January - March Missions Report 2014

Dear PASTORS and Partner In Missions,                    

Christian Greetings from Rattanakiri. Hope all is well with you and your family.

       Another great year has passed and a new year has come with its new challenges and opportunity to do things more for the Lord. Also, it’s good to remember God’s goodness and the blessings He bestowed upon us in the past year. Truly His blessings are innumerable! We want to thank God first of all for all the blessings He has given us throughout the whole year. We would like to share some of the events of recent months with you...   
 

JANUARY

       God has been so good as He continued to prosper the ministry here. Souls continued to get saved and baptized while some transferred their membership to our church. We were so blessed with the availability and presence of Bro. John Baluyot, one of our faithful member from our sending church in Bethany Baptist Church to overseer our work and ministries while  Janeth and I were in the Philippines to attend both our 60th Diamond church anniversary and 14th World Missions Conference. And at the same time my ordination together with my fellow missionaries sent out from our church ministering to the different countries around the world.

FEBRUARY

       We would like to praise the Lord for the opportunity for us to visit again the Philippines after three years. We came with two of our faithful old ladies in our church to witness and be part of God’s bountiful blessings in our sending church.  Last Feb. 9, I was ordained together with my four fellow missionaries sent out from our own church presently working and ministering to different countries. There were about 20 ordaining councils/pastors participated during the ordination. The next Sunday, our church celebrated our 60th Diamond church anniversary with the theme “God Is Able”. Truly, God is able to allow our church to reach this far at 60 and continually pouring out his manifold blessings to the many ministries of our church. Also, our vice president of the Philippines came after our service and greet some of our members together with his son, the present mayor of Makati, one of the big cities in the Philippines. After the success of our church anniversary, our church continued on by having our 14th World Missions Conference for three days which many Pastors around the Philippines, from America and even from Papua New Guinea came to attend and be part of this great event. Also many Filipino missionaries on furlough or on a short time visit like yours truly while some were newly accepted missionaries attended this meaningful occasion.

MARCH

       This month had been a blessing to us here in Rattanakiri especially our Bethany BC-Mission because a group of Singaporeans, our unceasing supporters, friends and partners for many years from Shalom BC and Shaddai BC came to visit and saw the ministry that God entrusted to us. About 12 persons consist of 3 families from Shalom BC travelled from Pleiku which is on the central border of Vietnam to reach our place.  They were able to visit one of our outreaches in Phum Usap (Usap village) and even the work in Phum Thmey. They rendered five special songs and even shared some encouraging statements from the Word of God during our special service for them. Our members and the people from our outreach were so glad to see these visitors took their time to come and visit Bethany BC. They stayed for three wonderful days and were so blessed with the ministry. Also, Bro. Edwin Tan and his wife, Maám Agnes from Shaddai BC came a day after Shalom BC. They arrived in Phnom Penh and we travelled the next day for about 7 hours by van. We left the city early morning at 5 AM and able to arrived at 1 PM which was quite fast than the normal travel time which was about 10 hours.  Bro. Tan spoke both in our Sunday school and in our morning service. Then, after lunch, we travelled to Phum Usap where Bro. Edwin preached which was attended by about thirteen adult ladies and two men only because most of the men on this village were very busy on their farm planting variety of crops in preparation for the rainy season. In spite of it, they were blessed with the Gospel preaching and the presence of our Singaporean brethren.

       Thank you very much for your faithfulness in partnering with our ministry here in Rattanakiri. Words are not enough to express our gratitude for the blessings we received through you. May the Lord continue to pour His richest blessings on you.

Yours to Evangelize Rattanakiri, 

Kit and Janeth

September - December Missions Report 2013

Dear PASTORS and Praying Friends,                    

              In the precious Name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, greetings to our lovely prayer and faithful partners in the ministry.

       We thank the Lord for you and deeply appreciate your faithful prayers and financial support for the work in Rattanakiri.  Janeth and I are doing well and praise the Lord for His protection and blessings on the work here.

OCTOBER     

         This month had been a blessing to our ministry especially for me personally as we started our own Bible school. We’ve been praying for this ministry for a year now and the Lord just opened this blessed opportunity to start our own Bible school. Actually, our plan was to send some students to Phnom Penh to study in the Bible school. But someone and some missionaries here in this place advised me that you should pray and start your own Bible school to train your own men and women for the ministry. Instead of letting them go to the city and to be trained by other people. God blessed us with ten faithful students (3 adults and 7 young people) studying the book of James from Tuesday to Wednesday at 6-7:30 P.M. every week. Also, we started our staff and Sunday school teachers prayer devotion at the church everyday from 5:30-6:00 A.M. Not only we have this devotion but also a time to discuss plans and activities for the coming year.

