The previous month has brought many blessings to us in this area of Cambodia. I have been so encouraged by the powerful assurance in Romans 8:26-34 that the blood of Christ saves us! No matter what happens, Jesus and the Holy Spirit intercede to the Father for us!
In English, “Moat Klah” means “The Mouth of the Tiger.” It is interesting to think that now that we have a church here, God’s Word is in the mouth of the Tiger! About two months ago, intense monsoon storms came through the lake and damaged our church building in several areas. We continued to meet, but now we are praising God for His provision to us through HeartCry. HeartCry gave us the funds to make the repairs that were needed. Ten new big plastic barrels were purchased to strengthen the floatation of our church and replace the old, rusted iron ones, and the metal siding that was damaged was replaced. Now the wind and the rain cannot come into our church. Thank you, Lord Jesus, for working through HeartCry to help us in this remote village of Moat Klah!
As if this were not enough joy for us all in one month, we are also praising God with great pleasure over more of His provision to us! Yay Goong, whom we call “the Evangelist Grandma,” has such a heart to go and share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with people in villages that have never heard before. She is always faithful to tell others about Jesus and to give them excellent Gospel tracts that we supply her. After each trip, she comes back to tell me about the latest new believers in these villages so that we can pray for every one of them.
About two months ago, her boat was severely damaged and repairing it would be almost as expensive as getting a different boat that was not so old and worn out. This month, HeartCry blessed us with the funds for our “Evangelist Grandma” to get a new boat. Although it is a used boat, we were able to buy it for a meager price. Her new boat is worth a lot more than we paid for it. Another blessing! A good used boat at a great price!
I am a little embarrassed to say that I was starting to become anxious because we were almost out of Bibles in our church. New believers have been added to God’s church lately, and I was tempted to hold on to the last few Bibles I was afraid of running out. But God knew everything that was in my mind, and He answered me with an entire case of Bibles was brought to us! God is so merciful to His church!
Something different that I received this month was a punch in the eye!
A woman in our church named Mrs. Li became a believer not long ago. Her husband and her son are not happy with her now that she follows Jesus. My wife and some other women from our church planned to go with me to share the Gospel in some villages about 2 hours from here by boat. Mrs. Li wanted to go to learn how to share the Gospel. Her husband came as we were preparing to go and was very angry with us. I tried to talk to him and reason with him, but suddenly he attacked me and hit me in my eye.
I wanted to punch him back because I used to be quite violent in the past before God saved me and changed my heart. Many people saw this happen, and for a while, I was concerned that the men would think that I acted in weakness by not fighting back. Even though I was tempted to respond in violence, God gave me the strength to respond with restraint. Quickly, I thought of Jesus dying on the cross, having to endure all God’s anger against sin, including my sin. And then I remembered, “It is finished!”
For us who share the Gospel of Jesus, no matter how much people persecute us, remember that God knows, so stay active in our faith and go on with what God has entrusted us to do.
Prayer request:
Please pray for God to increase my humility and to help me not to be angry when trials come. (I quote Romans 3:23 to myself often).
Please pray for God to raise a man in my village who can read well to partner with me to share the Gospel.
Please pray for help for me to spend more time praying and reading the Word. I plan to spend 1 hour praying and reading two chapters every morning. I want to get up at 3 am before the boat starts moving around from the wake of the boats of the fishermen driving by fast. The loud noise and the motion disturb me a while I am trying to study. Please pray for the Holy Spirit to help me to get up early and to focus on God’s Word.
May the Lord Jesus be with you all.
– Kien
