Dear Supporting Friends and Family,
“Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good; His love endures forever” 1 Chronicles 16:34.
We have so many reasons to be thankful for this year. We are grateful to God for the gift of life, family, good health, protection, daily provisions, and opportunities to join God at work in the Cambodian ministries. During the past four years of the northern church planting ministries in the Anlong Veng and in the Srae Nouy regions, we were beyond blessed to see many fruitful ministries taking place in such a short time. We are thankful to God for YOU, our dear ministry partners, for your countless prayers for our family and for ministries. We are thankful also for the financial support you gave to support the Alliance Mission. Because of your involvement, we were able to remain serving in Cambodia sharing the message of Hope in Jesus to lost people in that part of the world. THANK YOU! At the same time, all the works in Cambodia was not done by just the two of us—we are blessed to work alongside some AMAZING, Godly Cambodian National Ministry partners such as Mr. Kong, Pastor Dy, Po, Heng, and Mrs. Rate, and so many others. We wish we could tell you all, but for now, we will just share briefly about Pastor Dy…
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| Pastor Dy (left) on a boat. |
Although we knew of Pastor Dy (pronounce Dee) many years ago from our previous interactions among the Alliance gatherings, our friendship deepened July 2017 when we began church ministries in Anlong Veng and in Srae Nouy areas. Pastor Dy, a 54 year old loving father of three adult children, devoted husband, and very humble servant of God is also a great man of prayer. Originally from the southern part of Cambodia in Kampong Cham province, as young believer, Dy uprooted his entire family and settled down in Srae Nouy around 2008 due to family and financially related crisis. To survive, Dy and his two young sons learned a trade of carpentry and earned a meager income through selling wooden furniture that Dy and his sons made. Because of debts, Dy literally ran away from his hometown to hide in Srae Nouy! But God found Dy in his hiding place and gave him a sense of purpose, a new direction in life. Living out his faith wherever he was, Dy became a spiritual leader to a small group of believers who had heard the Gospel of Jesus through Dy.
As the number of believers grew, The Srae Nouy Alliance church was shortly established under the leadership of Pastor Dy. Having very little education but with daily devotions to the studying of God’s words, Dy led a group of vibrant believers to the next level. Initially, every night, Dy and the Srae Nouy believers and their families willingly came together in prayers. Their persistent request was, “God, reveal Yourself to us. Please come and show us your ways.” Twice a month, the leaders faithfully fasted and prayed with the same petition. As a result, God showed up. He met them in powerful and amazing ways.
Every week during Sunday church service, Dy and the Srae Nouy Church families witnessed miraculous healings on those who came to church desperately seeking prayers for healing. When the believers united together in faith and through prayers as they laid hands over a sick person, God responded. When people with mental and or physical illnesses and their families came to seek God in faith asking him for healing, He simply showed up in their midst. Believers of various journeys of faith had seen miracles and wonders. Some had personally experienced miraculous healings. As a result, the fame of Jesus spread near and far within the Anlong Veng and the Srae Nouy regions drawing curious seekers to come near to His kingdom.
For all these young believers, God put Pastor Dy, a timid and humble man as their spiritual leader. When we had finally met Pastor Dy face to face in the summer of 2017, we told him and the other leaders who were standing beside him, “We are here to work alongside you for the next four years. How do you want us to help?" All at once, they began to cry with tears of joy falling freely down their cheeks. As their leader, Dy went on to explain, “For the past two years, all of us here have been faithfully praying to God, begging Him to send us teachers who would teach us His words. Now, you are here! Thank you for answering the Call. Jesus heard our prayers and sent you to us!”
Both Soeuth and I count it as a privilege to be able to work alongside such a Godly leader and ministry partner such as Pastor Dy. When we first met Dy, in addition to the already existing Srae Nouy Alliance Church, there were four other small house churches scattering over the northern part of Cambodia. These small groups were very young in their faith—about 4 months old Christians at that time. During the next four years of ministry, through the efforts of discipleship and leadership training, the groups grew from 5 into 21 village house churches! We were grateful that God allowed us to join Him at work in the Anlong Veng and in the Srae Nouy regions, at just the right time, to see Him moving and stirring hearts toward His kingdom.
