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Kok Thmey Sunday School Peam English School Peam Sunday School

2023 February Updates

Updates from Sreisros

Dear Supporters

I am grateful for your love and kindness to Cambodian people. I am sure that God will bless you and your family as much as you have blessed us. You have been very supportive partners, and you have carried the love of God, and made it seen to everyone. Thank you so much. Before I update this month’s work, I would like to briefly tell you about my family. We are doing alright. My father is taking medicine regularly, my mother has been helping a lot at Kok Thmey church since my father fell ill. My children are doing well in school. I am thankful that God is watching over us.

English School

We are thankful we have a team that helped in checking the curriculum and came up with ideas for the Friday program. Our students are happy to learn new things, new lessons, especially our new students. Our students are not only keen to attend English School but also to go to Sunday School where they feel joy and peace. Below are a few things to update this month:

  1. Student attendance is 88% in total (above the average of 75%).
  2. Students can follow school curriculum and learning objectives.
  3. Teachers are working on a reporting book, homework tracking, and a writing exam. 

For the Friday program, after telling students about the love of God, I asked them if they would want Jesus to come into their lives and to have God’s love in their heart. They all raised their hands and started to follow my prayer. Praise God!

Peam Sunday School

The Sunday School is doing well. We have enough lesson plans, pictures, and teaching aids. However, when there are a lot of students, the teachers sometimes have difficulty controlling the class. Our students come from three different villages, and they have so much to tell each other. We have put the 5 to 12-year-old students into two classes, with assistant teachers helping in these classes. We have a teens’ class too. 

Kok Thmey Sunday School

Students come regularly for Sunday School and are absent only when they need to take care of the house and animals. Last Sunday, a girl shared that her parents were always fighting. So the teacher prayed with her that God will bring peace, love, and joy to her family. She said she wanted her parents to believe in God too. 

Some parts of the church that needed fixing are done while some are not yet done. Two sides of the toilet have been painted, with just the front yet to be painted.

Thanksgiving for:

  • God’s protection when travelling back and forth
  • God’s provision for 2023 work
  • Wonderful teamwork

Prayer Request:

  • Wisdom and strength 
  • God’s protection over families 
  • Second classroom building permission
  • Support for Pastor Bunnath at Kok Thmey Church
  • Money to fix the church
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Kok Thmey Sunday School Peam English School Peam Sunday School

2023 January Updates

Updated by: Sreisros

Dear Supporters

Happy Lunar New Year! How are you doing? I pray that you and I will see God doing something new this year, guiding us and showing us what we should do. I ask that God will bring more faithful men and women to work in His field and strengthen our love, faith, and hope in Him. I also pray for God’s blessings and protection for our families, our friends, and co-labourers wherever we may be – in Cambodia, Singapore, and other parts of the world. 

English School

I am happy that the school did well last year. Before we re-opened school on 2 January, there were several things teachers had to do:

  1. Repair gate and electrical wire
  2. Conduct class orientation at state school
  3. Invite parents of new students to come for a briefing

We started the school year with a “start-up” week for 40 new students. We now have six classes with 96 students in total. The Year 2 classes have been regrouped to better help the students. Better performing students were put together in the same class while weaker students needing more help were put into smaller-sized classes. With this regrouping, we hope to teach more effectively according to the pace the students can go at and how best the students learn.

This year will be challenging for the teachers as we will have to think about teaching strategies that will work for the weaker students to help them learn. 

Peam Sunday School

Every Sunday, we already have at least 70 – 80 students including our older students. There are still more students registering to join our Sunday School. We have started Sunday School classes. This month, the Sunday School lessons for the younger students were about God’s creation of heaven and earth from Genesis, John, and Psalms. The older students learned about how God cares for them. They learned that God loves them and they learned to thank God. Two older girls trained to be teacher assistants are helping us very well.

Kok Thmey Sunday School

I am happy that this year our supporters are able to help one more village – Kok Thmey Village. The Sunday School has 40 students. We use the same curriculum to teach them.  Besides Sunday School, we are repairing the toilet in the church. It is about 60% done. Thank God for everything.

