End of August 2025 Update

Do you remember the TV sit-com “Cheers” with its familiar theme song…“You want to go where everybody knows your name?” (If you’re under forty, you missed a good one!) That’s what we felt like returning to Goldsboro, welcomed by friends and church members alike! For a while, we stayed with long-time friend and supporter Jay Barber and were graced nearly every day by deer in his backyard…not a sight you'd see in Cambodia. There, except for rats and lizards (and, ok, monkeys), most wildlife has been hunted to oblivion. We’re now in a rented Tiny House, which is five minutes from the church, and driving Old Faithful, the Nissan truck that Jay kindly lends us.

Why is it that when something is new it attracts disaster? I’m thinking now of the curry splash on my white silk blouse the first day I wore it. Likewise, while I carried my so-old-it-couldn’t-get-updates phone through seven countries and three continents without a single incident…the MOMENT I got an upgrade, it leapt off the counter straight into the commode. Years ago, a similarly ill-fated phone resisted all my rescue efforts and drowned. This one, incredibly (I followed ChatGPT’s advice and prayed fervently), appears none the worse for its swim. Apparently, phone makers have added some safeguards for the more accident prone among us. (However…I think the blouse is a goner.)

As is our experience, August’s 21 Days of Prayer brought much comfort, clarity, and direction to our next ministry steps. There is something sacred about laying all your dreams, wishes, plans, and fears before the LORD and waiting to see what areas He prunes, what parts He redirects, what desires He changes, and what fears He banishes. And so, knowing how powerful YOUR prayers are, I’m asking you to join us as we pray for some of the missionaries (these are not all of them) we support who are continuing disciple making in different countries.

CAMBODIA

1) Please pray for…Pastor Sokha Sun and Nam Soon of Glory Church (with assistants Chanthol Sou and Pich Sorphea), who are conducting six-week Disciple Making Trainings with pastors in outlying provinces. These pastors rarely get such training, are desperate for help, and appreciate it enormously. Glory Church also has a Christian Dormitory Ministry, which produces much fruit, and several Kids’ Ministry teams that go out into rural areas to hold programs…all this in addition to a thriving church with over one hundred young people. Pray for wisdom, strength, finances for another dormitory ministry, and Sabbath rest for these hardworking servants.

2) Please pray for…Pastor Rin Yame, a servant of God in his 40’s, and his team of young believers (about 15) at Mercy Village Church who do more, quite frankly, than is humanly possible; teaching the children of the “trash pickers,” feeding and outfitting families, meeting the spiritual needs of the whole village…and often the emotional and physical ones as well. Disciple Making is a huge part of what they do, training and sending young couples to places in which they’ve worked to establish church plants. Rin’s vision is enormous; he completely rebuilt Mercy Village after a fire burned it to the ground and now prays for ways to do the same for Bamboo Village. He has a church plant, supports and trains his team, studies music, leads outreaches, teaches the Word, and always has a plan to do more still. Please pray for strength, finances, wisdom, and Sabbath rest.

3) Please pray for…Pastor Soeuy Lak and Long Srey Pov, leaders of AMGCambodia, a powerful church planting and Kids’ Ministry organization, training believers to go into the provinces and carry the Good News to those who haven’t yet heard it. Again, these are leaders with boundless energy, incredible love for God, and determination to make a difference for the Kingdom. Please pray for continued finances so that many more Cambodian teams can be trained and sent into rural provinces to teach the Truth.

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC

4) Please pray for….Pastor Jaime Blandon and his wife Jackie, who combine servants’ hearts with incredible project management skills, as they continue to serve both Dominican and Haitian pastors and congregations in multiple ways. Their truck is repaired, the Manna Packs are being delivered, mission teams hosted, and pastors’ trainings are held frequently. While thousands of Haitians are picked up and deported to Haiti, it’s as if the authorities’ eyes are blinded to the Christian Haitians, and they remain miraculously undetected. Praise the Lord! Pray for healing for Jaime’s still-recuperating arm, new contacts for supplies, and…for Sabbath rest. A recurring theme for these devoted missionaries is they fail to take time to recover and risk burn-out.

PAKISTAN

5) Please pray for…Noumaan Prince, Director of Kingdom Mission International, who currently has a team in an unnamed area of Northern Pakistan heading to an Unreached People Group, the Kalash Tribe (the blue-eyed people of Pakistan). He wrote about the team pastors’ isolation, persecution, and desperate need for Disciple Making tools, as well as their willingness to take the news into dangerous areas. There will be no pictures from this venture, lest the location of the team and the new believers be detected by using meta-data from photos. But the Gospel cannot be stopped, and the Word will not return void; there will be tremendous fruit from this venture. Please pray that Jehovah-El Elohim will protect them from the eyes of those intent on harm.

BURMA (M____________)

6) Please pray for… Dorothy Myint, the pastor of the Children’s Rescue Home over the border who carries most of the burden for looking after, feeding, and educating her 40 plus children. You’ll remember she had a terrible episode of SEL some time ago, and its recurrence is a constant threat. In the rainy season, the children frequently become ill from mosquito borne illnesses. Pray for strength, God’s protection, and healing for both her and her children.

AMERICA

7) Please pray for…us, Peter and Joan, as we continue Disciple Making Training with American believers, preach about Disciple Making, give mission reports to contributing churches, serve our sending mission organization, wait (impatiently) for our beloved grandbaby’s arrival, support our established teams overseas, and plan our return missions.

Let me take one more opportunity to tell you our hearts are overflowing with gratitude for the love, concern, support and prayers we received from so many of you when overseas. It is unlikely you will ever know how important it was to us; we can only say Thank You and hold your kindness close to our hearts.

May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.” Philippians 4:6-7