June Update 2020

Dear Supporting Friends and Family,

In our most recent update, we shared about four new births of Alliance house churches planted during the Covid restriction. Each of the four sites has a unique and interesting story of its own deserving to be told. But for the sake of time, here is how one church site was planted…

Rohaal Village

Poss, age 43, married, a father of 5 school aged kids, and a rice farmer is a nine-month old Christian who heard the gospel of Jesus Christ through Mr. Kong. In early May, some distant relatives came to visit Poss’s family in Andong Chan village. While spending a night there, Poss shared the Gospel to the family. Although everyone seemed interested, when asked to be prayed for, no one was willing to admit the need for a Savior saying “Not yet”. But they all saw the Sawyer water filter that Poss was using. The family requested if they could have the filters as well. Poss said that he would find out if this request was possible. After the relatives left, he called us to request for filters. We gave him 15 filters with a request, “Please share with them about Jesus and about kind Christian people who sent these filters” (Please refer to March (Part 1) Update story "Water and Filters"). A week after this request was made, Poss invited his friend Mr. Kong to go with him to his relatives’ village for support and encouragement. On May 9th, the two friends rode on their motorbikes across the dusty red dirt paths traveling 50 kilometers distance to visit Poss’s relatives in Rohaal village. When they arrived at noon time, Poss and Kong were surprised to see many adults and children of the villagers who were already waiting with eager anticipation for the visiting guests! Apparently, whatever bits and pieces of Biblical stories that the relatives had heard from what Poss was sharing, they passed on the stories to other villagers and added, “The Jesus people will be coming to our village today! They will tell more us about the God called Preah yea-sue. And they are bringing water filters!” At the mentioned of water filters, everyone erupted with shouts of joy.

Shortly after a time of greetings and introductions, Poss’s relatives remarked, “Since we came back from your village, we’ve been telling our friends here that you believe in a new God called Preah yea-sue. Can you please tell us more about your God?” Seeing a given opportunity, Poss shared about “Jesus Christ who came to Earth die on the cross for our sins. He is the truth and the living God.” There were more questions and discussions about why the God of the universe would die for sinners. Poss and Kong took turns to answer their questions. At the end, upon invitation, 9 people prayed to receive Jesus as their Savior!

Because of the long journey back, Poss and his companion decided to stay overnight to encourage and fellowship with Poss’ family. That night, as they sang and shared, 7 more prayed to receive Christ! Because Poss and Kong needed to return to their village early in morning, they left the newly believing villagers with some Christian tracts, Bibles, hymnal books, and with instructions on how to read the Bible and what songs to sing and how to pray. They also promised, “We will be back”.

Upon returning home to Andong Chan village, Poss excitedly called Soeuth and reported about what took place in Rohaal village. He then added, “Teacher, you must come and see”. We did. On May 15th, we visited the village. After Soeuth spoke an evangelism message, nine people prayed to receive Christ! Then, a week later at another visit four more people invited Jesus into their hearts! It was incredible! In a matter of two weeks’ time, 29 people prayed to receive Jesus, all from the same village! Even though Poss and Kong didn’t get a chance to tell the villagers about the people who sent the filters, they gave the filters to fifteen families of the areas. Because the nature of these new believers, we and some church leaders from Andong Chan are taking turns to teach Bible studies to new Christians in Rohaal village. Please pray that God would raise up leaders to help with the overall Anlong Veng growing ministries…

Kong and Poss initiated and planted the Rohaal village Alliance church

A young boy enjoying the fellowship at Rohaal village

A man paid close attention to an evangelistic message at Rohaal village

A Modern-Day Good Samaritan…

Through our weekly interactions, we noticed that Mr. Kong from Andong Chan village was using his own personal, earthly resources and possessions to advance God’s kingdom. He and his wife donated a portion of land so we could build a wooden shelter (please refer to our January 2020’s update where this building was dedicated on Christmas Day) specifically designated as a house of worship on Sundays and a place to host weekly discipleship classes. In addition, Kong has been faithfully using his old beat-up motorbike, his only mode of transportation, for every evangelism outreach. Although Kong hardly had any complaints nor did he ever ask for any financial help, every now and then, we gave small amount of cash from our Work Special to help covering for the cost of fuel and other travel expenses. Recently, we noticed that his motorbike was in constant need of repair. Having the approval of and full support and encouragement from Pastor Dy (a designate spiritual leader for the Anlong Veng region), we decided to buy him a second-hand used motorbike.

