August 2011 Newsletter

Dear Friends and Family,


We haven’t written for a while. In case you’re wondering, we have been settling down in Nyack, New York. We trust that all is well with you and your family and that you have a fun and blessed summer time.

Our summer has been a busy one with lots of traveling and transitioning to life in America. In the midst of these hectic times, we are constantly reminded, daily, of how good our God is. We are very grateful for His abundant provisions of our needs: a lovely and fully furnished 3-bedroom apartment, the great supplies for entire house whole, kitchen and even food use supplies, a vehicle to drive for the year, and even the cost of traveling expenses to some places that we could have never done it, if it was on our own! He showered His love to us through the generosity of His people at every place we’ve been to. All of these provisions are fresh reminders, to us, that our GOD is BIG enough to take care of all our needs and wants, and even more.

He is not just the Provider GOD but the Protector as well. He protected us from harmful accidents with all those recent plane/ road trips we’d made, from injury (Justin) at soccer practices, and most shockingly from the recent Earthquake right here in the heart of New York City! With a magnitude of 5.9 (according to the news), and for a brief scary moment, we actually felt the rattles and shakes beneath our feet! And we’ll continue to trust Him for protection against the coming hurricane as well…

As New Yorkers and others from the nearby eastern states are fearfully anticipating the coming Hurricane Irene, some may be wondering what’s becoming of this world? There are many unanswered questions out there that are still troubling us:

-To begin, we still don’t understand why would God allowed such a godly new believer, Mrs. Moum, a single mother of 7 children from the Malay District (Cambodia), who was falsely accused of a crime she didn’t commit and was then arrested since May 10th of this year? Even though her accusers had openly confessed and denied all charges against her, and even though the local authorities and judge were made aware, and yet she is still locked up in prison against her will!

-Or why do the poor and needy families in Cambodia are being continuously overlooked, mistreated, and oppressed? And the on-going injustice and corruptions continue?

-Or the Khmer (Cambodian) youth who are on fire for God in their commitment and devotion to daily study the Word and are busy serving Him, yet they continue to face on-going and relentless persecutions from their peer and friends, teachers, and even from their own family members!

-Or the missionaries who left their comfort zones in order to answer the Call and are willing serve in Him in remote and needy areas of the world, yet they face sickness in the family, robberies in their house, poisonous snakes, and rabid dogs, just to name a few.

Living in this fallen and broken world and at these times of troubles, our only assurance is to cling to the ONE who is in charge of all things and continue to trust in His perfect plan and purpose for our lives.

We appreciate you continue praying for our children, Justin (15) and Jonathan (9), as they will soon attend the local public schools. Pray that they will have a good learning year, that they would have godly teachers and playmates/ classmates and friends. Pray for protections against potential harmful injuries or harms.

Fall tours will begin in September. Please pray for clarity of words as we’ll communicate to the churches about the ministries in Cambodia. Pray for receptive hearts and opportunities to share about Christ’s passion and love the lost souls here in America around the world.

THANK YOU for your faithful prayers for the ministries in Cambodia and your generous support to the C&MA Great Commission Fund which enables us to keep serving God in Cambodia, and this year, doing a one-year home assignment in the United States.

Please share with us about what God is doing in your life. Enjoy the rest of the summer.

In Him,

Soeuth and Syna,

Justin and Jonathan Lao

8 South Blvd. Apt. B

Nyack, NY 10960

Home phone: (845) 675-7538

e-mail address: jjsblaos@gmail.com

June 2011 News

Dear Friends,

This newsletter was meant to send out to you since last week. But circumstances happened and with all the many transitions that took place last week, so you are receiving it today. We apologize for the delay. For those of you who have been praying for us, thank you! We’d safely arrived in Tacoma, WA, staying with Syna’s relatives for a week, enjoying good time with family, eating good American food, and having good times of just rest and relaxation.

Lao’s June 2011 Newsletter

We can hardly believe that this is our last week in Poipet! We’ll be heading to Alliance Guest House in Bangkok on June 20th, and then our flight will leave early in the morning of Tuesday, June 21th! Meanwhile, our place is like a mad house with all the packing and cleaning the house. While these are going on, with their good intention, church people are constantly dropping by to wish us a safe journey to America.

Some of you may have already been aware about Mrs. Moum’s situation. In spite of the fact that the man, (who had falsely accused her of a crime she didn’t do), had confessed to the local authorities, to the police, and to her lawyer since the first week after her arrested in May 10th, Moum is still prison. When visited her earlier last week, we’d encouraged her to keep on blooming where God planted her and she gladly agreed. Even though still locked up in prison, Moum is faithfully seeking for opportunity to share the Gospel with her cellmates. Please continue pray for Moum and her family. Pray for justice on her behalf.

You prayed for the baptism which was held on Saturday, June 11, and 35 new believers (mostly teenagers) had courageously come forward and were baptized in the pond near our house! Over 200 other believers also came to join this festive and joyous celebration! Please pray for these new believers that they may continue to be rooted and stand firm in Christ. Many of these are currently enrolling in various discipleship classes that are being taught every week!

The new church building was packed with church families as people came from near and far for a joined Sunday service as a mean to say farewell to us. It was a very emotional time for all of us. Saying good bye is never easy, but we are encouraged to know that God will continue to take care of HIS Church. Please pray for the remaining four key church leaders along with our missionary teammates as they will carry out the loads of caring for and ministering to the 10 churches throughout the Poipet areas. Lately, there have been some gossips, lies, and rumors spreading among the believers causing much hurt and confusion and even division. Pray that the truth with come to light and pray for unity among the believers.

The three main church groups in Poipet became officially organized churches on Sunday, May 22: The Poipet Church is now called the Living Water Church, and the other two are Santepheap and Ondong Thmarmeas churches.

Please continue to pray for the many young people who are constantly enduring ongoing persecutions from their own family members, from their peer and friends, and even from their own school teachers! And with the recent public baptism, it seems like these youth are an open target for Satan’s attack. Despite of what they are going through, however, many of them are still on fire for their LORD, studying the WORD and boldly sharing the Good News to others around them.

Pray also for this Saturday, June 18, the next regional youth rally which will be held at Thmar Koul, in Battambamg Province. Being that is on a national holiday, we are anticipating that at least 250-300 youth will show up. Soeuth will deliver a message to the crowd. Pray for receptive heart to the Word.

For those who are interested, this is our Stateside address effective June 29, 2011. 8 South Blvd., Apt. B, Nyack, New York, 10960. We’ll have the same email address.

You truly are faithful partners in every aspect of the ministries in Poipet. Of course, GOD is the One who makes it all happen! Your constant prayers and generous support to the GCF, however, they also play significant roles in the ministries here. We could not have done it without your support. Thank you! May God richly bless you and your family.

Serving together,

Soeuth and Syna Lao

with Justin and Jonathan

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