Apr.09

April /09 The One There is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents Luke 15:10 Mackera

I want to share with you the story of a young man named Mackera. Mackera is a university student who came to New Hope School with the endeavors of improving his English. In attempt to reach out to him, I began meeting with Mackera and a friend of his to teach them the Bible. At the end of the first Bible study, Mackera and his friend decided that they needed Jesus to be Lord of their lives. That afternoon, Mackera prayed for the first time and excitement and joy sparked from his eyes.

Somebody is waiting on the other side of your obedience. -Tim Storey.

Mackera now sings in the worship band and teaches the children at New Hope School in the afternoon. He is also has his own Bible now and is continuing to be taught by Josh and I, and also Cambodian teachers. Josh and I have spent some great evenings with him sitting outside, answering questions, and encouraging him in his walk with God. Josh and I believe that Mackera has a great call on his life. Mackera has found forgiveness and joy that he could only find in his savior Jesus. God loves Mackera and cannot get enough of him. Mackera has found peace and purpose, but his life is by no means easier. This isn’t Canada, where whatever feels right to you, is good enough for everyone else. This is a Buddhist nation, and to be Cambodian is to be Buddhist, and anything else is betrayal to the culture. Mackera’s family boasts

of how they hate Jesus and they hate Christians. Mackera faces a dilemma as his mother demands to know if he is a Christian now. As Canadians, we have some theology about this subject, but we lack the experience. God has given Mackera answers and guidance in this delicate situation, and He has surrounded him with other Cambodian Christians in the ministry who have faced the same difficult situation. Here in Cambodia the results are slowcoming, but they are coming. I believe that although God wants us to have a vision and passion to see multitudes and nations come to Him, we must be willing to go after the one person. We must feel that all of our effort, time, money, prayers, experience, impartation and love were worth it just for that one person to be free from their sins and have a relationship with God. Your prayers are so important to us. Please pray for Mackera and the other Christians here, that in their day to day lives and in their trials, they will grow and become refined in their faith. Please pray that they will have strength and boldness. Please pray also for Josh and I, that we would be receptive to God’s plans for us as we prepare to leave Cambodia in four weeks.

OBEDIENCE IS BETTER THAN SACRIFICE (josh) It is midway through April, and nearing the halfway mark of 2009. How does time get away from us so quickly?

Contea & Josh New Hope School Phnom Penh

The Bible teaches us that ‘obedience is better than sacrifice’. This means that even if we give money to the poor, or do good things for people, or whatever, but do not do these things out of love, or God’s calling, then they mean nothing. Humanitarians do great things, but all those great things will

end at death. Great things, done without God, prove to be eternally vain. The smallest thing, done in service to Jesus, will result in far greater reward than the greatest thing done in our own pursuit of recognition. Time flies by far too fast to live for ourselves. The things we feel convicted by God to do, we must do, URGENTLY. Eternity constantly pleads with us to give up our own pursuit, and obey God’s. Eternity also, with

great joy, waits for those who do. You see, when you are following God, obedience always produces sacrifice. However, sacrifice does not necessarily produce obedience. Let us not get the two confused with each other. He who has called us with a holy calling is waiting. We should obey, while there is yet time.

New Hope School Celebrates Khmer New Year On April 10 the children of New Hope School celebrated the Khmer New Year with a schoolwide powder fight and a water war. The powder fight is a tradition for Khmer New Year in which people run around with containers of baby powder and dump it on each other. It was some good, messy fun!

The Duffy’s Go to Vietnam During the Khmer New Year Holiday, we went on a five day tour to Vietnam. We visited Ho Chi Minh and Da Lat with a tour group that was made up of all Cambodian and Chinese people. Thank God that there were enough people there who spoke decent English so we knew what was going on sometimes!

Approximately 8% of the of Vietnamese are Christians. According to the census of 2007,about six million are Roman Catholics and fewer than one million are Protestants

In heaven I have only You, and on this earth You are all I want. Psalm 73:25

VIETNAM

Ho Chi Minh City

Faith sees the invisible, believes the unbelievable and receives the impossible. -Corrie Ten Boom

Dalat An easy to read and indepth look at church history. This book will not put you to sleep; in contrary it is actually hard to put down! For more details Click ->HERE<-

To view our complete Vietnam album copy and paste this link into your web browser http://www.flickr.com/photos/joshuajduffy/sets/72157616575585539/