The last day of the event took place at the seashore in the south of the country. In all, over 1200 new believers from 17 local congregations gathered together under the leadership of Pastor Barnabas. After a time of encouragement and teaching, more than 600 of the new believers dared to enter the "big" water. It seems the rest were afraid of salt water and how large it seemed because they had never seen it before. 

After the baptism, there was first communion for those who were just baptized. My group of visitors from Cornerstone Christian Fellowship in AZ were able to help serve.  In the picture, they are holding up the bread.

Day 2 of a 3 day event was a unique Christian festival with brightly colored tents, a big stage, giant loud speakers, singing-dancing and preaching and a crowd of almost 1000 people surrounded by lush green rice paddies as far as the eye could see. 

  Here is just part of the group that came forward for prayer and healing.

The top government official in the area spoke openly about solidarity with the Church and how the Church is good for the people and development. He talked about partnerships and how the Church had no reason to fear persecution from the government in his district.

Address by Barnabas Mam at the Assembly of Worldwide Partners in June 2007. For more information, go to tinyurl.com/awwp07

I thought you may want to hear a message by Pastor Barnabas in English. I've not heard it because my internet is too slow, but I'm sure it's good. Also, I have a feeling he's not quite as animated as he normally is when he preaches in Cambodia.

Read his testimony here:
http://www.haggai-institute.com/news/NewsItem.asp?ItemID=889

As a bonus, here's a 15 minute podcast sharing part of his testimony. (Audio only)
http://www.podnova.com/channel/7644/episode/17/

I heard a great testimony at church the other day that I want to share with you.

A couple in a village about an hour from here were expecting their 4th child, but the doctors were insistent that they abort the pregnancy because both parents are HIV positive and the other 3 children are also HIV positive. But the parents had recently come to believe in Jesus and they felt that God had blessed them with this new baby. So they refused to abort the baby. Again and again the doctors tried to convince them to abort.

Finally, the baby was born - free of HIV! But she had some severe heart problems that could not be treated in Cambodia. So somehow some calls were made and some M's were contacted and made arrangements for the baby to have heart surgery in Vietn'am. No one on the hospital staff could speak Khmer and visa versa. It turned out that the only one who could speak Khmer was a patient in another bed who was a soldier that had been stationed in Cambodia during the '80's. So this soldier acted as the family's translator. The message that circulated the entire hospital was how Jesus has given them a baby free of HIV!. Little Mary got better and returned to Cambodia. She is now about a year old and doing very well. Though she will need another surgery around age five.

We found a podcast from Australia that is quite interesting. It's an interview with Pastor Barnabas and one of the things he talks about is his story of survival of the Khmer Rouge. We highly recommend you listen. It's about 15 minutes long.

http://www.podnova.com/channel/7644/episode/17/

Download link

http://downloads.fm1032.com.au/oh/oh_pastorbarnabasmam.mp3

He knew he had an addiction and wanted to be free. TV ruled his life and he hated it. Whenever he heard a TV he was compelled to watch. He was mesmerized. He was just 13.

Even before his life in the refugee camp he suffered from this addiction. He felt as if he future was being robbed from him. He know that he would have no future as long as TV ruled his life.

So he prayed to the Buddha, "If you are real, free me and help me I will worship you". For 2 months he prayed and hoped that the Buddha would save him. But there was no salvation. Then he turned to the god of the Muslims, "If you are real, free me and help me I will worship you". For 1 month he prayed and hoped for salvation, but none came. Then he turned to the god of the Hindus, "If you help me I will worship you". But his addiction only seemed to grow worse as his despair grew worse.

He did not like the Christian God. To follow Jesus meant you had to become like the foreigner and God would change you. No, he wanted nothing to do with the Christian God.

But one Friday night he found himself praying to Jesus, "If you can help me, I will worship you". The next day he walked by the school which was closed on Saturday and normally deserted. But there was a man there who called him over and told him all about how Jesus loved him and could help him.

The boy felt that his prayer was answered. He began to attend the church. He believed and God quickly freed him from his addiction the TV and replaced it with a burning desire to read His word. The boy read through his Bible in 6 months.

The boy became one of Pastor Barnabas' strongest students. Today the boy is a pastor and heads up the national prayer movement in Cambodia. His name is Sanit.

This is a follow up story to the story about God's provision for Dani to have surgery. Read here: A Story About God's Provision for Dani

While on Home Assignment we had raised money for a young mother in our church to have surgery to remove a goiter. I just learned that her parents saw this gift as a miracle from God and was the impetus for them to accept Christ. The miracle was that strangers in the church (ie. not family members) would give so much to this poor family who had prayed for many years that God would provide. Not to be misled, her parents had a consistent Christian witness for many years, but this event did play a role in their final conversion. Through this entire process-this young family’s faith that God would provide-12 family members came to Christ in all. Amen!

Dani is one the  Khmer   Children's  Teachers at Living Hope in Christ Church here is Phnom Penh, Cambodia .  Married to a young Christian man and with 2 small children, this poor family has witnessed first-hand how God can heal and provide when needed.  

