Monday night prayers 15 September 2025

Good evening dear Family and Friends

I’ve been reading “Grace Notes”by Philip Yancy for morning devotions. This touched my heart this morning: “Ron then mentioned a prisoner in India who had returned to jail scores of times over a 21 year span. The criminal simply could not break the cycle, until he found Christ. Puzzled by his absence in court, the local magistrate visited the man’s home and asked what had happened. “For the 1^st time in my life, someone forgave me,” the ex-prisoner answered.

 Thank you for praying for the The Acts program. We are conducting Camps during the school holidays. Last week it was for the Primary students and early secondary and this week is for the secondary and high school students. The theme of the camp is "Love yourself and others". The students enjoy all the different activities and open up during small groups. Today the lessons focused on Self Awareness. Many students share how they are compared to other better achievers in the family and feel like they are not good enough. They also share that they don't have confidence in school to share their ideas or speak up as others bully them.  The topics for the rest of the week are emotional intelligence, empathy, active listening, social responsibility and impact. Please pray that this will be a time of encouragement and growth for our students.

 

Pchum Ben is a public holiday in Cambodia that follows the period called “Vassa,” a kind of “Buddhist Lent,” and has been kept with great devotion by the Khmer people for longer than anyone can remember.

In essence, Pchum Ben is a time to remember, venerate, and present food offerings to one’s deceased relatives. Ancestors are honoured going back as far as seven generations, and offerings are also brought for those without living descendants or in place of those who could not attend the ceremonies. Celebrants rise early in the morning to cook rice balls and other food items, which they bring to the monks at temples and pagodas. The monks chant suttas (Buddhist scriptures) all night without sleeping, then conduct the colourful and complex food offering ceremonies. Some Khmer give the food to the priests, while others leave it at pagodas for their deceased relatives to eat or cast it into a field for them to find. The first fourteen days see many offerings made, but it is the final, fifteenth day, that is the grand culmination of the whole period.

Pchum Ben is also the time when the “gates of hell” are supposed to open and let out those imprisoned there to travel to the land of the living to receive food from their relatives. Some are let out only temporarily, while others are thought to gain permanent relief. Offerers believe they receive merits by helping the dead and blessings from them but curses if they fail in their familial duty.

Cambodians all over the country will travel to their home provinces for Pchum Ben, and there are services in many towns and villages. Most ceremonies involve processions around temples and crowds that wait outside with lit incense in hand as the monks perform rituals inside. There are also symbolic events where five mounds of sand or rice are formed and decorated in an effort to point to Mount Meru, where various Buddhist gods are thought to reside.

https://publicholidays.asia/cambodia/pchum-ben/

As you can see this is a very significant festival in Cambodia and for Cambodian Christians it can be a very hard time as they need to partake in festivities as this is big tradition. Pray for safety on the roads as so many people will travel this time.

Thank you for praying with us.

Love

Rossouw-clan

Monday night prayers 8 September 2025

 

Good evening all your beautiful people

Writing here from a very wet Siem Reap as it rains almost every day, nice weather for a dry Southern Namibian. We decided to wait out the rain a bit as the roads into the jungle is really sloppy, but that is not an excuse. I never thought I will say this but being older comes the wisdom quite handy. Pchum Ben (Hungry Ghost Festival) is approaching fast and that is not good to be away from home this time. It is still 2 weeks till it starts but people are already gearing up to get to the temples and bring offerings. I will write more about this next week.

It was Anton’s 20^th birthday, yesterday. So sad we could not be with him but thanks to God that he had a wonderful day with his local church in Malaysia. His fellow friends in church had a small party for him with cake and then they went out eating. So glad that God provided a bunch of likeminded people to guard over our little boy/man.

It was a bit of a painful day for us as we contemplating about our boys and was longing for Gideon as well. Sundays always got that feeling here in the far East.

Toinette is very busy now as they have camps for the children as it is school holidays here in Cambodia. This week they have one for the small children and next week for the bigger ones. Please pray for the staff as they need to work a bit harder these days, keeping the children busy.

Pray for my friend Abraham as he is trying to bring a lady with an open Cancer wound to the local hospital. Pray for understanding here at the hospital and that they can be helped here in Siem Reap and no need to go to Phnom Pehn. The people are really poor and cannot go to Phnom Pehn. Sometimes we just need to hold some one’s hand and lead them in the right direction. They just need some encouragement making a big decision like this. Most of the times people opt not to go to the hospital because of lack of money. We see that the local hospital can help them when they are poor and even its not the best it is better than nothing. The hospital got upgraded a while ago and is in great shape.

