August Update (part 2) 2015

August update continues
Dear Friends,
Some amazing things happened this past Sunday among the church families in Poipet, and we want to share them with you as well.

Event #1: Immediately after a weekly pot-lock Sunday lunch with the church families at Living Water Church, Soeuth headed straight to the sport room where he has been meeting with the soccer kids for the past couple weeks.  It all began a few weeks ago when one of the soccer kids (U14) who happened to be playfully holding a 1- year old baby girl named “Alpha”. Curiously he asked, “What does the word Alpha mean?”  Soeuth, who happened to be standing nearby, took the opportunity to explain the meaning of the word to him while a number of other soccer kids, standing nearby, heard the same explanation!  Soeuth went on boasting that, “Oh, there are many other amazing words in the Bible--all describing the natures and the characters of God!” And he listed a few names of God to them. Then one kid shouted, “That is so cool!  I want to know more about these words.”  And others joined in, “Yeah, we want to know about these cool words, too!” Sensing a given opportunity, Soeuth immediately invited the kids if they would be willing to meet with him, on a regular basis, right after lunch, so they can learn more about God and about these amazing “cool words”.  And they all screamed, “Yessss!” So, yesterday was the third time that these community soccer kids met with Soeuth.  During the meeting Soeuth asked, “Since God is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, then what is happening in between?”  To Soeuth’s amazement, Gideon, who usually is a very shy and quiet boy, aged 12, began to slowly standing up and quietly yet profoundly explained, “We are living in the time between the Alpha and the Omega.  One day, God will come to take us to heaven.”  “That’s right!” Soeuth told him, while the others nodded in agreement. Soeuth went onto explain further that, we are all sinners and fall short of the glory of God.  Because the wages of sin is death, we will all die and deserve hell as punishment.  But God, because of His great love for the world, does not want anybody to perish eternally, so He’d made a salvation plan for us through Jesus Christ. But this same God, who is the Alpha and the Omega, is also a Judge.  And all of us will have to give an account to God one day.  And only He will decide who can enter heaven or not”.  Soeuth continued, “So, how can we be accepted into heaven? Can good deeds or being a good person is enough to allow us to enter heaven?” A few reluctantly nodded “yes”, but many of them were quietly in deep thinking.  After a few seconds passed by, Soeuth repeated the same question. Then all of them shouted as in one great voice, “The only way to heaven is through believing in Jesus!”  “Then, do you believe in Jesus?” Soeuth shouted back. “Yesssss!” screamed the class. “Do you want to invite Jesus into our hearts and have this assurance of a guaranteed passage for entering heaven?” Soeuth added. “Yesssssss!” they all shouted.  As the result, 16 soccer kids, from one U14 team, all accepted Jesus into their lives that day!  It was an exciting experience to watch as the soccer kids rushed out of that sport room cheerfully singing, “I am going to heaven!”

Event #2:  Shortly after the kids got saved, Lydia (a woman leader from Living Water Church) led a group of church ladies to visit and pray sick people in a nearby referral government hospital, as the ladies had often done in the past.  About an hour later, I got this urgent call from Lydia, “Naak Kru (teacher), there are some people here who wanted to Thwai Kloun (give themselves to Jesus)! Can you come and lead them to the Lord?  We don’t know how to do it? Can you come?”  Since I (Syna) was in the middle of teaching a class, I assured Lydia (on the phone) that she could do it herself and gave her some suggestions on how to ask questions.  She reluctantly agreed. That afternoon, the women group returned to the church group grinning from ear to ear!  All at once the ladies shouted their exciting experiences, “We led four people to the Lord!  And two of them were willing to cut off their own spirit strings! And we were so afraid.  But we kept on praying and asking Jesus to help us.  And it was our first time ever of leading people to the Lord!”

Event #3:  Toward the evening hours of the same day, we’d received yet other repeated urgent calls, this time, from a key church leader from Ondong Thmar Meas church, requesting a medical help for an elderly widow who had recently suffered from a stroke.  (This woman, because of her illness, has been a regular patient at the Wednesday clinic).  But the signs and symptoms described by the leaders did not match what was troubling, and we sensed that there was something more than just the sickness itself.  So we’ urged the church leaders to go and pray for her.  They went.  But we did not learn anything more until last night, when the some of the same leaders came to our weekly Monday night class… That Sunday night as the story unfolds, four key church leaders went to pray for the sick woman, but before they prayed, the leaders asked the woman to acknowledge her sins and if she was willing to get rid of the shrine and worship items within and surround her house.  She agreed.  They’d removed all the shrines and tore away all other spiritual worship items from the house. Then the leaders laid hands on the woman, anointed her with oil and praying to the power of the Holy Spirit to heal and cleanse her inside out.  Very early on Monday morning (the next day) the same leader received phone call from the woman family declaring, “My mother is healed!  Jesus healed my mother!  And she is out there walking and singing and praising to Jesus!”

It is an exciting time to be serving God among His people in Cambodia! We have the greatest honor of being in the front- row view witnessing God at work in the lives of the Khmer people!
Please be in prayer for the coming youth event, this Friday, August 28, as regional youth ministries will be having their own regional youth rallies.  For the northwest region, we will have the rally at Svey Sisophon are area.  In addition to the regular church youth, we’d invited 22 boys from U14 soccer teams to participate in the coming youth rally.  This will be their first time in big event like this.  Please for safe traveling for all and good outcome.  Our Field Director, Rev. David Manfred will be the guest speaker for the event.

Blessings,

Soeuth and Syna Lao