Dear Praying Friends and Family,
This note was written while we waited for our trip to America—June 18. Having extra hours and extra days with nothing to do, I thought to update you with what took place during the last few weeks in Anlong Veng…
Goodbyes Turned to A New Church Planted!
Beginning May 24th, we had been making short trips to visit remote villages where local Alliance house churches exist to say our goodbyes and introduce key church leaders to local believers. These church leaders would be the main designated spiritual leaders for each of the village churches around Anlong Veng and Srae Nouy regions. It was an emotional time for all of us. Some young and new believers wrongly misunderstood that we were abandoning them saying, “I just came to join the family of God, and now you are leaving me!” Repeatedly, we assured them of God’s protection over their lives. As we met and fellowshipped with local believers of each village, their relatives and friends also came to join the worship services. At the end of each meeting, at least 3-5 new people willingly prayed to receive Jesus! After visiting only 4 villages, 37 people prayer to received Jesus in one week! Then, on May 28 while visiting Rohaal village where 7 new people were added to the list, we were invited: “Please go and share this wonderful news to my family. They live in another village. Please go. It is not too far (it was still another 27 kilometers on bumpy roads away). You came all this way here to visit us, so why not go just a little farther?” We did. Upon arrival at the new village, about 50+ people were already waiting for us!
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| Church families at Rohaal village |
Responding to the needs, Soeuth shared an evangelism message to a very receptive audience. At the end of the service, 23 adults & teens and 17 children prayed to receive Jesus! Thus marked the birth of another house church. Thmal Dach village (little translation means ‘Broken Road’ village) became the 10th house church that was planted since the beginning of the Covid19 pandemic! Our God surely has a way of making something good out of the mess of this world as proven in Romans 8:28. And even while we are waiting for our flight here in Phnom Penh, church leaders like Pastor Dy, Mr. Kong, and Mrs. Rate, and Hout So Heng and some other leaders have been calling us daily to report that more people have been willingly prayed to receive Jesus. At this writing, a total of 68 people had invited Jesus into their hearts in the last few weeks!
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| A goodbye visit turned to a new house church planted... |
Personal Challenges in the Midst of Ministry Opportunities
While God was moving and stirring hearts for His kingdom, the Enemy was busy at work disturbing inner peace and trying to rob joy from our hearts. On the same day, May 28, while we joyfully celebrated the birth of a new church plant, we also received a shocking news concerning our youngest son, Jonathan who was under lockdown in Penang, Malaysia. An email came saying that due to increased Covid cases in Malaysia, his June 3rd flight to the US was cancelled! Panicked, we had to make immediate multiple long distant phone calls to a travel agent who was based in America while dealing with a 13- hour time-zone difference and the holiday weekends (Memorial holiday weekends in the US)! After a very intensely stressful week and with A LOT OF PRAYERS, we were able to secure a new ticket for Jon to depart on June 4, a day after an original ticket. The amazing part was that, just hours after his plane left Kuala Lumpur, many parts of Malaysia had gone into a complete lockdown! It was a very close call. Jonathan is now safe and sound, vaccinated against Covid, and staying with friends in New York. For the first time since September 22 of 2020 (the day he left Cambodia to return to Dalat school) Jon can actually “roaming around FREELY." THANKS to many of you who have been praying fervently for our son. God heard your prayers and saw to every details of Jon’s needs… AND in case you are wondering, Jon had graduated from high school!!! Due to increased Covid cases and the constant changes of Covid restriction rules, Dalat School had to reschedule the graduation event many times before they finally settled to May 22nd where only graduating students and some staff were allowed. We were able to view the recorded ceremony, a week after. Better late than never…
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| Jon's graduation: Class of 2021 |
While we were anxiously concerned about Jonathan’s traveling from Malaysia to the US, a very special event took place in the lives of our oldest son, Justin, and his family on June 3 at Nashville, Tennessee. There, the young couple were prayed for and commissioned to join the greater Alliance Family as new International Workers in a country in the Middle East region. Much thanks to kind and very considerate friends who had captured and sent us beautiful pictures of the special event, we were able to view the photos, repeatedly, with our hearts bursting with pride knowing that they had answered the Call into missionary service. After we arrive into the US, soon-- Lord willing, we will have a very short time to visit and getting to know our grand children before the young family takes off into 4 years of overseas ministry services…
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| Justin and Katie were prayed for and commissioned as new IWs |
Last Days in Anlong Veng…
Early in May, while frequently surrounded by needy families from a local community (these families were desperately searching for ways to earn income to support their hungry families), we decided to hire some local villagers in the fence building project for the Anlong Veng Ministry Center (AVMC).
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| Soeuth with fence workers at the church land |
Initially, we started with just three guys, then the working crew increased to 11 local men who were willing to do hard laborious works. Under Nee’s (please refer to Nee’s story in May update) careful and watchful eyes, the project is about 90% completed—the remaining 10% should be completed by mid June. As mentioned in May’s update while Soeuth was overseeing the men with the fence building project, Syna was busy organizing local youth and some other villagers in the tree (flowering plants, fruit trees, and some trees for shades) planting project. As of last week, the local people took great pride in planting nearly 250 trees! With the wired-net fence securely built onto sturdy logged posts, the villagers can rest knowing their new planted trees will eventually take roots and grow well. There were no worries about having strayed animal messing up or upsetting the young plants. Although we could not help every family in need of jobs, these log fence-building and tree-planting projects alleviated some financial stresses of 27 families from the community. In the few weeks of working together, people had a meaningful opportunity to connect with one another and the believing villagers had opportunity to share the gospel. As a result, two families prayed to receive Jesus while a few other showed interested about hearing the gospel. At this present time, we do not know the true intention for some of these families for coming to Jesus, but we know that the seeds of the gospel had been planted. In God's timing, we prayed that more families would eventually choose Jesus as their Lord and Savior…
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| Church attendance increased as fence building workers joined service |
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| Workers at the church land prayed to receive Jesus. |
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| Syna with Moum (Heng's wife) and their three daughters |
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At the last day in Anlong Veng, this unsuspected "visitor" showed where Syna almost stepped on it...
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1. Pray for the new believers to remain faithful with their decision to follow Christ. Pray for protection against the Enemy’s lies as these new babies are learning to walk in their Christian faith.
2. Pray for the key church leaders who are overseeing, as of May 28. There are now a total of 21 house churches scattered all over the Anlong Veng and Srae Nouy regions. The work load can be overwhelming for these leaders. Pray for protection as the leaders travel once or twice weekly to visit each church sites. Pray for the leaders’ families.
3. Pray for our coming trip to the US that things would go well. Pray also for a fruitful home assignment year. Pray for sweet and meaningful time with our family.
4. While we look forward to spend some quality time with Syna’s side of the family in the US, we are leaving behind Soeuth’s side of the family, many of whom are not-yet believers. Soeuth’s 82-year old mother is the only believer in the family. Pray for her health and for a steady faith in Jesus.
Thank you so much for your on-going prayers and support for the Anlong Veng ministries. We appreciate your partnership. Lord willing, we hope to see some of you again soon. Please share with what God is doing in your life.
Blessings,
Soeuth & Syna
