David and Christine Manfred

About Us › Our Family › Locate a Worker

Prayer Letter/Ministry Update

Dear Praying Friends:

Thanks for holding us up in prayer over these past months. We arrived back in Phnom Penh on June 29 and have been quickly getting re-acclimated to life here.

Some first impressions after a year away…

Cambodia is continuing to develop:

Cambodia’s first 30+ story building was completed and additional taller buildings are going up in Phnom Penh.

The chaotic traffic is becoming more regulated. There are attempts to make left-turn lanes in streets. Seat belt laws and motorcycle helmet laws are actively enforced.

It is still HOT!

There have also been many encouraging things upon our return:

We have added a very gifted and experienced couple to our team who are overseeing our church planting efforts in Phnom Penh. Their names are Joe and Kay Kong. He was born in Cambodia before immigrating to the US in 1975 so he is fluent in Cambodian. Joe served as the Cambodian District Superintendant in the US for many years before overseeing the ethnic Alliance churches in the US. He brings fresh vision and much experience to the key roles of church planting and leadership development in Phnom Penh.

On Sunday July 4, we attended the New Jerusalem church for worship in their newly completed building. There was a wonderful sense that God was doing something new in their midst. At the end of the service, Joe introduced us to a woman whom he had just led to faith in Christ in May. She is the wife of a high ranking government official. She is outgoing and very eager to grow in her faith. She and Chris connected with each other very well. She is currently attending Bible Studies at the Kong’s home.

We found a house to rent. We are located about 10 minutes from the office, 5 minutes from Janelle’s school and 15 minutes from Jenna’s school so it is in a great location. It is a brand new 4 bedroom home. The yard is small but the rooms are good size. It is like a townhouse in that we share a wall with the adjacent building. There are lots of neighbors packed together real close so we will have great opportunities to connect in our community.

David connected well with David Strong who took over most of the Field Director responsibilities in the year that we were away. It was good to get caught up. There are many challenges ahead of us but there were also many good things that took place in this past year and we are thankful for the good leadership that David Strong and others gave to the field in the year that we were away.

In addition to your prayers, your support through the Alliance’s Great Commission Fund through your local Alliance Church or through the Alliance website www.cmalliance.org/give/ is what keeps us on the field. For those who have given your support through this means, thank you so much. We could not impact this country without your support.

We are privileged to partner together. Cambodia is at a spiritual crossroads. The number of Christians is now more than 1% of the population. Please note that this means that nearly 99 in 100 still do not yet know Christ. However, if the significant growth of the Cambodian Church over the past 30 years continues at the same rate for the next 15 years, it will mean that 10% of Cambodians will know Christ by 2025. Thanks for praying and partnering with us to those ends.

Serving together, Dave and Chris

Prayer Requests/Answers to Prayer

Pray for the wife of the high ranking government official who just came to Christ and her husband. The husband may be close to becoming a believer as well. Pray for them both to take additional steps in faith. They could become a key couple to influence many for the Kingdom.

Pray for Joe and Kay Kong as they take on their new responsibilities to work with our Phnom Penh missionary team in church planting and leadership development ministries.

Our annual Cambodian Field Forum starts tomorrow and runs from July 6-12. This is the meeting when all of our Alliance International Workers in Cambodia come together to report, worship, strategize, pray, and relax. Pray that the Lord would meet our team there to both hear His voice and to renew our bond to one another and to the critical work to which we are called.

Although the farewell with friends and family was hard, we feel that we are having a good transition back to life and ministry here. Pray that the Lord would continue to give us good days as David has now resumed the Field Director role and Chris takes on her responsibilities to work with a new church plant in Phnom Penh, overseeing the CMA Guest House, and working with Alliance International Workers who are in language study.

Cambodia

Approved Specials

If you wish to contribute to one of our specials (vehicle funds, building projects, etc.) you may select it from the Approved Specials List.

Share

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
•