Dear Friends,

Jeremiah 20:11 says, "But The Lord is with me like a mighty warrior, so my persecutors will stumble and not prevail.  They will fail and be thoroughly disgraced; their dishonor will never be forgotten."

We have been hearing the news about the persecution in India. I wonder why a lot of Indian Christians are being persecuted and even beaten.  It really breaks my heart to hear the bad news. But this verse helped me to realize that God is with them, even in the midst of persecutions.   Jeremiah 20:13 goes on to say, "He rescues the life of the needy from the hands of the wicked." This is always our prayer -  that God will rescue them from the hands of the wicked.

REAL SERVANTS MADE AVAILABLE TO SERVE

This month of November we had 3 days of Bible lessons for all the Kampot FMC members. We had a chance to do this since they are free, waiting for the rice to be ready for harvest. It is nice to see that the grains were still green. We slept in the church for 3 days, and Grace and I volunteered to cook for the members so that they could attend the lessons every day. We taught them new songs and verses to memorize. There were 35 adults who joined the 1st day, and on the 2nd and 3rd days, 30 of them came. On the 3rd day we celebrated communion, and two people came to the altar to accept Jesus as their personal Savior. I taught them the lesson of Nicodemus and after that I challenged them to become new persons, and two of them came to receive Jesus as their personal Savior.   And the good news was that there were 14 of them who  raised hands to be baptized this coming Dec. 6.  We praise the Lord for the response of the people in Kampot!

Right now, Kampot members are  waiting for the harvest.  It really touched my heart while we were cooking because a lot of the children were waiting for the food because they were hungry.  Early each morning some children would come to the church where we were sleeping and ask what was for breakfast, and was it already cooked? These questions were asked because they wanted to eat our food and also because they don't have any food at home. This season is really difficult for them while they are waiting for the harvest. In fact a lot of people approached us to work on the Phnom Penh Thmei building, even though the salary was low, since we are giving them food.  They just want to work in order to eat.

Phnom Penh Thmei building

We have started the multi-purpose building at Phnom Penh Thmei. The money was donated by the team from the Canadian FMC who came last July and weren't able to help to build  because  the permit wasn't approved yet.  We praise the Lord for their generosity, as they left the money  to build the project. Thanks to Jim Snider who initiated the raising of funds and brought the team from his church in Canada.  We will have pictures for you to see of the building. 

We  have a Bible study once a week for the laborers because some of them are not Christians. Some of them have accepted the Lord and are ready for baptism on Dec. 6.   Some of them who are working on the building at Phnom Penh Thmei are the husbands of members of Kampot church.

Praise and worship Team

In Oct. Grace taught the youth how to improve Praise and Worship. There were 20 of them who attended.  When we visited Treuyslaa church the youth there were so happy because they were well prepared  in prayer and the worship was very smooth. They cleaned the church, too!

Kampong Cham Baptism

We were very happy to attend the Kampong Cham thanksgiving and baptismal service. It was very tiring travel, however, because from Phnom Penh to Kampong Cham is  80 kilometers, and then the youth decided to go to the falls for the baptism.  Helen had no idea how far the falls were from Kampong Cham. The pick up truck that I was driving was full of people: 20 rode in our pick up, and 10 of them were candidates for baptism. On our way back it took us 3 hours because somebody from that place told us about the "short cut."  We were able to finally have our lunch at 3 p.m.  The people from the house had been waiting for us to start worship. We didn't have any idea how far the falls were or how bad the road was.  It seems that place is close to the border between Laos and Cambodia! Grace started singing, "It's not an easy road we are traveling to heaven."

Prayer Requests:

Pray for

1. Our daughter who is going to spend Christmas with us.
2. Churches that are led by the local pastors and missionaries.
3. Church plants handled by the local pastors
4. Christmas celebrations in all the churches
5. Phnom Penh Thmei building project which Joel is overseeing
6. Safety  and protection of the laborers who work on the project
7. Kampot baptismal service on Dec. 6
8. Bible study to continue after the baptism.
9. 14 candidates who will receive baptism.
10. The missionaries in Cambodia
11. We both have a viral infection in our eyes
12. The camps that the committee is preparing for next year.
13. Peace with Thailand
14. A follow up meeting for Sunday School teachers of all age levels - Nov. 29 at Prek Thei church.
15. The Wilkins trip to the US on Dec 8
16. Helen, who will spend Christmas with her family.

Your Co-workers in the field,

Joel and Grace Margin