April Update 2015

Dear Friends,

Greetings from the land of the tropics!  We are at the peak of a HOT season where the average daily temperature is in the high 90's to mid 100's degrees in Fahrenheit!  One of the good things accompanying the hot season is the arrival of the juicy, mouth-watering sweet mangoes! So if you don't mind a little heat, and if you enjoy many kinds of rich yummy tropical fruits, now is the time to visit Cambodia! And if you plan it soon, a festive traditional Khmer New Year is also coming, April 14-16!

Last month, we'd asked you to specifically pray for the KEC youth conference; and here are some of ways that God answered your prayers:

On March 31, we made a 14- hour drive to the youth camp, at Modulkiri Province, a day ahead of everyone, in order to get things ready and prepared for the arrival of the youth.  On the way there, we'd encountered a number of minor problems along the way but were thankful to have arrived safely.  The conference started on evening of April 1 where Rev. David Manfred, Cambodian Field Director, did an excellent job preaching about the Agape Love.  Staying with the conference theme, "IRON SHARPENS IRON", David challenged the youth to seek true friendship that can only be found  in Jesus! Upon an altar call immediately after the sermon, more than 100 youth stood up to recommit their lives to God!

While  planning for this youth conference, we had anticipated to face some challenges along the ways, as expected for any major event; and sure enough, the problems did arrive, one after the other:  Problem #1, while most of the youth had safely arrived to the conference site in the afternoon of April 1, a few vehicles, due to mechanical problems, were still stranded in the dark- night roads.  Sometimes during that night, however, the remaining groups  began to arrive, one after the other, some at arrived 11pm, 12:30 am,  2 am, and at 3 am!  After 24 hours of sitting in 3 cramped vans, 46 people traveling from Poipet were among the last groups to arrive! And because of the late arrival, we thought that many young people would not be up on time for the next morning service. But the committees were quite surprised!  By 8 am on next day, all the youth showed up for the morning service! Once again, David Manfred, our guest speaker for that morning service, made another altar call.  And again, about  another 100 youth stood up to the challenge!

Problem #2: The youth committees had previously made arrangements with some local food merchants and had ordered 100 kilograms of pigs/ pork, one whole cow, 100 kilograms of fish, vegetables, and 500 kilogram of rice, to be delivered ahead of time to the camp site in order for the cooks to prepare 7 meals for the entire conference!  Upon our arrival in the late evening of March 31, however,  we'd discovered that  only about 1/3 of the total food goods had arrived!  And the nearest market was about  1 hour drive away from the camp site! A big challenge was trying to find volunteer drivers to take the cooks back and forth to local markets in order to buy the remaining needed goods!  But GOD, seeing to all the details of our needs, sent us godly people, just in time!  Missionaries and local pastors (those who accompanied the youth to the conference), each took turns to drive the cooks to and from markets...

Problem #3:  Because distant location (from Poipet, the driving would be from one border to the other) and because of the high cost for traveling expenses,  the committees had expected to host about 300- 350 youth.  But by 8 am on the second day, after the committees did a repeated head counts, however, more than 700 people attended the KEC youth conference!

Where to find housing for all these extra young people? And to feed all of them for all 7 meals? Yikes!!! Once again God came to the rescue! God stirred in the hearts of local people to respond to the need! The Pnong tribal church people opened up their houses; each family took in 30, 40, or 50 youth into each of their houses! Also, seeing the shortage of extra helping hands, about 80 tribal men and women from  local areas, all came to volunteer helping with meal preparations!  With the money received from registration fees  and along with two offering collections, we had just enough cash to buy all the needed food...

Problem #4: Since we did not have enough space to accommodate all the sport activities, at the last minutes, the committees decided to take the youth to visit the famous Bou Sraa Water Fall! But how to transport all these 700 plus people to the falls? Once again, God showed up!  Local tribal church people came up with six mechanical trailers, known by the local language as "Kor Yun" (meaning "mechanical cow"), along with vans and buses, all the youth were excitedly transported to and from the water fall!

About 95% of them were first timers to visit this water fall!  Since the camp and the water fall located so remotely far away from the provincial hospital, we were concerned should there was any medical emergency.  But even with all those many people in one park, no one was seriously hurt! And although we had four registered nurses waiting to be served at the camp, aside from a few minor illnesses, however, there was no severe medical emergency! Only the mighty hands of a Living God could keep those hyper- active exciting youth safe from injury!

Other problems also arose. Problem like a huge rainstorm totally surprised us on the second day of the conference that uprooted a tent and upset some of the food tables! Or that, in one of the meals, the chef accidentally FORGOT to add salt to one of the main dish!  In all of these problems, God was there to answer all our needs!  And we had thought that, for sure the young people would raise up complains against the youth committees because of the many problems! Instead of complains, however, many had said "this was the most enjoyable and the best youth conference" they had ever attended!

All the youth left the camp by 4 AM of Saturday of April 4.  Everyone had a long journey home.  The Poipet group arrived around 11 pm on the same day.  A concern, would the kids be up and willing to coming to church for a joined Easter Celebration service?  According to Mr. Chean, a key church leader from Living Water Church, "The church was packed with people! There was not enough chairs for all of them!  And no one had fallen asleep!"

During the week before the conference, the committees had arranged to have 350 T-shirts with the C&MA logo and the conference theme printed on.  The shirts were meant to be sold at the youth camp for small profits in order to support the conference.  Desiring to support the youth ministry, however, parents from Living Water Church bought some T-shirts for themselves!  Seeing all the colorful T-shirts being wore around town, a number of non-believers also came to buy a few of them as well.  By the time we left for the conference, more than 60 shirts already sold!

