November Update 2022

Dear Faithful Supporting Friends and Family,

Greetings from Anlong Veng, Cambodia! We trust everyone of you is doing well by the grace of God. It is harvest season in Cambodia and rice farmers all over the country are busy harvesting and gathering crops to store in the barns before the rains come. In spite of the worst flooding season we had recently, church families were grateful that some crops were not completely destroyed by the flood waters. With the floods, came a season of sickness related to contaminated waters and mosquito bites.  Some church families were hospitalized with various diseases, but by the grace of God, every one of them has been recovering well. 

VBS with the Village Kids… 

From mid-October to early November, we had been busy hosting a visiting team from Hawaii to help with VBS school-aged children to conduct adult leadership seminars among church leaders. Then in early November, another team (also from Hawaii) came to do trauma and healing workshop seminars for all age groups. The seminars were done mostly in church locations at Anlong Veng, Srae Nouy, Batthambang, Svey, and at Poipet. While in Anlong Veng, upon a request from a local public school, a two-hour session of trauma and healing was taught to 102 middle school-aged youth in addition to their teachers, the school principle, and a village leader! Some of the youth from that same school were members of the Toul Prich Firm Foundation Alliance church! Praise God for a precious opportunity to plant seed in this school community.

Fruits of the Spirit VBS with village kids

Leadership workshop at Svey

A fellowship meal with Toul Prich church

Trauma and Healing Workshops…

While trauma and healing sessions were being taught at the local churches, participants paid close attention to what was taught and discussed. Even during the hot afternoon hours after a hearty meal (a time when people normally fallen asleep) many participants were wide awake! They were like sponges-- absorbing every word being said or discussed! During a wrap up time after trauma and healing session, each of the participants had the opportunity to practice being a counselor or a client. It was a beautiful site watching people willingly share about their painful hurts and past to their trusted neighbors. For many of them, this was the first time that they had someone to really listen to their stories of past hurts and traumas. Our hope and prayer are that more people would find true healing in Jesus and also that relationships are restored after their stories are being heard.

Participations taking turns to practiced sharing and listening stories

Floating Villages… 

In between the Hawaiian teams, we also hosted a vision team of five pastors from Mosaic church in Nevada.  In addition to visiting two public schools in Anlong Veng, some Alliance church in the northern region, this team also visited some floating Alliance churches on the Tonle Sap Lake. Even though it was a very long (about 3.5 hours each way) and an uncomfortable boat ride for the visitors, this trip to the floating villages was especially meaningful to the hosting families. The village families who live in remote places often feel completely cut off from other communities. These small floating huts/homes are constantly surrounded by deep waters anywhere from 8-15 meters deep, depending on the season, and many of them live in constant fears whenever there was a storm approaching. Children who live in floating houses often learned to swim before they learn to walk. The older kids and most adults don’t even know how to ride a bicycle or a motorbike! 

A floating Alliance church in the middle of Tonle Sap Lake

To go from one house to another or from one village to the next, they would spend a high price on fuel for the motorboats. Therefore, with on-going family poverty and limited funding available, many of them hardly seen or walked on lands for months or years at a time. The fact that Mosaic team was willing to visit them in such far away locations, to be able to sit down and enjoy a humble meal with them, brought MUCH blessings and encouragement to the local hosting people. It was also a great learning experience for the visitors. We started the day with a beautiful sunrise from Siem Reap to shore of Tonle Sap and ended it with a beautiful sunset on the way back. 

Visiting floating villages

A long boat ride to and from the floating villages

An Alliance Church building stood proud and strong even in the raging storms among the great Tonle Sap Lake of Cambodia!

