November Update 2017

Dear Praying Friends and Family,

“The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field” Matthew 9:37-38

A young mother harvesting her crops

It is harvesting time in Cambodia and many villagers are busy harvesting and collecting their crops.  As the result, Syna’s afternoon literacy classes at Toul Prich village were postponed for the time being. However, the children having nothing much to do were very restless. Every helping hand is needed at the rice paddies. The responsibilities, which fall into the hands of the older siblings include, cooking, taking care of the house, and caring for little children.

Older sibling taking care of younger siblings while parents are harvesting

 It is very common to walk through a village at this time of year and find only small kids (as young as eight or nine years old) taking care of their little brothers or sisters. Thus, the risk for potential dangers or accidents is high.

Thanks to your generous financial support toward our Work Special account, we have some funds available for adding the foundation and walls to the adult church building. We will soon begin the building construction for the children center at Toul Prich village. With the help of visiting team San Francisco Chinese Alliance church (SFCAC) along with some local volunteer workers from the church families, the ground of the church site was leveled up with dirt. The rocks, gravels, and cement were added to the foundation of the adult church building.It will be a while before the construction is completed. Meanwhile, it is a bit of a challenge finding good locations with adequate shade for worship service and for children Sunday school classes.

November 5th, I (Syna) traveled in a public bus to the capital city. Although the bus company sold 32 out of the 40 seats to passengers from Anlongveng, the driver, in an attempt to earn extra money, kept picking up more and more passengers along the way. By the time we were close to Phnom Penh there were about 60+ passengers in total! Being cramped in a bus full of people along with their sacks, bags, and suitcases of goods it felt very unsafe. People were actually sitting on little plastic chairs in the middle isle of the bus! There was nothing I could do and there was no other way, but to remain in the bus for the entire trip to Phnom Penh. On top of that, the bus kept breaking down... four times!  We left Anlongveng at 6:50 am, but did not get to Phnom Penh until 8:30 pm! Some passengers had bad cases of motion sickness while few others were coughing and sneezing madly. As the result, I caught a nasty cold.

Passengers inside the public transportation

It was quite an experience! BUT even as I didn’t enjoy the long road trip, I embraced the many opportunities to share the good news of Jesus Christ with other passengers, taxi , and bus drivers!

Thanks to your prayers, the November 9th youth rally went really well! Thirty young people from the Kui tribal village (one of the minor ethnic groups in Preah Vihear province) came! After arriving at Sra Em, we learned that 30 other Kui kids could not come due to lack of transportation. A total of 76 youth from five different local Alliance churches of the northwest region attended the rally! Mr. Heng Sambo, one of the Khmer Evangelical Church (KEC) leaders from Preah Vihear province gave an evangelistic message. After the morning service, we had relay games, group activities, and a fellowship of meals for all to enjoy! Although the altar call was offered, no one came forward, but the majority of the youth requested to have more frequent rallies in the near future.

Youth rally at Sra Em

On November 11th, the bimonthly leadership classes at Living Water Church in Poipet went very well. Despite of a heavy rain the night before and more rain that morning, 32 leaders from five different KEC churches of that region came! Although the trips to Poipet twice a month are very long and tiring, we often feel refreshed and encouraged by the hunger of the students eagerly waiting to study God’s words.

Bimonthly leadership class in Poipet

Sunday, November 12th, we took the SFCAC team to visit Srae Kandal village in Odar Meanchey province, one of the new church sites that we recently discovered. It was also planted by Mr. Kong.  Mrs. Sean (Mr. Kong’s younger sister) and her husband, Mr. Raa, are among the leaders of this group. Although the new believers came together and had fellowship twice every Sunday, they did not fully understand what a church service was all about. The believers came at the appointed time to sing some selected songs. The few who can read took turns reading passages of the Bible out loud, gave tithes, and prayed. At the end, they all went back to their homes. The same order of practices was observed twice every Sunday at 7:30 am and 2:00 pm. Since the majority of the believers are illiterate, we are praying that God would raise potential leaders from the local areas to help teaching literacy classes.

