Train Up a Child...

We just opened a new Christian school using the School of Tomorrow program at GBC-AK. Initially, this will be mainly for our children at the Power of Grace Children’s Home. We want to open this to other children in the community when we have better facilities. We are currently building a 3 story dormitory suitable for up to 100 children. When this is finished (hopefully by the end of June 2007) we will use or present dormitory building for the Christian school. Please help pray and give so we can have sufficient funds to finish the building. We need at least $20,000.00 for the completion of the building.

GBC-AK Moving Forward!

Grace Baptist Church – Anlong K’ngan is doing fine. Souls are getting saved almost weekly. We baptized 4 new believers last November 26. Bro. Sophea is really a big help and blessing in that work. He is able to connect and relate with the people very well and they are responding to his leadership although he is much younger than most of the men in the church. Many of those who got saved recently are workers in our on-going construction project. Please pray that these newly saved will grow to maturity and become faithful members of the church.

GBC-Phnom Penh 9th Anniversary

We celebrated our 9th church anniversary last Sunday, October 15, 2006. Our guest speaker for the occasion was Rev. Noel Dig, Pastor of Bethany Baptist Church in the Island of Mindoro in the Philippines. Our theme for the celebration was ‘Provoke one another unto love and good works’. We had a total attendance of over 170 adults and children. We had a treat of blessings through the testimonies, the special singing and the great instructive and encouraging message brought by our guest speaker. One lady got saved and one young man came forward for baptism. Several of our church members were at the altar making different decisions for the Lord. At the end of the service we dedicated to the Lord two children from two of our families in church. Of course, a Baptist celebration is never complete without food so we did have fellowship around some Cambodian food after the service.

CBBC News in Pix

CBBC has opened its door to the students for school year 2006-2007. A total of 59 students were in class as of Tuesday morning, October 10, 2006. There are more students who were not in attendance as many of them are just completing credits for graduation.

Academy International Cambodia

The first week of September was devoted to moving, fixing and arranging furniture for Academy International Cambodia. We moved AIC to the same building with Cambodia Baptist Bible College and started school year 2006 – 07 last September 11 with a total of 34 students. This is the most we have ever had at AIC.

Missionary Retreat

Another treat for us during the month of August was the Asian Baptist Clearinghouse Missionary Retreat. All the missionaries using the services of ABC in Cambodia, except those who were on furlough gathered for 3 days at the seaside city of Sihanoukville for spiritual refreshment and fellowship. Missionary veterans, Rev. Lloyd Baker and Rev. Paul Byars brought very much needed and to-the-point messages from God’s Word that warmed and encouraged everyone in attendance. The missionaries have drawn deep from the experiences of these precious Men of God, they went home to their respective places of service with a sense of being refreshed and better focused on the tasks and trials each was facing.

Evangelistic Camp

From August 16-18, we had our very first joint Evangelistic Camp. We were all thrilled to have seen 831 people gathered at the Rawlings Institute Campsite. This is a unique camp as about 65% of the participants were unbelievers some of which have never ever heard the Gospel from anyone before. Needless to say, we have run into some difficulties as we were prepared for a maximum of 600 campers only. However, the difficulties vanished when we saw over 300 souls saved and over 100 baptized at the camp swimming pool. We can not express our appreciation enough for the efforts and labor of love done by our friends from Community Baptist Church in Pasig City, Philippines under the leadership of Pastor Greg Lyons in helping us both in the preparations and in the actual execution of the programs during the camp.

Youth Camp 2006

The Annual National Youth Camp last August 9-12 was attended by about 380 young people from different churches. The speakers at the camp challenged the young people with the theme of "Cambodia for Christ". Many souls were saved and many young people committed their life to be faithful in serving the Lord through their home churches while many others surrendered to go to Bible College.

CBBC Graduation 2006

Last July 6, we had our 5th Commencement Exercises at Cambodia Baptist Bible College. Dr. Billy Wood of Grace Baptist Church, Powder Springs, Georgia was guest speaker for the occasion. Four ladies and 13 men walked the platform to receive their diplomas. Two of the men who graduated are members of Grace Baptist Church – Phnom Penh. Bro. Siem Bunthol is now ministering in a pioneering work in Kandal Steung. Bro. Sophea, the salutatorian of the graduating class, is our assistant pastor at Grace Baptist Church – Anlong K’ngan. Most of the other graduates are helping in their respective churches with some of the men preparing to start new churches in the countryside of Cambodia. We are so thankful for your faithful support for CBBC these many years. Your prayers and financial support is being multiplied several times over through the graduates coming out of Cambodia Baptist Bible College.

Courageous Creativity!

Part of the thrill of being a missionary is being able to observe other people’s strange ways of doing things. Some of their unusual ways here are driving their motorcycles on the opposite side of the road. In the market you spend time trying to look for items you need and the salesperson will insist to you that the product they have is just as good or even better than what you are looking for, even when it is obvious that it isn’t and sometimes it does not even come close to being similar with the item you wanted. Often when you ask someone to do something for you, the instant answer would be “I’m sorry, it can not be done.” or “It’s not possible.” What they actually mean is; “We’ve never done it that way before.” or “We’ve never seen it done that way before.” Honestly, at times when the flesh kicks in, these could become excuses for irritation!!!

On the other hand you can observe unusual ways that often strikes you with wonder. Sometimes you find yourself saying; “Wow!” Cambodians are very creative and in the name of survival more courageous than most of us. On the roads, at least, courageous creativity is a way of life in this country! Just look at the pictures!

