April's Update continues...
A few weeks ago, we left you suspended with all other
exciting news awaited. So here are just
a few more news to share around...
Because the KEC youth conference was on the same time as
Easter weekends, all the International Workers and other church leaders
involving youth ministry left town to join the youth conference. So, we were not in Poipet when this
happened. But since returning from the conference,
however, we kept hearing about this exciting story, repeatedly, that we are
inspired to share with you as well...
For Good Friday service, although the five Poipet key church leaders had met previously to discuss plans and actions concerning the coming event in each of their responsible locations, some leaders had concerns that not many would show up for the service for reasons as follow: Since most of the church people travel by bicycles or motorbikes, would they be willing to travel in the dark and risking potential dangers that may await them on the secluded routes? And because most of the young people had already left for the conference, would there be any people left to attend the service? And "We don't have missionaries to help us", voiced a concerned leader. But as it turned out, "The Living Water church was full house!" said one lady from church. The usual families who came on Sundays attended the service, and a lot of new people also came. A week before the actual service, the men gathered to help clean up the church yards, and the ladies had lovingly and beautifully decorated inside the building. "Many people came to help", said Lydia, a Poipet women ministry's key leader. And all around us, many people seemed to have the same expression that Pastor Chean, a newly ordained pastor for the Living Water church, "He did a great job!" leading the church to remember Christ's suffering and what Jesus did for us at Calvary over 2000 years ago...
For Easter Sunday, all the Poipet KEC churches of the
C&MA came to join an early morning service at Living Water Church. Because of the lack of transportations, only
five out of eight Poipet KEC churches could come to participate this joyful celebration! Even then, "The church was packed to the
limit!" commented the newly Pastor Chean.
To help accommodate all the seating arrangement, the church leaders
rented tents along with 200 extra plastic chairs, in addition to the church's
own chairs. Each church group had
opportunities to present their special songs .
And Rev. David Manfred, the Cambodia Field Director of the C&MA, having
left the youth conference early, was able to travel from Phnom Penh to Poipet
in a night bus, to be the guest speaker for this happy occasion. Following a fun fellowship with a pot-lock
meal, each exciting church group got themselves ready for a memorized Scripture
competition! Weeks earlier, each church
group was give a sheet of information containing selective Bible passages, to
be memorized before hands, in order to be able to compete on this day. Those who had memorized the most were awarded
with seasonal fruits as prizes! Ready,
set, go! And Mrs. Moum along with the
Malay house church came in first place, followed by Santepheap church, second place, and third place went to
Aang Salaa church! When asked how and
when she had learned all these Bible verses?
"I've studied and memorized many verses during my three years in
prison!" replied Mrs. Moum. And "That was so much fun!" And "Let's
do it again!" as everyone else seemed
to agree...
A few weeks ago, an amazing thing happened to the Body at
Christ at Living Water Church! One young
couple, newly believers, has severe financial struggle. Because of poor decision making, this couple owed
people a lot of money! And every day
their debtors were coming to their doorsteps to collect or demand payment. Though this couple have a few valuable
properties and are willing to sell them all in order to pay off what they owe, they
could not find any potential buyers!
Their circumstances were so severe that they were having suicidal
thoughts. Understanding about their dire
situations, a number of church families took immediate actions! Willing to take a risk, each family lent
their small savings to this young family in their time of crisis. The world may view this as a foolish act by
the church families or the world may see this as a scheme from the couple, but
we admire the conviction and strong faith of the church families as they saw to
the needs of others above themselves!
Please pray for potential buyers to come along, SOON, before their next
month payment is due!
As requested for your prayers, on March 24-26, we went to Phnom Penh to join the
KEC Mohasonibaat/ Conference! Because
the event took place every two years, this was the most exciting and most
anticipated event for the KEC church leaders!
Alliance key church leaders and representatives from all over Cambodia
along with representatives from the Cambodian Evangelical Church (CEC) District
from United States-- they all came to
participate this exciting occasion! Many
gifted speakers preached messages based on the conference theme, "...And
go on to Maturity..." (Hebrews 6:1).
On the last day of the conference, there was a recognition service
honoring those who are newly ordained pastors.
Among the seven (7) newly ordained KEC pastors, all but one of them were
the people in whom we had greatest honor and privilege to be part of mentoring process
and disciple them in various ways throughout the past 20 years in Cambodia! It is such a rewarding feeling seeing these
godly men taking on the roles of caring and nurturing their own local
churches. Please continue to pray for
these leaders of the KEC churches for wisdom and directions and clear visions
as they lead and care for their local churches. This recent ordination gives us a sense of closure
as, Lord willing, the C&MA mission is planning to exit out of Poipet by
June 2016.
April 14-16 was New Year! Many people left Poipet to return to their hometowns for this annual festive celebration. This was also a great time of testing and trials for the new believers. Many were pressured to return to their own ways of life, worship the spirit of their ancestors. To help lessen the pressure, we created fun activities, at our place, as a diversion for those who want to come and hang around. For the first two days of the New Year, as many as 60 people, for each day, came to fellowship with one another in various traditional games.
In the afternoons, we had every available jug and bucket filled up with
water, and everyone had a blast squirting and splashing cool water against one
another! It was a refreshing activity,
for a chance, having to deal with daily extreme heat. For those people who
traveled, some people encountered a number of serious accidents. Praise God none of the church families got
hurt.
Saturday, April 18, was a fun day for soccer evangelism out
reach for the Poipet ministry! More than
100 kids, under age 14, from all over the
Poipet areas, came to participate in the exciting sport event! Soeuth began the day by speaking a short
evangelistic message pointing to them that Jesus is the way, the truth and the
life. When asked if they were interested
in receiving the Free Gift of salvation, many stood up to receive Jesus into
their lives! The day continued with exciting
friendly competitions among the 8 teams of U14.
But by mid afternoon, the game was sadly interrupted by a sudden huge rainstorm! To preserve the dirt field for future games, however,
the leaders decided to post the competition until this coming Saturday, April
25! Please pray for this outreach
ministry. The young people are very open
to the Gospel! And they, so craving for
a chance for fun activities or fellowship, were so excited to be in the sport
activities that they were willing to
travel from distant places, even on their own personal expenses!
Seeing that the sport activities were coming to an end, I
decided to drive home early, while the rain drops were still falling, in order
to avoid risking being stuck in the muddy roads, and while Soeuth remained at
the church site. Apparently the heavy
rainstorm had caused significant damages to tree branches all over Poipet! And as I pulled into the garage (made by
stilted pillars and tinned roof), as in a slow motion from a movie scene, the
garage's roof was tilting to one side, ready to collapse on me! Quickly, I backed away, but not quick
enough... The whole building felt crash upon
the hood of my truck! Shaken by the incident, I shouted a prayers of
thanksgiving. SOMEONE was definitely
watching over me! Looking back, the
whole situation could have been much worse, if I was to remain under the
collapsed building! Praise God to be alive,
again...
Please continue to pray for our
safety and protection, and please continue to pray the same for our children as
well. Thanks.
Please continue to pray for urgent needs regarding the
church building project for the KEC Bethlehem Church. We are at the beginning of yet another rainy
season, but the leaking church building remaines unchanged... For those who
have been financially supporting this project, THANK YOU! Though some funds
have been coming, the leaders could not actually begin the building projects
until at least 75% of the fund needed are received.
Please share with us what God is doing in your life and how
can we be of encouragement to you as well.
Thank you for partnering with the Poipet ministry. As always, we appreciate your prayers and
support.
Blessings,
Soeuth and Syna
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