Oh, we also have other news to share with you.  But I think this is enough excitements for now.  Once again, thanks for praying.  Our God is truly ALIVE!!!!  And HE is at work!!!!

Blessings,
Soeuth and Syna Lao

March Update 2015

Dear Friends,

As you are getting ready to celebrate Easter, the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, we want to share with you some exciting stories as a testimony and affirmation that our God is Alive!  And He is still at work among His people today!

It has been an area of concern for us in relation to new believers, every time  Khmer or Chinese religious holidays are approaching.  This is often a testing time for new believers, because they are being pressured to return to their old ways of life, to worshiping spirits of their deceased ancestors.  And because of this concern, since the beginning of this year, we have been praying that new believers would remain steadfast with their decision to follow Jesus.  And many of you have joined us in this petition.  As the result, this past month, during a Chinese New Year celebration, we had a number of opportunities to pray for and lead people to  find true salvation in Christ!  A number of those already came to Christ and /or some who are still considering the decision to follow Christ, they all based their decisions to the testimonies and to the daily life styles that some members of Living Water Church chose to practice in order to honor God!

Recently, many church families are being inspired by other believers to take time off from work or from running businesses on Sundays,  to set one day of a week for a day of rest, and in order to worship God.  For some people with steady, reliable and secure jobs, or for those who are working with local NGO's, they could easily live to this decision. But for many poor families, however, this is a huge commitment and a tremendous sacrifice for them.  These poor people earn small daily incomes from working as labor workers across the border, or from selling fish, vegetables, dried fruit snacks, and other goodies.  Each day earning is barely enough for their daily needs.  To take off one whole day of work is a big commitment!  Despite of the facts, however,  some people are willing to trust God with their decisions.  As the results, many are seeing God's blessings upon their lives!

 Those who make a living from selling food items were able to make a double profits on Saturdays! That is twice the amount comparing to that of their regular earnings...  A man and his wife from Living Water Church operate a junkyard business for a living where they collect or buy recycle items and then sell items back to other junkyard companies across the border.  Like all other businesses, there were times for ups and downs, but every so often, this couple would excitedly share about the many blessings God blessed them...  And then there are some other families who own small business shops (selling toys, clothing, hand bags, shoes, and or hair accessories products), but who are willing to close their shops on Sundays; they are also seeing more and more costumers coming to buy goods in their shops on weekdays!  As the results, questions are being raised, and words are being spread in communities and in local markets.  "Why is this shop closed today?", asked a hurried costumer on a very busy Sunday morning. "It is because the owner is a believer of Preah Yea-sue (Jesus)," said an owner of another shop next door.  "They always closed on Sundays", added another. Because of these comments, many curious people begin to wonder about these "Koan Preah Yea-sue" (children of Jesus). As the result, a number of people willingly came by just to "check things out" at church!  Every week at Living Water church, we often saw new faces attending the service. Last week, there were  total of 12 new ones!  It is an exciting time for the Poipet KEC churches!

Chenda, aged 30, a young wife and a mother of three small kids, was among the curious people in Poipet.  She and her husband, Sam-nang, aged32, had heard about the Gospel of Jesus from a visiting friend in early February of this year, and shortly after their meeting, the couple prayed to receive Jesus as their Savior!  But being the only newly believers among the family, they had many questions about life and about their spiritual journey, but had no one to share their concerns with.  And for the past few years, this young couple has been running a successful  phone shop in one of the local markets in Poipet. Recently, however, because of poor decision making, this couple were struggled with severe financial crisis! So much so that Chenda was  having suicidal thoughts!

One day, as she was hopelessly wandering around in a local market, she overheard someone talking loudly about a Christian shop owner named "Lydia"!   Upon hearing the name, Chenda immediately headed straight to Lydia's shop!  After brief introduction and explaining her reasons for the visit, these two ladies, once strangers, now, were joyfully hugging each other like best of friends, while Chenda shed tears of thanksgiving to God for allowing her to meet with other believers in Poipet! That night, in full agreement with her husband, the couple invited us to their house to remove all their shrines, idols, and other spiritual worship items!  Needing support,  we'd included a few other church people to come along.  After a brief moment of singing and praying, relying fully on the authority and power of Jesus Christ, and with the couple leading the way, we tore away and removed all of the worship items, one by one, loaded them into rice sags, and then onto our truck, took them to our house, and had them all burned!  Chenda and Samnang came along with us and stayed up to talk with other believers, until past midnight!  That was two weeks ago...

 Both Chenda and Samnang are still on fire for the Lord!  They reading the Bible non-stop!  Already they read through the entire book of New Testament! Since then, Samnang began to live a changed life!  His mother (not yet believer) took notice of the changes in her son and began to tell all her neighbors about these transformation she is seeing in her own son! Chenda, at the same time, boldly shared the Good News to her parents and to all that that she met coming to her shop, urging and pleading them to make a decision to follow Christ, "Soon!  Please! Before it is too late".  As the result, last night, Chenda's father, Mr. Eng Chou, aged 57, also called and invited us to his house!

He wanted to hear more about this Good News that Chenda was talking so much about!  After Soeuth
shared the salvation message with him, Mr. Chou prayed to received Jesus as his Savior! He even let us cut off the spirit string from around his waist!

