God is doing some amazing things through our three teams in Southeast Asia (Cambodia, Laos, and Thailand). My wife and I are so looking forward to our return to Asia in about eight weeks. The picture above (photo credits missionary Bounna Has) is JUST A FEW OF OUR MANY SOUL-WINNERS IN CAMBODIA. In this picture, they are having an Asian style breakfast at 6:00 AM, just prior to heading out to share the Gospel with their people.   Many of them will spend over 12 hours out sharing the love of Christ.  About half of those pictured above, are students in our new Bible college in Phnom Penh.

Just curious, I wonder if you could figure out which one is Michelle Hardesty? 🙂 Michelle and her family  are long-time members of Pacific Baptist Church and she is  a graduate of Pacific Baptist School and Pacific Baptist Bible College. She is one of four singles serving with our team in Phnom Penh, Cambodia!

PLEASE PRAY FOR DAVE BOARD, OUR TEAM MEMBERS IN CAMBODIA, AND OUR FOLKS IN CAMBODIA, AS THEY FAITHFULLY BRING THE GOOD NEWS OF JESUS CHRIST TO THE PEOPLE OF CAMBODIA!

As I typed most of this update, I was sitting at the airport in Hartford, CT. I had been in New England for the past 11 days. And, let me tell you, it was cold. Yet, despite the cold, we had some wonderful meetings. After preaching and presenting at Fairfield Baptist Church on a Thursday evening, I had the privilege to spend four days with one of our supporting churches. White Oak Baptist Church has always been a missions’ minded church. Their former pastor, Michael Peslak, served on the mission field for a few years prior to coming to White Oak Baptist. The conference was four days long, I had the chance to preach four times, and had a wonderful time fellowshipping with other missionaries, church staff, and members of the church.

The new pastor of White Oak Baptist Church is Pastor Le June. My brother and I went to college with his father, who is still faithfully serving the Lord in New England. Pastor Le June has a heart for the Lord, for his people, and for the lost. He is doing a great job at White Oak. After the four-day conference was over, the two of us went to a basketball museum and just enjoyed a great time of fellowship. Pastor Le June and I both love the game of basketball and are both former basketball coaches so we had plenty to talk about. 🙂

While in New England, I also had the privilege of teaching a combined (adult and teens) Sunday School class and preached for another one of my wife and mine supporting churches. First Baptist Church of Groton has been faithfully supporting Denise and me for nearly five years now. Pastor Faulk, my brother, and I all attended Bible college together. I am grateful for a man who has stayed faithful over the years. He took over a church that had literally died about five years ago and God is using him to see it bought back to life. Praise the Lord!

It was a real treat to be able to report at Emmanuel Baptist Church of Newington, CT. Our dear friend of many years Pastor Cary Schmidt, he has been pastoring the church now for nearly five years and words cannot describe what God is doing in the ministry since his arrival. My wife and I had the privilege to be in his very first service five years ago. I cannot begin to describe how much the church has been revitalized!

Just prior to heading off for chilly New England, my wife and I had the privilege to report and preach (well, actually, I did the preaching) for two of our supporting churches in the northern part of California. On Sunday morning, my wife and I were with long-time friend, Pastor Steve Nichols, and the Regency Baptist Church of Orangevale, CA.  Pastor Nichols has faithfully served as pastor of this church despite a crippling illness of twenty years. He now preaches from a wheel chair. One of the staff member’s at Regency is Vathana Mao. Vathana, a former bus kid, graduated from our school many years ago and was one of my better basketball players. He is doing a great job with the youth and helping bus kids raise the funds to attend Christian school!

On Sunday evening, my wife and I were able to be with another one of our long-time friends, Pastor Rick Stonestreet and the Calvary Baptist Church. As always, it was a joy to preach for the church family, to fellowship with pastor, his wife, and the church family. A real treat was to spend some time fellowshipping with the Missions’ Secretary of the church and to our surprise she pulled out a few newspapers with our name on it. Apparently, when they highlight a missionary of the week she puts together a newspaper with articles and pictures about their ministry!