Kong with his "new" bike on his way to evagelize at Rohaal village

Elated with excitement, Kong and his wife drove their old bike to Siem Reap province in order to bring their “new” motorbike back. The next day while driving home, Kong drove on his new bike while his wife drove their old one, about 30 minutes away from Siem Reap, Kong saw a young man (in his early 20s) walking aimlessly and tiredly in the middle of the heat along the National Highway 6! Seeing there were no houses nearby, Kong stopped and asked, “Young man, why are you walking by the highway? Where are you going?” Exhausted from the heat and trying to catch his breathe, the young man responded, “I am going to Anlong Veng”. Kong then added, “That is a long way to go (the distance between Anlong Veng and Siem Reap is 120 kilometers). And why did you not take a taxi?” The young man replied, “I was working at a construction site in Siem Reap. But everything is now closed because of Covid. I lost my job as a result. I remained in Siem Reap a bit longer hoping to find other works. I had used all my money for food and rent. Now, I don’t have any money left, not even for a taxi fee. So, I am walking home”.


Overwhelmed with compassion for the young man, Kong reluctantly invited the young man to get on the back of his motorbike, together, they drove toward Srae Nouy with Kong’s wife driving closely behind. Around noon time, the weary and hungry travelers stopped for lunch at Srae Nouy central market (Srae Nouy is about half through between Siem Reap and Anlong Veng). After paying for lunch for the three of them, Kong arranged and paid for a taxi ride so the young man to go on his way to Anlong Veng. Then Kong and his wife headed off to Andong Chan village… Immediately after arriving home, Kong called to report about their recent journey to and from Siem Reap. When asked, “Were you not afraid to pick up a stranger from the middle of the road? You could have been robbed”. Kong admitted that, “The thought did occur in my mind as we were driving. And the guy was young and physically stronger than I. But I could not let him walk at such a distance. So, I kept asking God to help and protect us along the way. And besides, if this situation happened to my son, I hope and pray that someone else would offer the same kindness and help to my son as well…”

A Testing Time…

Noun and Kane, husband and wife, believers from Toul Prich village (read their story in our November 2018 update called “Kane and Noun’s Searching”) have been on fire for God sharing the Good News with everyone and to anyone they met. Through her amazing testimony of God’s healing power, Noun had led many of her friends and relatives to Lord. In addition to their ongoing concerns and caring love for their neighbors, relatives, and friends, this family has a natural and unusual gift of generosity! During the early Covid crisis, when learning that other families were going through a hard time, Noun and Kane generously donated rice, live chicken and ducks, some fresh vegetable, and money to help families in need. They were gracious despite their poverty!

Kane and Noun with other believers at weekly Firm Foundation discipleship class

About 8 months ago, Kane had been battling with the chronic sickness of join pains and other illnesses which progressively robbed him of daily strength and energies. Their livelihood had depended entirely on Kane’s massive strength to help clear the fields and prepare soil for vegetable gardens. Since Kane’s health was getting worse, all laborious garden works were put on hold. Noun and the two children did their best carry on with garden for the family to survive. However they could only do as much as their strength allowed which cut the production of produce short.  As locally and commonly practiced by all villagers as ways to store family saving and investment, this family owns and raises a few working cows to save for a “rainy day”. Recently, one of their adult cows was stolen! To make matters worse, most recently, their young son, Jetra, was sick with dengue fever and other sicknesses where the family ended up spending all their remaining money on Jetra’s medical needs. This week (June 4), when teaching a Firm Foundation class at their house, Noun quietly worked up the courage to confide with Syna that the family had ran out of food! In response to the need, we bought fresh meat and eggs, some canned food and other cooking ingredients for the family leaving them some spending cash. Meanwhile, we are working closely with Noun and Kane to find other ways for them to make a living…

Noun and Kane (middle) with Savy praying before studying in Firm Foundation class

During their time of testing, it was encouraging to know that both Noun and Kane remained strong in their faith and committed to God. For courage and reasons to stand firm in faith, the family have been reading and meditating on the book of Job and clinging on to the promising hope that God knows all things and that He would not abandon them…

Praises and Prayer requests…

1. Farmers in every village are giving praises to God for the abundance of rains. Every family is now busy working in the field plowing, planting, and hoping for a good year of harvesting crop to come.
2. Pastor Dy’s eldest son, Po, and his young family had been working with another Christian organization for the past 10 years. Recently, after visiting the overwhelming church growth in Srae Nouy and Anlong Veng areas, and seeing the overwhelming need for Christian workers, the young couple had prayerfully considered to remain in Srae Nouy to help out with church ministries.  Please pray for the couple as they are looking for ways to make a living while helping voluntarily with church ministries.
3. We are slowly resuming discipleship classes in most designated sites as believers are constantly crying out, “When are you coming to teach us?” Pray for wisdom to teach and guide new believers in the truth of God’s words and for protection on the roads.
4. With four new church sites planted recently, we are very much short of helping hands. We look forward with much anticipation mid-September when Heng and Moum would be finally done from their studies in the city, then they would join the Anlong Veng team. Please pray for their family with two small kids and another one coming in December. They face major transition moving from the big city to start a new life in quiet countryside rural areas…

As always, thank you for your on-going support through prayers and financial support toward Alliance Mission.

Blessings,
Soeuth & Syna Lao