Missions

Sue and I have just completed a fabulous time visiting with our Cambodian mission partners – Rose and Perlito, and Byron (Poipet), and Stu and Jo (Battambang). It has been an incredibly rich, inspiring and full week.  Over six days I spoke 12 times, which even for a loud mouth like me is a stretch. I preached at Poipet last Sunday, and then taught on the character and nature of God to 27 Discipleship Training Students (DTS) at YWAM Battambang.  Let me share with you a couple of reflections.

First, what our partners are doing here in Cambodia is nothing short of incredible.  We enjoyed a wonderful few days with Byron, who over the last year has become an invaluable member of the Poipet Christian community – particularly with his construction skills and servant heart. We love this guy.

The slum community near the church in Poipet can no longer be called a slum community. Praise God!  This is the community where, for the last eight years, we have been sponsoring kids into an excellent education they would otherwise not receive. Perlito and Rose, and their church, have invested their lives into this community. It has been transformed – one where abject, life-threatening poverty will soon be non-existent. In addition, many of the children sponsored are now young adults and are key leaders in the church.  Some of them had significant roles in leading worship last Sunday. A few are going on to university – unthinkable even a few years ago.

What has happened in Battambang the last 12 years is truly amazing. 12 years ago, Stu Herchell-Adair was a part of a small team that travelled to Battambang (Cambodia’s second largest city) with the vision to establish a YWAM Training Base there.  Now that base has 120 staff, multiple training schools a year, more than a dozen community development initiatives and its own incredible, beautiful property (the second largest in Battambang) which itself is a miracle of God’s provision.  It’s not been easy. 12 years ago Cambodia was not an easy place to live. In many ways it still isn’t. In the midst of it all God has been doing some amazing things. One observation of the serious intent to see Cambodia transformed by the gospel is that 75% or so of the staff are Cambodian, and the base itself is now led by Cambodian leaders, sending missionaries not only all over Cambodia, but to the nations.

Stu met Jo in Battambang. They now have two beautiful boys – Aza and Malachi.  Their heart for Cambodia is infectious. Spending the week with them, we got to see a little of their ministry, especially amongst the desperately impoverished, and meet some of their friends. Our two visits to a village of thirty families who live on and in the city dump (playing with kids amongst the rotting, smoking mountains of trash) will be memories we will never forget.

What an honour it is to partner with, not just Stu and Jo, but Rose and Perlito, Byron, as well as Siami and Sawitree (Thailand), Dina (Bosnia) and Justice Water. This is all part of our Acts 1:8 mission – to see more people, more like Jesus – on the Gold Coast, across our nation and the nations of the world.

Dear Stu, Leslie and Rob, dear church,

Hope you are well and full of Joy in this busy time. May the joy of our Savior be with you. Merry Christmas.

Here is our newsletter. Thank you for supporting us and praying for us. We love you, Dina and Jajce church.

• We will have the 20th anniversary of the Evangelical Church in Jajce on the 14th of December. Pray for the celebration that people whom we invited will come. Pray for the speaker Peter Kuzmič dean of the Evangelical Theological Seminary in Osijek for his health and that he will be able to come. Pray for Dina who leads the program, for the worship team Budo, Matt, Rowan, and Sanela. And above all for God to be SEEN and His faithfulness to be heard of. Theme of this event is: “I know that Sun is not afraid of the darkness!” It is song written by one famous 19h century poet Aleksa Šantić and talks about Jesus.
• We are preparing for Christmas parcels in the church with kids that come to Lavovi hockey Club and Novi Most, and other kids we know in the town. We are planning to show Superbook to about 150 kids. Also, we plan to have a program for older kids too and high school kids. We will give parcels in two schools, in the sport school “Grow healthy” and in the one organization who works with disabled children. Please pray for that.
• We plan winter camps that will take place in January. We are planning to take few hockey players and few other young people involved in the music. Pray that they will open their hearts to Jesus.
• Continuing helping one boy Ermin with good healthy habits.
• We plan to build storage room to keep all the sport equipment out of garage. We are still looking for the best company-people that would fix garage so it will become a nice room where we can have different activities such as movie nights, English classes, teachings, small conferences, and seminars.
• Pray for Lamija and Mihaela who went to the youth conference that they will get to know Jesus as their Lord and Savior. Pray that MIhaela could come to church.
• Pray for the opportunities to share the reason of our hope. That is focus of our prayer for this month, 1 Peter 3,15. That God will open doors for us to speak boldly for Him and about Him to other people.
• Continue praying for Dina, Sanela, Budo, Matt, Rowan, and Senka as we talk about ways how to reach to people and wait on God to show us to whom to talk and what to say.

• Pray for at least one person to be saved SOON. We desperately need to see someone saved, getting baptized, to see breakthrough in the town. There are so many projects we are part of, so many parts of the town that we entered. We need God to move once again first in our hearts and then in people we work with. We need boldness to proclaim His name. Thank you for praying for us.

Hi Newlife from Poipet, Cambodia where I am currently living.

The last couple of years here has seen some rapid change in the city, there is huge growth and development with trade across the Thai border as well as the Casino industry here, making it a hustling and bustling place to be. There are a lot of Chinese moving to this area of Cambodia and what was once quiet Cambodian villages, is fast being transformed into larger housing subdivisions and developments. There has been no better time to continue to reach out to the Cambodians, especially the children, providing them with community structure, employment opportunities and education.

I’ve been working closely with Perlito and Rose, our Newlife mission Partners here in Poipet. They have planted a church that reaches out to disciple the families and young people. Through the generous support of their partners, including many from Newlife, they currently have almost 200 students in a sponsorship program giving them the opportunity to get a life changing education.

The ministry here is expanding and developing and there is definitely always something to keep us busy. We have recently opened a small laundry service and breakfast restaurant to employ some of the families from the church who live in the city. We’ve all been busy getting the building ready and the project started.

We have also been continuing to reach out to the rural villages surrounding Poipet. You might have heard of the land we purchased there in one of the villages. We have now employed some people from the village to prepare the soil and fence the land. Soon we will be ready to build a school where the children can come and learn English and a church where more villagers can come and be encouraged by the Word of God.

Blessings,

Byron Davis
Newlife Mission Partner