June Prayer Letter

Dear Praying Friends:

Cambodia has made it through the hot season and is now entering into the rainy season.  In North America, it seems like rain is often seen as a nuisance...  something to be avoided.  But in Cambodia, after 6 months of dry season with almost no rain at all, when the rains start, they are embraced.  Everyone sees it as a blessing.  It is not uncommon during heavy rains to see kids out playing in the rain.  There is almost a tangible sense of joy throughout the nation as the dry, hot, dusty, parched land returns to life. 

Israel is also a dry land.  In Ezekiel 34, God is speaking about the blessing that He wants to bring to the people in that land and the Lord also uses the imagery of rain: 

"And I will make them and the places all around my hill a blessing, and I will send down the showers in their season; they shall be showers of blessing.  And the trees of the field shall yield their fruit, and the earth shall yield its increase, and they shall be secure in their land. And they shall know that I am the LORD, when I break the bars of their yoke, and deliver them from the hand of those who enslaved them." Ezekiel 34:26-27

Cambodia is a land which, like Israel in Ezekiel 34, has been enslaved.  Cambodia has been enslaved to war...  enslaved to poverty...  enslaved to hopelessness...  enslaved to suffering...  enslaved to a belief system based on the very real fear of evil spirits...  enslaved to a belief system whose greatest hope is to be snuffed out into eternal non-existence.

As the Gospel of Jesus Christ continues to impact this country, we are beginning to see the rain of God's blessing transform this parched land.  As Field Director overseeing the broader C&MA work in Cambodia, it is my privilege to watch these "showers of blessings" fall.  Let me highlight just a few:

• Through the funeral of a Christian man two weeks ago in Ratanakiri province, the non-Christians attending were so impressed with the ways that the deceased was honored that they wanted to learn more about becoming Christians.  So far 17 of them have made professions of faith and there are others in another village who are asking to become Christians.
• Starting a new ministry with a Christian dorm and agriculture training center in Mondulkiri province came together in record time.  There is only one high school in the entire province and this dorm will allow the Christian students (who come from rural areas) to receive a high school education...  For some of them, they will be the first people in their village to receive a high school education.  In addition, they will also learn new agricultural techniques and be discipled to grow as followers of Christ while they live at the dorm.  Praise God that most of the funding needed for construction for this project has been miraculously provided in less than two months.
  
• Last month, we welcomed five experienced International Workers to serve long-term with our C&MA Cambodia team.  All of them love the Lord, are serving in deeply remote rural areas, and are fluent in the Khmer language.  Two of them have doctorate degrees.  We are blessed with the quality of people God is bringing to our team. 
• Last week four churches that our missionaries have been working with for many years (3 near Poipet and 1 in Pursat) became "organized churches".  This means that they are recognized by the Khmer Evangelical Church (KEC -- the name of the C&MA churches in Cambodia) as mature churches with their own Cambodian leadership.  This is really what we as missionaries have come to do...  work ourselves out of a job and have Cambodians lead the churches to impact their community and the areas surrounding their community.
  
• Over the past two and a half years, one of our International Workers has begun working with the KEC to provide training for people who want to start churches in new places.  In that two and a half year time, 49 KEC Church Planters have been and are being trained to start new churches.   They have started planting churches in 43 villages and towns around Cambodia.   25 of those 43 locations have already started weekly meetings.  Almost none of these 43 villages and towns have ever had any Christian group or presence previously.

We praise God for His showers of blessing on this land.  This land has been spiritually dry for so long but now, we are beginning to see "the trees of the field yielding their fruit and the earth yielding its increase".

Thank you for your partnership with us and the C&MA as we "work the ground" in this  harvest field.  We could not do so without your prayers and generous support.  

We want to encourage your ongoing support for the Great Commission Fund. It is the GCF that provides the foundation for our mission work around the world. As you give to the GCF, you are helping to bring showers of blessings to Cambodia and furthering the work of the Kingdom of God. Without the baseline infrastructure provided by the GCF, our work, as well as the work of our other Alliance colleagues, could not remain viable. I know everyone is tight in this economy...  the GCF is also tight right now.  If you can, thanks for helping.  Donations can be given through your local Alliance church designated with "Missions" or through www.cmalliance.org/give/

Some items we would appreciate your prayers over:

• Pray for the 17 new believers in Ratanakiri province and the new village where people want to become Christians
• Pray for the construction and development of the Christian dorm and Agriculture Center in Mondulkiri Province
• Pray for the 49 KEC Church Planters and 43 new places where churches are being started

On a personal note, we have also experienced an amazing season of blessing in our family:

• We became grandparents for the first time when Caleb James Manfred was born to Joshua and Kelsey on May 14.  In our unbiased opinion, he is the best looking baby in the world!
  
• Joshua just graduated from Bethel University.  He gave the student address at the Bethel commencement ceremonies (we saw it via YouTube and were awfully proud of him). 
• Janelle graduates from High School here in Cambodia on June 1.  She will also give the student address at those commencement ceremonies. 
  
• All of us (Dave, Chris, Janelle, and Jenna) will travel to MN in August to bring Janelle back to the US to attend Crown College and to get to know our new grandson and our other loved ones there.

In the midst of all that can and could go wrong...  and sometimes does...  what a privilege to know and love the God who can still bring showers of blessing to parched lands.

In Christ, Dave and Chris