August Update 2022

Dear Friend and Family,

We trust this note finds you well. We’re almost settled into our new house. Since August 1 (the first day we moved in), we’ve been fixing and renovating the house. Adding one small item at a time, it is slowly becoming more like “home." We asked some of you for prayers on how to live with a few difficult people in our new community, and God gave us some unique opportunities to show His love to our neighbors and landlady—like constantly cleaning their chickens’ poops from our front porch! 

Local chickens roaming freely in our front yards

People here raise chickens and let them roam freely. Even with our locked gates and fenced property, these annoying birds always find a way to our yard and make a mess everywhere they go. Recently, as we unpacked our things, we discovered that some items were completely damaged/destroyed by unsuspecting termites! One such item was Soeuth’s most precious acoustic guitar! 

Termites completely destroyed Soeuth's guitar!

We recently had an amazing time visiting and reuniting with church families at Srae Nouy Alliance where Soeuth was asked to preach for a joined Sunday church service. About 100+ people from the surrounding villages participated. It was good to see some old, familiar faces and meet new ones. Sadly, because of poverty and life's difficulties, some families had left their hometown in search of job opportunities in the big cities. The families who remain are still struggling to make ends meets due to lack of employment.

Adult service at Srae Nouy Alliance church

Children Sunday school class at Srae Nouy

The First Baptism in Kampong Plouk Floating Village!

On August 15th, upon request, the first public baptismal service was done at Kampong Plouk floating village where 15 new believers got baptized! In the fall of 2020, through the vibrant outreach ministry of Vanna and his wife, Srey Noch, the Kampong Plouk floating village house church was birthed. In the process of planting this church, this young couple faced numerous and constant opposition from angry believing neighbors. They also experienced the loss of their two small children from a drowning accident.  For a while, both Vanna and Srey Noch were very discouraged and had questions about their decision to plant a church in Kampong Plouk. Through prayers and loving supports from Christians families, they persevered and remained faithful to teach God’s Word and helped the believers in the house church thrive. 

Village people travel to Srae Nouy church

A boat ride to Kampong Plouk floating village

As time when on, another leader, Po (Pastor Dy’s oldest son), one of the leaders from Srae Nouy, joined Vanna to disciple and teach God's Word to these believers. At this first public baptism, it was right that the two emerging leaders were the ones to baptize their flock. Vanna and Po, standing side by side in the deep water baptized 15 new believers! About 40 of us traveling from Anlong Veng and Srae Nouy joined this festive celebration. To reach the floating village, we rode in a big boat to the house where a fellowship meal and service were held. Then, we all took boat rides back to the shore, where the water is shallow enough for the baptism. Even with leaches in the water, everyone had a joyful time!

Heng, blue shirt, led a prayer time before baptism

Po (white shirt) with Vanna-- two leaders baptizing a new believer

Vanna and Srey Noch

 The Captive Set Free 

At the festive event, I (Syna) had several opportunities to talk to some new believers asking them questions like, “When did you become a follower of Jesus?” and “Why do you believe in Jesus?” One of the new believers, Chanthy, aged 28, had an extraordinary spiritual journey. 

Being a second child in a family of four, Chanthy had a wild and rebellious lifestyle and always wanted to “test and see” new things. But in his late teens, Chanty became sick with constant headaches that would not go away even with medication. “When the headaches got so bad, I started to hear voices in my head” recalled Chanthy. Those voices were constantly telling him to do violent things to harm himself or others around him. The voices often told him to jump in a pile of broken glasses or into any sharp objects like barbed wires or thorny shrubs. Sometimes those voices told him to jump in deep waters! When people saw that he was hurting himself, they tried to help, but he became even more violent and started to attack them instead. He was so violent at times that his own family were afraid of him! To keep him from hurting himself and others, his poor mother, who is also a widow, decided to have a cage of metal built and locked him inside that cage! Sometimes they kept him in the cage for a few hours or a few days. His mother cried as she recalled the story about caging her own son “like a wild animal." 

No matter what they tried, Chanthy was not safe to be left alone. Someone with an adult strength must be with him all the time. Sometimes during the night, they had to put chains around his ankles so he would not get up to hurt himself or other people while everyone was asleep at night. These violent episodes went on for 9 years! In early January of 2022, the family heard about a group of “pouk yeah-sue” (the “Jesus people”—a term commonly given by local people for all the followers of Jesus Christ) were meeting at a weekly basis. At one of those meetings, it happened that both Vanna and Po were in the meeting together. When a group was singing lively, Chanthy, accompanied by his mother, shyly walked into a crowded room filled with people and interrupted the service. Seeing the believers welcome them warmly, Chanthy’s mother blurted out, “If you can do anything, please help my son. He needs helps. We need help." With that, Po took the lead by asking questions about Chanthy’s past conditions. Seeing that they truly wanted help, Po was quick to point out that the real help comes only from believing in Jesus Christ and then he asked, “Chanthy, do you believe that Jesus is the One true God? Do you think Jesus can help you?” To these questions, both mother and son answered in a resounding “Yes!” Po had the privilege of leading both Chanthy and mother Jesus. Since then, Chanthy’s two other siblings had also prayed to received Jesus as their Lord and Savior. Shortly afterr that January service, Chanthy had a few episodes showing anger activities, but at the onset of the old behaviors, his mother just shouted, “Preah-yea-sue jouy! (Jesus help!)." Chanthy’s mother told the crowd who were sitting around her that when she called on the Name of Jesus, whatever evil spirit was bothering her son, it simply went away. At that house church service Kampong Plouk village, Chanthy looked as “normal” as any person sitting next to him. We all were amazed upon hearing about Chanthy amazing journey. Jesus does indeed set the captives free!

Chanthy, in purple shirt, joined in the worship service before baptism

Chanthy and his mother baptizing together

15 people got baptized in Kampong Plouk village: the first public baptism in the village!

Here are some praises and prayer requests for you to consider…

1. Praise for good health. We both had health screening done and will follow up care in six months as recommended by doctors.
2. With heavy rain pouring down every day, we have not had much opportunities to visit different village sites as we had intended. Please pray for clear vision as we will discuss plans and strategies with Pastor Dy and Heng about where to focus and who to do ministry with.
3. School-aged children from the two local villages are coming by the Toul Prich village Firm Foundation church every day. At least 30 plus kids come every day. The kids attended an after school program learning English literacy on Tuesdays to Saturdays, with our team mate, Aide Rose. But it’s one teacher to 30+ kid ratio! On Sunday, some of them came for a chronical Bible stories. Please pray that God would send or raise up children workers to come alongside us. These kids, though not yet professed believers in Jesus Christ, like to hang out around the church areas for fun activities and for fellowship.
4. As we continue to shine the light of Jesus to the community of unbelievers, pray for wisdom, patients, and grace for us on how to work with people, even with difficult people...
5. We just learned from a local phone company that our current location has no internet access! We have been using data from our phones for brief communication. To do emails or other lengthy correspondences, we have to go to a local guesthouse or coffeeshop nearby.

Please share with us what God is doing in your life.  We would love to hear about what is going on and to pray for you as well. 

Blessings, 

Soeuth & Syna Lao