June news

Dear Friends,

Greetings in the Lord Jesus! We trust you and your family are well. We’re very late with our updates, again. Please forgive our delay. Many things have been taking place since our last newsletter. Here are some updates that we hope would encourage you. Thanks for your faithful prayers.

Back in APRIL, the churches in Poipet had a joined service for Good Friday where believers took turns and shared their testimonies of what Jesus meant to them. It was good time of praises and thanksgiving and confessions. Following the testimonies, some parts of the movie, The Passion of Jesus, was shown to the group resulting that there was not a single dry eye in the room! And, despite of the extreme heat, the excitements of celebrating the Lord’s Resurrection continued throughout that weekends as church families made preparations for Easter Sunday celebration and the potluck meal following the service. Many of those who attended, this was their very first Easter Service!
The National Annual Youth Conference, April 6-10, was a big success! 70 young people from Poipet were packed in a shuttle bus and two pick-up trucks, and headed toward Kampong Cham Province to join with over 600 other young people, all were from different parts of Cambodia! During the conference, the hottest time of the year, we did have some problems with electrical power and water shortages, but everyone seemed to have such a good spirit throughout the entire conference! Amazing! There were rich times of sharing, testimonies, and a number of special songs sung and skits performed by various talented groups, and lots of sports, games, and fun activities for every one. The Poipet youth came home with First place in valley ball and Second place in soccer national tournaments where everyone is still talking about it!

We’d decided to stay home on Khmer New Year, April 14-17, to make a place available for the many youth who wished to come and hang out. (Often time during any national or religious holidays, we’d often see some new believers fall back into their old ways of life due to tremendous pressures from unbelieving family and friends; the Christians are often not welcome into the local community gathering once they declared themselves as followers of Jesus Christ). During the holidays, however, many did come and had a great time playing various traditional games, splashing water, and throwing water balloons at each other; young and old included.

MAY
We were blessed to have wonderful week, May 3-10, spent with Justin at Penang, Malaysia, where we’d simply enjoyed a good time of just rest and relaxation! We got to see few school activities where Justin was a part of: 2 basketball games (on campus), a drama rehearsal and a few other activities. At Justin’s request, Syna’d enjoyed cooking a Cambodian meal for his dorm family (24 people in all). It brought us great joy for many opportunities of talking with his dorm parents and teachers and to hear about the progress he is making at Dalat. We’d concluded the visit by attending the church service together on Mother’s Day! The separation is never easy, but we were very thankful for the opportunity to see and be part of his “away from home” life, even for just a brief moment. Thank you for keeping our family in your prayers.

Upon our arrival, a team of 4 fantastic students from Crown College came to help with the Poipet ministries, May 12-31. Their commitment and involvement with teaching English classes, youth ministry, and some hand-on- works at the constructions sites were much appreciated. Thanks, Crown!

On May 14-15, it was the first time ever that the Northwest Region youth, 40 in all, took a motorbike trip visiting 4 local house churches in the Malay areas! This exciting event created many learning experiences for every one and a great opportunity for bonding and building friendship for the young people. Everyone liked it so much that they all voted to have another trip next year!

May 29 was a big hit for another all-day youth event! More than 80 youth came. All were packed into our living room for a great time of sharing, singing praises, and studying God’s word. David, one of the visiting team, boldly opened up his heart to share about the deep dark life he used to live and about the Power of Jesus Christ that changed his life completely! His speech of openness and honesty helped broke down the barriers and had encouraged many other youngsters (with similar back groups) to come forward seeking salvation in Jesus! Many youth are beginning to realize that they are not alone any more. The visiting team led the group with some fun relay games and contests where every one was gladly and willing participated! Please continue to pray for the growing youth ministry.

In the midst of all of these busy times, we were able to spare a short moment to celebrate our 18th anniversary on May 30ht.

The month of May not only brought us many exciting events but some emotional moments as well, as we’d learned that our dear friends and team mates, Dr. Kent and Chris Copeland and their family, are leaving Poipet for a 3-6 month on medical leave. Some of you may already aware that Dr. Kent had recently discovered a growth underneath his chest and is need of immediate surgery in the US. Please pray for God’s intervention upon his health and the family transitions in the States side.

June
So far, June promises some exciting times. School is out for the boys. Justin is home for the summer!! We plan on making a few trips to Phnom Penh for passports renewal and some family fun times.

Here some up coming events that needs to be prayed for:
-Thanks to the loving and generous support of a Khmer-American lady from Philadelphia, the church at Ondong Thmar Meas now has a church building of their own! The church dedication is scheduled for June 12. We plan on inviting some local villagers including some local officials to attend the service. Rev. Young Soth, former KEC president, will deliver an evangelistic message for this day. Please for open ears and hearts for those who attend.
- The building construction at the new land is going very well. The works maybe completed at the end of June. We are still in the long process of getting the zoning deed changed. Pray that all will go well.
-June 18, an all-day event for the northwest region youth. The event will take place in Svey Sisophon. Young people from five provinces will join. Please pray for the good out come.
- July 7-11, our missionary team will have an annual Field Forum at Kampong Sorm Province.
- Between July and August three separate short term teams will be coming to Poipet.
- Aug. 8, Justin’s retuning to Dalat for his 9th grade there.

