August - September Updates

Church Planting

Pathway Fellowship:

Pathway Fellowship Cambodia is still operating without a license as our present place does not allow us to apply for one. We really thank God for the understanding of the local authority and allowing us to be where we are now.

             Pathway is growing, many children and youths come to church regularly.  We will be launching an English Outreach Class for the youth in early November. The classes will be on Sunday evening and will use devotional material as texts. We hope to reach 100 students by May 2012.

Sakada Village: 

There are less people attending the fellowship now as many of the villagers are still busy with their farming. We only able to visit the village a few times in two month as it is flooding here in Siem Reap. It is very difficult to find transportation to go to the village.

A pond is dug in Sakada to keep water for dry season. Sakada village has always been facing problem of water shortage. We really hope the pond will help keep water for the villagers to use during summer. We want to thank Mr. Mok of Faith Methodist Church in Singapore for donating this pond.

Tropang Tem Village:

We also not able to visit Tropang Tem for 6 weeks due to the flood. Tropang Tem is 90 Km away from where we are, so to hire a vehicle  cost us around US$70 per trip. Only 4 wheels truck can go through the flood water. We hope the flood water will be receded  soon so that we can travel to the village again.

          

 Community Works

In our July updates we shared about the need of

12 bicycles for poor students in Tropang Tem 

village. 

             On Saturday, 10th September 2011 

we’ve received all the 12 bicycles and were 

given to the students. The students and their

families were so happy. We are still in need

of another 9 more bikes for 9 other poor 

students.

We want to thank Mr. Khoon Meng Mok of 

Faith Methodist Church, Singapore for donating the 12 bicycles. It is a great blessing to theses kids.

Mr. Mok and his family also helped build a new house for a poor family in Sakada village.  The family of 9 were living in a very bad condition. The aging mother of the family is a faithful member of Sakada church. She comes to the

fellowship regularly.

The family does not have a farm for their own.

They work for somebody else. They moved to 

Sakada village about three years ago. On behalf

of the this family I would like to express my 

gratitude to Mr. Mok and his family 

for providing a warm place for this family to live in.

Mustard Seed School

We want to thank God for blessing the Mustard Seed School so much in the past years. The school has grown fast  and gain lot of trust from students, parents and the community. The school has also reached many lives.

                 As the school grow there is also  need for more spaces. We are having difficulties arranging classes every day. These few month even harder as the ground floor is not usable due to the flooding. We hope to build a new building for the Mustard Seed School soon.

                 In our last update, we asked for pray for the construction of the new building. We have not started the construction yet as we’ve yet secured fund for the building. Our prayer is that we will have enough fund to the construct two storeys building (first phase) to accommodate the number of students we are having now.

We also hope to enrol more students upon the completion of the new building.

The new building will be also used for the office of the Mustard Seed Fellowship and a meeting place for the

Path way Fellowship Cambodia.

 Please join us in prayer!

Siem Reap Flooding

It has been flooding in the past few years in Siem Reap. This year flood is getting worst. On Saturday 10th September 2011, we left for the villages early in the morning. The road from the Mustard Seed School to town was dry but the water level in river was a bit higher than normal day. I thought it was alright. After finishing our work at the villages we drove back to town. It was heavy rain on our way home. As we were reaching Siem Reap town we saw water spilled over to the street. A few minutes later we came to the central point of the flood.

On the 21st of September, one week later, it was very heavy rain through out the night. On the next day, half of Siem Reap town was flooded again and it is the worst of any other times in the past 30 years. The flood continued till now.

Many schools are still closed, many houses are affected. About 120 families in our village are affected and are in desperate need for food and clean water.

Villagers will face more problems after the flood. Shelter, disease and clean water will be the challenge people face. So please uphold these people and all flood victims in your prayer.

If you wish to contribute to help the villagers please contact us. 

Tel: (855) 97 960 6161
Email: sophy@mustardseedcam.asia

Prayer Requests

1. Pathway fellowship

      - Relocation Plan: Pathway is still operating  

        without a license as our present location does not

        allow us to apply for license

     - The flood victims: The villagers are in

        desperate need of food, clean water and  medicine.

2. New Churches:

     Sakada Village 

       - A lot of people are sick,  please pray for healing.

     Tropang Tem Village

      - English outreach class: we are in need of shelter and furniture  for English Outreach class

      - Many children are having high  fever, please pray for healing.

     Beng Mealea Village

      - The group leader is away at his farm for  many months, please pray for him so that he can lead the   

         group again.

