December 12, 2016

December 12, 2016

Dear friends,

We had a wonderful weekend at Pacific Baptist Church here in Cambodia. We continue to be amazed at what God is doing in and through the lives of the folks who have come to know Him. It is truly a blessing to serve among people here who have so little of this world’s goods but who are rich in faith and good works.

Sunday morning we took up a special Christmas offering that will be used to purchase this cow. Last week we asked you to pray for our folks to have the faith to give. We are so happy to report to you that the total amount given in the offering was $793.05. This is a little more than $200 more than we actually needed to purchase the cow, have it delivered to the village and feed it for a couple of weeks until it is given to around 30 Muslim families. The overwhelming majority of this offering was given by folks who had to make great sacrifice in order to give. Nine out of ten folks who gave in this offering could never afford to actually purchase beef for their own family. It is humbling to see their love for the Lord and for the lost. After I announced our total on Sunday evening one of our men remarked that this offering reveals the spiritual maturity of so many of our people. I agree. PLEASE CONTINUE TO PRAY THAT OUR MEMBERS WHO LIVE IN A PARTICULAR VILLAGE WILL HAVE THE WISDOM TO DISCERN WHICH FAMILIES OUGHT TO RECEIVE THIS GIFT AND THAT IT WILL RESULT IN MORE FAMILIES COMING TO CHRIST AS THEY WITNESS THE LOVE, FORGIVENESS, AND COMPASSION OF OUR CHURCH FAMILY.

Sunday evening our Phnom Penh teens ran the entire service. Three of them played piano specials and several of them shared testimonies and reported on the progress being made in some of our village ministries. Our youngest son, Jason, preached a great message from Daniel 1:8 and challenged each of us to know what we believe and then to live what we believe. As his parents we are so thankful to see what God is doing in his life. Perhaps the biggest blessing of the evening was realizing that he believes and lives what he preached. Seyha is technically not a part of the teen department any more. He is now a freshman in college and majoring in Engineering. Seyha was reached through the Phnom Penh Children’s Ministry and is the only believer in his family. His life is often difficult due to the strong stand that he takes for the Lord in his family as well as among his peers in school. He preached a good message reminding us that the Lord is worthy of our praise and challenging us to live a life that brings honor and glory to Him. We are blessed by Seyha and all of the young people who are taking a stand for the Lord in spite of the circumstances in which they live. PLEASE PRAY THAT THE YOUNG PEOPLE OF PACIFIC BAPTIST CHURCH WILL CONTINUE TO GROW IN THE LORD.

Some of the teens opened our evening service with the song Joy to the World. You can hear them sing by clicking on the video below.

This past Saturday our men enjoyed a great time of competition as they played soccer. We were able to rent a local facility for a reasonable price and everyone had a wonderful time despite having one broken nose and a number of guys with cramping legs due to the heat and perhaps due to the fact that some of them are out of shape. 🙂 It is virtually unheard of here in this country for men to play soccer unless there is gambling, drinking, and yelling and screaming involved. Our men all conducted themselves as Christians and they were a great testimony to those who were looking on. I remember hearing a well-known pastor in America once say that you can tell more about a staff member by watching him play sports for 10 minutes than you can by having him work on your staff for 10 years! Though being very competitive and playing to win, our men maintained a great Christian spirit for nearly 5 hours and we are thankful for them! Thanks guys!

I have included a short clip from a couple of the games. I’m sure some of them will want to see themselves playing.

Because of God’s grace,

Dave, Debbie, Joshua, Jeremy, and Jason