We tried to connect with Chenda and Samnang on a daily basis through phone calls offering words of encouragement as well as answering any questions or concerns.  We'd encourage the couple to call us any time.  And they did!  Sometimes we'd received phone calls at one or two O'clock in the morning just because they wanted some explanations or clarifications in certain passages of the Bible they were reading! Every day both Chenda and Samnang would often give us exciting reports about what is happening to their new and changing lives.  This morning on the phone, Chenda told me that the wife of her next door neighbor (who sells shoes) is wanting to come to visit church as well!


 Like other curious people in the market, this neighbor has also been wanting to learn the reason why Chenda and Samnang were closing their shop this past Sunday!  After hearing Chenda's explanation, this neighborly lady expressed a desire to visit church as well...

Other encouraging  testimonies were also shared among the church families: Small hungry children firmly refused to eat choice food because the food has been offered to the evil spirits, "Because that would not be pleasing Jesus!" they told the unbelieving relatives.  While the temptation is great during the festive holiday, one young boy refused drinking alcohol even though it was offered to him for free! Instead, he'd turned around quoting Scripture back to the person who gave him the drink!

 "Do not get drunk on wine, which lead to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit", (Ephesians 5:18). Then, he took his sister's hand, and together they walked away from that Chinese New Year's party...

Clearly we are on a winning side of this spiritual warfare!  As God's children continue to live as witnesses among their community, many people are finding their ways the true Hope and Salvation in Jesus Christ!  But at the same time, the Enemy is  NOT very happy with this idea!  He is trying every tactic and every scheme he could think of on God's children.  Some church families, especially those who were in close contact with Chenda and Samnang during their time of conversion, a number of them reported to have been disturbed by visions or dreams or seeing scary evil images at nights causing them lost of sleep.  But all of them who'd seen images or visions, they all seemed to say the same thing, "As soon as I called out the Name of Jesus, the image just disappeared!" There is truly POWER in the Name of JESUS for those who believe! Please pray for Chenda and Samnang and for other newly believers like them to stand firm with their decision to follow Christ.  Pray for protection for all of God's children, especially those who are in Poipet.

Please pray also for the overall coming events among the KEC church ministries.

-March 24-26, KEC national conference in Phnom Penh.  The heat is extremely HOT these days, daily average temperature is mid to high 90's! The conference will be held under opened tents in areas with no trees for shades using electric fans for air circulation.  Despite of the heat, people are very excited about this national conference, which comes once every two years!

-Pray for safety and protection for those who will be attending the conference.  There will be elections for new National leadership committees during this conference as well.  Please pray for clear directions from God.

- April 1-3, the most excited and most anticipating event for KEC youth ministry is coming to Mondulkiri Province!  The National youth committees are expecting about 500 youth to attend this conference!  Young people from all over Cambodia will be heading to Mondulkiri soon. The trip is quite far, about 13 hours drive, each way, from Poipet!  So far,  a total of 44 people from Poipet are registered for this conference.  And more people from Poipet are also interested, but the already limited- transportation seating is based on first come first serve only!

- Please PRAY for protect for all. The theme for this conference is "Iron Sharpens Iron" from Proverbs. 27:17.

Thank you for your continual prayer support and for you financial support to the Great Commission Fund which enables us to keep serving the Lord in the part of the world. Please share with us what God is doing in your life.

In JESUS name,
Soeuth and Syna Lao

February Update 2015

Dear  Friends,

Warm greetings from Poipet!  It really is getting warmer here as it's getting closer to the peak of a hot season. A daily average temperature is about mid 90's degree Fahrenheit!

In November, we'd shared with you about Chhee about her evangelism outreach as she sells food items from her bicycle market.  Here is a continuation of her story.  A few months ago, back in October, through Chhee's portable market, the Gospel of Jesus had captured  Srey Daa's heart! Back then, Srey Daa, a poor destitute young widow,  a mother a small girl, pregnant with another, was in a desperate stage of hopelessness.  In July of the same year, Srey Daa's husband was killed in an automobile accident, leaving her pregnant, helplessly wandering around, and struggled to survive in Poipet as she cared for her elderly mother along with her own child!  When Chhee met Srey Daa in October, Chhee had lovingly shared the message of HOPE of Jesus Christ to Srey Daa!  Then, Chhee brought Srey Daa to the Living Water Church and introduced her to the church ladies.  Later on when Srey Daa was having some difficulties with her pregnancy, some church ladies took turns to care for Srey Daa, while some other ladies brought her to the C&MA medical clinic.  Srey Daa was then seen and follow- up cared by our medical International workers.  When the due date arrived, another lady quickly rushed Srey Daa to the Siem Reap children hospital where Baby Daniel was born on

December 13 . Still more church ladies continued taking turns to reach out and cared for this family!  Sadly, Baby Daniel was born with severe birth defects, and he'd suffered many complications with his heart and lungs. After weeks of fighting for his life, Baby Daniel went HOME to be with Jesus on Sunday morning of February 1.  Oh what a heart wrenching experience for the entire church!  And for Srey Daa, what can she do?  She had no money to think of a funeral plan! And this was the first funeral experience for the young church leaders! What should they do? How? Where to begin?  After  brief moments, one man said, "With a few helping hands, I can build a coffin!" Then Chean, one of the leaders, said, "I'll get the funeral message ready". One lady said, "I'll help with flower arrangement". Still another person said, "I'll call some people at the burial site to get the tomb ready". And the list of extra helping started to pour in.  And just like that, the funeral for Baby Daniel was quickly arranged.
At the burial site, many believers spoke meaningful words of condolences and encouragement to Srey Daa. By 6 pm of the same day, Baby Daniel was laid to rest in a beautifully prepared tomb.   Among the 40 plus people who attended the funeral, about half of them were new believers!  They'd not only witnessed their first Christian funeral, but they also saw how the Love of Christ being demonstrated during a time of need! Oh what a beautiful picture to behold as the Body of Christ came alive together!  Srey Daa, with the help of church ladies, resumed life all again.  She is now making a living by selling sour fruit snacks from a pushcart!