A few days ago, one of our fine young Cham men (former Muslim) from Cambodia sent me a few pictures and videos, along with a personal greeting from himself and grandpa Pun (pictured below). Grandpa is blind and has been saved for a few years now, loves Jesus, and has been responsible for seeing many of his family members come to know Christ. I loved visiting in his home, teaching his family the Word, and sharing the Gospel with his wife, who eventually trusted Christ when one of our Cham brothers witnessed to her. Zen, who I had the privilege of discipling for about a year or so while in Cambodia, is a fine young man who is now enrolled in our Bible college in Phnom Penh!

Not quite sure who this is climbing the tree in the video below, Zen sent it to me. Yet, when I watched this video, I was reminded of one of our young teen boys, many years ago, even prior to my arrival in Cambodia, who died when he fell out of a tree much like this. His home (shack) was the very first that I ever visited in Southeast Asia. Visiting his mother, right after his death, broke my heart for the people of Cambodia, and the rest of Southeast Asia, and it was one of many experiences that helped to convince me of the need to leave America and “GO” to the needy places in the 10/40 Window!

PRAYER REQUESTS

• Please continue to pray for all three of our teams in Southeast Asia [Cambodia, Laos, Thailand].
• Please continue to pray for our new Bible college in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
• Please continue to pray that God will open doors for future ministry in China.
• Please continue to pray about the recent increase in persecution in China.
• Please continue to pray that God will bring an increase from all the seeds that we have been sowing through our preaching, teaching, reporting, and presenting these past few months.
• Please pray that God will provide the necessary funds for my wife and I to relocate.
• Please pray for my wife’s recovery from recent surgery!
• Please continue to pray for my brother, Pastor Joe, and his wife Mary!

Denise and I want to thank you for your faithfulness in praying and giving for our ministry. As we often say, we would not be able do what God has called and led us to do without your prayers and without your financial support!

Johnny and Denise

“I have but one candle of life to burn, and I would rather burn it out in a land filled with darkness than in a land flooded with light” — John Keith Falconer

 

The pictures above come from our team, sent out of Pacific Baptist Church, in Thailand. Tom and Sue Sutrick-after retiring in the States-surrendered their lives to go and serve Christ and the Hmong people in the country of Thailand. They are humble servants of the Lord that love Jesus and the Thai people, and God is using them to do a great job. They sure could use your prayers!

PRAY FOR TOM AND SUE SUTRICK AND THE WORK IN THAILAND!

It is always good to get reports back from Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Of course, my wife and I spent nearly two years serving there alongside of our team. We miss these folks dearly! One of our faithful church members, John Castle, has been there for a few weeks. In fact, he is leaving for the States today. John has been having the time of his life and has not only been blessed, but has been a tremendous blessing while visiting. He’s also finding that serving in Cambodia is just a bit different than serving in the United States.

I am so grateful for all our folks in Cambodia, but especially our Cham men. I had the opportunity to disciple six of them while serving there and go soul winning at least twice a week with either Vannak, Man, or Kosal. One of the highlights of my month was to go out to spend an entire day (12-14 hours) with our Cham folks (soul-winning, lunch, discipleship, and teaching in the Midweek service).

One of the first individuals God used to break my heart, after arriving in Cambodia, was a young lady named Srey Ge. She was saved as a child in our Children’s Ministry in Phnom Penh, but eventually was forced to quit church by her parents. She got away from the Lord and had been out of church for quite sometime. Vannak and I started working with her and her husband (Nak) as soon as my wife and I arrived in Cambodia. We had them over for supper and her husband eventually trusted Christ. They started attending services faithfully until they moved.   Vannak is still doing what he can to keep them on the right path. They could sure use your prayers!

Another hi-light of my week in Cambodia was serving in Steung Meanchey, where we now have a church planted that all started with two years of visiting every week and opening up a Children’s Ministry (pictured below).

PLEASE CONTINUE TO PRAY FOR OUR MINISTRY IN CAMBODIA!