Sunset by the Tonle Sap Lake

Pheap’s Story… 

Recently, we took the Mosaic visiting team to visit a 45-year old lady named Pheap, a member of the Toul Prich Firm Foundation Alliance church in Anlong Veng, (details of her story were mentioned in our April 2021’s blog as well as in the Alliance Life magazine, volume 157, Jul/Aug 20022), and gained more details to her amazing story… 

Mosaic team visiting Pheap's house

During the long and difficult Covid months, like many other families in Cambodia and around the world, Pheaph’s family faced loss of employment which resulted in lack of other basic supplies. In the midst of hard times, Pheap’s natural survival instincts, prayers, and her amazing cooking skills, Pheap took charge and led her family above a survival mode. Together with some helps from her husband, three teenage son, two young daughters, Pheap prepared packaged home cooked meals which she sold to farmers and to people who were trapped in various quarantine quarters. When people called to place a meal order, Pheap carefully and prayerfully packed up meals that often included a small Christian tract in each of the lunch box! While everyone else was crying out for work, God blessed Pheap’s business so much that the family earned enough money to build a house! Before Covid, Pheap shared a tiny one-room wooden stilted house with seven family members. Pheap had always dream that one day, she would have house of her own safe enough for her sons and daughters. So, she saved up every penny she earned for the building cost of her dream home. BUT from past experiences, Pheap also learned that if she waited to have all the money saved for the house, eventually, her own husband or mainly her in-laws would try to “borrow” whatever money she had saved, as they had habitually done in the past. To avoid these no returned-borrowing methods, Pheap secretly purchased building supplies including, bricks, sands and gravels, metals, woods, and any other building supplies she could think of and stored them away in the back of her property. Whenever she had some cash on hands, she would always invested in the construction supplies, buying one item at a time, hoping that one day, she would have enough supplies for her dream home… 

Finally, March 2022, Pheap hired some workers to build her house! The house is not quite finished because the family had ran out of supplies and money. But Pheap was grateful to the fact that, “I have a roof over my head and strong brick walls to the house." She then added, “One day, when we have enough money, we can add one door and one window at a time." Recently, seeing that her house is still incomplete, a neighbor offered to pay Pheap handsomely, “If you would just recite to me the words/ the chanting of the magic power you once used." Pheap said, “NO! I am a follower of Preah yea-sue now. I don’t do that thing any more." But the woman went on to plead, “You don’t have to say the actual words out loud, just write them down on the paper, and that would be enough." Pheap firmly refused and asked the woman to leave and never repeat that question again… As we were about to depart, we asked if Pheap had any prayer request. The needs were obvious and we thought that Pheap might ask about financial need, but Pheap’s only request was, “I would love to see my husband (Ron) believe in Jesus and also my three sons. More than anything in this world, I want my whole family to believe and serve God together as the family, just like my teachers, Soeuth and Syna…

Here are some praises and prayer requests for your consideration…

1. The KEC churches are busy planning Christmas events. So far, Soeuth already accepted five speaking invitations… This Christmas time is significant for churches in Cambodia. This may be the first big gathering since Covid-19. Needless to say that everyone is supper excited. Pray that people would see the true meaning of the season and that hearts be receptive and responsive to the Good News…
2. In respond to the needs, we received enough funds from interested donors to build two deep wells for two villages that located a bit distant from one another. Even though we offered to pay a full- asking price required for building deep wells, because of distant locations, most well companies were reluctant to haul all the heavy equipment to work at each designated location. Pray that these companies would change their minds and would be willing to do the job soon.
3. As for the Anlong Veng Ministry Center, so far, we received about 1/3 of the total funding needed for the entire project! With the money received, we are in the beginning stage of building a smaller project, one at a time. Earlier this month, based on the need, we began a multipurpose open- space children center next door to the house church where the Toul Prich Firm Foundation Alliance church is currently meeting. Our next project is to build a soccer field… At the same time, the Srae Nouy Church is also planning to build their church building. The need to find honest construction workers is crucial. As we go through each project, we are reminded that if God is not in this from the beginning, no matter what we plan or do, nothing will accomplish. Please join us in prayers that God will see through all the detail of each project.
4. The Cambodian church leaders are busy planning for the 100th years anniversary event, January 25-28. The first Gospel was brought to Cambodia, in January 1923, through Alliance International Workers. Despite the massive killing during the Killing Field regime  (April 1975- January 7, 1979) where about 2 million people were killed, among them about 80% of the first Christians were also killed. But what the Enemy “intended for evil, God intended for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives…” (Genesis 50:20). Today, there are over 200 Alliance Churches and many other evangelical churches all over Cambodia. The first Khmer Bible translated by Alliance Mission is being used all Cambodia and among the Cambodian communities all around world.

