May 2023 Update

 Dear Supporting Friends and Family,

Warm greetings! We trust you’re experiencing God’s presence and blessings upon your life. Sorry for a delayed update. We‘ve been busy lately…

Family Time in the Middle East…

On May 11-23, we had an amazing visit and a wonderful reunion with our oldest son, Justin, and his family who are serving with Alliance in the Middle East. The last time we were together, it was in late November 2021 in New Jersey! Needless to say, this was a very special meaningful visit and a blessed family (minus Jonathan) reunion. Our two older and adorable grandchildren, Jesse (4) and Maya (2) had grown and changed so much. And the family welcomed an additional member, Levi James, was born on April 25 weighting 9 pounds! When we arrived on the evening of May 12, Levi who was just 3 ½ weeks old had already and had grown out of his newborn outfits and he was so strong enough to lift his head and was able roll over! Levi is bathed with love and adoration from his two older siblings. Words cannot describe the joy we had upon seeing and holding our grandchildren! In addition to spending every precious moment with the family, we also had opportunities to visit a few historical and biblical sites including Petra, the Dead Sea, Jordan River, Baptism site, Mt. Nebo, and some other historical sites. With a newborn baby and two active toddlers at hands, we did not expect that Justin would have time to show us around. But God made it possible for us to visit these many interesting places while enjoyed being with our family! It was truly a special blessing from God.

Enjoying our grandkids at the Middle East

Our three bundles of Joy!

House Dedication in Poipet…

In addition to our trip to the Middle East, we also had a few fruitful ministry opportunities to share with you. On April 28, Soeuth was invited to give a message for an open house celebration at Poipet. Although the couple (the house owners) with their four children are believers and members of an Alliance church in the area, many of their extended family members were not-yet followers of Jesus. At the appointed time, Soeuth gave an evangelistic house dedication message. About 30 people were among the audience all of whom had paid close attention to every word spoken. Among the audience, one elderly man, in his mid- 80’s, was a Buddhist priest. While Soeuth was speaking, he sat up straight and listened to the message. After the service ended, this elder man just followed us at every event, he was following and wanted to sit next us during during a break time or at the lunch table, and he asked many questions about who this “Builder of life/ builder of home” (Soeuth was referring to Jesus) was. Although this prominent elderly man did not make any decision on that day, we felt strongly that the Seed had been deeply planted in his heart.  We pray that he would eventually call on the Name of the Savior before his time on Earth is running out…

An elderly Buddhist priest reading a passage of Scripture at a house dedication service!

Teammates’ Visit…

April 28-29: We had the joy and the privilege of hosting our dear friends, co-workers, and Field Director couple who came to visit us and the Anlong Veng team and ministries. We had known Dave and Chris Manfreds since summer 1995. As newly arrived Alliance International Workers into the Cambodian mission field, we and the Manfred had shared the same house together for one year! Sadly, that was the only time we had ever lived together in the same location in all these 28 years of ministries. Since then, we saw each other  a few times a year but only at conferences or large meetings or in major church events. Their recent visit to our location was very meaningful to us. On Sunday, Dave delivered a powerful sermon at the Firm Foundation Alliance church. Everyone in the audience paid close attention as Dave carefully gave a vivid illustration of what it looks like to be filled with the Holy Spirit. At the end of the service, two people prayed to received Jesus!

Two people prayed to receive Jesus on April 29

Dave Manfred preached at Anlong Veng

          Men Retreat at Anlong Veng…

As soon as we returned from vacation (May 23), we hit the ground running. Even with jetlag and all, we had to get the house ready to receive 14 KEC (Khmer Evangelical Church) members who were traveling from other province to spend a night at our house, the next day! They all came to Anlong Veng for a northwest regional men retreat which took place at the Firm Foundation Alliance church in Toul Prich village. May 25, other people also came from various regions and villages to attend a one-day retreat. This was the first time that the Anlong Veng church had hosted an event for people from other regions. Although it was a Men Retreat, some wives decided to come along and joined the service! 78 people in all participated. The Toul Prich village ladies prepared a two- course Cambodian meals for the hungry bunch. Soeuth spoke about “God’s faithfulness” from Joshua 24:1-15…

Below Are Dates and Events Needing Your Prayers…

1. May 11, while riding in a 3 hours taxi from Anlong Veng to the Siem Reap International airport, we had a long meaningful discussion with our drive, Saron, about religion Saron’s wife, Pheap, and their two daughters are members of the Toul Prich Firm Foundation Alliance church. As we were about to depart, we told Saron that we would be praying for him. Before leaving Saron turned and said, “You never know. Maybe one day, I might just show up at church to surprise my wife”, then he thanked us and left… On May 23 upon our return from vacation, we made arrangement for another driver to pick up, but for some unknown reason, Saron showed at the airport instead. Again, we had another meaningful conversation about “religious” talk. This time Saron remarked, “I went to church on Sunday”. From what we’d learned, Saron did show up on May 14 to join the beginning part of the service. He left before the sermon was about to start.

   

   Saron, the taxi driver
   
   

2. We were grateful for the opportunity to spend time with family in the Middle East. Please pray for Justin and Katie as they are trying to figure out sleep schedules for the newborn baby and daily routines caring for the two older kids while they (the parents) are still in full time language studies. To their credit, they are doing amazingly well… 
3. Please pray for our youngest son, Jonathan, aged 21, who is living with some friends in central New York and is currently looking for a new job. Please continue pray for his adjustment to life in the States without any close family members nearby.
4. The building constructions for the Srae Nouy church and for the Anlong Veng library had been resumed and are progressing well. From being close proximate to the church fellowship, one worker named Visal, a key welding worker at Srae Nouy has been observing closely how believers interact with one another. His mother is (a member of Toul Prich church) lives her Christian life and seeing how believers related to one another in love and in unity, he recently told Soeuth on the phone, “Pastor, I used to drink heavily while or after work. But since I came to work Srae Nouy (since early February), I haven’t touched a can of beer! Somehow, I just don’t have the urge to drink any more. Also, I certainly don’t want to be a disgraced son to my mother and to you”. Although Visal has not made any decision yet, we believe he is getting closer to the Kingdom of God. Please pray for all the workers for safety at work and for their salvation…



Construction building at Srae Nouy



5. May is coming to an end, and we still have no rains! It is a constant cry from the village people who are praying for rains. Normally, farmers should have begun planting their crops already by mid- May. But this year with prolonged droughts, planting season has been delayed. Some eager farmers took the risk of planting their crops in early May thinking that rain would come. Now, these farmers suffer great loss of good seeds designated for each planting season. At a church leader meeting recently, we anticipating there will be significant shortages of food supplies as early as August or September. The church leaders are already made plans anticipating for the food distribution for needy families…
6. June 7-14: We are excited and looking forward to host a visionary visiting team of seven pastors/ church leaders from our very own sending Metro District! Needless to say, we so thrilled to have them visiting our ministry locations very soon. Pray for their safe traveling and for opportunity to be involved in local ministries.

We are grateful for your on-going prayer and support. Thank you for your partnership in the Cambodian ministries. Your generous financial donation to support the Alliance Mission enables us to remain serving in Cambodia, sharing the message of Hope found only in Jesus to lose people in Cambodian and around the world. We are very grateful to you!

Blessings,

Soeuth & Syna

Visiting Petra, Jordan