Dear Friends,
Thank you for praying for our children! It has been a huge transition for them, but so far, both Justin (10th grade) and Jonathan (4th) are adjusting really well (for the most part) to their new schools here in Nyack! We are so grateful to God for proving them good teachers and friends at school as well as those friends/ playmates from our neighborhood! Justin is always looking forward to play soccer, after school, 2-3 times a week. Coming from a home school perspective, so far, Jonathan’s favorite parts about school, this year, are “lunch and recess”, and riding school bus to and from school is “cool”.
We are still in the early stage of this fall tour- (home assignment), speaking at various churches in the Metrpolitan District. So far, our family is grateful that Soeuth does not have to travel far away for speaking in missionary tour, but to local churches and mostly on weekends; we enjoy having him home on weekdays. Please pray for us as we continue serving with the rest of this home assignment year, pray that we would be the voice of Jesus, going about from place to place, sharing and testifying about the great and mighty works that He has been and is and will be doing here and everywhere from around the world! Please pray for responsive and receptive hearts, YES, even and especially for those of us from America!!!
Poipet ministry UPDATES. This month, September, has been the most challenged time ever for our dear friends serving in Poipet. This is the time when all Cambodian Buddhists from all over the nation are celebrating a religious holiday called Bon Pjum Ben, which is equivalent to that of a Halloween holiday in the western culture. But the Buddhist followers are actually celebrating the dead and ancestor spirits! Every day, as early as 3 O’clock in the morning until 11 at night, the priests, nuns, and monks, from the local temples/ pagodas, would take turns singing their ritual chanting, very loudly in microphones, from local temples/ pagodas, encouraging and arousing all who hear to join them in preparing for this month-long holiday. The sounds of chanting can be very annoying, depressive, and very, very errie! Even if you are the heaviest sleepers, you can’t miss these early “wake-up calls” or morning chants!
From personal experiences, most of the difficult and challenged events that we’d been through when serving in Cambodia, almost all of them took place at this time of the year! So, we are not surprised when we, recently, learned about the hard times that our friends are growing throughout right now:
- Kandi Lay, being very busy overseeing the ministries of 10 house churches in Poipet and Malay and Children Ministry is also facing hard times on how best to help encourage young people (also new believers) who are facing on-going persecutions. Recent after the youth gathering at Kandi’s house, a young married lady, Srey Nate, (who is 19 years old and still a youth at heart), also came to the gathering and had a wonderful time—but she came without her husband’s approval! After she returned home, the young couple had a terrible argument. Because it happened in the privacy of their own home, we don’t really know the extent of this “fight” may look like; and it would not be a surprise to us IF she ended up with a physical abuse as a result. Domestic violent is commonly practiced there. Please pray for Srey Nate.
- Please continue to remember Mrs. Moum in prayers. Her condition remains unchanged; she is still being kept in prison against her will. The latest new we received from the missionary in Poipet is that her health is not doing well. Please for that, in His perfect timing and good will, God would bring justice on her behalf. Pray that her faith would stand the test. Praise God for the 7 souls that were being saved, even in prison, after they heard her amazing testimony and see the love for Jesus is being demonstrated in her life!
- Praise God that the 4 key church leaders (Chean, Seyha, Sarim, and Heng along with their young wives and children) are still faithfully serving among the 10 house church ministries, under the leadership of missionary there. Please pray for wisdom, directions, and guidance for them to keep on serving faithfully, for strength as they also are facing constant oppositions, for protection against temptations and evil ones.
- August and September also bring rains—lots and lots of rains and floods! Once again, the flood waters are everywhere in all over Cambodia, but more so on the northwest regions, causing roads damaged—bad roads mean that small groups/ house churches which normally gathering in far away villages are now cancelled or postponed. Prolonged heavy floods often lead to rice field damages and the lost of good crops for this year is predicted. And flood waters also bring in increasing number of snakes and many other unwanted creatures creepily making their ways to higher grounds--- into a grass huts where small children and people are living there!
We cannot thank you enough for your faithful financial support to the GCF! Your generous giving the Great Commission Fund enables us serving in this home assignment year here in the US and (Lord willing) in Poipet, Cambodia, coming July 2012. We would love to be supportive to you in prayers. Please share with us about what God is doing in your lives. Thank you for your on-going partnerships in the Poipet ministries. May God richly bless you and your family.
Living the Call together,
Soeuth, Syna, Justin and Jonathan Lao
