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Pastor Proom and his wife Goohung serve Christ in a fishing village in Cambodia. HeartCry is thankful to God for the mercies he has shown to Proom and Goohung, and the newly planted church Proom is caring for faithfully. In the latest update, Pastor Proom shares how God restored his younger brother to Christ and the church. 

Dear Friends and Supporters,

We are rejoicing in Christ this month for His grace in my brother’s life. My younger brother Broong became a problem in our church because he was drinking alcohol and was misbehaving. He was violent with his adult daughter, hitting her in the head with a piece of wood, and seriously injuring her. Some of our church members, including myself, had spoken to him many times about his sinful behavior and his need to stop drinking alcohol. He continually refused to repent and attempted to justify his behavior.

I consulted with Kelly, an American missionary that disciples me, and we arranged to meet with him to confront him according to the Scriptures. As we met with Broong, most of our church members came to our meeting to witness what was happening. We read aloud the scriptures commanding us not to be drunk (Ephesians 5:17-18, Romans 13:12-14, 1 Cor. 6:9-10, Galatians 5:19-21) and then we had him read aloud to the church 1 Corinthians 5:9-13 concerning impenitence and church discipline.

After this, we told him, and the church, that Broong’s refusal to obey Scripture meant that he could no longer fellowship together with us but must be put out of the church fellowship until he repented of his sins, stopped drinking alcohol and obeyed Scripture. We let him know, with most of the church members present, that we would welcome him back into fellowship when we could see that he had repented from his sin and could see spiritual fruit in his life.

At first, there was no change in Broong. He continued in sin and was excluded from our fellowship. A couple of months later we started seeing the change in Broong’s life. He has stopped drinking alcohol. Now, after five months, Broong told us that he has repented from his sin and has asked us to join our fellowship again. We agreed and welcomed him back into our fellowship. We will continue to watch his life for fruit that confirms that he has repented and is following Jesus.

Today, I am thanking God for restoring my younger brother to fellowship with us. It fills my heart with joy to hear him praising God and seeing his smile as he reads the Bible with us. What a great and amazing God we serve, who took us when we were dead in our sins and made us alive together with Christ! (Ephesians 2:1-7).

Additionally, I was able to go to my hometown this month. I was able to share the Gospel with some people there and give them Gospel tracts. There are a few people that I know there that once professed faith in Christ but have not been obedient to God’s Word for a long time. I am praying for them to repent of their sins and come to the Lord. I am hopeful that this may happen as I saw the softening of hearts as they listened to God’s Word.

As I shared the Gospel in other places, I met with hardened hearts and rejection and scorn. Some people that listened to the Gospel told me that being a Christian is very difficult. People in this area have been saying to them that Jesus was under a curse, so people who believe in Jesus might end up under a curse like Him. They were afraid of ending up under a curse, as witchcraft is practiced everywhere around here and there are many witch doctors and witches in this province. After I talked with them, I left them Gospel tracts and asked them to read them. I told them that I would revisit them to follow up and talk to them about God’s Word. Please pray for these people to have their eyes opened to see the truth about God’s Word and the beauty of Jesus Christ.

PLEASE PRAY FOR ME:

  1.  I am asking the Lord to raise a faithful brother who would live near me as a partner so that we can go out regularly to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 
  2. Pray that God will build many churches in this area and raise pastors, elders and more believers. In 3 villages near me, there are believers in each village, but there is no pastor or place to worship in any of these villages. My village has about 1,000 families in it, so I need help to reach and serve these other villages.
  3. Please pray for the Lord to give me an active spirit, that I would not be lazy or discouraged.

May the Lord Jesus be with you all.

— Proom