April 2009 Baptism

Praise God!! April 4th, 2009, marked the first baptism in the entire border region of Sompovloun, Cambodia. It’s amazing to look back to two years ago when God opened a way for us to work in Sompovloun. We had no idea what God was going to do. He took us to an area of Cambodia where there had never been a church, and there were no known believers. Last Saturday, 27 adults, youth, and children publicly professed faith in Christ and were baptized. We first gathered together at the ministry center and Pastor Sophan reminded everyone of the significance of baptism. Then we all walked together to the river behind the houses of K13 Village. It was raining softly, and the lightening that had threatened earlier was gone. One-by-one, Pastor Sophan baptized each person and we sang and praised God together. As I witnessed this event, I was reminded of the Book of Acts where we read of a person becoming a follower of Christ, and then they and their household were baptized. We had a group of five siblings that were baptized; a husband, wife and their child; moms and their children; and a number of individuals. It was a precious time of witnessing what God has done. We would like to ask you to pray for these newly baptized believers – that God’s Hand of protection would be over them, that they would grow in their faith, and that they would stay strong in the Lord.



Meeting together for teaching and prayer:






Walking to the river:




Several of the 27 that were baptized:

Chandra:



and his wife Samnag:




One of the youth:





Thang - an abandoned boy that lives at the minstry center:

Chanthu (the explosion boys' mom)

Teacher Mom

Pastor Sophan's mother:

Rein and her children:

Teacher Chantha:

Pastor Sophan baptizing his son Ezra:

Our group of newly baptized believers:

Praising God,

Gayle

January 2009 Update

What a wonderful way to begin 2009 - finalizing the purchase of the ministry center in Sompovloun, Cambodia. We are praising God as the purchase went through, and we are awaiting the finalized title in our name.

In addition to that, we are also praising God for the arrival of baby Ezra - Pastor Sophan and Sopheap's first baby. He arrived 3 weeks earlier than expected, but is well and healthy. Here are some photos:


Baby Ezra:





Pastor Sophan, Sopheap, and Ezra:

Christmas 2008

December 21st we celebrated Christmas with 300 Khmae from Sompovloun. It was a great celebration with 200 children, 50 adults, and 50 youth. We had a worship service that included some skits from the children and youth, then gathered for a delicious meal of bread dipped in curry. At the end we gave out small gift packs to the children. It was a wonderful time of seeing those in the church doing all the preparation, and everyone helping deal with the clean-up afterwards. Here are some photos of the day:



decorating the children's study area beside the center:







preparing for the skits:





Worship service:







Eating curry under the trees:






Thank you all for your support and prayers through this last year. God is working and moving in this community and people are coming to know the Saviour. Some highlights for prayer for this next year are the finalization of the purchase of the ministry center, and Lord willing our first baptism in April.

Thanks for being a part of the team!!

Gayle

September 2008 VBS

Here are photos from our 2008 VBS in Sompovloun, Cambodia. Hope you enjoy them. Thanks so much for praying!!



Our VBS Team:















First morning gathering:











Bible lessons:


















Girls hand sewing:

























pillow project:













Boys carpentry:




















sawing and playing in the rain:




















Finished stools:












Little boys playing with wood scraps:













Afternoon house repairs:














One finished roof:











and another finished roof:










Teaching english late afternoons:





















Closing ceremony:





















a few random photos:

July 1st update

It's been awhile since I've update this blog. We've had a lot going on and I would like to share some of that with you.

We have seen God working and moving in many lives in K13 Village. One of our sewing ladies came to faith in the Lord Jesus and her children are hungry to know the Lord as well. We praise God for this! We've also seen God miraculously heal a little boy in the village. He was in a Thai hospital and the doctors had lost hope that he would live. Just after we prayed in the village for this boy, we received a phone call that this 2-year-old suddenly woke up and his body was working again! This was a tremendous testimony to the village - and we again praise God. The boy was home in two days and was totally well. I look around and see gardens started in the village and I can see many improvements in the lives of the villagers from one year ago - both physically and spiritually. Very poor people are getting health attention they've never been able to receive and are able to work for the first time in years.

At the same time we also see opposition from the enemy in regard to our present location. The owner of the property has been very difficult to work with, and he has only given us a few months contract at a time as he wants to sell the property. We hardly know from one month to the next whether or not we'll be able to continue on at the present location. This has made it challenging to improve and develop our own center. There are virtually no other suitable locations in K13 Village, so after much prayer and discussion, we have made the decision to formalize ourselves into a local NGO and have started fund-raising to purchase the center. We would very much appreciate your prayers with us as we undertake this huge step. We need to raise $45,000 to purchase the house and 2.5 acres of land.

The largest enemy we see in the village is the addiction to both alcohol and gambling. You would think that people that are very poor wouldn't have the money to drink and gamble, but the truth is, because of their addictions, they gamble instead of feed and care for their families. If they do make a bit of money, they use it in wrong ways - compounding this spiraling problem. So we are asking for prayer that these chains of bondage will be broken and that they will experience freedom from these addictions.

Here are some photos from the past couple of months:

Pastor Jim visiting the center

afternoon literacy classes:

Praying at a villager's house:

This past month God has provided for us to put in 7 more wells into Kilometer 13 Village. The wells have all been dug, and now the villagers are working to put in the cement around the pump and getting them running. Here are some photos from a few of the wells. They were obviously very appreciated. One particular well that I walked by frequently had many people using it constantly - some bathing and some washing clothes; all at the same time!














Our first "kid" was born on my last trip in. Our goat herd is growing already!

He was so cute!!

Goats at the Ministry Center

This month we purchased 12 goats for the ministry center. Our plan is to raise goats to sell to help financially support the ministry center. In addition to selling the goats, we hope to start milking them to provide fresh milk in the community. Once that is established we want to help others be able to raise goats, too. We've hired a "goat boy" that takes the goats to pasture three times a day. It's been quite a challenge to train the goats, but Samnang has recruited some of his friends to help him.


Out to the pasture:




Back home:






The children love the goats:







I appreciate your prayers for the success of the goat business.

In His Joy,
Gayle