Well, we’ve been back for a few days now – thank you all for your prayers and for your support!  What an amazing ministry the Lord blessed us with!  I am so thankful that the Lord allowed me to lead such an awesome team to Cambodia, to minister with those who I previously served with and love in the Lord!

As each of us write our follow-ups please continue to pray that the Lord will continue to work in the lives of all those we ministered to, and that the conviction that He brought would bring forth the fruit of repentence in its due time.

“All the sons of Israel, seeing the fire come down and the glory of the Lord upon the house, bowed down on the pavement with their faces to the ground, and they worshiped and gave praise to the Lord, saying, ‘Truly He is good, truly His lovingkindness is everlasting.’” (2 Chronicles 7:3)

Yes, truly the Lord is good, truly His lovingkindness is everlasting!

Because He lives,

Nathan – for the team

Thank you all so much for your prayers!

Here are some photos from this week!

It’s hard to believe that we’re finishing up the last full day of camp. I am amazed at how the Lord has established relationships so quickly in such a short amount of time. Girls that were strangers to me on Monday morning have become girls that I dearly love. I’ve been amazed during our small group discussion times as they ask questions about the sermon. What a joy it is to have the privilege of explaining the truth of God’s Word to hungry young hearts. Many have been challenged as to the validity of their salvation, and I know that the Spirit of God is at work in hearts and lives. Praise God that one of the girls has realized that she is an unbeliever and prayed to place her faith in Jesus Christ yesterday. This morning we heard Rick Holland preach on communion, and this evening was Kirk Cameron speaking about the true gospel message and evangelism. This afternoon we enjoyed our final time at the beach playing ultimate frisbee, hanging out, and bodysurfing the waves (all the while keeping an eye out for our jellyfish friends!) In a few minutes we’ll be heading down to the beach for a bonfire, marshmallows, and praise and worship. And since the girls in my room have already requested that we stay up all night together since it’s the last night, I think there is much more fun in store for the evening. =-)  More than one of us on the team are sad at the prospect of leaving on Sunday after seeing the work that the Lord is doing here in Cambodia and having the privilege to serve as laborers in His field. He is doing amazing things here, and there is so much yet to be done.

The kids seemed to be deeply impacted by CJ Mahaney’s sermon on Christ’s suffering at Gethsemane.  Many were driven to thanksgiving for God’s love for them and also convicted of their lack of remembrance of the price Jesus paid for their sins.  It is truly a joy to see God working in the lives of these kids.  Today we will be listening to Rick Holland’s sermon on communion and in the evening, Kirk Cameron’s message on using the law to convict sinners of their sin when evangelizing.  Games at the beach include ultimate Frisbee and tackle football!  Thank you for your faithful prayers!

Jim Rip Suah!

It has been such a joy serving the Lord at youth camp!  Yesterday, we heard 2 Resolved sermons and had discussion groups afterwards.  Please pray for those who know the Lord.  Pray that they would continue to grow in their knowledge of Christ and run passionately after Him alone.  Please also pray for the youth who are not saved.  Pray that God would open their hearts to the truth and that they would genuinely submit their lives to our Lord and Savior.

In addition to the Resolved sermons and discussion groups, we have been spending time with the youth on the beach, which is just a 2 minute walk from our hotel.  It is absolutely beautiful here!  From watermelon relay games, football, volleyball and soccer on the sand … to swimming in the ocean and getting stung by jellyfish … it has been quite an experience!  Mike even had a once in a lifetime experience.  Here’s a clue … one of the youth got stung pretty badly by jellyfish … :)

Please pray for the team.  Though lots of fun, it is tiring under the sun.  These kids have so much energy and we want to continue to build trust by spending time with them, even to the point of exhaustion on our part.  Pray that we will continue to be able to invest in eternity through all the interactions we get to have with the youth.  Pray also for tonight’s message by C.J. Mahaney on the Garden of Gethsemane.

Thanks for your continued prayers for us here!  Last night after watching a dvd session of CJ Mahaney each of the youth in our small groups were given the opportunity to share their testimony.  It was such a joy to hear so many share and articulate their faith in the Lord.  But there are a number who have yet to believe in Christ – please pray that the Lord would use this camp to open their eyes to see the truth of God’s Word, that His Spirit would cause them to see their need for the Savior and repent and believe in Him for the salvation of their souls.

The team is doing well – a few  stomach aches here and there, but nothing too serious – praise God!

Because He lives,

Nathan, for the team

Hello everyone!

We are down at the beach, and camp is underway.  We listened to our first “Resolved: Cambodia” message (the DVD’s of Resolved 2005), and are just about ready to eat lunch.

This will just be a quick update, but I wanted to ask all of you to be praying for Hoklee, one of the campers.  Yesterday he stepped on a needle, and so will most likely need to undergo anti-virals to prevent any possibility of HIV infection.  He is doing well, and we thank the Lord that those anti-virals exist so that he will not, by God’s grace, ultimately get sick.  But be praying for him, as the drugs are strong, and the series is four weeks long.

Keep praying also for the kids, and for us as we lead discussion times after each session – that God would truly speak to their hearts and encourage them to follow whole heartedly after the risen Lord.

