Dear Praying Friend and Family,
Greetings from South Jersey! It feels good to be on the same continent as many of you! Having arrived to the States three weeks ago, we wanted to update you about what took place recently…
The past few weeks had been a season of “close-calls” & unexpected blessings…
Close-calls
After numerous, frantic phone calls back and forth from Anlong Veng Cambodia to a travel agent from Chicago, Illinois, we were able to get Jon a new flight from Kuala Lumpur (KLIA), Malaysia, to New York City, JFK airport. Early June, just a few hours shortly after Jon boarded the plane from KLIA, many parts of Malaysia went into complete and immediate lockdown which resulted in many flight cancellations! Jon was able to get onto a flight just in time…
Shortly after we arrived into Phnom Penh on June 11, significant outbreaks of Covid cases took place in many provincial areas where Anlong Veng was among the restricted locations that underwent immediate shutdown! Similar situations happened again shortly after we left Phnom Penh on June 18… Though we were very grateful to God for our safe arrival into the United States and being able to reunite with our Jonathan, our hearts ached for our friends and teammates whom we left behind in Cambodia. As the number of Covid cases are increasing, more restrictions are being reinforced daily. Prolonged restrictions mean no jobs, no income, and no basic food supplies for the needy and hungry families. May God have mercy on the people of Cambodia.
Unexpected Blessings
In the midst of busyness while transferring ministries and juggling other transitions from Anlong Veng, we made casual contacts with some friends in the US to prepare for our arrival, but we had never imagined they would go the extra mile for us. Immediately after arrival on June 5th, Jon was warmly welcomed, loved, and cared for by a lovely family who took him as one of their owns until we arrived. The same token of kindness had been also graciously extended to us three weeks later by the same family! After nearly a year of separation, it was a welcoming sight to see our Jonathan again—who had grown a lot taller. Then our home district, the Metro District, provided us a beautiful car to drive for a year!
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| After nearly a year of separation, we finally reunited with Jonathan at JFK airport! |
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| A district car for us to drive this year |
And our home church, the Living Christ Church of Nyack, also provided us a van (with a driver and his lovely assistant—his daughter-- included) to help us transport our things from the storage place to our new home in South Jersey, a distance of about 2.5 hours of driving each way. When we finally arrived into our new place at Cedar Lane Missionary Homes, our jaws literally dropped! We have a beautiful home!
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| Our new place for this year |
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| Moving our stuff from storage place to our new home |
They gave us the whole house (completely furnished and full of household supplies and stock-up food goods) with three bedrooms, a beautiful spacious kitchen and a living room, and private spacious yard to ourselves! In all our 26 years of missionary services, this was the first time we had ever lived in a private home during a furlough/home assignment year! Because it is a completely new location to us, we are still learning our ways around town. There are many fun things to do and places to see for rest and relaxation, but our most favorite activities of all (so far) is to sit in white plastic chairs, outside in the back porch of our new home, underneath a giant oak tree, during a cool & late evening time, watching fire fires fluttering by. Compared to the roller-coaster and busy life we had in Anlong Veng these past four years, living in Cedar Lane is like going to a retreat place, surrounded by quietness and peaceful environment, a very relaxing place for our souls. We are enjoying some rest and down time now before hit the road for the upcoming fall missionary tours…
Praises & Prayer Requests…
1. With the Pre-Field Orientation (PFO-- for Justin and Katie) and then HAMS (re-entry) conferences that we have to attend in July, although we are in the same country, we are not near enough to visit our son and his family in Minnesota-- until July 26! We look forward with much anticipation to meet our grandchildren…
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| Our grandchildren we long to meet: Jesse & Maya |
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| Jonathan, hard at work |
3. At this writing, Justin and Katie and their two little ones are participating in a PFO conference in Colorado Springs, CO, July 12-17. Pray for safe and smooth traveling and that they would learn well as in preparation for the going out to the mission field, at the end of the year…
4. We will have a very full schedule missionary tour this fall. Many of the places where we will be speaking involved at least 2.5 to 4 or 5 hours of driving each way. Pray for protection on road trips and that we will be good ambassadors of Christ as we share about what God is doing in Cambodia.
5. Pray for safely and protection for the Cambodians and for our teammate who are struggling with Covid restrictions. Many places including church gathering had been closed or under complete lockdown due to the most recent outbreaks. In the midst of fear and uncertainty, pray that they would keep their focuses only on Jesus.
Thank you for partnering with us in the Cambodian ministries through your financial giving and though your on-going prayers. We appreciate you. If you happen to be passing through New Jersey Turnpike, feel free to drop by for a visit. We are just off on exit 3 from the turnpike. We have LOTS of rooms and plenty of food for you! Please share with us what God is doing in your life.
Blessings,
Syna & Soeuth & Jonathan
