September 11, 2011
Dear friends,
We had a wonderful weekend. The attendance with the adults was a bit down today for some reason. It may have been the rain that gave some a convenient excuse…
This past week we had a group from the church who traveled to Prak Pnou to do soul-winning and follow-up on prospects. We had a wonderful time together. Our new believers are very bold in their witness for the Lord. We are hoping that the door will open to be able to start a work in this village.
This past Saturday I was able to spend several hours with Vothy and PhanNy at their home in Prak Pnou. I met them the first time that we went to the village for OPERATION GO! soul-winning. They seem to be open to a relationship with us. It was great that they invited me to eat lunch with them at their home. We will continue to follow-up on this family and others. Please pray that Vothy, PhanNy and their sons will trust Christ as their personal Saviour.
Two months ago (July 10th, 2011) we asked you to pray for V.S. to accept Jesus as her personal Saviour. She has a very important job with the government and keeps rather busy. It is difficult to catch her at home. When she comes to church she is very quiet and just listens intently to everything that goes on so it has been difficult to discern just what she is thinking.
This past Wednesday evening I received a hand written letter from her. She wrote about several things that are of a personal nature. The most important thing that she said was that for the past 50-60 years she has been working hard to gain merit so that she could be reincarnated and have a better future. In the letter she admits that all of her efforts have been utterly useless! She admits that her entire life she has been going astray from the only One Who could help her – God. He has been working in her heart since she was first exposed to the Gospel this past May when Teven, one of our new believers, began witnessing to her. She has taken the printed materials that have been given to her, listened to the mp3 messages, come to church and after a lot of thinking – she has trusted Christ as her personal Saviour! Praise the Lord! She is 69 years old and seems to be a very strange fit for our young church. Not only that, she is socially “well placed.” Humanly speaking there is no reason why she would be attracted to our church. The average adult in our church is in their young 20s. We thank God that He has seen fit to allow us to influence her. Pray that V.S. will be strong in her testimony. She associates with policy makers here in Cambodia and is under pressure to do wrong every day. She serves in the Ministry of Education and, to my understanding, oversees many teachers throughout the entire country. Now that she is a Christian we believe that the Holy Spirit will begin guiding her into Truth. Please pray that we will have wisdom to help lead this lady.
* A special thank you to friends in Iowa who sent a special gift several months ago to purchase mp3 players to use for evangelism. V.S. is just one of several individuals who have recently trusted Christ because of your special gift.
Please pray for Sothea. He is an English teacher here in Phnom Penh. Debbie and I met him last month while soul-winning in a new area. Debbie spent nearly 30 minutes witnessing to him while I met with others. He visited the morning service today. This was his first time to ever be in a Christian church. It was actually kind of interesting to watch him this morning during the service. During the song service he was looking around the auditorium – seemingly amazed that everyone was singing such strange songs. During the preaching he also looked around. It was almost as though he was shocked that the people actually believed the things I was saying. He raised his hand during the invitation, indicating that he wanted to know more about the Gospel. Lord willing, I will be meeting with him at 9:30 this Saturday morning to teach him more. Please pray for Sothea to have a soft heart that will receive the Truth.
We are so thankful for Kahna. She accepted Christ about 6 months ago. From the first day she was saved she has shown a genuine desire to be faithful to the Lord. Debbie meets with her for discipleship time on a regular basis and she is really growing. After she accepted Christ she was basically rejected by her family and friends. Even to this day most of her family rejects her because of her stand for the Lord. Kahna will begin teaching a Jr. High girls Sunday School class in the next few weeks. She will be reaching out to girls like SreyNeang. SreyNeang has been attending the Children’s Ministry on Sunday afternoons for several weeks. She recently began attending Sunday morning and evening services as well. Her grandfather actually used to attend a Baptist church that was started by a former missionary to Cambodia who is now pastoring in Georgia. She has a very soft heart but has not yet trusted Christ. Please pray that SreyNeang and several other Jr. High girls with whom Kahna is working will soon trust Christ as their personal Saviour.
Click on this link to view a short video that we prepared this past week. http://www.vimeo.com/28889183 Our next door neighbors held a 3-year funeral ceremony for their deceased father. According to Buddhist tradition, they believe that they must hold this celebration in order to keep the evil spirits from hurting them.
Because of God’s grace,
Dave, Debbie, Joshua, Jeremy, and Jason
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