Monday night prayers 5 October 2026

 

Ok we booked into the hotel, sorry hospital. Almost look like a hotel, right on the 16^th floor and we can see the whole of Phnom Pehn. Let me think back when we came here first and there were no high-rise buildings, now there are so many of them. Wish I could open n window…..

Sitting in the hospital and write to you makes me think when we always had to rush small Aprillyn to the hospital and how many newsletters I wrote from there. Like they say it was many moons back but feels like yesterday. Hospitals are definitely not my favorite place to be but over the years I spend plenty of time in various hospitals in the Philippines as well as here, either being the patient or sitting with my patients and their families through the nights, waiting on doctors to get some answers.

Davao’s original government hospital was the place I learned to be patient. I wonder how many books I read under the big mango tree, waiting to be helped. I was always there the first with my Badjao friends but because of the stigma of the Badjaos, we always got in last, so that is why we had to wait. No harm done, I could enjoy reading books while on the job hahaha.I can say for certain that I was the only “Joe” (white American) that always ran around in the hospital. They know me well and we could build such good relationships with everyone inside the hospital. Remember I was a missionary and had to behave and that was difficult when you always had to fight for justice. Many years back now, I can use all that difficult experiences in and out of the hospital to work better with people. God had to shape me first.

I celebrated my birthday with good friends, Curtis, Brea, Long and Katherine. We cooked nice lunch for them and ate together with great fellowship. It is such a blessing to have so many good friends here in Phnom Pehn.

Please pray:

Tomorrow at 9am, Toinette will be in for the operation. Please pray for a successful operation and that God’s glory will shine. Pray for the surgeon to perform a good work.

Pray for Curtis as he will go out to Dim and ride the jungle trails in order to see the people at the church.

Love you all

Rossouw-clan

Monday night prayers 28 September 2026

 Dear Family and Friends

 

Greetings from the big city again. Sitting in our room in the hotel, I can see a storm moving in again that will drench this place once more. This morning we could see all the water all around the highway from Siem Reap. Lots of places experience flooding as heavy rains continue to fall. Thailand is experiencing severe flooding in Bangkok and surrounding provinces.

 

We talked about pain this morning and how we mostly belief that there is true joy in the absence of pain. But  having gone through pain or going through pain brings forth a deeper joy and peace in the Lord. What a faithful God we serve!

 

We left for Phnom Penh this morning. On the way we received the news that Moose , our dog , passed away. Zeek, our other dog passed away 2 weeks ago. They were very close to us and each other. Gideon always said they are his children. It feels like another precious connection with our Gideon is gone. So sad. Thanks to Abraham that took up the challenge to bury him in the same pit than Zeek. Luckily the ground was still soft. Thanks Boet, you are truly a good friend.

 

Thank you for all your support and prayer for Twan's surgery. The next 2 days will be clearance and prep for surgery on Oct 1. Please pray that all will go smoothly. Pray for us as the clouds start to get dark again and worries is in full supply.

 

Thank you for praying for the youth , Joshua Generation at the church. They are joining faithfully and growing in their faith. Please pray also for the staff who put in much time and effort to help them on their path. One of our newer staff, who was not a believer at first is also now joining in during devotion and open to hear more about the Word of God and what it means to be a follower of Jesus. Praise God.

 

Thank you everyone for all your prayers.

Love

Rossouw-clan  

Monday night prayers 21 September 2026

 

Home again after a grueling ride in and out of the jungle. Dim called and asked for some help with people that need meds and I thought it good by joining him only for 1 day in and out……mistake…. How this little man does this weekend on weekend, blows my mind, it takes me a week to recover after such a ride, man we are softies.

I met Dim as usual in Tom Rieng and he had 2 bags of rice equals 100kg and 2 bags of bread flopping around on the back of the bike. All this needs to be transported through serious water and mud to some hungry villagers at Phnom Chi. They asked Curtis to help as they are short of food due to some restrictions where they work. Hard times are here and when it will stop, I am not sure. More and more people push to seize the opportunity to get gold and our “”small eyed friends”” are in their always presence trying to take over the land to gain riches. Once that happens its game over for the local people as they come in and use big machines and take everything. Now people can at least make enough for a living.

