Thursday, September 5, 2019

September Update 2019

Dear praying friends and family,

It is the rainy season here in Cambodia and the roads to village ministries are at their worse. BUT no matter how bad the roads may be, church people still find ways to attend Sunday church services and weekly classes! 


Anlong Veng bridge is covered by flood waters
High water in Anlong Veng due to much rains
From our weekly gatherings, we often hear about so many AMAZING things that were happening among church ministries. These wonderful stories, if not carefully written down as each story came, would soon be ignored or forgotten. So, brace yourself for a lengthier newsletter this month…


Monday Classes…



No matter how tired we were, even after a very long exhausting weekend full of church activities, we always look forward to Monday discipleship classes at Andong Chan village. Although occasionally we would have visitors joining to participate in class discussions, there is on average about 20 people from five different villages coming together for weekly classes. After a joined worship service followed by a rich time of “Share & Prayer," Soeuth took Pastor Dy aside to study in Pentateuch Book 1 under the shade of a nearby mango tree, while Syna was teaching the remaining group on Christian Family inside of Mr. Kong’s humble grass hut. Of the 19 students in Syna’ class, only 5 of them were able to read and write, while the rest of the class learned orally. Because of different levels of understanding, this class is taught at a slower pace. The focus is not to finish the course in a timely manner but for students to understand the content well and apply what they learned to daily practical life. As as result, students were inspired to encourage and hold each other accountable with their daily Christian walks. Every week they often came to class with stories ready to share. Below are some of the stories we heard from our most recent gathering…


New Lives Being Added to Ksach Ampel Alliance House…

In our August update you read that “Martha” had accepted Jesus as her Lord and Savior. Mrs. Rate, a member of Ksach Ampel Alliance house who also opens her home for weekly fellowships, recently reported, “Martha is having such a tremendous joy with her faith in Christ!” Rate added, “She seemed to have such an increasing hope and an unexplainable sense of peace in JESUS that she couldn’t stop sharing the Good News with everyone she met!” As a result five more people from the same village accepted Jesus, just from watching the changes in Martha’s life!


Rate (red shirt) excitedly shared about Martha's transformation
Chea’s Miraculous Healing… 

Hearing about the new believers being added to this small group of young believers, Kong from Andong Chan village along with his wife made a trip to visit and encourage the believers in Ksach Ampel Village. While there, they learned that Mr. Chea, a 44-year old sickly man was helplessly lying in bed with unexplainable tiredness causing total weakness in his body. He was not able get up for four days and also could not eat any food or drink any fluids for those four days! He was often suffering with night time sweats and fevers. When asked why his family did not take him to the hospital his family replied, “We don’t have any money and no motorbike to go to the hospital.” Kong responded, “We don’t have any money either, but we have Jesus. The Lord Jesus will show us a way to get you help. Come, we can take you to the hospital." Anxious to get better, with some help Chea eagerly climbed onto Kong’s raggedy old bike sitting in the middle between Kong (who was the driver) and Kong’s wife. Because of difficult roads with muddy and bumpy paths and constant twists and turns along the way, Kong quickly borrowed a Krama (a local favorite checkered scarf) from an observing neighbor and tied it tightly between his waist to Chea’s waist. Kong sensed Chea, who was too weak to support himself, could easily fall off the bike. Then, the three traveling companions holding on tight to each other, braved their ways across 27 kilometers distance between Ksach Ampel and Srae Nouy… Once arrived at Srae Nouy, Kong suggested that they should swing by the Srae Nouy Alliance Church first hoping for prayer support from other believers before heading out to the hospital. At the church, Pastor Dy along with some church families welcomed the weary travelers to a sitting bench and began laying hands over and praying for Chea. Next, Kong and his wife took Chea to Srae Nouy referral hospital. At the hospital, a medical staff quickly administered vital signs and took blood samples from Chea’s arm. But after a few hours of waiting, all the test results came back NORMAL! There was no evident of dengue fever or of malaria as the family had suspected.  One medical staff kindly explained that, “Except for your verbal complaints, we don’t have any clinical evident to prove that you are sick. Looks to me, whatever you had before, is now completely healed.” At this remark, Chea, Kong, and Kong’s wife were completely astonished. Hearing the reports from the doctor Kong shouted, “It was the Lord Jesus who healed you! So, what you got to say for yourself?” With a trembling voice Chea responded, “I believe! I want Jesus in my life." With that, after returning to Srae Nouy church Kong led Chea in the sinner’s prayer…

A few days later back in Ksach Ampel as Chea was getting himself ready, his wife and two school aged children asked, “Where are you going?” Chea responded, “I am going to worship Preah Yea-sue (Jesus)." His wife then asked, “What! You’re going church, alone! What about us? We saw what Jesus did to you, how HE healed you and all. Don’t just get saved by yourself. We want to believe in Jesus, too." And they all went to “church” where Kong and his wife took charge of the service. After the church service, Chea’s wife and two small children prayed to receive Jesus… 


Chea in brown shirt sitting next to Mr. Kong (who played the drum)
For the past few weeks, a total of 11 new people from Ksach Ampel have accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior! As of Sunday August 24, this group of 20 plus vibrant young believers began meeting regularly for Sunday worship services with Kong as the key leader, while Srey Pov and Pearum, a young couple from Srae Nouy Alliance Church, go to teach new believer discipleship class on Wednesdays...


