Praise the Lord for church last Sunday. Many children and youth came to worship with us. Our little hall was full and a few asked for more chairs. Three of the children who attends SAVANA regularly offered a song. The other Sunday, some of the youth brought their friends in the afternoon. As we sat and talked with them, two of their friends prayed to receive Jesus. Please pray. We need someone who loves the Lord, can teach God’s Word to the youth here and lead them in sports every Sunday afternoon.

Worship, prayer meeting, Sunday school and SAVANA goes on regularly. The church has been praying for more opportunities to reach out to more people and God is answering.  Kratie (Kruchie) – a province at the border of Vietnam and Cambodia A couple in their 50s  who came to know the Lord by observing Christians and reading the Bible that the husband purchased, decided to serve the Lord after the wife was healed from an illness. They came down to the city to seek out the Christians and they were wonderfully lead to meet Pastor Mony and had attended
church before they went back to the their village in Kratie. The couple invited us to visit their place.

Last May 13, Friday, 13 of us with a guide, left Phnom Penh 6:30am in the van of Ptr. Art Bastes arriving at the place at 2pm. The roads are very good and the scenery serene with rubber, tapioca and pepper plantations. Reaching the Vietnam border at 11am, the wife gleefully met us but warned of the bad road ahead. We turned left and inside the van started to feel like a boat in the middle of a storm. It rained the past ten days. The van got stuck in the mud. All of us had to get out and push but to no avail. The wife road a motorcycle, was gone in a flash, coming back bouncing on a tractor beside the driver. All cheered as the van jumped and swayed as the tractor pulled. We were not charged a cent.

About 80 adults and children with Cham Muslims in the group  lined up greeting us with applause as we came to the thatched house of the couple. We gathered under the house. Children sat on wooden planks and the adults on the mat spread on the ground. We worshipped, shared the good news and gave out cookies and used clothes that we brought. Then the couple invited us to lunch with some of the villagers inside their house.

During the talk after lunch, we learned that the couple is teaching writing, reading, Bible on weekdays and conduct worship under the house as well every Sunday. The husband teaches Bible to the adults and the wife the children. The weekly classes are also held there. The village has 101 families with no electricity, water and toilets. The elementary school is about 10 kilometers away. There is water in a rich man’s house but they cannot get water from there. Their source of water is a pond. A mother with malnourished child, two ladies with high blood pressure, a lady with skin TB and a lady who has a nervous tension came after I checked the blood pressure of the wife. I felt weird and helpless then. Bro. Andrew prayed for the lady with TB and shared to her Jesus, the hope for the hopeless. We prescribed rest for them who had the high blood pressure, pineapple and garlic. Whew! Our hearts goes out to them and we were helpless, but God is the greatest healer, Comforter and Savior of all time .
Having engaged in that visit and saw what the Lord is doing, we now take the responsibility to adopt them. We will pray and save funds to go and minister there again. We are praying for a water pump for the village and writing tables for the couples to use for their students. And eventually, as the Lord will provide, help build another shelter for the classes and worship. 6 men from there would like to study Bible to be equipped and the couple also would like to know more of the Bible so they will have more to teach their people there.  The Lord is really wonderful that He didn’t allow the van’s smoke pipe to fall while we were travelling that night. It fell the next day at garage shop upon arriving for check up. Thank you Lord for protection.

Day Care Center — Three weeks ago, I was approached by the teacher/director of the village Day Care Center in Samaky asking to help the center so that it won’t close. The Village Center leaders met and agreed to ask our help.  For three months now, the NGO who used to help the center left them to become independent.  The three teachers realized they could not do it on their own so they came to us.

The center has a two-room building, a toilet and water supply bought from the neighbor but no electricity. It is fenced, has a yard good for a basketball court.  I cannot promise them anything except I am confident that it is God who is at work. I/we accepted their asking to help them. The name of the day care is, Samaky Community   Kindergarten. Yesterday at 4pm, we asked volunteers to help clean the school and about 35 children, and youth including the three teachers came to help. The youth and children then played football in the school’s yard
after cleaning while the adults watched. It was fun!

Please pray for wisdom for us to  properly handle this great opportunity to share Jesus to more people in the community by helping the school, and for the funds needed for the school to start on her feet. Another great blessing and answer to prayers from the Lord is His provision for a motorcycle to use for errands and visitation.

Also, every Saturday morning, we have the opportunity to bring children and adults to a dental clinic for free treatment. For those who go, we’ve asked contribution for the gas/fare.

I am praying and working towards a group, an arm of the church who will be immediate partners here, for accountability and help to coordinate the ministries. Kindly pray for strength and wisdom, for the Lord’s financial
provision for each ministry need and more workers who love the Lord.  For two weeks now, 5 to 7 unschooled children knocks on my door early morning everyday asking for rice, noodles or money. When I have what they ask, (except money) then we eat together and they play blocks, watch Bible cartoons and just run around the center. ( English andcomputer classes are in the evenings) And when I have errands to the city, an extra effort and heart is needed to make them go and wish in my heart that nothing bad will happen to them wherever they will go when I leave for the city. I’m praying to be able to meet what they really need other than what I am able to give them at the present.

As for the plan to reach out to the factory workers, the signal is to wait. Yesterday, three of them were struck by a lightning as they were talking in their cellfones on the railroad track before entering the village. One immediately died and the other two was rushed to the hospital. Death seem to occur regularly in our village each month. My other appeal for your prayers is that the believers here might love God and have the burden to share Jesus to
their families, friends and neighbors. Truly, I realize that “… the laborers are few”, let’s  pray for more.

Your unending, faithful prayers and loving support keeps me/us going here, thank you again so much.  1 Corinthians 3:8.  God loves you, me too. Blessings from Cambodia!
Judith Guarte, missionary sent by:

Maasin Fundamental Baptist Church
Mambajao, Maasn City
Philppines 6601