Not much news but thanks for keeping us in prayer.

Love

Rossouw-clan

 

Monday night prayers 1 September 2025

 

Wow another Monday again, not sure you experience this as well but the year is racing ahead to the end.  

This Friday we all went down to Baray Lake. It was raining heavenly the night before and I was just praying that it will stop for a little while so we can just get the people baptized and then the heaven can open up again. 4 More students and 2 adults were baptized. The whole FGC community link family and River of Life church gathered together to celebrate this very special time. Please pray for these new believers to grow in their faith and love for Jesus. Continue to pray for the Khmer staff who guides and disciples them.

It has been busy with 3 teams visiting from Malaysia and the USA. Yes, it gets busy but they leave us encouraged and built up to continue the work. As believers we truly have a family across borders and continents.

Continue to pray for the problems on the border with Thailand. The newest is that some people brought their Sewerage trucks from the Thailand side in order to come and spray the Cambodians with sewerage. Such petty little things that makes locals unhappy. The Thai soldiers put their wires into Cambodian side and occupy some of the Cambodian houses which leads to confrontation between the local people and the soldiers. Pray that this nonsense will stop and that there will be real peace.

Dim is still visiting the people in Rum Jopon in spite of serious raining this time of the year. Pray that he will not lose heart as he needs to work his land as well as reach out to several churches and help people to learn more about God. Being a farmer as well as pastor can be a hard work.

Pray for Anton as he gets confronted with lots of spiritual differences that he is not use too. Being a Christian in a dominant M-country got its challenges. Pray that he will stand firm in his faith and reach out to some of his Christian friends when things are tuff.

Thanks once again for praying with us.

God Bless

Rossouw-clan

 

Monday night prayers 25 August 2025

 We are living really in die Hands of the Living God. We are blessed beyond measures. Listening to Toinette preaching yesterday, makes me calm down and know that this little church is doing the right thing. Listening to their worship that is truly a beautiful noise for the Lord, hahaha, but done with pure passion, let you know that we cannot have everything perfect and no mistakes, but who cares?? For God, every bit of worship is beautiful, even if it’s just noise in other people’s ears. Like Twans says: ”The worship in ROL seems so much better than anywhere else.””

The church is small in members but it’s filled with the Love of Jesus Christ. Seeing the students enjoying the worship and listening to Toinette preaching, you cannot but feel blessed. Pray for ROL as they are gearing up this Friday to baptize 7 more students. This is a big step for all of them as they will be known by their fruits from now on. Pray in advance for these guys as they need to go out and make a difference.

This is also a very busy time for the NGO as many teams will visit over this time. Lots of people to keep busy but also to learn from others and encourage by others. Pray for these teams that will visit to have teachable spirit and for them to fit in quickly. Pray for the staff as they will be stretch a bit.

 

Continue to pray for peace between Thailand and Cambodia. For now, it’s quite on the border but the potential to flare up is very high. Pray that they can solve this issue for good due to maps being drawn by foreign powers in the past.

This is a short one tonight but keep praying for us as a family.

Love

Rossouw-clan

 

Monday night prayers 18 August 2025

 Good evening

 

Thank you to all of you who reached out to Twans and her family during this time. Ouma Paula has been our most faithful supporter all these years, always checking how we are doing in our relationship with the Lord and encouraging us when times are difficult. We read one of Ouma Paula's testimonies this week, and it made us smile. She became a widow before she was 50 yrs old. She wrote how scared she was to come and visit us in the Philippines those years. This was her first trip overseas. "I was scared, scared, I felt like I could not do it. But if you are a child of God, don't say I can't do it, because God said Go."  She packed an ice cream tub full of raw beef kebabs in their marinating sauce plus raw boerewors (sausage). This of course, did not help for the nerves. In Manila, security checked all her luggage before she could board the plane to Davao. She realized she had made a huge mistake packing raw meat and imagined jail sentences. When her turn came to be searched, she prayed "Lord, please help me. I am sure You also want Mordegai and Toinette to eat these delicious kebabs". The security searched everything and when she reached the ice-cream tub, she stopped, looked up and said "Have a good day mam".