A Drunken Man Found Freedom in Christ…

Everyone was singing, clapping, and praising to Jesus at the news being shared about Ksach Ampel. Pastor Dy from Srae Nouy Alliance church excitedly reported, “For the last 2-3 weeks, we have a total 25 new people who came to the Lord at Srae Nouy!” He then added, “The last two weeks in a row, we had the church FULL of new believers and their families that there was no room left for the other church people!” Pastor Dy went on to explain that recently Samuit, a 43- year-old drunken- wife-beating man (also known as the “king” of the addicts), after more than 20 years of heavily drinking, had finally found freedom in Christ! As a result, God is using Samuit in a mighty way to draw other drunken men to Christ. (Stay tune: More information about Samuits’ story will be shared in our new update).


Poipet Leadership Classes…

Every time we go to Poipet, we often plan to arrive by 4:30 pm on a Friday afternoon so we could have a time of fellowship with the believers and then be able to join the small group of weekly prayer meeting. To avoid paying for an expensive hotel price (but more so for the rich fellowship time with other believers) we choose to sleep in mosquito-netted hammocks on the ground. Knowing that we were coming, young families often packed up tents and hammocks and other sleeping gear to join us at the church. Usually the young mothers (with their babies) and other ladies joined Syna in deep conversations about children, life, marriage, and ministries while the young husbands and other men flocked around Soeuth with similar, yet countless questions. These young people, though loving God dearly and faithfully involved in various church ministries often struggled in how to deal with on-going issues related to marriage and ministries being first generation Christians. The conversations were in depth and sometimes at a personal level that if not carefully guarded (especially the men) could go on and on with their lively discussions until 1 or 2 O’clock in the morning! Syna was often the one to call it quits so people could get some sleep and be ready for the morning class… In our last Poipet meeting, 32 people (representatives from seven difference Alliance house churches of the areas) came to participate in the monthly leadership class!


32 people showed up at Poipet monthly leadership class
Toul Krous Village Kid Activities…

It is summer break for the rural school aged children and the kids are restless with in-activities. As of August 12, whenever we have “free time” in the afternoons, we would set up appointments and drive to pick up some kids from Toul Prich Village to join a bigger group of kids at Toul Krous village (these two villages locate a few kilometers apart). We are grateful to the generosity of a former Khmer Rouge- soldier couple in their late 60’s from Toul Krous village, who opened their house for the kids to meet at their spacious yards! This kind gentle couple, though not yet believers, seeing the importance of allowing kids opportunities to learn and grow, willingly permitted the usage of their house for kid meetings. We thank God for such a tremendous provision and blessing. Pray that the couple would one day open their hearts to receive Christ.


Soeuth teaching English to kids at Toul Krous village
At the appointed time, Soeuth led all the kids in short Bible stories followed by “English” lessons.  After each class, Soeuth took the older kids to warm up to get ready for boys -vs- girls soccer games, while Syna kept the little ones entertained and occupied with coloring pages, reading books, plastic animal toys, and jump ropes. At the end of the day, each child received animal crackers and gummy vitamins for snack. On the average, about 35-40 plus kids participated in each of these afternoon events, and they always ask, “When can we meet again?” Even with our already busy weekly schedules, we continue to carry on these extra afternoon kid activities with the hope to hand it over, eventually, to whoever the helper that God will send our way. Most of these kids, who are always full of energies and very eager to learn about God and His character, come from very horrific and harsh backgrounds and from broken families. They are often pressured to work in fields to do heavy household chores beyond what is appropriate for their age. Some of them quit school prematurely due to family needs. Being with us these few precious afternoons a week, they were given a rare opportunity just to be kids again…


Soeuth led the kids in prayer before starting English class

Soeuth got the kids warmed up for the soccer match
A Helper is on the Way…

August 31-Sept. 4: We were blessed to host Aide Rose, a Filipino missionary lady from Batthambang, visiting village ministries around Along Veng areas. As she shadowed us two times already (in May and in August), God has confirmed in her heart that Anlong Veng is the place where she should be serving Him next. Aide Rose will return to her team and join the team annual conference in mid October. Once finalized, she is hoping to move to Anlong Veng by early November! Meanwhile, we are on the search to look for suitable housing that fit her budget. We are SUPER EXCITED that God has finally sent someone to help us!


Aide Rose in black top visiting Toul Krous village where she will be teaching kids
Dates and events needing your prayers…

  1. Next regional quarterly youth rally for the northwest region is set for Sept 7 at Svey Sisophon.
  2. Next Poipet class is Sept. 21.
  3. Pray for the believers in Srae Kandal. Due to rains and other life issues, Wednesday Firm Foundation class is being postponed for a while. Pray that the believers would remain steadfast with their Christian walks in the midst of life difficulties.Pray against the enemy schemes. From personal and past experiences, often when things are going well in church related ministries, the enemy often attack those who are closest and dearest to our heart—our children and family.
  4. Pray for overall safety and protection for our weekly traveling to church ministries.

We cannot thank you enough for your on-going prayers and support. Thank you for partnering with us in the Anlong Veng and the overall Cambodian ministries. Please share with us what God is doing in your part of the world.

Blessings,

Soeuth & Syna Lao

1 comment:

  1. WOW!! So excited to hear that the Khmer Rouge Soldier and his wife opened their home to your ministry!! I love what you guys continue to do and am so thankful God sent another helper. He is wonderful. Praying for the new believers and you all as we move into Fall. Miss you and everyone we met out there. I hope I can come back soon! Much love,
    Jacob

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