"As iron sharpens iron, so a man sharpens the countenance of his friend", Proverbs 27:17.  This is a theme for this year annual Khmer Evangelical Church (KEC) youth conference which will take place on April 1-3.  As the message being shared about the coming youth event, some people already began to apply the meaning of the passage into their daily lives.  Recently, because of a gentle rebuke/correction from a caring friend, a man from Living Water Church has recently confessed his bitterness against the church leaders!  His mind has been poisoned, for so long, as he'd listened to and considered the gossips and slanderous remarks made by other people against the church leaders. So much was his bitterness  against the leaders that it affected his health and the ways he related to others.  Praise God for timing words from his caring friend! This week with fierce conviction, the man began to call each church leaders, one-by-one, confessing all his sins against them!

Culturally, the Khmer people avoid confrontations at all cause, especially with those from leadership positions. Aware of the need, we often  encouraged people, especially to our students, to come freely and talk with and to us if or when we do or say something wrong against them. As the result, a young man from the soccer ministry, after many weeks of hold grudge again Soeuth, had finally and boldly came forward to his share his heart with Soeuth.  He admitted to the fact that, because of his anger, he even tried to intentionally trip or hurt Soeuth during the recent soccer game. When asked to identify the reasons for his anger, the young man could not come up with one reasonable explanation!  Nevertheless, he was very angry with Soeuth. When his friends learned about his bitter feelings, they'd persistently encouraged  him to talk to Soeuth.  And he did!   Now, we still see the young man coming to Living Water Church to play soccer with other youth every so often.  We rejoice at the work of the Holy Spirit for bringing healing and reconciliation.  It is ironic, however, that all these anger, hatred, and bitterness took place OR were discovered during the month when Valentine's Day is worldly celebrated! Please continue to pray that the God of Truth to do His work among the church people.

February 7-13, we had a greatest blessing of being with both of our sons again in Penang, Malaysia! Our oldest, Justin, had returned to his high school, Dalat International School, for a week, as a recruiting representative from Crown College! All his traveling and hotel expenses were paid for by the sending college!  What a tremendously blessing to our family!  We even got to share a room with Justin all week! The timing visit to Dalat was a total surprised to Jonathan! Jon had no clue that this entire family was coming to Dalat!  Sadly, the visit was short but very special! And we are very GRATEFUL to God for allowing us this amazing blessing of being with our sons again. THANK YOU JESUS!!!!

Please remember these dates in your prayers:

- February 18-20, Chinese New Year.  Pray for safety and protection for those who travel to visit family.  Pray for new believers as this is one of the testing time for their decision to follow Christ.  pray that they would remain faithful to God.
- March 5-6, annual prayer retreat, in Phnom Penh, for all the C&MA international workers.               -March 24-26, Khmer Evangelical Church (KEC) conference in Phnom Penh.
-April 1-3, annual KEC youth conference in Mondulkirir Province.

Please share with us what God is doing in your life. We would love to pray for you.  Thank you for your continual support in prayers and financial giving to the great Commission Fund (GCF) which enables us to continue serving God in this part of the world, bringing the message of Hope to the hopelessness and Salvation to the lost.    

Blessings,
Soeuth and Syna Lao                                                                                                                            
       

January Update 2015

Dear Friends,

Happy New Year!  Trusting that you had a blessed Christmas season.  We hope you have had some good moments during this season for reflecting on the events of 2014.  As you are launching into 2015, we pray for God's guidance and directions continue to lead you in every step of the way.

We want to keep you up to date with what God is doing during this past Christmas season.  Since late November and throughout the month of December, most of us, International Workers as well the local KEC church members, experienced significant spiritual attacks in so many ways.  As many of us are still fighting against various kinds of illnesses including common cold and flu, a few KEC members encountered serious accidents, and still some others encountered many personal attacks, and the list went on and on.  We sensed that God was going to do something BIG, and our Enemy also knew about this.  So we'd asked you to pray!  Here is the outcome to your prayers:   December 1 to January 1:  According to Pastor Nhan, president of the Khmer Evangelical Church (KEC) of the Peoyop (northwest) Region, and based on the latest  reports from the recent Regional Church Committees (district) meeting, the northwest region celebrated a total of 29 Christmas events in various villages and provinces!  Among the hundreds of attendants, many people were celebrating their first Christmas!  When opportunities were given to those who needed salvation, a total of 71 people responded and received Christ as their Lord and Savior!  And 25 other new believers got baptized during this Christmas season!  God is truly at work among the KEC church!  And we felt so blessed to be part of this great movement. God along deserves all the glories.  Praise the Name of Jesus!  THNAK YOU for praying with us.

January 2-8: the Poipet KEC churches were blessed with the gifted teachings on leadership seminar entitled S.H.A.P.E. (Spiritual Gifts, Heart/ passion, Abilities, Personalities, and Experiences) from a visiting team from First Alliance church, PA.  Many who attended the seminar boasted non-stop about what they'd learned, and how the seminar has changed their lives!  They are requesting that this kind of seminars be taught to other leaders in other parts of the country was well.  Some of the visiting team members also helped with sport ministry where soccer camp was done in three days!  Many youth from Poipet community were excited to b part of this soccer camp.  On behalf of the Poipet KEC churches, we want to THANK YOU, First Alliance of the C&MA from PA, for senior sending your pastor and team members!

