Update About Village Ministry

Hello everyone, I just wanted to give a quick update about what God is doing in the village ministry in Kompong Speu Province. (For those who may not know, this is a ministry that Stephen Benefield, the missionary we are working with, started several years ago. I am currently filling in for him while he is on furlough. He should be back in about two months.)

March/April 2012 Prayer Letter/Update

Dear Pastors and Praying Friends,                                                                                                                         

God is Answering Prayer

You may remember from my last prayer letter that I mentioned a situation that took place in the village where we hold a children’s service every Saturday. The situation I mentioned dealt with the drowning of one of our faithful girls named Srey Bpoe- she drowned in a pond right next to the church. As a result of that tragedy, we lost over half of the faithful children because many parents were afraid to send their children to the church because of its close proximity to the pond where Srey Bpoe drowned. Another reason is because one of the mothers in the village had a dream that the pond was going to take the lives of three more children. I could sense that some of our faithful helpers in the children’s service- all members of Good News Baptist Church- were getting a little bit discouraged after weeks of driving an hour out to the village and only seeing only about 18 children come to the service (we were having almost 40 every Saturday before the death of Srey Bpoe). So I had a prayer meeting with them one Saturday after the service was over; and I also began urging the church in Phnom Penh to pray for this matter fervently. Well, praise the Lord that He is answering our prayers in this situation. For the past month we have seen an increase almost every week- not a drastic increase, but little by little some of the children are starting to return. This past Saturday, April 28, we had a wonderful service with the most children we have had in months. The spirit was great, and the children listened intently as I taught about the events leading to the crucifixion of Christ. Please pray for the parents of Srey Bpoe. This past Saturday I finally had a chance to talk with them about the hope that we have that Srey Bpoe is in Heaven. I asked them, “Do you have any hope for her soul?” The answered plainly, “No, we do not know where she is.” Pray that God will use this to soften their hearts to the Gospel.