We are so grateful to God for YOU, our dear faithful supporters. We appreciate your partnership through prayers and financial support. Thank you for investing your efforts and resource in to building God’s kingdom in Cambodia reaching out to lost people to find true hope and love and salvation in Jesus Christ. To financially support in any project through Alliance Ministry, please visit this website at: https://secure.cmalliance.org/give  And please share with us what God is doing in your life. 

Have a blessed Thanksgiving holiday. 

With a grateful heart, Soeuth & Syna Lao 

September 2022 Update

Dear Friends and Family, 

The rainy season seemed to linger a bit longer this year than ever before. Heavy rains are causing much damage on roads and crops. Everywhere we turned, there were always potholes, puddles, and floods, making traveling very challenging… 

Rain and flooding

Flood water completely covered Anlong Veng bridge!

Visiting’s Kong’s village…

Even with difficult roads, we were grateful for the opportunity to visit a few village house churches. One of such village was Andong Chan village where our dear friend and late ministry partner, Mr. Kong, used to live. It was sad to see his two widows and children struggle to make ends meets after losing Kong, who was their bread winner, to a tragic accident six months ago. During that visit, Kean (Kong’s younger brother) from the floating village, who also was with Kong when the accident took place, was able to join us for this first meeting with the family as well. Through Kean’s sharing, we gained a better understanding of what actually happened on that tragic day. With the money they had, the family built a merger tombstone for their beloved Mr. Kong in the back of their property. After discussing with the family, we planned to have a barb wired fence built around this family’s property to keep away petty thief and unwanted strayed animals from stealing goods or destroying the family crops. We also plan to have deep wells installed onto the property for the family and community to use. 

Mr. Kong's grave yard, Khean (far left) and Haggai (far right)

Opportunities to impact communities…

Lately, the Anlong Veng team has tremendous opportunities to work and serve alongside the local community through the after-school programs, targeting school-aged kids using a Bible based English literacy program. Every afternoon on weekdays, the kids come to learn English and math while on the weekends they participate in a Bible story lessons. Everyday, rain or shine, local kids joyfully and willingly walk or bike to the Firm Foundation Alliance church ground. During the weekdays, two-three age appropriate classes are being taught by our teammates where the kids study for an hour in each class. While waiting for their turn, the children keep themselves occupied or entertained with jump ropes, soccer games, hacky sacks, and the UNO card game! Although, no one has publicly professed their faith in Jesus, yet, some kids are asking deep and meaningful questions. While they hang around on the church property, these kids seem to enjoy singing along with the Christian worship songs that were being played loudly from our portable speaker. On Sept 10, our team scheduled a bimonthly joined Sunday church services, allowing kids to join in the worship service before sending them out to their designated age appropriate Sunday school classes. It was a joyful and chaotic service, but everyone seemed to enjoy it. See photos below…

Solar lights and panels…

Early this month, upon their request and based on the needs of the community, with the money YOU sent to support the Northern Church plant, we purchased 26 solar lights and solar panels, 26 metal poles and then donated the supplies to two local schools. The parents and the teachers the villager leaders expressed appreciation for the gifts. 

26 solar lights were donated to local schools in Toul Prich village

The first monthly kid evangelism service in Toul Krous village…

Also, because of this rainy season and due to distance, on August 28, our Anlong Veng team decided to initiate a monthly evangelism outreach service to community kids in Toul Krous village. Parents and community leaders of that area were made aware, and they were supportive and appreciative of the after-school programs that our team is offering to their kids. On this first evangelism outreach service, 72 kids participated with ages ranging from 4-14 years old! Seeds are already planted. We are trusting God for growth…

First evangelism message in Toul Krous

Village kids joining church service at Toul Prich

Church Plant Workshop

On Sept 17, we joined our Alliance teammates for a one-day church plant workshop in Siem Reap province. Although the goal was to discuss plans and strategies for church plant ideas, we ended talking mostly about how to care for existing churches and promote awareness about “sheep stealing” problems that the local Alliance churches are constantly facing—this seems to be on-going issue among the local Alliance church in every part of the country. Please pray for spiritual protection over the innocent new believers. These “sheep stealers” are using worldly materials to lure younger believers from the truth.