Please remember these dates in prayers.                                                                                                        March 24-26: The National Church Committees (NCC) are busy planning activities for the coming Mohasonibath (National KEC Conference), taking place every two years, in Phnom Penh, at the new KEC center.  Pray for the many leaders and International Workers who are involved in planning various projects  and activities.

April 1-4:  The KEC youth are very excited about the coming National Annual Youth Conference at Mondul Kiri Province!  This will be the first time, in 22 years since the first KEC youth ministry established, that a  youth conference is taking place there!  Every year at annual youth conference, many  Phnong (one of the Cambodian western  tribal groups)youth had travel at great distances in order to participate in various provinces.  But this year, however, the Phnong tribal youth will have opportunity to be part of a hosting team, in their home town, in this most excited and most anticipate event among the youth ministry!  For the youth traveling from Poipet, each person is expected to save or raise up to $50.00 per person in order to cover for the cost of traveling expenses.  This is a huge among for the any Khmer person to come up with, but the committees have made the decision; they are not expecting quantity but quality, especially from those who are committed to go.  As this letter is being written, the national youth committees are holding a meeting in Phnom Penh in order to plan for the conference activities.  Please be in prayer for the KEC youth ministry.  Recently, we had many opportunities to witness how God was at work in the lives of many youth in the northwest region.  And this movement is being spread to other spread to other parts of Cambodia!  Pray for the key youth leaders who have opportunities to work with and have significant impacts to many youth around them.

January 13-17:  Syna will accompany Jonathan back to Dalat for his spring semester.  Pray for wisdom and discernment as well as patience to we wait on God as He continued His works in Jonathan's growing years.

Please share with us what God is doing in your life.  Thank you for your continual support in prayers and finance supporting to the Great Commission Fund (GCF) which enables us to keep serving in this part of the world.  Our God is at work!  He is moving in the hearts of many!  And we have the greatest privilege and honor to be part of His movement!   Thank you for Living the Call.

Blessings,

Soeuth and Syna

December Update

Dear Praying Friends,
For to us a Child is born, to us a Son is given, and the government will be on His shoulders.  And He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father,  Prince of Peace... (Isaiah 9:6).  As you are getting ready for the Christmas celebration, we wish a blessed and joyous holiday season.  Jesus Christ is the reason we celebrate this season!

You have been praying for the Poipet ministries, and here are some events that took place as a testimony that God is at work.  On Dec. 10, we had a regional quarterly youth rally at Living Water Church.  About 240+ people from three different provinces attended.  The Living Water Church was packed!  We ran out of plastic chairs to seat everyone.  And because there was not enough space for all the chairs, all the youth decided to sit on the tile floor throughout the entire service!  As usual, the youth from different villages had carefully prepared and rehearsed their special songs and or dramas to perform on this special event.  And every group did a great job at their performance!  During the service, opportunity was given to those who wish to share about what God is doing in their lives.

A young lady from Batthambang Province went up to the stage and boldly told the crowds about a miraculous healing (from asthma) and how her life has been effectively used by God for the past few years!  Another young lady from Malay, (a successfully professional wedding singer), has recently felt convicted that her life style was not honoring God.  So she decided to quit her current job in order to live a life worthy of God's calling. She is praying for clear directions for "what's next" in her life.  After the sharing, Soeuth spoke a Christmas message based on Luke 2.  "Of all the people in all Judah", he told the group, "The good news of the Messiah's birth was first announced to the shepherds, the most ignored and the lowest of the people group!  Yet the Savior of the world chose to make His announcement to them".  Comparing to the shepherd story, many of the youth felt they were among of the left outs, the ignored ones, due to their poor decision making and peer pressure.  But the message encouraged the young people that they are NOT forgotten by God!  Because of His great love and His concern for their salvation, God chooses to reveal Himself to them!  So, upon altar call, about 20 youth went forward to recommit their lives to the Lord Jesus.  Many broke down in tears as they confessed their short comings before God.  Please pray for the youth ministry as God is at work in their lives.

Shortly after lunch, Dec. 10, the youth committees quickly arranged for the Bible quizzing session  in the afternoon.   Some groups left after the morning service, but many chose to hang around to cheer  and support the quizzer friends.  Altogether, we had 6 teams from Battambang and from Bontey Meanchey provinces.  Once again, the youth did exceptionally well.  We are especially proud for those who were first time quizzers!  Seeing how things were done, many new kids are being challenged to try on the next quizzing meet!  Please pray that the Word of God would take deep root in the hearts and lives would be transformed as young people memorize verses for the competitions.
For the past few weeks, all of us experienced some kinds of spiritual attacks in so many different ways.  December 3-6, we drove to the capital city, Phnom Penh, to join some team members there for a discipleship conference and a team Christmas party gathering.  While there, one team member (International Worker)felt very sick with high fevers and the "worse headache" in her life!  When taken to a local clinic with some blood works done, the illness was ruled out to be viral meningitis!