As always, we sincerely appreciate your commitment and partnership through your faithful prayers for our ministries and financial support to the GCF which enables us to continue serving God in this part of the world. We also want to be part of your life as well, to share your joys and struggles. Please let us know how we can be praying for you. Have a blessed and wonderful fun summer!

Your friends in Christ,

Soeuth, Syna, Justin and Jonathan Lao

March News

March 2010 News

Dear Family and Friends,

Happy Easter! Greetings in the Lord! We trust that all is well with you.

Many things had taken place since our last newsletter was sent out. First of all this week, March 20-28, Justin is home with us for one week of spring break!!! What joy we are having!!! We’d planned that Jonathan would be off from school as well so that the brothers could enjoy their time together. Justin got some of his other wishes done by going to noodle shop for breakfast every morning, spending time catching up with the Copeland kids and with some of his Khmer friends from the local churches. His arrival was perfect timing as he was able to enjoy some mean games of soccer with his buddies over the weekend youth activities. And Jonathan is so thrilled to be with his brother again, and he is especially happy, this week, that he is off from school. Although Jonathan will be 8 years old on April 9th, we are celebrating his birthday, this week, for Justin’s sake. Justin (8th grade) speaks highly of his school and the exciting experiences he has with friends and teachers at Dalat, and he has much love and respect for his new dorm parents, Harold and Lilian Chan. Just knowing that Justin is happy where he is brings great joy to our hearts. Jonathan on the other hands still longs for age appropriate English speaking playmates. At the same time, however, we rejoice at the progress that Jonathan is making in school (2nd grade) as he is beginning to show more interest with his works-- an extra blessing to the home school mom! This week, we hope to go to Thailand a few days early so we could enjoy family time together before Justin returns to Dalat. We appreciate you continue to pray for our family and especially for our sons’ physical, developmental, social, and spiritual needs.

We praise God that during these past few weeks, the numbers of church attendants have been increasing significantly! As result more people are signing up for new discipleship classes. Already 14 young people are anxiously waiting for a new class (that Syna will be teaching), Christian Family, to begin in April, after Khmer New Year! Please pray that the flame of passion and desire of these new believers for learning and growing in God’s word will continue to burn in their hearts. This is one of the exciting moments for the growing ministries in Poipet!

The quarterly regional youth rally (for the northwest region) on March 8th was a big success where some 240 plus youth attended! Soeuth preached about the temptation of Jesus (Mt. 4) and he challenged the young people to stand firm on their faith and to resist temptation using the weapons they already have: the Word and the Holy Spirit living within them! Thanks for praying for the youth ministry

On Sunday afternoon of Feb. 14, after few years of patiently waiting, the believers at Ang Salaa Village finally had a regular service of their own! Over 80 people showed up including some local official representatives, and about 20 adult believers from that village! We also began children Sunday School class where over 35 children attended! It was a very meaningful event for the believers there. Phally and her husband, Moul, along with other local believers joined hand in graciously receiving and serving those who came with wonderful home made meal including BBQ Rats! We all, missionaries and MKs included, had our share of tasting grilled field rats on sticks. It tastes just like chicken! Please continue to lift this house church in prayers as the believers there are struggling in their spiritual journey; many of them have to go back and forth between and Cambodia looking for ways to financially support their families. Our missionary team mate, Kandi Lay, along with some key church leaders go there every Wednesday afternoon for Bible study and Sunday afternoon church service.

On Feb. 18, a new discipleship class, Living Water, as well as a new house church also started at Srey Moum’s house where 6 adult new believers attended! The believers there are so anxious about learning and growing in the Word that many of them had completely filled out the five lessons required for this course, all in one week time! Soeuth goes there to teach on Thursdays. Please pray for this group for spiritual strength and endurance as some issues concerning money had already taking place among the believers there.

Sometimes ago, we asked you to pray for a young lady, Jenda- (18 years old now), and for some other young believing people as they had faced strong oppositions and persecution from their unbelieving parents and other relatives. The persecutions continue for some but more so for Jenda. She is being pressured by her own parents to marry with an unbeliever, a man whom she had never met before. Please pray for courage, wisdom and opportunity as she is hoping to find time to talk to her father, this week, about her concerns. (A few years ago, through the help of some friends, Jenda became a devoted believer, and right away she was enrolled in one of the discipleship classes. But half through the course, her parents forbade her to come to church. She’d never finished that course. And recently, Jenda started to come back to church and repeated the same course where she is in the middle of it now, BUT her problem also returned, only this time, it is getting worse).