 

Twans is asking for prayer for the River of Life Fellowship. 4 more Teenagers will be baptized the end of the month. Please pray for them. This is a big decision.  Praise God for these precious kids professing their faith in Jesus. Also pray for the faithful staff sharing the Word of God to them, discipline them every Saturday and Sunday. We also ask for prayer for 2 of our Filipino staff who need to exit the country for at least 2 months due to visa difficulties. Please pray for provision and favor for them in this time. To trust God's plan and guidance.

 

Thank you all for praying with us.

Love

Rossouw-clan

 

Monday night prayers 13 August 2025

 

A bit late this time, sorry for that. I missed my bus on the way back as it was a bit late, but not to worry, had a nice room in a small guesthouse in Kampong Tmao. Aircon always comes in very handy on hot days like we've got here now. I was so tired coming back from the outreach, it was a nice break to stay the night over and catch a bus the following morning.

We had a great outreach with a bunch of Americans from California. I think we were around 12 people invading the jungle and had fun while bringing medical supplies, mosquito nets plus the Gospel to the people around the mountain of Phnom Chi. Off course the kids got candies and balloons and some volleyballs, thanks to the WOL life guys on our team.

The road was a bit rough but at least this time around we made it out in good timing. The people accept all foreigners with such grace, and everywhere we came, we were greeted with the most respect. Khmer people are such beautiful people and when they get used to you, they even have more grace. Being in the jungle makes me feel at home.

We came back the next morning to Rum Jopon and Curtis and his crew with Dim, were leading the church. It is such a blessing to see how this small congregation blesses everyone around them. It is heartwarming to see the people so excited for the Gospel. Continue to pray for them as they seek the will of God in their lives.

 

Thank you for praying for Ouma Paula. She passed away quietly last week. This Saturday will be her Funeral in Swakopmund. Please pray for the Calitz family as this is a big loss for all of us. Pray for Toinette as she will be here while her brothers will be there. It is hard for us to part with such a remarkable person but we know that heaven is richer by having her here now. I am sure she is dancing with Gideon right now.

Pray for Anton’s visa process. He is giving in the renewal of his Malaysian visa today and we pray that everything will go smoothly.

 

“” Here’s another way to put it: You’re here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We’re going public with this, as public as a city on a hill. If I make you light-bearers, you don’t think I’m going to hide you under a bucket, do you? I’m putting you on a light stand. Now that I’ve put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand—shine! Keep open house; be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you’ll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven. Matt 5:16 MSG

 

Thank you for praying with us

Rossouw-clan

Monday night prayers 4 August 2025

 

Good evening you all

Finally got some time to speed type this letter. I am waiting for some chicken to smoke for a team that will visit us tonight. Watching my small smoker doing its thing while typing is definitely the way to go. This week is going to be a busy one as Anton is leaving for his last trimester, on Friday and then I am off to the jungle on Saturday. His best friend, Jerry came and visit and they are getting in visits after a year not seeing each other. Good seeing old friends hugging each other in church yesterday. Not looking forward to saying goodbye on Friday. Please pray for Anton’s passport to reach soon, his resettling with new roommate and new courses and that he would continue to be a witness for Christ.

As you know by now, the war on the border is a tense one.  Here in Cambodia the people are all standing together and although they are scared for the war, they are unified as a nation. It is touching to see how everyone is giving what they can to help those who are displaced. Please pray for those still at the front who are struggling with very little to eat.

Like I said, a team from Curtis’s church in the States is here and we will have some dinner later on.  On Saturday we will go to the jungle and give some needed meds coupled with the Gospel to the people around the mountain. It is also a good time for the small church to see the people that are really praying for them in a faraway country. Please pray for a good outreach as well as for our bikes and travel mercies for everyone. Remember, driving on these roads are not for sissies. Pray for hearts to be open to receive the true word of God.

Thank you for all your prayers for Ouma Paula. Not easy for Twans not being there. Her brothers give feedback every day. Ouma is receiving morphine now through IV and hopefully this will help with the pain.

Read about a German soldier fighting in the trenches along France’s Marne river in World War !, where one million soldiers died on the Western front in 1914 who wrote home: “What  is the good of escaping all the bullets and shells if my soul is injured.”  Reminded of Jesus’s words in Matthew 16  “….For what have you gained by possessing the entire world if in the process you forfeit your soul”.

Thank you for standing with us in prayer.

Love you all

Rossouw-clan