At about the same time, another team member, back in Poipet, also felt very sick.  Our team in Phnom Penh took time to pray for two IWs.  And God heard our prayers.  Now, a week later, both IWs are back on their feet again.   Praise the Lord!!!  At about the same times in different locations, however, our KEC church families also experienced spiritual warfare.  One home-alone elderly lady in Svey Sisophon was drugged and robbed in broad day light!  Still in another location, one KEC key church leader was on a night bus going toward Phnom Penh, when at 1 am, while the bus was in full speed and loaded with sleeping passengers , one of the tires had a blow out!  The bus driver managed to take control of the steering wheel and was able to stable the bus to a safely parking position! On Sunday morning of Dec. 7, at Living Water Church, right before the service began, a few church members experienced a number of medical problems and had to be rushed to the hospital!  Then at 4 pm on the same day, two church leaders, in an attempt to clean up the church yards (as preparation for the Dec. 10 youth event), got deep cut wounds that required immediate stitches: one person was had a cut between his eyes, another person with a cut on his forearm!  And the list of incidents keeps adding on as we are getting closer to the Christmas events...  At times like these, we could hardly wait to see what God is going to do within the next few weeks as the church families are coming together to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ.  In every village, people are being invited to join the Christmas celebrations!  Believers are encouraged to invite their friends and relatives to join the celebration.  We strongly believe that God is going to do some amazing thing in people lives these next couple weeks.  And Satan, our arch enemy,  knew this as well.  That is why we are being attacked.  PRAY that we would overcome these hard times.  God is victorious!  He is on our side.  And He has already overcome it all.

Many of you who have been financially supported the Bethlehem KEC Church building project, thank you!  The generous donation you gave now reached to 47% of the total amount need!  Meing Pheap and the Bethlehem church committees are very grateful to your support!  And they wish to extent their gratitude to you all.


We are very grateful to God for you!  Thank you for Living Call together in partnership in the effort of bring the Good News of Jesus Christ to lost people in this part of the world.  Your continual support to the Great Commission Fund enables us to keep on serving here.  Thank you!  No matter what the world is saying, Jesus Christ is still the Reason for this Christmas season!  As you come together in celebration the birth of our Savior, may you truly experience the meaning for  this season.

Merry Christmas!
Soeuth and Syna Lao

November Update

Dear Praying Friend and Family,

Greetings!  As the Thanksgiving holiday (for Americans) is approaching, it is our prayer that you would find many reasons to be thankful for this year. Going with the holiday theme, I want to share with you a story of a beautiful lady who has been very dear to my heart…

“Then the King said…, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.  For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me’.”  (Matthew 25: 34-36)  

The passage has been a daily theme for Chhee, a believer from Poipet. She peddles her old bicycle along the paths and bumpy roads, moving from village to village, with a basketful of market fresh goods. In Chhee’s portable market, she sells fish, chicken, and other food items, for a living.  At age 33, married and a mother of four small kids, Chhee is an active member of the Living Water Church.  Every morning, she crosses the border to Thailand to buy food goods from the border market and then returns to sell them in local villages in Poipet.  On a good day, she makes about $5.00 to $7.00 of profits, enough earning to feed her family of 8 per day.  However, her “good day,” depends heavily on what her customers were willing to pay for the items they buy.  Many would give her the money up front in exchange for the items purchased; some of her customers, however, asked if they could buy them on credits; but very often, these people ended up moving away, or they just simply could not pay back, so Chhee never got paid as the result.  Also, lately with heavy rains, her sell was not always good.  But no matter how the day turns out to be, cheerfully and with a heart of gratitude, Chhee would often thank God for her daily provisions, always expressing “Aark-une Preah Aarng” (thank you, Lord)…  Chhee’s customers are the same: poor villagers who live far away and are often too poor or too sick to make regular trips to local markets.  As she bicycles around selling her goods every day, Chhee has many opportunities to tell her customers about the Good News of Jesus.  She often prayed for those who are sick, visited those who are lonely, listened to their sad stories, encouraged and invited them to come to church…  Chhee, having a very low self-esteem, does not consider herself pretty enough, good enough, or smart enough to do anything right.  In June 2005, however, through medical interventions and encouragements from church families, Chhee and her husband, Daa, accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior!  (Chhee, her mother, and her two older kids got baptized on June 28!)  Remembering what Christ has done for her and for family, Chhee is always passionate about sharing Jesus with others!  She is quite an evangelist!  Every chance she had, Chhee was always pointing people to Jesus.  As the result, many have come to church and received Christ as their Lord and Savior, all because of Chhee’s ministry…

 Like many Cambodian women of her generation, especially those from poor families, Chhee had never been to school. She had never learned how to read.  We’ve been encouraged her to study in adult literacy class.  And she has been trying!  For the past few years, she had gone through a total of six different teachers!  Every one of them, with good intention, all wanted to teach Chhee how to read.  BUT, at every attempt, after a few weeks of trying, both teacher and student simply quit.  “I just can’t teach Chhee how to read!”, as they all seemed to say…  Since March of this year, however, Chhee has been sitting beside me, three afternoons a week, learning how to read.  And the journey has been both, a joy and a challenge.  If given the opportunity to be seen by a professional or being tested, I think Chhee would qualify as having at least one or more learning disabilities.  But no matter the difficulties, through constant encouragements, along with her own determinations, conviction, and persevering, Chhee is learning how to read by memorization!  And she is encouraged to the idea that she is able to “read” and write up to lesson #33 this week! (This Bible-based adult literacy program has a total of 80 lessons).  This is a tremendous milestone for such a special someone as Chhee!  It is my constant prayer for Chhee, as her “reading” is improved, that she would truly see and accept herself worth, her true identity, and her value in Christ.  Will you join me in praying for Chhee?

