July Update 2022

Dear Friend and Family,

Greetings from Cambodia! We trust that everyone is doing well. We arrived safely to Cambodia! The 23-hour flight which left the JFK airport on July 4th went as smoothly as a typical long international flight could be. All our suitcases were delivered in good condition! Our plane landed at 11:40 pm on July 5. The very next day we traveled by taxi for 8 hours north toward Siem Reap province to join our team for an annual Field Forum. The forum was SO GOOD, but it was so hard to stay awake with jetlag. It is great to be back home in Cambodia again.

On July 11, immediately after Field Forum, we went to Anlong Veng (another 3- hour further north by a taxi) to drop off our suitcases with friends. After a brief reunion with few church families, we began the search for a potential house to rent. Even before arrival, we had asked friends to keep an eye on potential places that we can rent. That first day back in Anlong Veng, we looked at four houses, but none of them were in livable condition. The next day, we returned to the capital city, a trip in which we had thought would take 8 or 9 hours by bus, but it was 11 hours! Soeuth spent the next three days riding in a tuk-tuk visiting one car dealer shop after another to look for the right vehicle. On July 16, we came to an agreement with a vehicle and Soeuth signed a deposit contract for a 2022 Toyota pickup truck. We were told that the truck would not be ready until the end of July. 

Our mode of transportation in the big city

Our new truck!

After a weekend of fellowship and worshipping God at one of the C&MA churches in the city, we left early morning on Monday July 18 going toward Anlong Veng. We were about a half-way through the trip when we received a call from the car dealer saying that the truck was available for pick on July 20! Because we already made plans, we continued on with the bus ride to Anlong Veng. For the next few days, we went around town in a tuk-tuk to every road in Anlong Veng looking for the potential houses. There were few potential homes available but their asking price was much more than we had budgeted for. All of the houses we looked at needed much repair before they could be a livable place. Finally, after seeing 14 houses all referred by friends, we agreed to one house! This house also needs A LOT of works to be done before we can move in. But it has some potential for future ministries, AND it fits our budget! We are very excited about this place. On the 23rd, we signed a one-year contract in front of a local village leader! At this writing, they are working on putting screens onto windows and doors, repairing broken sinks and other minor fixings. We hope the house would be ready for us to move in by August 1. In a desperate search for a house, our friends accidentally found a very lovely and newly built guest home which has now become our “home” for the next few weeks...

After three days of heavy rains, flood water almost reached the edge of the Anlong Veng bridge!

Our new home!

While we were in the city looking for a car, we reached out to some young families whom we had known since their teenage years while they were living with us in Poipet. During our early years of Poipet ministries, we had a vibrant youth and young adult ministry. Many of these young people were teenagers when we first met them wandering around in the wild-wild west sin-city of Poipet. Many of them were living in an unsafe environment. Seeing the shady-conditions they were living in then, we reached out to them and established youth and young adult ministries. We had the privilege of leading some of them to Christ. All of them had sat in our weekly discipleship and leadership classes. In their times of struggle and difficulties, God put us in their paths, and they became our spiritual children. Eventually, when they met and fell in love with their future spouses, we walked them through many sessions of premarital counseling. Soeuth even married and dedicated their babies. Some of these young families had recently moved to live in the capital cities where they found works in various places. On July 22nd, we invited 4 families to join us for a fellowship of meal of a Khmer tradition of “Banh chev”--yellow stuffed-pancake dipped with coconut sauce. It gave us great joy to see some of them are still walking in their faith, two of these four families are involved in various ministries in the city!

Reuniting with our spiritual children and their families in the capital city

We are in the middle of a rainy season. Heavy rainstorms took place every day. Sometimes it rained heavily 2-3 times each day. There are always muds and floods everywhere. It is a daily challenge just to keep clothes dry and clean, which it will eventually become part of our routine lifestyle as well.

Navigating through heavy traffic in the big city

Rains and traffic in Phnom Penh

On July 24th, our first Sunday back in Anlong Veng, we attempted to go to Srae Kandal church. We were 40 minutes into the trip when the skies turned dark and hard rains began to pour down heavily with flashing lightning! We had some youth from Toul Prich village sat in the back of our truck (due to severe motion sickness, they preferred to ride outside). After putting their backpacks inside the truck, the youth excited shouted that it was okay for us keep going. But about 10 minutes later, we got a phone call from the village church saying, “Don’t come. One of the bridges is broken!” Disappointedly, we returned to drop off the kids at Toul Prich, all four of them soaked to the core. The rained continued heavily, but we managed to join the Toul Prich Firm Foundation Alliance church for their 1:30pm church service. We were so thankful for the opportunity to join God’s people for a church service. Seeing our friends again brought joy to our heart. Even during our one-year absence, many of them remained strong in their decision to follow Christ. AND we had A LOT more youth and children! Our team mate, Aide Rose and her friend did an amazing job teaching local school aged kids in English literacy as well as afterschool programs helping them with math lessons. Tuesdays to Saturdays they study English, and Sunday they learn Bible stories with their favorite “Teacher ID”.

Toul Prich village kids waiting for our arrival!

Sharing our first meal back in Anlong Veng with friends

Village kids hanging at Toul Prich Firm Foundation church

School aged kids learning English at Toul Prich FF church

Kids receiving homework instructions from "Teacher ID"

Village kids hanging out at our church ground

After school program at Toul Prich Firm Foundation Alliance church

For the next few weeks or months, we plan to visit village churches to hear their perspectives of what took place during our one-year away in the States. Please pray for a discerning heart as we will be listening to different sides of the stories from each of the church leaders.

Other dates and prayer request for your consideration…

• Praise God for His provision over our car and a house! The landlord family seemed pleasant. We hope to make a better connection with the family and with our new neighbors and community. 
• Not by choice but with a willing spirit, Syna was elected as one of the 7 Field Leadership Team (FLT) members to serve in a one-year term. The FLT meets weekly for an hour via zoom to discuss plans and strategies for the overall health and focus the Cambodian mission field. Pray for wisdom and discerning hearts and unity among FLT members. 
• August 7-11, we will be in Bangkok, Thailand, for a medical check-up and hope to see a pulmonologist to follow up with Soeuth’s asthma. So far, Soeuth is doing very well, but we want to follow up care with a lung specialist, just to make sure.
• As God is meeting our needs in Cambodia, we are trusting for the same provision for our youngest son, Jonathan, who is living with friends in central New York. We are also trusting for the same provision be extended to our oldest son and his family who are serving in the Middle East...
• As soon as the rains begin to slow down (around September), the Srae Nouy church families are anxious to see their church building getting started. Pray for Pastor Dy and the church leaders as they are planning for the building as well as searching for the right honest workers. We will be working with a very tight budget. 

Thank you so much for your prayers and support! We appreciate your partnership in the Northern Cambodian ministry. We look forward to seeing what God has in store for us during the next three-year missionary term in Cambodia. If you need to reach us, please contact through jjsblaos@gmail.com  

Please come and visit us in Anlong Veng! Our new home has a lot of space to host people. And if you come in the spring time, there will be plenty of mangoes for you. This house has 7 mango trees in the yards! We are so grateful God beyond measure at the ways He answers prayers and meeting our needs much more than we could ever hope or imagine. Please share with us what God is doing in your life.

With a grateful heart,

Soeuth & Syna Lao