Dear Friends and Family,
Greetings from Poipet! Trusting the Lord that all is well
with you.
We are in a season for harvesting souls! Every week at Living Water Church, new people
are coming to church, and many are being led to the Lord! Through on-going
sport, youth and other church related ministries, the Good News of Jesus Christ
is being spread all over the city of Poipet, and curious people are coming to
seek answers on the church ground! Every late afternoon, an average about 30-40
people came to Living Water Church, just to "hang around", to
participate in various sport activities, to fellowship and socialize with one
another. Clearly we are seeing God at
work among the people here. And because
you are our ministry partners, we want
to share these good news with you. Here are also some other events of what took
place during the last few weeks...
April 27- May 2: Soeuth and I were thankful for a chance to
visit and spend sometimes with our 13- year old son, Jonathan, at Dalat
International School! Sometimes before
we arrived, Jon was having some inner struggles, just being a teenager, so we
thought... Not realizing all the details
of his needs, God prompted our hearts to make a quick decision to visit our
son! As the result, our timely visit brought
much encouragement to Jon; and he is now able to deal with his feelings much
better and to remain focus on his school works... Our oldest son, Justin, has just finished his first
year at Crown College! We look forward
to have BOTH sons coming home for the summer!!!
In just a few more weeks, our family will be together again! So if you
don't hear from us for a while after this letter, know that we'll probably be
busy enjoying our kids! THANK YOU so much, for your continual prayer for our children...
May 9 was an all-day meeting for the National youth
committees in Phnom Penh, evaluating the recent youth conference, setting goals
and planning events for the coming year, and etc... Thanks to your prayers, the committees praise
God for the successful of running the recently
annual youth camp! We had many problems throughout the entire conference, but
God was there to meet us at every need!
May 13-15, the KEC youth from the northwest region took a
3-day motorbike mission trip! At 6 am on
the first day, we loaded 36 people (along with some sleeping and personal
belonging) onto 15 motorbikes and one pick-up truck and then began a long journey
of 600 kilometer- road trip, visiting five Alliance church sites throughout the
region! The main purposes of the trip were to bring encouragement to the church
families who are in isolated and distant places and to gain learning
opportunities as well as searching ideas for future ministry for the
visiting young people. As the result of this trip, many of the young people
were greatly impacted by what they had experienced, seen and heard!
While visiting each of the places, the
visitors had opportunities to hear about life-changing stories: Stories of
healing, of miraculous provision, of faithful and humble servants, of
sacrificial giving, and of so many other stories. So powerful was the impact of this trip made
on the visitors, that this past Sunday service at Living Water Church, during a
time of sharing, people lined up for a chance to share their experiences! Strong, young athletic guys went up and literally
broke down in tears as they shared what God had impressed in their hearts! It
was a very moving experience! There were so many people who wanted to share
their testimonies that the church service was extended to 30 minutes extra! Sometimes before and during the trip, however,
we'd shared hearts with some members of the visiting group that, if God is willing,
we may be moving into this new location, after July 2017. Having seen and heard about what God is doing
during this mission trip, a few young already showed interest and considered to move to this
region in hope to join us in the church ministry during our next missionary
term... At this point, we don't know
what God has in store for these young people nor are we sure how long will this
excitement last. But we ask that you
would pray with us for clear directions for these young people as they, at this
time, seemed genuinely and sincerely seeking God's leading for their lives...
As soon as we got back into Poipet, we were busy again planning
all the activities involving the soccer tournament for the next day, May 16! Last month, we'd shared with you that there were
a total of 8 teams came for a full day of competition. Since then, because words have been spreading
rapidly, as the result, more young people signed for a chance to compete. This month, we had a total of 11 teams (from
under 11 years old to under 16)! More than 120 kids came from all over Poipet! Even though many of these kids are not yet
believers in Jesus Christ, they came to join us during the time of a short
evangelistic message! Please pray that
God would touch the hearts of these little ones as they keep on coming to hear
the Gospel every month as well as to play.
It is a very exciting time for the sport ministry, but oh, how very
tiring for the few volunteer workers!
The harvest season is here but we are so short of harvesters. Please pray that God would raise more
volunteer workers from among the local people for this sport ministry. And if YOU or someone you know who want to
come and serve in Poipet for a few short weeks or a few months in any of the
relating church ministries, we would love to have their connection.
So far, at least 40 plus people are being disciple and
prepared for the coming baptismal event-- May 30! Please be intentionally pray for this event
that many who are prepared to be baptized will come forward without hesitation.
Also please pray for the next youth rally event for the KEC youth northwest region, June 18, at Living Water Church! Since this will be a national holiday, we are expecting at least 200 youngsters will be coming for this exciting and anticipating event! Next Bible quizzing will be done right after the rally, on the same day.
Please share with us what God is doing in your life. As
always, we are grateful for your continual support in prayers and in giving to
the Great Commission Fund. May God
richly bless you.
In Him,
Soeuth and Syna Lao