NOVEMBER

       We are so honored and blessed to be visited by our very own beloved Pastor Nable together with another Pastor Benjie Solis and my fellow Bethanite Bro. John Baluyot. They came from Pakse, Laos to visit our Khmer missionary family Srim Sara. They drove Pastor Nable and our Filipino brethren across the border from Pakse, Laos to Stung Streng (another province in Cambodia) for three hours. After they reached the other side of Cambodia (Stung Streng), they travelled again for another two hours to be in Banlung, Rattanakiri in time for our special service and Lord’s supper. Which I asked our Pastor to preach and lead this occasion. There were also some brethren from our church back in the Philippines but staying and working in Phnom Penh came to grace this special occasion. Our Pastor always comes and visits us once every year to see the work and ministry and to encourage our own people in this place. They stayed overnight and travelled to Gia Lai, Pleiku which is the central border of Vietnam to see and survey the place for potential mission work in the near future.

       Another great blessing this month was when Pastor Wee and Shalom BC invited us to come over to Singapore to continue raising money for our lot project. We praised and thanked the Lord for the warmth welcome and fellowship from this church. I preached at Shalom BC both morning service and in their Filipino service in the afternoon. Also, I was able to lead two of their home Bible studies. The next Sunday, we went to Shaddai BC to continue challenging and encouraging them concerning our growing ministry and our land project as well. It’s really a joy to see the brethren and their warmth fellowship. And in the  afternoon, we went to Singapore BBC Filipino congregation and what a blessing to see the growing work and their desire to reach more Filipinos in Singapore. Then, Friday afternoon, Pastor Choy and the family picked us up at the MRT station and brought us to their present ministry at Lifegate BC in Johor Bahru, Malaysia. I preached during their prayer meeting and it’s a blessing to see some Filipinos in their church actively attending and supporting the ministry in that place. On our third  and final Sunday, we were at the Lighthouse BC both in their morning service as well in their Filipino service under Pastor Selva and Pastor Nap. What an encouragement to see their young people leading and conducting songs during their service. And to see my Filipino brethren on fire serving the Lord in their respective ministries. What a wonderful and great blessing to visit some of our supporting churches and even challenged some to partner with us which they were positive to support us this year.

       In closing we wish each of you a Blessed and a Great New Year and want to say an extra special thanks to God and each of you for your standing faithfully with your prayers and financial support for many years in our ministry.

Together in Our Savior’s Service, 

Kit and Janeth

July - August Missions Report 2013

Dear PASTORS and Praying Friends,            

“The blessing of the LORD, it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it.” Proverbs10: 22

       We praise the Lord for each of you back home that have been praying for us, supporting us financially and standing behind us in our ministry here in Rattanakiri. The greatest thing is to know that we have God’s people holding us up in prayer. That is where the battle is won and what we desire most. If you will continue to pray, then we know that hearts will be softened, souls will be saved and our ministry will grow.

       Life here in Rattanakiri continues. God has been so good and faithful in the past couple of months that we are so amazed at Him.  And yet at other times it seems that the more we try to be in fervent prayer, the more challenging it is to see Him working. Maybe this is some deception that creeps in to bring discouragement and distress. Then we find ourselves waiting. Waiting and praying. And then we see God organizing things in His way, to teach us something, to keep us humble and to really focus on Him alone.

JULY

       Rain starting to drop bit by bit and there are some areas right now especially in the villages that are starting to be slippery. As missionaries in this kind of area, we need to be cautious in driving our motorcycles at all times during this rainy season. This month starts another expansion in the ministry of Bethany BC-Mission as we started again another outreached in Phnum Kachaing. After our church anniversary last May, our visitors from this village encouraged and invited us to teach God’s Word to them. And I told them, we will going to pray about it and after a month of prayer, God opened the door of opportunity to reach and minister to them. Presently, were doing Bible studies both to the children and to some adults. But mostly, children and young people are the ones faithfully attending. It’s a blessing for us to have some capable young men (“Home Boys”) in our church and even two young ladies helping and willing to help out in our new outreach every Sunday afternoon. Praise the Lord! The work in the two villages (Phum Usap and Tropeang Krohom) continues to grow spiritually and even in numbers in spite of some difficulty in their lives living in the village. But we still thanked the Lord for their faithfulness in attending and listening to God’s Word.

