God has been really good over the last few weeks since we returned from the “Creative Access Nation.” Of course, God is always good but you know what I mean. When you are in this part of the world (where Buddhism has been entrenched for thousands of years and they tend to see Christianity as the religion of the foreigners) to be able to witness an individual truly come to Christ, more often than not, takes time. In fact, it takes lots of time for most! Yet, over the past couple of weeks we have seen a handful of folks trust Jesus as their Savior.

The day after our “Celebration Service” we had Naren over our house for a meal. We have referred to Naren often in previous updates. We have been working with her now for over six months. She is the 28-year old young lady who is the manager of a Coffee Bean here in Phnom Penh. She’s the young lady who had never seen or heard of a Bible in her life until I opened up my Bible to share something with her a few months ago. After some pizza and fellowship, I once again began to explain the Gospel to Naren. While Naren speaks and understands English fairly well, I knew I needed someone to help me and interpret so she could hear it in her “heart language.” Man’s wife Kanha came to the rescue. While Naren did not trust Christ she got a little closer to making a decision for Christ!

Please pray for Naren’s salvation!

Over the last four months Vannak and I have been working with a group of extremely impoverished folks from Steung Meanchey. Lord willing, some time in the near future we will be planting a church in Steung Meanchey. As I mentioned in our last update, ten of them, along with their children, attended our “Celebration Service.” Just a couple days later, one of the men we have been working with trusted Christ as Vannak and I, once again, shared the Gospel with him. His name is Sung, please do keep him in your prayers. Then we turned to his wife Thy and asked her what was keeping her from trusting Christ and she then told us she had trusted Christ on her own. Well, amen! Then just a while later, Thia told Vannak that she too, had trusted Christ on her own.

Please pray for the spiritual growth of Sung, Thy, and Thia and for Nee’s salvation!

The blessings just kept coming!

A few days later, while on our regular Saturday visitation, Man was busy sharing the Gospel with a very ill grandmother and Sara was encouraging a brand new believer and his wife. I was trying to keep a handful of children busy by playing with them. While doing so, I was handing out candy to the children. One mother brought her child to get some candy too. She started talking to me. Only one problem there, I had no idea what she was saying. 🙂 To make a long story short, the woman, named Sony, eventually brought Man and I to her shack (pictured below) and we took about an hour and a half and shared the Gospel with her and her mother. Sony said she understood and wanted to trust Christ. I had Man lead her in a word of prayer. Sony was in church the next day with her two children and again on Wednesday evening with a visitor – her mother!

Please pray for Sony’s spiritual growth and that her mother will get saved!

Over the past few months we have been working with a family. We have mentioned Wanita from Nigeria and her cousins Isabel, Vanessa, and Basil in a few of our past posts. Wanita was saved in Nigeria and has been living here in Phnom Penh for the past two years. She had been looking for a church and God orchestrated our meeting her. Isabel, Vanessa, and Basil are half Nigerian and half Khmer and were Buddhists. About three weeks ago Basil trusted Christ and was baptized during our “Celebration Service.” Joy and Sue have been working with and praying for the girls for the past couple of months. This week I had the opportunity to meet with Isabel and Vanessa, answer a few of their questions, share the Gospel with them, and they trusted Christ. They were as ready as you could possibly be to get saved. I am very grateful for the investment of my daughter and niece into their lives preparing them to trust Christ!

Please pray for Isabel and Vanessa to grow in their faith!

In just a few days I will be flying to the states. I will be there for two months. During that two month period, Lord willing, I will be in three different states, in three Missions’ Conferences–including our home church’s Missions’ Conference. I will also be teaching an Intensive at Pacific Baptist Bible College on Missions’ and Discipleship, along with being in at least seven other churches. I have a few more churches pending at the moment. I sure do covet your prayers during this time period. While I am traveling, Lord willing, I will have my new book with me called, “Peeking Through the 1040 Window: Why it Matters to God and Why it Should Matter to Us.”

Please pray that God will use my time in the states to help folks awaken to the great need in Southeast Asia, China, and the rest of the 1040 Window!