Almost all Cambodian young people are fascinated about learning English and the use of computers and enter net as preparation and guarantee for future jobs. But without proper training or warning, a number of them got stumbled onto and became hooked to pornography and other similarities. Recently, a number of young people, that we minister to, have privately come forward admitting to us their sins- (the girls to Syna and the guys to Soeuth). We are thankful that they are willing to confide their trust in us and share their concerns. Many of them come from broken families and they are being exposed, daily, to violence, crimes, sex, and the many other ugly parts of life from their surroundings. And many of these young people longed to have a pure and holy Christian life but they lack the resource and the examples at home. Please pray for protection for the church people and for wisdom and discernment as we are searching for ways to help them.

Please pray also for:

-Good Friday joined service, April 2
-Easter Sunday- April 4, also a joined service for all the C&MA churches in Poipet.
-April 7-10, an Annual National Youth Conference at Kampong Cham Province, (about a day drive from Poipet). We are expecting at least 60 youth from Poipet will go. We are asked to teach a seminar about Choosing Your Future Mate. Pray for safety for al that will be traveling there, for us
adequate time and wisdom for preparing the lesson.
-Continue to pray for the church construction building. Although through some divine interventions, we got the permission to build the building, the process of having the land deed correctly change is still in a slow working progress.

Because He Lives,

Soeuth, Syna, Justin and Jonathan Lao

January prayer letter 2010

Dear Family and Friends,

Happy New Year! It seemed that we were just busy wit the December activities, and now it’s nearly the end of January 2010 already! We trust you all had a wonderful and blessed Christmas holiday.

Our family enjoyed having Justin home for Christmas break. But with all the traveling we had along with other church activities, our time together seemed so short. This past Sunday 1/17/10, we dropped Justin off at the BKK airport, on his way back to Penang, Malaysia, where he is now on a weekly routine at Dalat Int. School. It still sad letting him go, but Justin seems happy and continues to do well there. Pray for our family during this time of separation and pray for Justin to have good 8th grade year there and that he’ll continue to grow in God’s will.

The 8 church sites (plus guests) came together on evening of Christmas Eve to celebrate the birth of Jesus! About 600 people came and stayed throughout the two-hour service! Everyone had wonderful time enjoying the Christmas songs, dances, skits, testimonies, and a powerful Christmas message. Unfortunately, we’d experience some electrical problem/power shortages, just before the time for altar call. But the main message was shared and heard. Pray that God would raise up those whose hearts had been touched by the truth on that evening.

Ever since the day of the baptism, November 28, 2009, we’ve been witnessing more people coming forward to receive Jesus every week! I am not sure of the exact numbers, but at least 2 or 3 people came forward, each week! Some even came willingly to have the spirit strings from around their bodies cut off! (For Khmer people, wearing spirit strings, around their waists or wrists, signified that they fear of and belong to Evil Master of this world). As a result more new believers are signing up for classes. Lately, we’ve been discussing that if only we have some extra help, we could easily start 3 or 4 new discipleship classes! Looking back, all 8 young churches in the Poipet and Malay areas had experienced some hard times toward the end of 2009. But clearly, as we’ve seen that, God was preparing fields for harvest right now. Please pray for more workers to join us in the Poipet ministries.

After a long waiting (since beginning of 2004), the house church at Ang Salaa Village will have their own Sunday church service beginning Sunday afternoon of Feb. 14, 2010. Everyone, especially Phally and her husband-- Mourl, the key couple from this village, is so excited with much anticipation about this big event. Following this direction will require many sacrifices of times and efforts from the key church leaders, but we all sensed that this is wear God is leading us. Please pray for the good outcome and for the big opening party that the villagers will prepare. Pray also as we will be joining a small group at Srey Moum’s house (see Nov. and Dec.’s newsletters) sometimes in February as well. Already and on their own, a group of 8-12 ladies (all new believers) have been faithfully meeting every day for Bible studies!

Despite of much opposition, the Poipet church building construction has begun! As mentioned in previous newsletters that on the day of ground breaking, some zoning officials came to the land site and opposed us of their charges and demanded that we would need to have them a very high price of $5000 in order to have land deed correctly changed! But God is in charge. He miraculously intervened by sending us people who know the system and they gave us advice and some unofficial permissions to continue with the building plan while the long process of changing land deed is being carried out. Pray for the construction works at the land. Pray for protections for all the workers. Pray that they would be faithful to follow everything according to the written contract. Pray that we’d continue to find favor with some of the local officials in processing the land deed. Please pray also for these up coming events:
Jan. 27-29, All C&MA missionaries will be traveling to Phnom Penh for a prayer retreat.
Feb. 1-7, our family (minus Justin) and Copeland family will attend a Family Education Conference at Chiang Mai, Thailand.
Feb. 2-6, Regional conference for the northwest region
Feb. 14, A Sunday church service will begin at Ang Salaa Village.

In Christ,

Soeuth, Syna, Justin and Jonathan Lao