December 14, 2010

December 14, 2010

Dear friends,

This weekend we had four first time visitors. Three of them are from a very rough part of town that we have been visiting on Saturdays. Please pray for SreyNik in particular to return. She claims to have been saved at another ministry however she is making some very foolish decisions in her life. Unfortunately she lives in a neighborhood that has been saturated by “churches” and organizations who give away money for going to church. Pray that she will be drawn back to our church and that we will have the opportunity to really help her. Miss Sok and Miss Eng are focusing on reaching her.

Mrs. Rep Ut (in the center) visited for the first time on Sunday morning. We are not sure that she is saved but she seems to have a hunger for truth. She told me that the was so excited to be at church. Pray that she will return and that we will have the opportunity to lead her to the assurance of her salvation very soon.

My language classes with a high ranking government official seem to be going good. I meet with him three days a week from 11:00-11:45 a.m. Of course my objective in agreeing to teach him English is to seek to present the Gospel to him. He is part of a segment of society here that is virtually untouchable through traditional methods of evangelism. Yesterday he was not able to come to study because the Deputy Prime Minister called to meet with him. Today he was telling me about his responsibilities to help organize events in commemoration of an upcoming national holiday on January 7th. This is the day that Cambodia celebrates being liberated from the Khmer Rouge by the Vietnamese. I saw this as an opportunity to draw the attention to eternal things. I told him that the Vietnamese were the savior of the Cambodia people. Likewise, December 25th is a special time when we celebrate the Saviour coming from Heaven to save those who would accept Him. We spent the majority of the class period dealing with why someone would need a Saviour. This man is a very proud, arrogant, and self-sufficient man who denies that he has even sinned once. Humanly speaking I am certain that he has done many commendable things for this country but of course those things can not save him. Please pray that I will discern the doors God is opening  and that our conversations will allow the Holy Spirit to bring about conviction in this man’s hard heart and that he will not resist salvation.

I just returned from meeting with my sending Pastor and some of our missionaries in a neighboring communist country. It looks like that God is opening the door for our TEAM to open an English school in this particular country. The school will allow the missionaries to have a “cover” to remain in the country as well as provide access to potentially hundreds of young people each month. I do not have space here to detail all the doors that seem to be opening but please help to pray that God will give clear direction.  As more Asian Americans are reached with the Gospel through our home church and the new church plants in the States we believe we will continue to see many called by God back to southeast Asia and we will have many opportunities to gain access to “closed” countries. Here is a picture of a Christmas tree being decorated in this communist country. Above the tree was a sign (which you can not see) that says, “Merry Christmas.” That is quite a contrast to the “Happy Holidays” that one is likely to see in America.

Please pray for the Touch Keo family who will, Lord willing, complete deputation and be arriving here to Phnom Penh on December 31st. We look forward to having them here with us. I know that God will use them in mighty ways to win many Khmer to Him. Once they arrive and get settled in we are planning to begin a children’s ministry as well as an English language outreach ministry targeting young adults. We have several more missionary families who are still on deputation. As they begin arriving over the months ahead we anticipate being able to plant multiple works simultaneously.

Two weeks ago we had a medical situation arise in our family that cost us $2,000. God used one of you to provide for that need in full. That was a great blessing to us. We are grateful for the role that God has called each of you to play in helping to reach southeast Asians with the Gospel. We could not be doing what God has called us to do without your prayers and support.

Because of God’s grace,

Dave, Debbie, Joshua, Jeremy, and Jason

P.S. This picture might explain why our internet access is somewhat sporadic!