September (End) Update 2017

Dear Friend and Family,

Greetings from Anlongveng!

Here are some updates concerning Cambodian/An-long-veng ministries...

Lately, we’ve been traveling a lot with a few key regional church leaders to visit various groups of believers located at distant places of the northwest region. The reason for this was to hear and learn about the need for ministry in the area. As we went about visiting these isolated and distant places, the common question kept being repeated in every place we visited: “When can you come to teach us?” In most of these sites the Gospel was shared with and/or introduced by various Alliance believers from the Peoyop (northwest) region. On their own or sometimes with the help of visiting Alliance church leaders, these new believers met for worship on a weekly or bi-monthly basis. In some places, the new-believer discipleship classes have already been established. However, because of distant locations, the volunteer teachers could only come to teach once or twice a month. Clearly, the urgent need to establish ongoing weekly discipleship classes in each of these sites is very crucial. There are so many needs and requests that we could not possibly meet them all. Please pray for clear directions from and leading of the Holy Spirit as to which specific sites we should be focusing on first.

Apparently God has placed us in just the right central location! Anlongveng is located in the middle of three different major locations: Samrong (Odar Meanchey province), Sra-em (Preah Vihear Province), and Srae Nouy (Siem Reap Province).

Discipleship class at Sra Em

Each of these locations is about a one and a half hour drive away from Anlongveng. On the roads to each of these sites, there are a few other small groups of believers who are meeting along the way. To effectively plan some kind of discipleship/ leadership training classes at each of these major sites, we would need to plan an overnight stay. We (again) need clear directions from the Holy Spirit as to which sites we should concentrate on and make a priority.

After numerous requests from the Poipet church leaders, we visited the Living Water Alliance Church on September 15-16 and had a wonderful time of fellowship with our dear friends there. On Saturday morning (Sept. 16), more church leaders and people from other nearby Alliance church sites also came *a total of 38 key church leaders!) They all came hoping that we would begin leadership training classes soon. We praise God that even without any involvement of missionary works through June 2016 - July 2017, Poipet Khmer Evangelical Churches (KEC- Alliance) remained strong and faithful in their walks with God. But even as the number of new believers was being added to each group and while the church leaders continued teaching various levels of discipleship classes, the leaders themselves had not received any form of training.

Leadership training in Poipet

 These leaders gave similar complaints: “We are hungry (for spiritual food). We keep on giving and giving, but we ourselves are not being fed." And they also added, “When can you come to teach us?” So, at their requests, we agreed to start leadership training classes every other week, where we will need to plan an overnight stay for every appointed date. Between the three of us: Soeuth, Syna, and Mr. Hout Soheng (a leader from Living Water church), we will teach the following classes: How to Grow Spiritually, Apostle Paul and His Missionary Journeys, How to Preach, Theological Education by Extension (TEE), a few other classes as time allows. Please pray for these students-leaders as they desire to study and grow in God’s words. Also, pray for safe traveling for all.

Hak at Sunday School at Toul Prich Village

Anlongveng: Please join us in prayers for the young believers in Toul Prich village. Pray that their hearts would truly pursue God himself and not treat Him as just another religion.

Last week, after five attempts, we finally had a Living Water class (a course designed for new believers) that started where 7 students enrolled! The Bible-based adult literacy class is at lesson seven. But we had to cancel all classes this week and the following week because people were traveling to visit their hometowns during a major religious holiday: “Bon- Pa-jum- Ben." This has been going on for the past few weeks.

Bethlehem Church exterior

Bethlehem Church interior

From September 19-20, we traveled from Anlongveng to Battambang province to join the Bethlehem church dedication. Although it was only 260 kilometers distance, due to poor road conditions it took us nearly six hours to get there. But what a beautiful dedication service we had!

Bethlehem Church dedication

Dedicating Bethlehem Church

 All those who had any involvement in establishing the Bethlehem church building attended. Meing Pheap, a 76- year old widow and the founder of the church, gave an eloquent and heart-moving speech about the Bethlehem church history.

Meing Pheap sharing

Meing Pheap shared about her life journey and how she first met the Lord while still living inside a refugee camp in Thailand (December 1989). She also shared about her long and dangerous trips back to the homeland (in May 1992), and about her prayers and promises that said: “God, if you would just give me a roof over my head, I will bring people into Your Kingdom." She spoke about a story of perseverance, endurance, persistent prayer requests, and of hope and trust that God would answer prayers in His perfect timing. After 25 years of continuously praying and pleading, God finally answered Meing Pheap’s greatest heart's desire by granting her not only “a roof over my head,” but a beautiful church building where she and other believers could worship Him.

Shortly after Meing Pheap’s sharing, another regional church leader excitedly went up to share about God’s abundant blessing and the generous giving through His people! This leader proudly reported that the money raised came very quickly, and the total amount received was more than enough to cover for the cost of the building construction! They even had some extra money to (1) help repair the roof of Meing Pheap’s old house and to (2) purchase a small piece of property at Reach- Doun- Keo village where a small group of believers (Bethlehem’s daughter church) was meeting weekly for worship service!

THANKS to the many supporters who had financially contributed toward the cost of the Bethlehem church building project. On behalf of Meing Pheap and the Bethlehem Alliance church, we are very GRATEFUL for your generous financial support!

We had a great time visiting Jonathan at Dalat School in Penang, Malaysia!

While visiting Jonathan, we also had a great time connecting with Justin via Skype. Sadly, our daughter-in-law, Katie, was not able to talk with us then. While in Penang, we had the opportunity to connect with Jon’s teachers and learn about his progress reports. For those of you who take personal interests in praying specifically for our children, THANK YOU!  Jon is doing well and is happy being back at Dalat with his old dorm family again. Please extend your prayers to all the dorm parents of Dalat School who answered the Call to serve Him by loving and caring for all the dear children of International Workers.

Dates and events to pray about:

- Oct. 13-14 & Oct. 22-23:  Syna will escort the MKs to and from Dalat for mid-semester fall break.
- Oct. 14: All-day leadership training classes in Poipet.
- Oct. 21: TEE and Christian Education seminary/ workshop in Svey Sisophon.
- Oct. 26 - Nov. 4: A visiting team from Central Pacific District to the Cambodian mission field. The same team will visit Anlongveng on Oct. 30-Nov. 1.
- Oct. 27-28: All-day leadership training classes in Poipet.
- Oct. 28-29: Quarterly regional youth rally at Rattanakiri province.
- Nov. 6- 8: Field Leadership Team (FLT) meeting in Phnom Penh.
- Nov. 8- 17: Visiting team from San Francisco Chinese Alliance church to Anlongveng.

Please share with us what God is going in your life.

Blessings,

Soeuth & Syna Lao