Dear Friends,

There's been a long silence when we didn't send news to all of you because so many things have happened in our lives. First was the passing of my Uncle George, and then a month later, my Auntie, and now they are with the Lord. We were very sad that we could not go home to join the funerals because of limited resources, but thank God that we were able to call the relatives on the phone to comfort them.  "What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes." James 4: 14. This is the paradox in life. We had a chance to visit my uncle and auntie last August 2009. We had fun together at the sea shore of the north coast of the Philippines, catching fish with them.  We didn't know when would be the next time to meet them again. However, we're very sure that someday we will meet them in heaven. God had a purpose for us to be able to visit them that time, even though it was so short.   We were glad we had a chance to meet them before God took them away.

All of us face struggles from time to time, but when we diligently stand guard over our hearts, we become more aware that God's plan is for us to overcome.  We don't have to question God about the things that happen in our lives, but rather pray to Him to pass through the pain through God's grace.  Thank you for all your prayers, that God's peace stands guard over us. 

Persecution comes anytime, any day. For a year, the church that we work with has suffered so much persecution. The owner of the land that we bought 5 years ago wants to ask for more money on top of what we paid him then.  He went house to house in order to tell the people that we owe him money for the land, in order to destroy the church.   We are so happy that the work of Satan hasn't succeeded because we have a God who is a living God. He is greater than our problems in life.  Also, our favorite dog was butchered by the people who are building the school on the Phnom Penh Thmei property where we live.  We are thankful to God that all these sufferings are only temporary in this world. We are hoping for the eternal life that God has prepared for us.

Kampot Ministry

We have experienced persecution in Kampot Church. The keyboard, generator, microphone, and amplifier were stolen and we have not been able to recover them. The thieves took off the roof to enter the church. Everyone said that maybe it was one of the members because that Sunday my message was about the sick man who was brought to Jesus and was lowered through the roof using a rope in order to meet with Jesus. After that week the things were stolen.

There are days that we cannot open our church door lock because there is a small nail in the hole. We always ask ourselves who do you think did that?

Last week, our local pastor told us that when he arrived in the church on that day, he found a dead duck inside, which was very smelly. He said somebody threw it away inside the church. To the Khmer that is bad luck. Since our church members have Jesus in their hearts, they said, "We will pray for the person who did this to us."

Right now, we cannot sleep inside the church when we go, because the members advised us not to. God is doing great things in spite of the persecution.  Members are learning to trust and depend on God, and to be vigilant when the enemy wants to defeat us.  We have a victorious God who is always with us.

Thank God for two young people who received water baptism and are now helping the ministry in the Church.

One battered woman came to us from Kampot, bringing her two year old daughter.  She wanted to give us her daughter named Tida.  Grace and our daughter Maeve were very excited about the idea, but we remembered the policy of APFMMA that no adoptions can take place while serving on the field. It's painful to tell the mother "no," but we told her that we could not adopt her daughter because of the policy. Grace was so excited originally that she and Maeve went to the market and bought slippers for the child and a new dress and a stuffed toy for her, and gave her food.  After that she really smiled at us to say, "Thank you so much!"  When we took her back to her mother, she was crying because she wanted to stay with us. It broke our hearts too!  So that day, we said "Bye bye" to Tida. At least we were  able to give her one day of joy.  Her mom always leaves her with her auntie because the mom is working on the school construction project as a laborer in order to feed her children. She longed for someone to take care of her.

Svay Rieng

We have a Bible study every Thursday in the house of a new believer. Last December 6, 2009, we had a Christmas celebration and played games. They enjoyed the games, and we had a chance to share about the birth of Jesus. The Cambodian people enjoy when you share the birth of Jesus through a dramatic story. People in this area are hungry for the word of God. They were the ones who called us to come to the place and have a Bible study. A lot of women come to the Bible study, and the men come when they don't work in the city as a mason or carpenter. Families in this place are middle class, compared to other villages. Though a lot of the women cannot read and write, they can plant rice.  The women stay home to do the household chores, and the fathers go to the city to look for carpentry work. They seldom come home every weekend because they are in the city working. In spite of their being poor, we appreciate the families who are contented and happy and eager to listen to the word of God.

We always find ways to have Bible study with the laborers and carpenters when they come to the city and work. We call them and set a time to pick them up and have Bible study in order to follow up.  We are very happy because some of them have testimonies that before they drank alcohol a lot, but now that they have Jesus, the old habit is easily gone and they have no desire to drink alcohol, so their families are happy!

They always say that they want their families to become like Pastor Joel.

We are also happy when they visit us in our house to tell us that they are in the city right now working and they will inform us of the place where they are working in order for us to contact them about when we will have Bible study.

God is really wonderful! We hope that the passion of sharing about the love of Jesus is always here in our hearts in order to fulfill the Great Commission of God.

Prayer Requests:

1. God's sustaining strength to travel to different places.
2. That the Kampot church members will grow spiritually.
3. That Svay Reing people can find work in order to feed the families, especially during the dry season when they cannot plant rice.
4. That God will direct us always according to His will.
5. God's guidance and directions for our daughter.

Your missionaries in the field,

Pastor Joel and Grace Margin