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| Pastor Dy preparing his Sunday message |
In mid-October, by faith, we mailed out a bunch fundraising letters to some of you concerning the Srae Nouy Church Building Project that we hope to raise funds for especially while we are still on home assignment this year. And many of you have generously responded! At this writing, we received about 95% of the total funds needed for this particular project! THANK YOU, LORD JESUS! And thanks to you, our dear supporters.
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| Greetings from the Srae Nouy Church families |
In addition to the Srae Nouy project, we also have other additional Approved Special Projects: "Anlong Veng Ministry Center", “Northern Church Plant", and “Soeuth & Syna Lao’s Vehicle Project” that we hope to raise funds for while we are still on home assignment. Would you prayerfully consider going a step further by supporting any of these Approve Special projects?
Concerning our immediate family, this Thanksgiving week was a bitter-sweet time for us. We welcome our children and grandchildren—all seven members of us were under one roof for a whole week! BUT this was also our last time together as a family, at least in a long while, because both Justin and Katie and their two children will soon depart for the Middle East early January 2022, Lord willing. They will serve as Alliance International Workers in that region for the next four years. We will be sad sending our precious loved ones away for a long period of time, but we are so PROUD that they say “YES” to the Call. Please consider extending your love and support and prayers to this dear young family as well. Pray for their adjustment to the new culture and learning the new language and so on...
Some of you have been praying ever so faithfully for our youngest son, Jonathan. Thank you! He is doing well and thriving in a trade school located about 3 miles drive from our current home. He is half way through the HVAC-R one-year training program! Lord willing, Jonathan will complete his training by June 6. Meanwhile, we are looking and praying for a place with a family of mature Christians in the New Jersey areas, where Jonathan would be welcomed to live with, at least for the first year or two. We also pray for an HVAC-R related job for him to work after we both return to Cambodia in early July 2022. Although things look uncertain now, our God has always been very faithful to us and to our family in the past. We are trusting that HE is not going to fail us now, especially with the requests for the upcoming future concerning our children. We appreciate you joining us in these prayer requests…
Additional praises and prayer requests…
- It has been a challenge effort trying to get any appointment with a local New Jersey Department of Motor Vehicle, because everything is still closed due to Covid restrictions! A few times already, we tried online registrations for an appointment. We even had to do it after a midnight hour! Even at these attempts, the earliest appointment we could get for a written driving test for Jon is not until January 3! By this rate, Jonathan may earn his HVAC-R degree before he can get a New Jersey driver license! Frustrated? Yes! But God knows what He is doing. Next prayer request is to look for a reliable but affordable vehicle for Jonathan to drive before July 2022. When we are not home to give him a ride, Jon walks 45 minutes to and from school!
- It has been a very full, busy, but enjoyable fall mission tour. We have two more weeks of speaking after Thanksgiving. The spring tour is also a full schedule. It will begin on January 7. So far, we had opportunities to share with Alliance and with partner non-Alliance churches about what our God is doing in Cambodia. Thank you for your support and responses to the mission fields in Cambodia and around the World.
- Through frequent communications with some key church leaders, we learned that, as of today, all 21 house churches in the Srae Nouy and in the Anlong Veng regions are still going strong! Pastor Dy recently shared that since we left, about 60+ new people had prayed to receive Jesus as their Lord and Savior! The small group leaders are busy preparing for the next baptismal service around Christmas time. It is encouraging to hear that new believers are looking up to God and relying on Him for all their needs instead of looking to their human-spiritual leaders for any help.
- As of early November, the country of Cambodia loosened their restrictions. People are now free to travel across the country and with church activities are now back to “normal” again.
“Give thanks to the LORD for He is good. His love endures forever…”
Do you have reasons to be thankful for this year? We are thankful for you! We appreciate your partnership in the Cambodian growing ministries. Some of you have been very faithful with your financial support giving to the Alliance Mission. Thank you!
For some of you who have not been able to so do but are considering, please visit the CMA website, click “A Worker You Love” and type our names to give. Or you can also choose “A Project You Love" then type the name of the project and give.
Your sacrificial donation to the Alliance Mission enables us to keep on serving God in Cambodia sharing the message of Hope in Jesus to Lost people in this part of the world. Thank you for your partnering with us in the Cambodian ministries.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Soeuth & Syna