3. Mustard seed school

     - Building Project: We have not able to secure fund for the building yet, please join us in prayer.

     - Commitment of teachers

     - Students and their parents

Cambodia Worst Flood in 30 years

    Early September 2011 Mekong
river water had gone up to the level
that worried the government and 
peoples who reside along the river. 
On the 1^st September 2011 Siem 
Reap experience the first flood in 
2011. The water subsided after 
one week and life was back to normal. 
Then there was very heavy rain 
the whole night of the 9^th  of September. 
The areas along the Siem Reap River were flooded. This time the water level was higher. On the 22 another flood affect the northern part of Siem Reap province and as well as the town area. This is the worst one in 30 years. Almost every part of the town was flooded. Many roads were under water and not accessible. The worst one is the road toward Tonle Sap and to my village.

    

    Today, as I’m writing this post, the
flood water in town area is no more 
but the road to my village and part of 
my village is flooding. About 70% of
the people living in my village are 
affecting. Many of these people are
the poor who live in the lower part 
of the village.

Flooding this year is affecting 14 provinces (number of provinces in Cambodia is 24). The media reported that:

-         148 people were killed, among them 52 were children

-         170,000 families are affected

-         270,000 hectares of rice field is affected and 80,000 hectares is completely destroyed.

-         816 schools are closed

-         75 health centres are closed.

    

    Many families are facing food 
shortages and clean water. So 
please keep these people in prayer. 
The Pathway Fellowship Cambodia 
want to extend our helping to people
in the villages around us. So please
help us to reach these peoples.

Flooding in Siem Reap and other provinces

This year, Cambodia is badly affected by flood. All provinces along the Mekong River are affected badly. Today, as I'm writing this post Kampong Cham and Kratie town is flooding. Many people have been evacuated to the higher land.

Yesterday, 22nd September two districts in Siem Reap province were badly affected by the flood. The water level go up 1 metre within an hour. Hundred of houses and farm land are destroyed. About 200 tourist were stuck around Banteay Srey temple but were rescued by helicopter later in the afternoon of the same day.

The flooding is also affecting Siem Reap town badly. The area around the pop street area is flooded. Road from town to Tonle sap and my village is also flooded. This is the third flood with in two months.

Kampong Thom province is worst affected area. Part of road number 6 is flooded. Many people lost their house. The water level is still coming up. 

Please pray for thoses who are affected by the flood. Please also pray for the villagers who are trapped somewhere in the isolate villages around Banteay Srey and Varin district.

July Updates

Tropang Tem and Sakada Village

We recently started an English outreach class for children and youths in Tropang Tem Village. Everyday Saturday, about 35 students attend the class. Many of them had prayed to accept Christ.
About 12 of these kids are going to another school in another village about 3 Km away from Tropang Tem this year. They are in need of help for bicycles for transportation. One bicycle cost US$35.00.

There are about 45 adults, mostly women attending the fellowship regularly. There was no raining for the month of July  in Tropang Tem village. Every Saturday we pray for rain. God had answer our prayer, every time after we left the village, it rained.

Unlike Tropang Tem village, there was a few heavy rain  in Sakada area. So all the adults are busy with their farming. The last two Saturday in July and early August very few adult came for the fellowship. Our team went to visit them at their farms to pray for them.
Some families are facing food shortage for this farming season. We want to thank a friend from Singapore for helping with some food packages for them.

Children are having their long vacation now. They will only go back to school on the second week of September. About 20 children come regularly to the children program.

Our teachers from the Mustard Seed School go to the villages twice a month to work with children. We praise God for their commitment.

Please Pray:
1. For sick people at Tropang Tem
2. For more rain in Tropang Tem so that people can do their farming in time.
3. For the shelter for English class and Fellowship at Tropang Tem.
4. For protection for people in Sakada village.
5. For clean water, a pond is needed in Sakada.

Church Planting

  We have started 2 new churches and a preaching point. These two home churches and the preaching point were started about 5 months ago. Peoples in these villages have never heard the gospel before. On my first trip in March 2011 with a group of pastors I talked to one of the families in one of the villages about God. They were very interested. They agreed to let us visit the village again. So I started to go to the village every Saturday. On my second trip, I was just shared with them my faith, what I believe. I also told them about my life. The owner of the house listened very careful to my testimony. Later on I discovered that he was a soldier. He liked to listen to my story. So we have common experience. Now this man open his house for our meeting every Saturday.