Because He lives,
Nathan, for the team

The team cannot believe that we’ve been here for almost one week as the time has gone so fast and the Lord has been gracious in our mission to serve others!  We awoke this morning to attend a 9 AM Khmer service at Shalom Phnom Penh church and though we were unable to understand the message (since it was in Khmer), Nathan graciously translated it for us in the car.  Afterwards, we had the blessed opportunity to attend an English service at Shalom Toul Kork church (which is the church pastored by the Lopez’s and Beck’s, our hosts) at which our very own Garret Root gave a sermon titled “What is Your Ministry?” from 2 Corinthians 2:14-17.

Upon finishing the English service, the church welcomed us to a wonderful meal of “Pho-llowship” (“Pho” is Vietnamese noodles) for lunch.  While eating the delicious noodles, the team was able to fellowship with other missionary families (who attend Toul Kork) and children, getting to know them and listening to their experiences while they have been abroad.

As the afternoon progressed, Grace taught a brief English lesson for the Shalom Phnom Penh church’s English Club.  The lesson was on different types of emotions and how to express them.  Jerry then addressed the group about what to do when we don’t feel like obeying God.  He encouraged us to not allow our emotions to overwhelm us and keep an eternal perspective (i.e. obey the Lord even though we don’t want to).  In the evening, we planned for our last week in Cambodia as we will be hosting a youth camp in the city of Sihanoukville (a port city Southwest of Phnom Penh).  Please pray that we are able to minister to the students and that the Lord will sustain the team.  – Sarah, for the team.

Greetings from Southeast Asia!  Today marked our first day of ministry as a team.  We headed off on a two hour ride to a small village in the outskirts named Kampong Speu to put on a VBS program for the children.  When we arrived at our destination, all the cute little kids were seated quietly outside on a reed mat with their eyes on us.  There were well over 60 kids that came by.  More than double of what we were anticipating.  Praise God for bringing a lot of children.  Originally, we intended to split the kids into two groups:  the younger kids and the older kids.  However, we found that the younger siblings probably wouldn’t want to leave the sides of their older brother or sister. 

First we started the VBS program by teaching them a song, God is so good. 

God is so good,   
God is so good,
God is so good,
He’ s so good to me.

(In Khmer)
Preah troong la-ah nah
Preah troong la-ah nah
Preah troong la-ah nah
Troong la-ah nah dal khnome

Jerry played the guitar and led the children in singing.  He was helped out on the song by Tola, who played the song on a flute (aka recorder).  He did a great job and he’s been only been playing for a couple of weeks.  Ponlue helped Jerry out with translation of the song.  Then Sarah taught the kids a lesson from Acts 16:22-40 with translation help from Borei.  Next we moved on to crafts, with Grace entering teaching mode and showing the kids how to make a wordless Gospel tract.  Afterwards we played an entertaining game of duck, duck, goose (tia, tia, kanang).  Some kids were quite fast.  The program ended with the kiddies getting a bag of snacks.  Then we had to say good-bye.

Next, we stopped by a local home to have lunch (good old PB&J) and drank coconut juice straight from the coconut.  Then we visited and prayed for a plot land that the local pastor wants to build a place of worship and a learning center.  Pray that God would bring the resources for this to happen.  Then we set back for Phnom Penh with BJ the country star singing hymns set to country music on the ride home.  Finally, later in the afternoon we met with some of the youth that will be attending the camp and played a game of soccer.  All in all, just another fruitful day serving the Lord.  Tomorrow, our first church service in Cambodia.

The adventure and excitement continue with Team Cambodia.  Today’s been another day marked by the providence of God.  This morning we left Siem Reap to return to Phnom Penh.  BJ commented yesterday on the wisdom of giving ourselves a full day to travel just to be safe.  So, after stocking up on coffee and diesel we began to make our way back.

The next two weeks are the run up for the Cambodian national elections and as the attached photo’s show, the Cambodian People’s party was out in force.  Beside dodging the truckloads of the election faithful there were the normal moto’s, cars and the occasional cow or water buffalo.

Half way through the journey, the time came for testing our trust and patience…the van broke down.  But, God being providential as always, sovereignly arranged for it to happen right in front of a petrol station just a stones throw away from the van chieng (mechanic).  The men pushed, the ladies encouraged and BJ took off down the road on foot.  BJ quickly found out that the closest chieng was too busy, took off down the road and was picked up by a moto driver.  The man took him to a second chieng, who specialized in vans and was willing to help us.

In the mean time we held an impromptu prayer service and started planning our vacation bible school for tomorrow.  The chieng made short work of the engine and soon we were back on the road to Phnom Penh.  We arrived safely with no further incident.

The evening began with dinner at the Lopez’s, followed by desert, coffee and then the “special” coffee.  Just about everyone tried the Indonesian coffee that is the rarest in the world.  This coffee is shall we say first eating by a cat…that aside it is quiet good and everyone liked it.  More to the point of the evening, all of the team shared our testimonies and then finished our preparations for VBS.  The plans are finished, translations practiced, songs selected and games prepared.

Tomorrow we set out for Kampong Speu (a province in Cambodia) to a small village and will minister to upwards of 50 children.  As many of you read this we will be with the children, so continue to pray for them and for us to be effective instruments of God’s grace.