Dear Faithful Supporters,
We apologize for the delayed updates. A lot has happened since our last updates. Below are a few events taking place…
Regional Conference…
March 28-29: The Peyope (the northwest) District had their regional conference at Svey Sisophon where 180 people participated. During the business session, a number of church leaders gave encouraging ministry reports showing they were on the right track for becoming healthy churches. Seven new members were elected for Regional Church Committees (RCC) at this conference, followed by a joyful celebration for five newly ordained Alliance pastors for the region.
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| Seven newly elected members of the Regional Church Committees (RCC) |
Khmer New Year & Easter Celebration…
April 7: Since the holidays happened so close to one another, we invited the Toul Prich village church families and the construction workers (workers for the library) for a BBQ cook out in a traditional celebration for Khmer New Year and Easter celebration. Before the meal, Soeuth shared a brief evangelism message (his specific target audience was for the workers who were mostly not yet believers) about our hope in the Resurrected Christ. At the end of the day, two workers prayed to receive Jesus!
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| Two construction workers received Jesus on Khmer New Year and Easter celebrations |
A Reason for Hope…
April 9th, late in the evening, we received a call from family members urging us to visit and comfort Moum, Soeuth’s sister, who had just received a shocking medical report that she had pancreatic cancer. After long hours of sitting in silence, Syna felt led to share the reason for hope in Jesus, not just to Moum specifically, but also in the hearing of seven other family members. Around 11:30 pm, Moum prayed to receive Jesus as her LORD and Savior! The next morning before she left for Thailand for further medical evaluation, Syna gave Moum a copy of the New Testament with an instruction on where to begin reading…
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| Moum's grand daughter received Jesus at the funeral |
Visiting Churches on the West Coast…
On April 10, we left for America as planned to visit and speak at church conferences on the west coast. We also had a brief family reunion with our youngest son, Jonathan, and with some of Syna’s relatives. Our plan was to spend a few days of quality time with Syna’s family in Washington State before returning to Cambodia. However, due to a family emergency at the homeland, our time was abruptly cut short. In a haste, we made traveling plans via a different route back to Cambodia on April 24; we left ten days early. God’s timing was good. Soeuth was able to spend quality time with his dying mother in Batthambang province before she went home to be with Jesus on May 12th…
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| A brief family reunion with Jonathan |
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| Brief family reunion in Washington State |
Seeds Planted at the Funeral…
On May 12th at 5 am., we received a call from the family that Soeuth’s mother, aged 87, went to her eternal home with Jesus. Because we live six hours-drive away, and most of Soeuth’s immediate family were not believers, we contacted a few key church leaders of the area to start making funeral arrangements until we arrived. By the time we arrived after 1:30 pm, at least 80 members of local Alliance church families came to support Soeuth’s family. Upon the family’s requests, we had a four-day funeral with two services for each day, a total of 8 evangelism messages spoken by local pastors. This was the second Christian funeral ever done in the village. (The first Christian funeral was in July 1998-- for Soeuth’s father).
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| Seeds were planted at a family funeral |
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| The Body of Christ demonstrated love and support at a family funeral |
Local unbelieving villagers and relatives were speculating and wondering what a Christian funeral would be like. To everyone’s amazement, the Body of Christ demonstrated their tremendous love and support for the grieving family. Every Khmer traditional hymnal song sang and every evangelical message spoken by different Alliance pastors were being broadcasted loudly in the hearing of the entire community. Every service was well attended by the local believers. Many believers went “the extra mile” to show their love and support for the family… By the end of the funeral, two of Soeuth’s nieces prayed to receive Jesus and a number of his extended relatives asked deep and insightful questions about Jesus, one of them was a Buddhist priest! We’d already made appointments with these individuals for follow-up visits. The seed was planted.
Other Events needing your prayers…
- Between May 11-14th: there were so many tragic incidents that happened among local villagers where we live (most of whom were not believers). Recently, a young couple was recently struck by lightning and died instantly, leaving behind three small children, aged 2 and 9; another family lost 8 adult cows to the same lightning incident. Two days later, another lost their 17 years old son to a tragic motorbike accident. The young man was at the top of his class for grade 12. He was a beloved friend to our church youth. During these dark times, the Light of Jesus showed its best through the love and support from local Christians who attended the funeral and demonstrated love to their neighbors in many tangible ways…
- Although we were grateful for a few sprinkles of rain showers here and there (which also lower down the heat), the prolonged droughts and prolonged heat waves continue to put heavy tolls on local farmers whose livelihood as plantation and rice farmers depend entirely on rain waters. Most farmers grow fields of cassavas (potato like roots) for a living. Upon harvest time recently, many farmers were shocked to discover their cassavas were completely baked and destroyed underneath the hot soil. Some farmers lost thousands of cashew trees, orange trees, and other fruit trees because of the extreme heat in the last few months. These trees took 5-7 years before they produced fruits; farmers were expecting to harvest their first fruits when the droughts came…
- Lately, we have heard of and witnessed too many tragic incidents and deaths resulting from traffic accidents, especially among local students. In response to the needs, in partnership with three local public schools, we donated some funds for purchasing supplies while the teachers donated their time and built barricade items to block off traffic which would allow students to cross the streets safely. In a small tangible way, thanks to your financial generous support to the Alliance Mission, we are making a meaningful and impactful presence among the local community.
A meaningful impact full presence within the community
Please share with us what God is doing in your life. As always, thank you for your partnership in the northern Cambodian ministry. Because of your support in prayers and through finance, we are able to continue serving among the Khmer community sharing the message of hope to lost people in this dark part of the world.
With a grateful heart,
Soeuth & Syna Lao
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