Monday night prayers 9 November 2020

 Good day from a nice and cool Siem Reap. This time of the year the temps drop a bit and it’s bearable even in the days. Nice and soft rain on the roof last night, is better than the storms we had a few weeks ago. Cambodia is gearing up for the many “” tourists”” that will come after the lockdown, not so sure about that but all the roads here in Siem Reap are under construction and some businesses and houses have to break down walls in order to widen the roads. So it is not looking good right now but they assure us that it will look good for when the next wave of tourists will arrive. Not that we care about the tourist but so many businesses had to close shop because there is no-one here. Local tourism is good and the small local businesses are doing just fine.

 

This time I was accompanied by Heang, Manoj, and the pastor from Kabal Domrey church. So nice he decided to join us on our trek around the mountain. It was tuff on the old pastor but he is hard as nails. Always a smile on his face and when I see him with the Lord in place. Heang helped me do medical and it was nice to have him with me so it leaves me a bit of the room to take some pictures of the people we love so much.

We took a new road and discovered a lot of people that we did not even know that was there. It was refreshing to see how people love it that we give those meds and that for free. The first thing they normally say is that they do not have money to buy meds, but that is where we come in. Free meds for all and that is because of your generous giving and caring for us that we can do things like this. It is always better to bless people than always just receive. Seeing the thankfulness on people’s faces always leaves me with humility and thanks to our God for helping us and giving us the strength and power to go and search for these remote places. I think the love for bike riding plays a huge role, but we leave it there.

It is a bit worrisome to see how many people are searching for gold now. They are destroying the jungle in order to cut through the vegetation to get to the sand that contains gold. In order to do that the trees will never grow again where they worked, so the huge holes appear more that often in the jungle right now. We see more big business people getting involved that need to pay huge bribes in order to come and search for gold. So of course they undercut the small guys. Once again the big guys won. Not only the destruction of gold seekers but also the amount of trees they fell is staggering. Early mornings you hear the chainsaws till late at night. Sad that in a few years there will be nothing left but big holes where there was lush forest a while back. Man’s greed for money makes this possible.

One of our highlights on these trips is to go and sleep a night at Pheakdey’s parents. It is a small place right underneath the mountain and surrounded by many trees. The overwhelming hospitality of good friends around a table with real Khmer cuisine is one thing to treasure. These people live such a simple life but they are so generous to people around them that just blows your mind. They really do not care about storing money up, they just bless everyone around them. I give her meds to go and give to the people staying around their place. Everyone gets a bit and I cannot out-give her with the medicines. We can learn so much from their thankfulness and generosity.

 Please pray:

Joost is not doing well. He is the uncle that I brought to Battambang, last week. According to the people he stays with, his health is deteriorating. He is with good doctors but he is a real Dutchy (kaaskop-cheese head) and hard-headed and refuse a lot of stuff. Please pray that his health will take a turn for good.

Please pray for America that is going through a real testing time with their elections. Pray that more people will start to repent and look towards God and not to man. Pray for peace and calmness.

Please pray for my good friend Manus Olivier from Swakopmund. His cancer started again and he is up for more chemo this time. Pray that God will heal him.

Seems that the Rossouw-clan is finally on the mend. Thanks for all your prayers, keep it up because there are still lots of illnesses floating around.

I will be off to the city again tomorrow to do Toinette’s visa. Pray for safe travels and favor at the Immigration. It is a long process but it needs to be done.

 

I use a piece from our church bulletin:

G K Chesterton said…Hope means expectancy when things are otherwise hopeless

 

Thanks once again for taking the time to even read this letter. We appreciate it even if we say it every time we write, but it’s from the bottom of our hearts.

Love

Rossouw-clan