We are very GRATEFUL to all of you for praying for our family, especially for or children!  It has been a bitter-sweet journey for us, this year, having our children going away to school, one in Minnesota and one in Malaysia, while we are here in Cambodia!  But GOD has been very gracious to us!  Justin is doing really well in his first semester at Crown College, and Jonathan is having a very successful semester at Dalat International School!  Both of our children are surrounded by loving and caring people who are always there for each of them in time of needs.  GOD, our Jehovah-Jireh, has been faithful in providing every detail of our kids’ needs, even when they are away from home!  THANK YOU!

As shared in our last writing that, Soeuth and I went to the central New York district, Sept. 9- Oct. 16, speaking among Alliance churches of the areas.  We had a great visit there, meeting new friends, and reconnecting with former ones.  We are THANKFUL to GOD for allowing us the opportunity to share with the greater Alliance family about what HE is doing in Cambodia! Throughout the entire trip, it has been a very interesting observation to see that, within the Alliance family, if you sit and chat with someone long enough, you would bounce to meet someone who knows you from the past, or someone who knows someone else of your connecting circle.  That’s exactly what happened to us during this trip to the Central New York!  We met a number of Soeuth’s former classmates from the “good old days” at Nyack College!  And we were very encouraged to learn that many of them are serving God in full-time ministries!  Way to go, Nyack!

It was such a hectic time, back in August, we were so busy getting all the last minute things done before departing for America, that we did not get a chance to tell you of the ministry events and prayer requested shared…

On August 29 was our first Bible quizzing match for the KEC youth ministry, since June 2002!  We had a total of 8 teams from only two provinces!  All of them were first time quizzers; and they did amazingly well!  Inspired by all the excitements that took place, other young people are being encouraged to take on the challenge!  Now, many more teams, from other provinces, are being trained for the next quiz meet, December 10, at Living Water Church, Poipet!  The youth committees, who are mostly volunteers, are also being encouraged as the products of their hard works are being used.  Our challenges, however, are to try to get more questions written and ready for the future meets, and to find more workers to help.  There are so many works to be done, but only few workers are available.  Please pray that God would send us more workers to this ready and harvesting field…
September 8 was our latest youth rally for the northwest region KEC youth.  Wanting to strengthen the weaker churches, we relocated the meeting place to Beong Beng Village, in Malay District.  Because of the new site and isolated place, we did not think that many would show up.  Yet the youth committees were quite surprised as a total of 137 young people showed up!  Since the surround fields were not safe enough for the youth to go exploring, we decided to stay in door for all day activities!  The small church building was packed with people!  Seeing all the excitement of that meeting, other adults from the areas decided to join the group as well.  Even a 78 year- old grandmother was found among the group!  When it was sharing time, many of them took turns to tell about what God is doing in their lives!  But this grandmother told about the healing miracle that God had on her life!  Everyone sat still and paid special attention to ever she spoke!  At the end of the day, everyone agreed, that was the best youth rally we had so far.  PRAISE GOD!  Please be in prayer for the next youth rally which is scheduled for the morning part of December 10, at Living Water Church.

December is approaching FAST!  And the KEC church leaders are planning for the coming Christmas events in each of their local villages.  For the churches in Poipet, we‘ll three main events:  Living Water Church (Dec. 25), Santepheap Church (Dec. 26), and Ondong Thmar Meas (Dec. 27).  The remaining smaller house churches will all join the Living Water Church on Christmas Day!  Church families are encouraged to bring their unbelieving friends and relative to join each of the services.


Please pray that God would touch hearts as people are coming to these events.

We are THANKFUL for you continual support in partnership with the Poipet ministries!  Your faithful and generous giving to the Great Commission Fund (GCF) is what kept us serving here, making a difference in people lives, shining the Light of Jesus in this dark place, pointing Lost People to Christ…

Thanksgiving Day is coming, what you are thankful for this year?
With a grateful heart,
Soeuth & Syna

August Update

Dear Praying Friends,

Greetings from Poipet!  We trust you all had a great summer.  By now schools have already started for some children, including ours. Thank you for your prayers from all the events that took in the past few weeks/months.  Our God continues to be at work here and everywhere in world.  Here is an update…

As the people were preparing to get baptize (June 28), we had warned them that they would soon be tested, and that as part of living a Christian life, persecutions and trials are unavoidable.  2 Timothy 3: 12 boldly tells us that, “In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted."   And true to the Scripture, many of the newly baptized people have undergone some severe testing times of their own.  But thank God for He also promises us that, “Never will I leave; never will I forsake you.” (Heb. 13: 5).  We praise Jesus that many of the new believers are still walking with God today. 

