May 24, 2006

Dear friends,

God is good - He gave us a good trip to the Philippines to attend our daughter's graduation from nursing school.  God provided us a very cheap air fare price so that both of us were able to go to the Philippines.  When we came back  from the Philippines, we brought our daughter to Cambodia to stay for 4 months.

In Psalm 19:1 we read,  "The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands."  We've been praying for God's protection over our daughter for 5 years.  Even as we were in Cambodia,  we proclaimed the hands of the Lord being extended to the Philippines to keep her away from temptation. We declared God's mighty power and his unspeakable gift provided for the expenses of our daughter's studies and her air fare to Cambodia.

During our month-long stay in the Philippines, we were renewed and refreshed and ready to come back to Cambodia.  However, after being back 3 weeks, Grace is having a problem - a tumor in her right breast.   Before we left the Philippines, she had a mammogram and small nodes were found in her breast at that time.  We wanted a second opinion, so she went for an ultrasound here in Cambodia, and that found the lump in her right breast. It is about 30 mm in size already. So, we need your prayers.

We always declare God's greatness even though our leader's wife and members in Takhmau and Prek Thei have been very sick.  We are victorious because we proclaim that our God is a victorious God and the enemy cannot defeat us.  Through the blood of Jesus on the cross we are being healed.

Right now our daughter Maeve is busy teaching 5 young people from Prek Thei how to do T-shirt printing so that they will be able to produce items for Reaksmei Products. Also she is going to teach about what food is nutritious for children to eat. She is going to prepare pictures to show to the children in the different centers (House of Love, House of Joy, House of Peace).

One girl from Takhmau named Lika, who is very faithfully serving in the church, is really very sick and thin. The doctor require the family to pay $150 per injection, but the family is really poor.  Also she lives with her grandma,  who disowned Lika because she believes in our Lord Jesus Christ. So what we did was we prayed and fasted for Lika's recovery.  The pastor told us that Lika can sit up now and can eat soft food.  PTL!

University Parents Day

We were so happy to meet the parents of our students who are under the scholarship program. There were 23 parents who came, and that was our first time to get to know some of them. Some of them are the members of our church, but others are Buddhists. After the fellowship we had an open house so that the parents could see where their children sleep and study.

Grace and I are teaching the discipleship course, "Abundant Light," to some of the students every Tuesday evening in Khmer. There are four of them who are in the class.

Youth Leadership training

Mark (Perom) initiated a leadership training seminar for the youth, and there were 20 young people from different FM  churches who attended. We want to thank these young people who are encouraged to serve in the FM ministry.

Vacation Bible School

Grace is busy preparing the things for VBS since it's almost vacation time and we need to prepare.  We will go to 4 places: Svay Chur, Kampot, Pum Dong (Coconut Village), and Phnom Penh Thmei. We have a small group of teachers to go (some youth will be participating in the Teen Missions Cambodia training).  Please pray for God's guidance and direction for each teacher and the VBS directors in each place.  We also have to pray for the children that they will know about Jesus as their personal Savior.

Leaders and Pastor's Prayer Journey to Siem Reap

During the continuing education for pastors, the leaders excitedly told us that although Cambodia is their home,  they've never visited the Angkor Wat area.  So, in June we have planned to go to Angkor Wat for a prayer journey.  Please pray for God's protection. There are 25 of them who are planning to go.

Prayer requests;

• For the leaders and pastors who are going to Siem Reap
• For spiritual growth of the university students
• For a couple to supervise the university dorms
• For our daughter's licensure exam in Dec.; she needs review in Oct. and Nov.
• For VBS teachers, children, and directors
• For the Wilkins and Davis Lam who are leaving for home assignment in Sept.
• For a contractor for the multi-purpose building
• For the different committees in the district.
• For the church Planters in Takhmau, Kampong Cham, Kampot and Phnom Penh Thmei
• For Grace who may have an operation next month.
• For Miuling Lee who supervises the childcare centers
• For some children who got dengue fever

Warmest Blessings,
Joel and Grace