We stopped at Rum Jopon and Dim preach a hot message to the believers and then give them rice and bread and also medicines. Then we ride further to visit my friend with really bad sugar problems. His count is around 570 mg/dl or ??mmol/L where normal is 108 mg/dl or 6 mmol/L. this dangerous high as he experiences numbness all over his legs. He went to the doctor and need to be back in a week as 2000mg Metformin a day do not do the trick.  My advice was just to go back to the same doctor and get different meds till that count gets down. Shame he is sitting out in the sticks but far from help. Thanks to Dim that always ride there and share to them about God’s love.

We came all the way back to Som Poom and had a beautiful lunch with our favorite uncle and anti. Pheakday’s dad got bumped by a cow and broke some ribs and in the meantime, his dog bit him very bad as well. Shame he is not doing well. I could bring him also good meds for the pain, hope it lifts his mood a bit as well. We made it out by around 3pm and I drove to Kampong Tom and was just in time to catch a car back to Siem Reap. The bike fitted in the boot. Love Cambodia this way. Was back home by 9pm while starting the day at 6am. All in a day’s ride and Dim do this all the time, eish.

Tomorrow we commemorate Gideon’s 5^th anniversary being with the Lord. Still sad to think that he is not here but he lives in our hearts daily. We so much miss him and even Anton is feeling it these days. We pray that the Lord will mend our hearts.

Toinette’s operation is now scheduled for the 1^st October. We need to be there already by the 29^th and hopefully get cleared for operation. Please pray with us this week that Toinette will not get ill as everyone got flu around us.

Thank you for standing in prayer with us this week. Next time, I write from Phnom Pehn.

Love

Rossouw-clan

Monday night prayers 14 September 2026

 

Good evening all you beautiful people. Writing from a very wet Siem Reap and just love it. I am pure Namibian by heart that is why I love rain this much. I know that rain in some areas is dangerous but here we need it for the farmers to grow their rice. Wish all this rain can fall in Namibia, can you imagine how green it will be??

This last week was a bit of hectic with Toinette be on diabetic alert. Testing and checking blood before and after meals and checking what to eat and not to eat, makes for a bit of planning. Praise God that her diabetes count is dropping quite well and hopefully by die end of the week, we hope for a positive outcome on testing again to see if she is ready for the operation. Please pray that the Glycated Hemoglobin will decrease.

My friend posted a little video showing how Ria’s leg look like. It is just wonderful to see the healing in his leg and he is finally ready to go home on Thursday. Thank you Donnie and your team for helping us to accomplish all this. Now Ria can go back home and start his life again.

Please pray for Meriam and Nnamdi. Their little baby (35 weeks) is a precious little bundle. “”Praise God and thank you for all your love and prayers. The check this morning showed much improvement: very good fetal movement. So there’s no need to rush the delivery. But Meriam will remain in the hospital for close monitoring. Please keep praying with us— for the amniotic fluid to keep increasing and the baby to remain in good condition so there’ll no need for emergency delivery (surgery).- Nnamdi””

We met a very lost soul while we had some coffee, Abraham and me. Older lady from Europe and she confessed to us that she believes in nothing and only look out for herself. Started talking and explaining what we do, I could see that there is a bit of a spark in her. Abraham is the real evangelist among us and he did his best to explain what we try to do. She volunteers at a small local school and when I said that I make toys, her eyes sparkled. Our next meeting was a few days ago and I brought her 40 wooden toy cars. She was very happy to bring this to the kids.

Why do I tell this story? There are many foreigners in Siem Reap and most of them are not believers and looking for something good to do. That is why they volunteer here and there or if they are younger they get a teaching job. Lots of retired people here as well. I meet up with another group of older people over coffee and find them very interesting. There is a huge need under the foreigners to hear about Christ. The expat community is a rare bunch of people and is definitely a group that need the Lord. Hopefully a few toy cars can let someone think about the Lord. It’s a good start.

Thank you once again for praying with us.

Love

Rossouw-clan

Monday/Tuesday night prayers 8 September 2026

 

Good morning

 

So sorry we are a bit late. We returned from Phnom Penh last night. Twans's surgery has been postponed for 2 weeks, as her blood sugar levels need to be lower before they will do the hysterectomy.  Thank you to all of you who are praying and for the love gifts to help with the finances.