Over the past few weeks Denise and I have had the opportunity to be in a few churches in Central and Northern California. It was a real joy to be with Pastor Trudelle and the Faith Baptist Church of Bakersfield. I have been preaching at Faith for at least 12-15 years. Our dear friend, Pastor Joe Grande, started the church about 25 years ago. A few years ago, he left Faith Baptist for Agape Baptist Church in Stockton, Missouri and Pastor Truedelle replaced him in Bakersfield. Pastor Truedelle and his people are doing a tremendous job!

We sure enjoyed being with the First Baptist Church of Mariposa and Pastor Ray Shull. Pastor Shull and his wife served for many years in Cambodia before returning to the States. They have a son who is presently on deputation to go to Cambodia. This is a church and a pastor with a heart for missions and for the persecuted church around the world. I enjoyed teaching combined Sunday School and preaching for the morning service, as well as presenting our burden for the other side of the Pacific.

After heading down the mountain, my wife and I had the opportunity to be with Pastor Bowersock and the Northside Baptist Church family for their Sunday evening service and a time of food, fun, and fellowship. I had the opportunity to preach and present our burden for the 10/40 Window in general and Southeast Asia and China more specifically, as well as a very profitable Q/A time.

My wife and I had the privilege to spend all day with our dear friends, the Silva’s, and the Coast Hills Baptist Church of Santa Maria. Pastor Silva has been pastoring this church for about 30 years. I had the opportunity to teach a combined adult Sunday School class, preach and report in the morning service, and then preach for both the English and Spanish congregations for the evening service. It was a real treat to be able to spend a little time with Nino and Wilson Eng, who are now members at Coast Hills. Both graduated from our high school when I was the school administrator and Wilson graduated from our Bible college while I was still the Vice-President!

While we are in churches in Central and Northern CA my wife and I normally use our daughter Jessica and her husband Joshua’s house for a home base (i.e. a place to stay). They live in Orange Cove, CA. Lots of orange groves. A few days ago, I witnessed something that was a great reminder of our great task at hand. Within just a few hours trees that had been abounding with delicious looking oranges had become barren. Why? Because it was harvest time? And, the harvesters busied themselves with the task at hand. O Lord, may we have this same spirit in the church!

A few days back, I was reading the Prayer Update of a dear friend of ours, missionary serving in the country of China. He and his family are heading to the States for a short furlough. I also went to his website and read the following words:

“This past year the #### experienced some very real trials. There were raids on the church, and the congregation had to go into hiding. At present, they still need to move locations each week, but the lord has kept them safe and as a result, the gospel is still being preached.

As a family, the #### themselves also had to go into hiding. They have settled for now and the Lord has kept them safe! They lost their home in the process, but they were able to stay with various members of the congregation until a new home outside of the city could be procured.”

I will be in Sacramento and Fairfield, CA this weekend, travel all-day on Monday, have an important meeting with Dwight Tomlinson on Tuesday, along with visiting my brother (Pastor Joe), and then head for the East Coast. I will be in four different churches and one Missions’ Conference over a ten-day period before returning to California. We covet your prayers!

PRAYER REQUESTS:

1. Please pray for my upcoming trip to New England and the Missions’ Conference at White Oak Baptist Church.
2. Please continue to pray for all three of our teams in Southeast Asia [Cambodia, Laos, Thailand].
3. Please continue to pray for our new Bible college in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. 
4. Please continue to pray that God will open doors for future ministry in China.
5. Please continue to pray about the recent increase in persecution in China.
6. Please continue to pray that God will bring an increase from all the seeds that we have been sowing through our preaching, teaching, reporting, and presenting these past few months.
7. Please pray that God will provide the necessary funds for my wife and I to relocate.
8. Please pray for my wife’s upcoming surgery.
9. Please continue to pray for my brother, Pastor Joe, and his wife Mary!

My wife Denise and I want to thank you for your faithful prayers and financial support. As we say often, we could not do what God has called and led us to do without your prayers and without your financial support!

Johnny and Denise

When it comes to the 1040 Window and Unreached and Unengaged People Groups, if we aren’t willing to GO, they aren’t able to KNOW!