Thursday, April 9, 2009

April 2009 Baptism

Praise God!! April 4th, 2009, marked the first baptism in the entire border region of Sompovloun, Cambodia. It’s amazing to look back to two years ago when God opened a way for us to work in Sompovloun. We had no idea what God was going to do. He took us to an area of Cambodia where there had never been a church, and there were no known believers. Last Saturday, 27 adults, youth, and children publicly professed faith in Christ and were baptized. We first gathered together at the ministry center and Pastor Sophan reminded everyone of the significance of baptism. Then we all walked together to the river behind the houses of K13 Village. It was raining softly, and the lightening that had threatened earlier was gone. One-by-one, Pastor Sophan baptized each person and we sang and praised God together. As I witnessed this event, I was reminded of the Book of Acts where we read of a person becoming a follower of Christ, and then they and their household were baptized. We had a group of five siblings that were baptized; a husband, wife and their child; moms and their children; and a number of individuals. It was a precious time of witnessing what God has done. We would like to ask you to pray for these newly baptized believers – that God’s Hand of protection would be over them, that they would grow in their faith, and that they would stay strong in the Lord.



Meeting together for teaching and prayer:






Walking to the river:




Several of the 27 that were baptized:

Chandra:



and his wife Samnag:




One of the youth:





Thang - an abandoned boy that lives at the minstry center:





Chanthu (the explosion boys' mom)






Teacher Mom







Pastor Sophan's mother:








Rein and her children:




Teacher Chantha:






Pastor Sophan baptizing his son Ezra:




Our group of newly baptized believers:






Praising God,
Gayle