Only 2 years ago, Dani and husband, Wibol, had no work and struggled to feed their two young children.  One day, when their baby son had been sick and lost 2 kilograms because he would not eat,  Dani began fasting and started praying that God would heal him, because they had no money to take him to the doctor.  Faithful as our Sovereign Father is, Mongol began eating again and was healed from his illness by the end of the day! Since that time, they have trusted that God can truly meet any of their physical needs.

When Dani told me about a growing mass in her throat that caused her pain and made it difficult to eat, I began to pray.  She asked me to pray, and I did.  At that time, she barely had the money to see a doctor, but when she did, he told her she needed surgery to remove it which would cost $500.  Was God asking me to help in some way? 

Then, a door opened for Dani to take a full-time job as cleaner at the church.  S ince she and her family lived in a small room across the street from the church ,  it seemed like a good opportunity.   Shortly afterwards, her husband Wibol, was able to buy a "tuk-tuk"- motorcycle contraption through a micro-loan ministry and thus, was able to begin earning some money as a tuk-tuk driver.

When Paul and I returned to Cambodia a few months ago, Dani & Wibol had told me that they had saved close to $200 that Dani could see the doctor again and get medicine. After a second visit, the doctor took an "Echo Thyroidienne", as it says in French, on her paperwork. They showed me these images, and to their great fear, it revealed that she not only had one large nodule, but 3 more small ones growing nearby.   The burden the Holy Spirit laid upon my heart only got heavier. 

But because of the great generosity of many of you who have contributed to our Aid to Cambodian Churches fund, we were able to extend God's hand to Dani and her family in their time of need.  On Monday of this week, she was able to receive surgery removing all 4 of the nodules -- the large one, almost the size of a small human wrist.  Cost: $400 dollars.

Dani & Wibol are extremely thankful to you. Words are hard to express the kind of gratitude they feel in a country where health care is scant and health insurance is completely out of reach for the majority.   Praise to God that He provides for His children in ways that are too imaginative for us to even think of ! 

Oh, by the way, Dani and Wibol have both planted 2 separate churches in Northwestern Cambodia and have been through the Church Planting Institute training course offered here. And... Dani's entire family-- mother, father and 3 other siblings have all come to know the Lord within the past few years!

May God fill you with joy because of this story!

Today, I can confirm that my new personal assistant will start on April 1 (no joke). His name is Vorn (pronounced like Vaughn), but uses the English name of John. I call him Vorn. He is from my church here and I've known him for a couple of years. He plays guitar and sings a couple songs on the CD we made. In fact, for those of you who saw my video when I visited he was the lead singer in the music video of "My Redeemer Lives". He has a degree in English Literature and is quite proficient. 

After five years I finally felt I needed some help to keep up with God's leading. Typically, expats hire an assistant soon after they get off the plane, so I guess I'm a bit late to the party. I'm excited and think he'll be a great blessing to the work God has given me to do.

This noon I stopped off on my way home to get my moto washed. As I sat down to wait I was greeted by a boy and his grandpa. They were poor and wanted money. The grandpa had a cane and was missing an eye. At first, I said no and hoped they would go away. It's always hard because I know they are poor, but giving money just reinforces begging. Well, this boy wasn't going anywhere. He sat right down on the sidewalk and gave me a few headbutts. So I began to pray and ask God for help. I made some chit chat with him. His name is Banya and he's eleven. I asked if he went to school and got an unclear answer.

I wanted to share the hope of Jesus with them. I didn't find any tracts in my backpack, but I did have a gospel of Mark. I wanted a gospel of John. I wasn't quite sure what to share from Mark so I asked if I could just read him a story. By this time a girl from the moto wash was listening in curiously (and some others too) and came over. I began to read the Bible to Banya, but I'm a bit slow. I could see that Banya could read a little, but not much better than me-if that. The moto wash girl was quite interested and I asked her if she could read and help me out. She and another woman began to read together along with me. A small crowd of ten or so began to form to listen curiously. They were probably stunned by the foreigner reading Khmer. Unfortunately, the grandpa was off to the side and not involved and Banya didn't seem to understand much.

I did give Banya some money, a lot for him. I told him to buy some food for his grandpa and himself and to bring home some rice to his mother. I told him to tell her that someone who believes in Jesus the Savior of the world and the true God gave it to them and they should ask someone about Jesus or look for a local church and ask them.

After what felt like a failed attempt to read the Bible with this group for 15-20 minutes, I gave the book to the girl at the moto wash for her to read. A young man behind her took it and began to read it as I left. I then proceeded to the bookstore and picked up some tracts and gospels of John for next time I'm in a similar situation.

This past week Mai took about 20 kids and 4 Sunday school teachers on a field trip to visit Srey Bik, the little girl that is dying of AIDS that we wrote about recently.
 
Srey Pic has been part of our church for the past 4 years.  She was orphaned and contracted AIDS from her mother who died 4 years ago.  She has one older sister and one younger sister who has already died.  Just 9 months ago, she was smiling and dancing at church, but now she sits motionless, except her eyes, unable to smile, barely able to speak in a bleak hospital room surrounded by other children, also dying of AIDS.