Church planting workshop

Srey Poev’s journey…

Sept 3-4, we made an overnight trip to visit our dear friends who are from the Living Water Alliance church in Poipet. Our hearts soared with an overwhelming joy to see the vibrant faith of believers in that area. After spending time visiting various individuals, there seemed to be a movement of people wanting to study God’s word in a deeper and meaningful way. 

Soeuth preaching at Poipet Living Water Alliance

As Pastor Chean, the lead pastor of that church and the key leaders overseeing the 10 other church sites in that region, mentioned, “It all began with one new believer, Srey Poev, who just wanted to study God’s word. She was always asking for a class." After asking around about Srey Poev’s spiritual journey, this is what we learned. 

Srey Poev who is 57 years old met Jesus one year ago and experienced a miraculous healing. She had a stroked and was paralyzed on her right side for 8 months. Through prayers and her complete trust in the Great Physician, she experienced complete healing. To her and everyone else’s amazement, this lady was noticeably handicapped, after meeting Jesus, she not only experienced complete healing of a physical body, she also experienced a transformed heart. Before meeting Jesus, she was in a wheelchair being pushed by her family, now, she was often seen walking and sharing the power of Jesus to her family and neighbors. And she kept asking, “I want to know God. Please teach me more about Him." At one point, she was participating in three discipleship classes a week! She not only was sitting through the classes, she actively participated in class discussion and memorized all the weekly Bible verses required for each class! Her love for God’s word made other “old time” believers feel embarrassed or guilty, that now, more people are joining small groups of discipleship classes. There was so much excitement from people wanting to study God's word, the pastor together with other leaders were teaching 9 classes a week! When we talked with Srey Poev, every word from her lips was credited or giving praise to Jesus. She said, “I was dead in my sins and was completely helpless with my handicap, but God took pity on me and raised me up. I am forever grateful to Jesus!”

Srey Poev sharing her journey

Please pray for dates and events below…

1. At this writing, the Nation of Cambodia is celebrating a religious holiday called Bon Pjum Ben where local people are required to bring food offering to the Buddhist temples hoping to appease the spirits of their deceased ancestors. This is a very testing time for believer in the One true God. Many young believers were pressured by family members to return to their old faith or risked being rejected by family and friends. But for those who are rooted in the Word, they often become very bold about sharing Jesus, especially at this time of the year. 
2. About 25 plus national youth committee members will participate in a one-day workshop in Siem Reap on Oct 14. 
3. Oct.2 is our next monthly kid evangelism outreach in Toul Krous village.
4. Pray for safety and project on long road trips that we travel every week. Even with careful driving, bad road and other careless drivers making it very challenge. The roads are at their worst now with all the rains we’ve been having.

Roads severely damaged by too much rain

Thank you for your partnership in the northern Cambodian ministry. God is moving and stirring hearts toward his kingdom. Thank you for your prayers and on-going financial support toward Alliance Mission. Your sacrificial giving enables us to remain serving in Cambodia sharing the message of Hope in Jesus to lost people in this part of the world. We appreciate you. Please share with us what God is doing in your life.

Blessings,

Soeuth and Syna 

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

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

June/July 2022 Update

 Dear Praying Friend and Family,

We hope you are enjoying the warm summer weather. It has been a while since we wrote you. At this writing, we are finishing up the home assignment year from New Jersey and are getting ready to return to Cambodia on July 4! Yes, while you are celebrating Independence Day, we will be up in a 14.5-hour flight from New York City to Korea! After a 2-hour lay over in Korea, we’ll take another 5.5 hours flight to Cambodia. So, we will watch fireworks from above...

