April's newsletter

Dear Family and Friends,

In the last month’s newsletter we’d asked you to pray for a number of requests, and here is proof of what God is doing…

The “baby” dedication on March 27 turned to be a “family” dedication as young single mothers, single fathers, couples, uncles and aunts, and even older siblings (teenagers) brought up their little ones to be dedicated to the Lord! It was a heart moving and powerful experience watching these young believers stood up and made a public commitment promising to God that they would pray and care for, raise, their little ones in the way of the Lord, guiding and teaching them to know, love, and be obedient to the only true GOD!

The youth conference on April 6-9 was quite an interesting one! About 80 youth from Poipet and from the Malay District went there as well. Altogether, there were over 700 youth attended the conference! It was an overwhelming experience especially on that first evening of the conference, as the youth committees didn’t quite know how to handle such a big group! They were short on food, drinking water, and sleeping facilities, just to name a few. And to make the matter worse, there was a violent and totally unexpected rain storm that poured down hard. The strong winds literally uprooted a number of rented tents-- upsetting many tables filled with prepared and much needed food! Praise God, things got a lot better the next day. Toward the end of the conference, however, everyone seemed to have such a good time there that the “little” experiences from the first day were completely forgotten, (well, not by everyone). Thank you for praying.

The unexpected April rains really took everyone by surprise! It’s very unusual weather for this time of the year (especially for Cambodia); but the rains came off and on, causing much confusions and difficulties for travelers and farmers just the same. The early rains bring back many creepy crawling creatures, including snakes. Yes, THE SNAKES ARE BACK! Nearly every day we killed at least one snake! The other night, with the help of some youth, we killed the biggest and longest snake so far, right on the steps of our back doors! It was 68 inches long! It had a head and tail of a cobra but with a strange striped body! Very unusual! And even as I took a short break from writing you now, we’d just killed another 45- inch green snake! On our upstairs porch and it’s in a braord day light! Jonathan, who was following me around, had nearly stepped on it! So PLEASE keep on praying against the poisonous snakes and rabid dogs…

The much anticipated joined services for Good Friday and Easter Sunday went really well. The heavy rains that came (just hours before the Good Friday service and the rains continued all day long until late Saturday night) made distant traveling a very challenge experience for all! Because of the weather, many people could not make it to the services (as most had come riding motorbike, bicycles, and open wagons); and for those that made it, some of them were soaked to the core! BUT circumstances and even bad weather COULD NOT stop God’s people from coming to together to celebrate Christ’s Resurrection! About 70 people came for the Good Friday service and over 200 on Sunday! Short clips from the translated film, JESUS, were shown on both services, and the people were given opportunity to share with the group of what Jesus has meant in their lives. Many youth courageously stood up and shared about their many hardships and persecutions that they constantly received for just being believers of Jesus Christ. But as one youth had boldly said that, “Our little sufferings are nothing comparing to what Jesus had endured on the Cross!” We rejoice that three ladies, a mother and two grown daughters, gave their lives to Jesus following the Easter Sunday service!

Justin did spend a week of spring break with us, but our time together was really short with all the activities involving church ministries at that time. BUT we can hardly to spend a week with him this coming May 2-9, at Penang, Malaysia. We look forward to a good time R&R in a nice cool A/C room with hot showers! However, with all of that traveling (and more to come), we’re a bit behind schedule when it comes to home schooling time, and we may not finish the course when it’s time for us to pack up the house and leave. Please pray for strength, extra love and patience, and understanding for the teacher (Mom) and for a sense of focus and motivation for the student (Jon).

Meanwhile, please remember to keep praying for the border situations between Thailand and Cambodia. It seems like a never ending conflict between the neighboring countries. Though the actual fighting took place about 300 km away from here, and some people have already evacuated from the other bordering villages, things remained calm and steady here in Poipet, and there seems to be no alarm from military activity around here, either. Nevertheless, we are on a constant lookout and be prepared to leave Poipet when it’s time. And our Field Director even gave us the permission to use our best judgment whether or not to evacuate from the area. So far, nothing much is going. And we are still here. Keep on praying.
Here are more prayer requests for you to share:

1. This Saturday, tomorrow morning actually, 14 students from TEE Book 6, will take their final exams. And 11 students from the TEE Book 1 cycle will also take their finals in a week to come. Many of these students are already serving in various parts of church ministries, while some of them are training to be the future leaders in their local communities. Please that God would raise more church leaders.

2. Some of you have already aware of the few difficulties we had during the past couple months, and among these challenges is that two of the six church leaders had recently stepped down from ministry positions. Please pray for unity and that God would strength the remaining four leadership men who will continue working closely with Kandi Lay (missionary) during the time of our home assignment year in the States.
3. Pray for those preparing to get baptize in May and as well the preparation for the joined celebration when the three main churches in Poipet will officially become organized church on May 22.
4. Pray that we’ll have strength and energy for packing and finding place for storage, along with many other transitions to be made as the weeks are coming closer and closer.

5. And we ask that you would pray, specifically, for friends for our boys (Justin will be 15 in July, Jonathan is 9) as we are getting ready go to America on June 21. Being third culture kids (CTKs) as they are, it’s hard to know where “home” is for them. Both sons will attend the Nyack public schools. Pray that they would have a good year in America, and that God would, even now, raise up prepare friends for each of them when we’ll get there. We praise God, so far, for graciously providing us a three-bedroom, furnished apartment right on the beautiful campus of Nyack College, and maybe a car is waiting for us to be used for that year. God is good!

Please share with us about what God is doing in your life. Thank you for your partnership with us in this part of the world. Your continual and faithful financial support to the GCF enables us to keep on doing what God has in plan for us here, sharing the Good News, touching lives, and winning souls for Christ.

Serving together,

 Soeuth, Syna, Justin, and Jonathan Lao