P.S. - Please don't misunderstand me as saying; this is how we go to the market or transport things ourselves. We haven't acclimatized ourselves that much yet! Who knows? Maybe in time we will!!!

Father's Day

How many children do you have to have to be a father? The more, the merrier, maybe! I think this is the case with us here at Living Waters Children's Home. Including our two biological children who are still with us, we have 16 children from age 4 years old to 20 who greeted me Happy Father's Day last Sunday. Our home is filled with children's noise from early morning till sleeping time. There is plenty of little boys' yelling, girls' giggles, children's fights and a lot of times unending reporting of this guy did this and that guy did that! There is also the unending competition of the little ones for attention from Papa and Mama. Taking care of these many children has definitely added to our daily work load but the added dimension has become another avenue of joy and fulfilment in our lives and ministry.

New Ministry Baptisms

Bro. Siem Bunthol is a member of our church who will be graduating students from Cambodia Baptist Bible College this coming July 6, 2007. About the end of last year, he has been going to a place called Kandal Steung. This is about 26 kilometers (approx. 16 miles) from Phnom Penh. He has been conducting Bible studies with adults and Bible clubs with children on a regular basis. Several women and teen-agers have been attending his Bible studies regularly. Many of them have professed faith in the Lord Jesus as their Lord and Savior. Last Sunday, June 18, eight new believers from this ministry came to ba baptized at our main church in the city. Please pray for Bro. Bunthol as he will be working more at Kandal Steung after his graduation from Bible college. Please pray that he will be able to find a suitable place to stay and at the same time utilize as a place of worship and other ministries. Please pray for his safety and for his daily needs as well.

Missions Conference 2006

Early on in the ministry here in Cambodia, we tried our best in teaching and motivating our Cambodian brethren to be involved in reaching lost souls with the Gospel. The 3-day Missions Conference we had last May 22nd to 24th was just a highlight of the continual teaching we do during the weekly worship services. Our Cambodian brethren who are doing mission work within the city and around the countryside reported about how the Lord is blessing their respective ministries. They also mentioned challenges they are facing and asked for help in prayer for certain needs. Other than the small cash love gift given from the church's missions offerings. Our church people were divided into several groups and each group gave a special gift for one of the mission pastors our church is helping to support.

We were blessed to have Pastor Jesse Lubiano as guest speaker for the conference. Pastor Lubiano is the Senior Pastor of the church where we were first members in Baguio city in the Philippines. The church is now called High Crest Bible Baptist Church. Pastor Lubiano's messages on giving for the sake of World Missions were both challenging and inspiring.

Another special feature of this year's conference was the choir organized and conducted by our eldest son, TJ. This is the first real choir we ever had where the singers actually sang 4 voices. We will be missing TJ's services in this area when he goes back to Bible college very shortly soon. The song rendered by the choir was special because it is an original composition by 2 of our young men in church, Bro. Proh and Bro. Sophea. Already the song has become a 'hit special number' in the churches of our circle of friends here in Cambodia.

Mother's Day Pictures!

The Lord has blessed us with three very healthy and good looking boys; TJ, Mikee & Paul. They were all quite small when we first arrived in Cambodia. Being raised in the mission field, they are aware of many less fortunate children around them. They understand very well what it means to have parents who love and care for them that they are glad they are able to share their parents to the children at Living Waters Children Home. The 14 children living with us at the home lovingly call us "Ma" and "Pa". The youngest of them is a 4 year old boy name 'Sroh' while the oldest is a 16 year old girl named 'Seoun'.

Power of Grace Children's Home Update!

We thank God for His care in keeping the children at Power of Grace all in good health. All the children seem to be growing so fast. Aside from the proper physical and emotional care the children get at Power of Grace, the spiritual education is also of a primary importance. Two more girls were baptized together with 3 other believers at Grace Baptist Church - Anlong K'ngan last May 7. Most of the bigger children in the home already know the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior. With the help of Bro. Sophea, the children sing special numbers periodically during the Sunday services.

GBC - Anlong K'ngan 4th Anniversary

We celebrated our 4th Church anniversary at Grace Baptist Church – Anlong K’ngan last April 2, 2006. Just reminiscing the memories of how the church began and looking at the people who got saved and now happy serving the Lord surely warm our hearts. The one soul saved and the two believers baptized were added highlights to the festivities of the occasion. Newly arrived missionary, Bro. Jun Embao was our special speaker.

Growing by God's Grace!

Grace Baptist Church - Anlong K'ngan is experiencing God's continued blessings. People are getting saved every week in church and in the home Bible studies conducted by Bro. Sophea, Bro. Piseth and Om (Uncle) Sem. Five of the six people baptized last Sunday were fruits from the labors of these faithful brethren. The sixth one is Panya, one of the bigger boys from the Power of Grace Children's Home. The man in the middle is blind but he did not use his blindness as an excuse not to follow God's command for him to be baptized.

God is good and God is great!

Dear Faithful Prayer Partners, Greetings from Cambodia! God is good and God is great! We are ever thankful to the Lord for His great goodness to us. We are still here even if you haven’t heard much from us lately! We sincerely appreciate you all for your unceasing fervent prayers for us. Your faithful financial support is greatly appreciated too. We are very thankful to all of you who remembered to send us greetings during the Christmas and New Year seasons. We want you to know that your remembrance of us has greatly encouraged us and somehow given us more energy to keep on in what we were doing for the Lord. The knowledge that you are there intensifies our joys knowing that each blessing and victory is not only for us to enjoy but for you as well. God is good and God is great in giving us partners like you. Thank you very much for your love and prayers. We love you too! Mike & Daisy w/ Paul John