Thanksgiving for:

  • God’s protection to and from school
  • My children’s good health
  • My daughter starting her English class
  • Wonderful teamwork

Prayer Request:

  • Wisdom and strength 
  • Building permission
  • Support for Pastor Bunnath at Kok Thmey church (Monthly support for 1 year)
  • Playground for children in Peam School grounds
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Fruit of the Spirit

As Christians, we should be producing the fruit of the Spirit in our daily lives. Through this trip, I saw the nine attributes displayed!

How the Fruit of the Spirit was evident this trip:

At Paradise School, Teacher Yoo showered all of us, her students and the parents with the love of God. She reached out to every single one and touched our hearts and lives with the love of God.

 

Every smiling face of a child showed such great joy – whether it was when playing games, receiving gifts or giving a performance. It was a joyful time for all the children! The 3 events we held – Christmas at Paradise School, Christmas at Lovea Primary School and the Friendship Soccer Event – were filled with joyful faces.

For me, it was an afternoon walk in Lovea Village that brought me peace. The quietness and stillness I experienced as I walked along the dusty road is indescribable. My heart filled with the peace of God and I knew that this ministry is blessed by God.

Communication wasn’t easy! The teachers couldn’t understand us and we couldn’t understand them! But we were patient and learnt how to communicate with each other and work together despite the language barrier. Many times, we used hand signs to try to communicate and laughed when we didn’t understand each other!

On 16 December, we had lunch with Mr Sophanny and Claudine, a missionary couple serving in Siem Reap. They have been extremely kind to us throughout the whole trip. They were instrumental in ensuring that the Christmas Party at Paradise and the Friendship Soccer Event ran smoothly. Claudine also acted as our translator many times with Teacher Yoo! Their kindness went a step further as they gifted us with ‘kromas’ (scarfs). THANK YOU for the wonderful gifts!

From the picture, you can see my parents looking at Teacher Yoo. To me, my parents displayed goodness this trip as they embraced and welcomed the volunteers and Cambodians alike. They showed me what it meant to be followers of Christ and be Christ-like. Without my parents’ support in Love A Village, I couldn’t have come this far. Words cannot express how much my parents mean to me. Although I don’t show or say it often, I love you both very much!

During our stay at Bread of Life Bed and Breakfast, I had the opportunity to see God at work in the lives of Chhoy and Cham Nam, two of the staff working there. Every day they would have morning devotion and read their bible without fail. They serve Jesus faithfully and with such dedication!

Cambodians are generally gentle people. Singaporeans, on the other hand, can sometimes be too quick with a harsh word. During this trip, I witnessed how uplifting kind and gentle words can be and how damaging harsh words can be. The tongue is really the hardest part of our body to tame! Let us all remember to be gentle like Jesus is!

How can I balance being and doing? How can I stop myself from doing things too fast? How can I control my tongue? There were many lessons on self-control I have learnt, still am learning and need to learn! With each trip, my worldview opens up and God gives me just that bit more of wisdom.

To God be the Glory!

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Suffering Sister in Christ

This trip to the village (31 March to 2 April) enabled us to meet and fellowship with Sister Han.

Here is her testimony:

4 years ago, she watched a movie about Jesus’ crucifixion. She felt very sorry for him and wondered why was he willing to take the torture. That very night, she dreamt about Jesus!

The next morning, as she was traveling with her children, she saw a church and asked her son to let her go to church. She went to church and prayed to receive Christ.

From believing to becoming a disciple of Jesus was not easy for her. She looked to pastors to teach her how to pray, what it means to be a disciple of Jesus and learn more about Jesus. However, being one of the only two believers in Lovea, it hasn’t been easy to find out more or get support from any churches! These days, she worships at a house church in Lovea (with only ONE other believer). Her son, a non-believer, reads to her the Bible as she is illiterate.

Besides this, her personal life is also difficult – her husband has left her and she has a weak heart.

Before we ended our visit, we prayed for her. Please pray that Sister Han will remain strong in Jesus!