November updates

Dear Friends,

 We send you a HappyThanksgiving greeting!  Wish you all a warm, festive, and blessed holiday as you will spend times with family and friends. 

 Here are some updates from Cambodia that we want to share with you.  You may have been aware about Mrs. Moum’s situation, a new believer from Malay house church who was arrested and put in prison, since May 10, for a crime she didn’t commit.  According to the International Workers from Poipet, she finally has a hearing date which is scheduled for November 14th.  Unless God choose to intervene on her behalf by moving the hearts of the judge and authorities, we feel that her case is hopeless against the injustice and corruptive law systems.  Please pray for Mrs. Moum’s three grown daughters.  Through these difficult ordeals, they must have many doubts and questions about God and their reasons for trusting Him.  Please pray, whatever the outcome of this hearing may be, that her faith, and the faith of her daughters, would not be shaken.  Pray for God’s will to be done in her life.

 Earlier in June, (just a short time before we left Poipet for America), because of their unrepented hearts, the Poipet church committees had asked two of the key church leaders to step down from their roles of service in church ministry.  The northwest Regional Church Committees (RCC) had been immediately informed and involved.  Now that we are here in the States, we are learning (from missionaries there) that one of these former leaders, “S”, has been, privately, using his influences to spread lies, gossips, and rumors among the church families, causing much heartache, division, and confusion within the church body.  As the result, one house church (one of the ten house churches) has recently decided to leave the KEC (KEC is under the umbrella of Christian and Missionary Alliance) and chose to be loyal to this man.  Please pray, despite of the evil things that have been done, that the Spirit of Truth would shine forth, and that GOD would deliver justice and protect HIS children according to HIS perfect will and plan.  These are HIS people, HIS church, and HI is still in control of all things.  Pray for healing and unity among the church families.  Please pray for wisdom and discernment, courage and boldness, joy and encouragement, for the International Workers and the remaining 4 church leaders as they are faithfully serving there.

We also learned that many Cambodians, from the northwest regions of Cambodia, have been affected terribly by October’s prolonged heavy floods, which caused a lot of damages to houses, crops, and roads, making traveling and ministries very challenged.  Many small children were drowned.  Over three hundred dead has been reported so far.

 Repeatedly, Scripture commanded us to “give thanks” and “rejoice in the Lord always”, but sometime I can not help but wonder, how does a person feel thankful or to rejoice when all the troubles of injustice and oppression, gossips and slanders, disasters and sickness, lies and hurts and confusions, all are constantly around him/ her?  Please continue to pray for the believers of Cambodia.

  Our family has many reasons to be thankful for. 

We are grateful to God for providing good and godly friends and playmates for our sons!  This was one of the areas of concern since the time we’ve first arrived in the United States (June) and we asked many of you to pray for us.   And here how God answered prayers:  Living very close to us are two other families if C&MA International Workers  (from Hong Kong and Africa); each family has a son, Justin’s age (15), and all 3 boys attend the same school!  Needless to say, the three missionary kids, plus another boy also from the same neighborhood, bonded immediately, and the four of them became instant buddies!  Our energetic 9-year-old Jonathan: not only that he likes his new school, two of his good friends and classmates (2 boys) live in the same building as we!  And the three active boys played together almost every day after school! Both of our sons are doing wonderful and are adjusting quite well to their new environments and schools.  Praise GOD!

 For those of you who are from the east coast, and who have been recently affected by the snow storm, please don’t be made at us.  We’ve been praying for snow, and God gave us plenty, 8 inches of snow, and in October!  Our sons had a blast playing snow ball fights and sledding off the hills around the Nyack College campus. Despite of the lack of power for 4 days and having to endure icy cold showers, we are thankful for this early snow!

 Tour has been wonderful.  We continue to travel, as a family on weekends, to different churches, mostly from among the Metropolitan District, in the New York and New Jersey areas.  We are GRATEFUL to GOD for every opportunity to share about the works that HE is doing in Cambodia and around the world; and we give HIM PRAISES as HIS people are responsive and hearts are stirred after they heard about HIS mighty works.  And, as recipients to this, our family has been BLESSED, in so many ways, through the love and generosity of HIS children from every church that we visited.  

We continue to be grateful to GOD, and to YOU, our faithful supporters and partnerships to the Poipet ministries.  Your faithful and generous Giving to the general C&MA- Great Commission Fund (GCF) enables to us to keep on serving here, there, and everywhere.  Keep put keep in touch.  We would love to rejoice with what God is doing in your life and to be able to pray for you as well.  Have a blessed holiday.

 With thankful heart,             

 Soeuth & Syna

September's Update

Dear Friends,

Thank you for praying for our children!  It has been a huge transition for them, but so far, both Justin (10^th grade) and Jonathan (4^th) 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

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 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