful.”

“All of us are now able to connect with our grandparents on a deeper level,” said Elder Nielsen. “We now speak their language. We serve where they lived. We’ll be able to share so many experiences with each other. It will strengthen our family bonds for the rest of our lives and, hopefully, through eternity. All of us will carry on the legacy of our grandparents as being proud Cambodian members of the Savior’s church.”

Elder Grunkemeier said he studied his grandmother’s autobiography for a school project. “It helped me appreciate how amazing their story was and how many miracles happened. I absolutely believe God had a hand in my grandparents’ escape and their conversion. There was miracle after miracle after miracle that helped them stay alive and escape.”

The four missionaries all said being half Cambodian and having grandparents who survived the Killing Fields helps them connect with their Cambodian teaching friends. They use the stories of their grandparents to teach important principles of the gospel, including faith, prayer, enduring to the end, and the importance of family.

“As a missionary, it means a lot to have roots here,” said Elder Alain Eav. “I have this culture in my blood. I see Cambodians as family, I see them as aunts, uncles, and cousins. I love the people here so much and love to bring the gospel to them. We are obeying the two great commandments, loving God and loving others. Being here has helped me appreciate the love of the Cambodian people and my family back home.”

“It’s really clear to all of us that God had a hand in my grandparents’ escape and journey to America,” said Elder Nielsen. “And now five of their grandchildren are called to Cambodia. The Lord directed all of this.”

“The Eav family has returned to Cambodia,” said Cambodia Phnom Penh West Mission President David Hoare. “In the end, good wins over evil. These missionaries, and all the missionaries in Cambodia, are a testament of our Heavenly Father’s love for his children. They are helping replace that dark time of terror and wickedness with the joy and peace and love of the Savior. The Savior’s atonement supplants the most horrific actions of mankind.”

“It is a fitting legacy for our parents’ posterity to bring light and love to Cambodia,” said Mithona Neilsen. “It helps my mom and dad heal. It reconnects them with their homeland. It has been such a beautiful journey for our family. It is a full circle from the horror and evil of the Killing Fields to sharing the love and peace of the Savior with the Cambodian people.”