On November 15th, we were on our way to Siem Reap province.We took the visiting team to an Alliance house church at Ondong Chan village in Siem Reap province where Mr. Kong lives. We also visited Ksaach Ampel village a bit further than Kong’s village. This Alliance house church was also recently planted by Mr. Kong! As we visit these newly planted Alliance house churches, we were overwhelmed by the tremendous needs in of each of these new sites! Mr. Kong continues to passionately and boldly sharing about Jesus to every person he meets! Those who received Christ through Kong’s sharing, also began sharing their new faith to others. As a result, the number of new believers were increasing every week! Most of them are very NEW in their faith and need to be discipled. The Holy Spirit is moving powerfully among the new believers in these remote villages. As local farmers are harvesting their crops, we are going through a season of spiritual harvesting as well, but with only few workers! PLEASE PRAY that God would provide extra helping hands to Anlongveng soon!

On November 16th, we returned to Mart Klaa floating village Alliance house church where Mr. Kean (Kong’s younger brother) is the church leader of the areas. Knowing that we were coming, the believers had waited for us with great anticipation!

Road to the shore on the way to Maat Klaa floating village

Boat ride to Maat Klaa floating house church

Upon our arrival, one sweet little auntie burst out with tears of joy as she was overwhelmed by the sheer excitement of having visitors saying, “I had waited for so long to see you!” Another dear lady, who is just a few-month-old Christian said, “I am wearing my best (traditional Khmer) outfits for this special occasion!” After a time of fellowship and meal, Mr. Kean quickly led the service in songs and praises.

Syna with an auntie at Maat Klaa

Kean (in red) leading a worship service

While Soeuth translated the message for a visiting pastor from English to Khmer for the adults, I kept the little children occupied in a cramped corner of a tiny floating house church with coloring papers, nail polish, balloons, and candies!

Children class inside a floating house

Kids displaying their art work in the floating house

Shortly after the service, Mr. Kean took us to yet another floating village where a group of new believers were meeting every week for worship.

Church families at Mart Klaa

Mr. Kean's floating house/church viewed from the boat

Believe it or not, this floating Alliance house church was planted by Mr. Kean. It is also the daughter-church of Mart Klaa floating church! As his older brother, Mr. Kong, is passionate about sharing the Good News to everybody he meets or talks to on the phone. Moreover, Mr. Kean, a well- respected person and local police for Mart Klaa floating village, spent most of his efforts witnessing for Christ to every local authority figure he met. Being a former Buddhist priest for many years Mr. Kean now spends a great deal of time and effort speaking of Christ with interested local authorities including village leaders, local police, Buddhist monks and priests! As the result, more new believers were being added to the floating house churches every week! It is such an exciting time for ministry opportunities. Once again, the pressing reality is the same: we need workers to help disciple these new believers.

Last week, during a discussion in an Abundant Life class at Toul Prich village, Soeuth asked the students if they remember the dates when they first said “yes” to Jesus. Immediately, three teenage boys (aged 14- 16) shouted in agreement that they got serious with Jesus about two months ago! When asked how or why it was so all three boys said, “Although we've been coming to church on and off for a few years already, we didn’t know much about Him. After we studied God's word in the Living Water book, we invited Jesus into our hearts!”

Workers laying the foundations of Toul Prich church

Children class and adult church service at Toul Prich (building under construction)

So, THANK YOU for praying for the people in Toul Prich. While the adult remain staled and uninterested, we are seeing small fruits from among the little children and teenagers of that village.

Here are dates and events needing prayers:

November 24-December 5th: a visiting team from Detroit Lakes, MN
November 25th: Bimonthly leadership classes in Poipet
December 2nd: Leadership workshop/ seminar at Psaa Leur church in Siem Reap
December 9th: Quarterly regional youth rally at Svey Sisophon, Bontey Meanchey province.
December 15th: Jonathan comes home for winter break. Yay!!!!

The Khmer evangelical churches (KEC) are very busy with Christmas activities. Already, Soeuth accepted seven invitations to preach at various Christmas programs in the northwest region. Pray for strength and safe traveling. This will be the first Christmas celebration ever for many new believers who will attend the service. Pray for openness and receptive hearts.

Please share with us what God is doing. As always, we are very grateful to God for your loving and faithful prayers and your generous financial support to the Great Commission Fund which enables us to continue serving Christ among the Khmer people in the northwest region of Cambodia.

Blessings,

Soeuth & Syna