Despite of the testing, however, Mrs. Sivourn (as shared in our June’s update) continues to live passionately for Christ in her family and community, telling everyone she meets about Jesus Christ!  So far, she already brought four people into God’s Family including her sister and some friends.  And this past Sunday (August 17) she brought another one, her husband!  After Sunday service, Mrs. Sivourn asked if I would pray for her husband to receive Christ.  Considering his age and being culturally sensitive to a woman’s role, I asked Mr. Chean (a leader from Living Water Church) to sit with me, and together we’d shared the privilege of leading Mr. Thavaro, aged 52, to the Lord!  But before we actually prayed for him, we asked him some questions concerning his background and his motive of coming to the Lord.  And this is what he told us (in my own paraphrases according to what I understood of him)…  Mr. Thavaro is a prominent figure among the Cambodian government officials with 30 years of experiences in the military fields.  He is in charge of over 300 Cambodia soldiers.  Having fought in many battles (some of them along the Cambodian border), Mr. Thavaro had encountered many dangerous situations, but God silently kept him safe thus far. Since Buddhism is a state religion, Mr. Thavaro, as a leader, is required to lead his men to seek spiritual counseling from Buddhist priests or monks, especially before going into battles.  But Mr. Thavaro told us that, “I only did it out of duty.  I never had any strong feelings or interests in Buddhism.  I don’t really believe in those religion stuffs."  A few years ago, however, a friend introduced him to Jesus as the Truth and Living God!  Mr. Thavaro was immediately interested.  But he quietly kept the news to himself.  However, he began to ponder in his heart about this new God Jesus.  During the past few years, when he found himself in difficult circumstances, he would often call on the Name of Jesus for help.  “And Preah Yea-sue (Jesus) seemed to have always shown up every time I needed Him," Mr. Thavaro proudly told us.  In fact, a few times already, Mr. Thavaro told us that he had personally experienced a few miraculous incidents that took place in his life! And on that Sunday afternoon sitting across from me, I asked him one last question, “So, why do you want to Thvay Kloun (give your life) to Jesus?”  He sat up straight, looked directly into my face, and said, “I believe with all my heart that Preah Yea-sue is the One True and Living God.  And I want to be part of His family too”.   After we prayed for him, Mr. Thavaro, though very new in his faith, asked many good but hard questions especially in regards to his role as a new Christian working in military fields.  We answered him to the best of our knowledge, encouraged him to keep in touch with us, and exchanged phone numbers.  Since he already has a Bible, we instructed him on where to begin reading, and encouraged him to spend time with God through daily reading and praying.  Please PRAY for Mr. Thavaro to remain faithful to God.  He will return to his locations of work at the end of the month.  

On early Saturday morning (August 16), we squeezed 22 sunday school teachers from Poipet (plus the van driver and 2 toddlers) into a 15-seat van and drove 2 and half hours to Thmar Koul in Battambang Province!  We had a full day of activities and lessons planned for Sunday school teacher training seminar.  I (Syna) was so glad to see Laalyn and Pheap come along with the Poipet group.  Being part of the committees for the Sunday school ministry, Laalyn, now in her fourth month of pregnancy, was able to put some smiles on her face as she joyfully led the group of excited teachers (about 35 teachers) in games and activities related to Sunday school classes.  Her passion in reaching kids for Christ is evidenced in her well- planned and organized games and activities that she led on that day.  By the grace of God, both Pheap and Laalyn are able to move on with life, now without their little besides them.  Please continue to pray for this dear couple.

At the beginning of the year when we were anticipating the idea of sending our two boys (Justin and Jonathan) to Dalat International (Boarding) School at Penang, Malaysia, we were wondering how to deal with early “emptiness” living in a house without our kids.  But God had other plans for us.  The week that we were about to send off our sons to Dalat, God gave us two “daughters” to care for and love for a season.  Both Danaat (21) and Srey Roth (17) are from broken families, and they’ve been living with us since January 2014.  The girls are believers and are thriving well in their walks with God.  At home, Syna mentors and works closely with them: guiding them to walk in God’s way, teaching them cooking, baking, and cleaning skills, in hope to prepare them for better (future) housewives.  Outside skills:  Danaat still enjoys studying at a beauty school, and Srey Roth is taking computer and English classes in the evenings.  Growing and services: Both girls are studying in Abundant Life class with a church leader on Sunday afternoons, got baptized recently, attend weekly youth group, and are being trained on how to teach children Sunday school classes.  Living and finances: Srey Roth works two afternoons a week at a missionary’s home doing house cleaning and is helping Syna teaching adult literacy class.  She will soon begin teaching Khmer language/lessons to local missionary kids.  Danaat (for her practice) gives free/ or low charge hair- cuts, manicure and pedicure works  to any interested and volunteer costumers (at their own risk). The girls carefully save up their monthly allowances and other small incomes earned and give some of the savings to their needy families at homes. Please pray for the future needs and directions for these precious girls.

Some of you took personal interests in ministering to our children through your faithful prayers, encouraging emails, snail mails, and sending them care packages.  THANK YOU! The hardest thing to do as parents, so far, is sending our kids away to schools.  We had to do it twice in these past few months! We’d prayed much about this and God has been given us peace.  We know that God love our kids more than we, and He is take great care of them by sending His faithful servants to love and to care for and to guide them along the way…

Some of you probably have already followed the story of “Meing Pheap” (July 15)  (http://www.alliancelife.org/aritcle.php?id=924) in the Alliance Life Magazine.  THANK YOU for responding to the need with your finance.  If you have not, please consider doing so by sending your donation to the approve project.  The building is in a terrible shape now that it is rainy season, again.  The Bethlehem church committees cannot begin any construction plan until all the money raised.  

Please pray also for these events:

Northwest region first Bible quizzing August 29 at Svey Sisophon, Bontey Meanchey province

Poipet ministry key church leaders ‘next meeting at Living Water, August 26

Next quarterly youth rally, Sept. 8, at Boeng Beng village in Malay district.

Sept 9- Oct 17, Soeuth & Syna will go to US for Fall Inter-District Tour, Mission Conference Tour

Thank you for partnering with us in bringing the Gospel of Jesus Christ to lost and needy people in Poipet and around the world.  Lost people still matter to God and He wants them to be found.

Blessings,

Soeuth & Syna