It has been an emotion time for our family. Although we had done it many times before, saying goodbye to friends and family has never been an easy thing to do. This week, parting from our youngest son, Jonathan, was the hardest thing we had ever done. Jonathan is settling down with our friends in South Glens Falls, New York, for the next few years while we will be in Cambodia. There are still a few loose ends related to his adjustment and transition to a new location, but we are trusting the Lord to meet every detail of his needs. We are grateful to God for sending us kind people to help us in every aspect of need. So, during the next couple weeks ahead, when you think of our family, please consider praying for the needs below…

1. May 10-June 2: While visiting and speaking at three Alliance churches in Hawaii, we also celebrated our 30th anniversary on May 30th! We were grateful for the wonderful host families who let us stay in their homes, one home after another, while another family lent us their car to drive the whole time we were there! Hawaii was a beautiful island, a paradise, but three weeks on the island was a bit too long for us, especially when “stuff” kept happening at home. During our first week in this beautiful island, Jonathan, home alone in New Jersey, was very sick with Covid and had to miss school for 8 days. Some neighbors from the Cedar Lane Mission Homes looked after him while we were away; the second week, Syna’s younger sister who is in Washington State had a few health crisis and was hospitalized for a few days; the third week, our oldest son Justin (in the Middle East) torn his ACL while playing soccer! Praise God, everyone recovered well in a timely manner. Justin had a knee surgery done and is encouraged to walk an hour and half every day. In all these difficulties, God is still good.

Our last Sunday with Jonathan

Celebrating our 30th anniversary in Hawaii

2. After a full year of intense hands-on training, Jonathan had successfully completed the HVAC training and is now searching for a job. Although there are plenty HVAC positions needed in every town, these positions are mostly offered to those of experienced workers. Pray that Jon find an apprenticeship job in the HVAC position, hopefully closer to his home location soon.

3. On July 4, we will need to have a NEGATIVE Covid test result done, 72 hours before departure. Please PRAY! If all goes well, our flight will arrive in the capitol city of Cambodia, Phnom Penh, by 11:30 pm on July 5. The next day, July 6, we will travel an 8- hour up north by road to Siem Reap province, to join our team of International Workers, for an annual field forum, July 6-10. Then, on Monday July 11, we will travel another two hours further north to Anlong Veng—the location where we will be based for the next three years. While in Anlong Veng reuniting with our friends, we will look for a house to rent. Please pray that God would lead us to the right house and that we will have a nice, kind, and helpful landlord. Sometime in July, we will need to head back (a 9- hour drive) to Phnom Penh to look for a vehicle. We are trusting God to pave the ways ahead of us leading us to the right house and finding the right truck.

Duffle bags of supplies to Cambodia

4. At the beginning of our home assignment year (June 2021), in addition to the Great Commission Fund needed to keep us serving in Cambodia, we also shared with you about the three Approved Special projects that we were responsible to raise fund for. We are pleased to announce that two of the projects (“Srae Nouy Church Building” & “S& S Lao’s Vehicle”) are fully funded! For the third approved special project, the “Anlong Veng Ministry Center (AVMC)”, as of date, we received about 1/3 of the total funding needed! Thank you so much for your support! Our hope and desire is to see the AVMC get started and established during the next few years while we're still on the ground. Please join us in prayer that the total funding will come through.  Pray also for the next few months ahead as we will look into ideas and plans for the construction of the AVMC and look for construction workers for this project. Pray that God would lead us to the right people, the right company with honest workers, and on so...

We are very grateful to God for ministry partner like you who is standing in the gap with and for us through your prayers and financial support to the Alliance Great Commission Fund (GCF). When you generously give to the GCF, you put us and 800+ other Alliance International Workers in the front lines to serve in Cambodia and around the world sharing the message of Hope in Jesus Christ to lost people. THANK YOU! During the next couple years, if God allows, please come and visit us in Cambodia. We would love to show you around. Please contact us at jjsblaos@gmail.com. Please let us know also, if you want to remove your name from our contact list.

Blessings,

Soeuth & Syna Lao