September 20,  2018

Dear friends,

Things have been very busy here in Cambodia for the past several weeks and we have not taken the time to post any updates here on this blog. Of course, those of you who follow us on social media receive updates several times a week.

We started a new term in the Bible College this  past week.  We are so blessed to have the opportunity to invest in the lives of these young people. We believe that many of them will be used mightily here in this part of the world to see folks saved and new churches planted. PLEASE CONTINUE TO PRAY THAT THE STUDENTS WHO ARE  PART OF PACIFIC BAPTIST BIBLE COLLEGE WILL BE FAITHFUL.

It was a great opportunity this past week for us to meet together with several of the couples who are serving together with us in the ministry. We were missing two of our key couples who were not able to make it for this meeting. We thank God for each one of these folks and the valuable contribution that they make to the work of the Lord here in Cambodia! PLEASE PRAY THAT WE WILL CONTINUE TO ENJOY THE UNITY THAT HAS ENABLED US TO MOVE FORWARD OVER THE PAST SEVERAL YEARS.

This past week we had the opportunity to shoot videos with three of our national leaders. We believe as this ministry is fine-tuned and developed it will be an effective tool to take the gospel to places where we may not be able to go. It will also be an effective way to disciple new believers in villages that are well beyond our capacity to plant churches in within the foreseeable future. Bro. Vong is greatly gifted in dealing with the technical aspects of this ministry and we thank God for the gifts that have been given. If it were all up to me we would be in trouble! PRAY THAT WE WILL BE ABLE TO DEVELOP THE MEDIA MINISTRY TO BECOME AN EFFECTIVE SOUL-WINNING AND DISCIPLESHIP TOOL.

As we stopped and posed with these children this past Sunday evening we were reminded that their time at church each week is likely the happiest time of the week for each of them. All of these children come from very challenging backgrounds. Thank you for helping them to have the opportunity to hear the gospel! PLEASE PRAY FOR THE CHILDREN OF BOEUNG SALANG TO BE SAVED. There are so many useless and destructive voices calling out for their attention and it is getting increasingly more difficult to reach them.

PLEASE PRAY FOR SEIYAK TO BE SAVED. Her daughter, Sopheap (on the left), and family were saved here at Pacific Baptist Church about 8 years ago and are faithful members. SeiYak lives in a village a couple of hours from the church but visited our midweek service. Many of us have spent hours with her in the past trying to help her see her need to be saved. As of right now she understands the gospel and her need for a personal Saviour. However, she is not yet willing to trust Jesus Christ as her Saviour because she knows that it will ostracize her from the rest of her children.

PSA TRICHT BUILDING PROJECT

As we wrote about in our last update (https://goodnewsfromafar.com/2018/08/26/august-26-2018/) we are in the middle of a building program for the church in PsaTricht village. The national believers have sacrificially given in order to have a church building. Brother San, the national man who is leading that outreach, has done an amazing job in teaching and leading the folks to give of their Time, Talents, and Treasures in order to see this project go forward. So far there has not been any money from overseas raised for this building and we thank God for that! Our folks in Phnom Penh have also contributed through giving offerings as well as manual labor. I wanted to share one short testimony of one of the widow ladies in our church who sacrificially gave last week to help build the church building in PsaTricht.

We needed to raise the money for 24 pillars. The folks in PsaTricht were to give money to purchase 12 and we committed to purchase 12 here in Phnom Penh as well. Two weeks ago during the morning service in Phnom Penh I asked folks to raise their hand if they were willing to purchase one of the pillars. Each pillar is approximately $30. Debbie and I raised our hands first in order to set an example and committed to purchase two pillars. After that we had enough folks raise their hands that we had raised the amount we needed to raise in order to reach the commitment we had made to Brother San and our church family in PsaTricht. I gave the folks two weeks in order to place their commitments in the offering.

This past week one of the widow ladies came to our house four times in one day in order to get a chance to talk to me. On the fourth time she finally caught me. As we were exchanging small talk she handed me the $20 bill that you see in the picture. I asked her what it was for and she told me, “I want to have a part in helping build the building in PsaTricht.” She told me, “I didn’t have $30 to purchase a whole pillar and I didn’t dare raise my hand in front of everyone.” You should have seen the huge smile and look of joy on her countenance as she handed me the money! Here’s the amazing thing – She is without a doubt one of the poorest members of our church. I literally have no idea where she would have obtained $20 in order to give. For the past week my heart has been heavy every time I think about her love for the Lord and her desire to honor Him by giving what she can. I suspect that the blessing she received by giving from her poverty was much greater than the joy most of us receive when we give from our abundance.

PHNOM PENH CHURCH RELOCATION

We are presently (even as I write this update) in negotiations with a land owner to purchase this plot of land. A lot of time and effort by several of our men has gone into trying to locate a piece of land that will facilitate our current ministries as well as allow us to be able to grow. The rental prices here in the city are getting way out of control especially since the national elections. As we try and look toward the future, it is very evident that we are being squeezed out of the rental market and will likely face a significant problem when our current lease expires. Additionally, once our lease expires it will be very difficult to find a new landlord who is willing to allow a ministry of our size and scope to operate out of his property. We thank God for our current landlord who is a high ranking government official and who is a decent man. He has on several occasions helped to shelter us from certain situations that have taken place.

We think, by God’s grace, and with the help of some of our friends we will be able to afford to purchase this plot of land (.39 acres). It is located about 50 minutes from our current location which poses some significant challenges but also would strategically place us closer to many, many villages that are without even one gospel preaching church. I won’t go into detail here in this post but I anticipate updating many of you through our written prayer letter within in the next couple of months or so – after we have successfully obtained this land (or not)… Either way, relocation is something that we have all determined must take place. Our team and national folks will be sacrificially giving in order to see this land become our own. Once we own the land it will take a small miracle for us to be able to afford to build, as most of our resources and the resources of our national folks will be exhausted by the purchase of the land. PLEASE BEGIN PRAYING THAT GOD’S PERFECT WILL MAY BE EVIDENT AND THAT THE MONEY NECESSARY TO BUILD MIGHT BE PROVIDED THROUGH WHATEVER CHANNELS HE CHOOSES.

Because of God’s grace,

Dave & Debbie