I have two exciting updates from Cambodia and Thailand!
Last month I posted a blog about my friend Toni from Cambodia, called “Toni’s Testimonies.” In it, I shared how she’s been praying for a classroom helper for the preschool class she teaches every morning. She’s been in prayer for this for years!
Well, no surprise…God provided and He answered!
Makara (which means January) is in the pink. She’s been working with Toni at the preschool since June! She’s 18 years old and her parents are poor so this job helps her family a lot! She doesn’t know the Lord and Toni asks us to pray that she would come to know Christ. Toni loves sharing the hope of the Gospel to others and she’s encouraged her to come to church.
Also, years ago her issue was that she had very few students, now her problem is her classroom isn’t big enough to fit them all! It’s a good problem to have, for sure! God has provided immensely. She asks for prayer that somehow they’d be able to expand the classroom. I don’t know what that would look like, with the limitations that the building provides, but God knows exactly what she needs and how to provide it for her.
I have an overdue follow-up from Thailand.
Remember Linus? The van?
Well, thanks to team Bamboo’s SUPER supportive friends and family, we raised $6,000 (in one week, no less!) for us to bless Pastor Pirot and Meow with! Since we were unable to raise the full amount of $15,000 in the time frame required to purchase a van, we asked them what their next immediate need is. Pastor Pirot and his wife decided to put it towards the rent of their community center right next to their house. They use it for prayer meetings and children gatherings multiple times a week. The upstairs of the community center is where our team slept for the month of May. The money we raised will provide over a year’s worth of rent! The left over money will be put towards repairing their current van. As a pastor, Pirot does not make a salary. His wife provides a small monthly income making coin purses. Every month, with the Lord’s grace, they have just enough to cover their bills. This money has lifted a huge burden off their shoulders. They will be able to put more time and energy into their ministry because of your help.
Better yet, showing this Thai family we believed in their ministry and what they’re doing in their community enough to want to help them by fundraising for them in the first place was exactly the encouragement they needed. Pastor Pirot, Meow and their son, Eudy, told us that it was the first time since they started their ministry ten years ago that they felt believed in and seen by God. Can you imagine how that would feel? They couldn’t believe that someone wanted to invest in them. Their son started crying in front of us because of how deeply it impacted him.
Because of our proactive faith, we ignited their faith by teaching them how to trust God with BIG prayers and believe BIG dreams for their life and ministry.
Because of YOU, we got to show this family all the way in THAILAND that they are extravagantly loved, seen right where they’re at, and personally cared for by God, whom they sacrificially love and serve!
I think that’s much more valuable than a new van.