 

It was also Anton's 21st birthday yesterday. Our "little sweetheart" already 21!  We continue to pray for him to follow God with his whole heart. One of his friends, also a missionary kid, invited him over last night.  They cooked spaghetti and had birthday cake as well! So thankful for this young man making Anton's birthday special.

 

Thank you for praying for the Acts program and the Good Shepherd Church in the village. The Joshua Generation (teenagers who attend the Children's ministry Sunday mornings) are also joining the adult service in the afternoons now. Please pray for their spiritual growth and for the staff who disciple them. It is Government School Holidays in September and October.  Lots of activities are planned for this time with the kids. Please pray for the staff for strength and wisdom in planning all this. 

 

Pastor Dim ( the pastor who travels to the church in Phnom Chi every week) are struggling with huge debts. He took out another loan to pay off the previous loan and now it is a very big debt. Please pray for wisdom and guidance. All previous attempts we've tried to help him start income-generating projects have failed.

 

Thank you very much for your continuous prayers.

Love

Rossouw-clan

Monday night prayers 31 August 2026

 

Good evening from a very wet Siem Reap. It is so-called rainy season but it did not rain as much as previous years. This last weekend we saw some heavy rain and hope that the land will be soaked with water as it is really good for the rice farmers. This week I could use a team of young guys to build more swings and get it to one of the schools of PCL. Good to help my old friend Isaack with providing swings for the children in his schools.  

We were confronted with events in Nepal as the flood really was devastating. It is a good lesson for us that we need to be ready for when the Lord comes. He says He will come like a thieve in the night, nobody will know. Like this flood, we need to be ready any day and make sure we are prepared to meet our maker.

You all were praying for Ria that was in the hospital. He is now at the Healing Home with our friend Donnie and his team. They are taking such good care of him. He already went to another hospital for more treatments but had to go back to the government hospital to get another blood transfusion. Praise God that people came and donate blood for him. At the moment Donnie try to get him healthier before he can do anything else. Years of neglect and no one care for him, made his body very weak. Pray for him and his wife and brother as they really miss home and their family up in the North.

Praise God that the Endometrium results were negative for cancer. As for now Toinette’s surgery is scheduled for the 8 September. Please pray as we are waiting on our medical insurance to give the go-ahead for the operation. Toinette is resting at home and is not working at the moment. We believe that God will guide us in this time for whatever needs to be done. All we can say is:” Whatever Lord”

Anton have the privilege to visit his antis and uncles in JB-Malaysia this weekend and they are on a real eating adventure with everyone. We are so blessed with good friends in Malaysia and praise God that He made this possible already many years ago.

Thank you for praying with us.

Love

Rossouw-clan

Monday night prayers 24 August 2026

 

Warm greetings from Siem Reap

Thankful to greet you here from our home in Siem Reap after a full week. We went down to Phnom Penh on Wednesday to see the OB-Gyne on Thursday for the biopsy and more blood tests on Friday. Now we wait for the results and will keep you all updated. Thank you for praying with us for healing, guidance, provision, and peace in this time.

 It was good to meet up with our Phnom Penh family. Always a blessing to visit with Curtis, Brie, and Kathrine.

 

Met up with one of Anton's friends from Malaysia who was here for work. A young man who also grew up on the mission field. He shared how he and Anton immediately clicked, being both 3rd culture kids. We are so thankful for the good friends our son has made while in Malaysia. Anton is adjusting to his workplace and being an intern. He is doing better and learning a lot.

 

Shared the message yesterday at the Good Shepherd Center in the village.  We looked at the Universe, how great it all is and then talked about this great God who also loves us. The members love to read the Bible, so we read the Creation Story in Genesis and some more verses throughout the message.  Luke 12:7 "But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not therefore: you are of more value than many sparrows."  In the end I shared a few examples of how God took care of us over the years and was filled with gratitude for our Heavenly Father's love.

 The Joshua Generation ( The Teenage group from Children's Ministry) is also now joining the Adult service in the afternoons. Please continue to pray for this group to grow in their faith and seek God with their whole heart. A few more of them are also now living in the dorm due to difficult circumstances at home. Please pray for them as they grow and become disciples of Jesus.

Thank you once again for praying with us.

Love

Rossouw-clan