Dear Friends,
What a blessing that things are getting back to normal, at least here in the US! In Cambodia, as well as Vietnam, no international travellers are allowed to enter. Parts of Cambodia have still been under lockdown, mostly in the Phnom Penh area. However, I think that the Co-vid cases are beginning to drop, and the situation in Vietnam is very stable. I am praying that things will stabilize enough by fall that international travel will be allowed, and I will be able to go to both countries.
My field worker, Trang (featured in the last newsletter, with her husband, Tai) is still waiting for word from the US Embassy in Vietnam for the date of her interview with immigration so that she can be reunited with her husband in San Diego. Since she is in Cambodia, overseeing much ministry work, she needs to cross the border back into Vietnam for her interview and the border between the two countries is still closed! Please pray for them that the borders between these two countries opens soon.
I have been overseeing things from a distance, and Facebook has been a huge blessing to see the church planters in action as they put a constant stream of pictures on their group account. However, I feel an urgent need to get back to encourage them in their great efforts in evangelism and discipling the new believers. At times they have also been constrained to stay in their own villages, so it’s put limitations on their ability to travel to new villages. However, all the churches are meeting faithfully. God has kept them through this difficult time.
One of our We Love Kids Scholars
With Church Planters and Family over a year ago during Training Time
My most exciting news is that I finished my doctoral work last summer and finally received my award degree, and was recently chosen for a resident faculty position with fully online Missional University and will be teaching, well, you guessed it- church planting! I will teach other subjects, too, related to cultural issues as well as qualitative research. However, I won’t actually start teaching til early next year as I have to create the course work, after which lectures and all are uploaded onto a media platform. The great advantage is that it won’t hinder me from travelling even while my courses are running! I will connect with students, grade papers, give tests and so on, but don’t need to be confined to a desk, or in a brick and mortar setting. It will be a great blessing to be able to continue to travel freely to the mission field, overseeing the church planters in Eastern Cambodia, doing teaching in Vietnam, and visiting our We Love Kids scholars. Please also pray that I can get back on the road soon!
Thank you all for your faithful prayers and support! God continues to work in spite of all the obstacles!
Joni
AFM Missionary/Director, We Love Kids