AUGUST

Update on Salom and Talong:

       I emailed most of you about these two members of ours suffering from “septicemia” while the other has big wound on his left leg. By God’s sufficient and amazing grace, Salom is still alive and recovering bit by bit. The family said that it’s really blessing that they were able to get out from the hospitals in Phnom Penh or else she will going to die. Staying longer in Phnom Penh would let Salom body suffers more and the family financially. At this time, Salom is mildly eating and gaining strength unlike before when she’s in Phnom Penh. Still, she has the catheter, can’t sit down and can’t stand up by herself. And we told the family to put some banana leaves to prevent the sores spreading on her back. Because there’s already some sores on her buttocks and they keep on using the medicines we gave to prevent the sores to spread out. As her Pastor and her Madam, were glad to see her living each day and hoping and praying that God would do a great miracle to revive her body again. Thank you so much for each one of you continuously praying for her and please don’t stop praying for this precious young lady in our church. The other one is Talong, a former soldier for 10 years thought that his big wound on his left leg would not heal but his wrong. All his worries about his wound and spending a lot of money going to one hospital to another hospital and even buying wrong medicines for so many years was all for nothing. After two months of stay in Phnom Penh for the Filipino doctor to monitor his leg, we thank the Lord for healing his wound. Last week, the doctor told me that there’s already new flesh on his wound and he could able to walk now without using a cane. Which means that it covers the entire wound unlike before that you could see the bone and black thing around the wound because of infection. Truly, “for God nothing is impossible”. To God Be The Glory!

Update of our Lot Project:

       Brethren, it is our desire and prayer to let Bethany Baptist Church-Mission to have it’s own lot and building here in this place. To be a lighthouse not only to the Khmer people but also to the tribal and Muslim villages. And also, to let the neighbors know and show that our God is an Almighty God. At this time, it’s really hard to raise money  for this kind of project and we knew that many of you have its own project in your church. But please do consider in praying and helping us this amount of (US$23,000) that we need to buy the property within this year. There are already two churches from Singapore that were able to raise money: Shalom BC ($5,500) under Ptr. Wee and Lighthouse BC (US$370) under Ptr. Selva. And I know there are still churches out there praying and considering to help us out with this project. Actually, this amount is much cheaper than to buy a property in Phnom Penh at this time.

       Janeth and I want so much to thank you for all you have done to make our ministry possible. Without each of you, we could not do the work here. You are the true servants here in Ratanakiri.

Together in Our Savior’s Service, 

Kit and Janeth

April-June Missions Report 2013

To our Dear PASTORS, Friends, and Partners in Missions,

Choice greetings in Christ’s most precious Name. We are writing to you today with so much joy in our hearts thanking you for your commitment, passion, love and the support you have given for the cause of the gospel. We are so grateful for our partnership with you in winning Rattanakiri to Christ. We count it as a great privileged to be ambassadors of the good news to our generation.

       Last April 14-16 marks the celebration of the Khmer New Year or “Chaul Chnam Thmey” in the Khmer language, literally "Enter New Year". Phnom Penh city during that time was so quiet and no traffic at all because most of the people went to their “Srok” or provinces to be with their love ones and families. It is very common to most Khmer people to celebrate this holiday in their own provinces. And this is the only time for them to go to the “Wat” or pagoda. People will dress up and light candles and burn incense sticks at shrines, where the members of each family pay homage to offer thanks for the Buddha's teachings by bowing, kneeling and prostrating themselves three times before his image. Then, after the homage, adults and children will do their traditional games. The Khmer New Year is also a time to prepare special dishes. One of these is a "kralan", a cake made from steamed rice mixed with beans or peas, grated coconut and coconut milk. The mixture is stuffed inside a bamboo stick and slowly roasted. 

       But here in Rattanakiri especially in our church, God has been so good as He continued to prosper the ministry here. Souls continued to get saved and baptized and added to the church. In spite of the Khmer New Year, we had so many people come from far villages with some visitors that Sunday. Bethany outreaches from the two villages keeps growing not only in quantity but most especially in quality as people continue to attend and listen to God’s Word.

       MAY has been a busy but a blessed month to all of us here. First, God added another two souls and He keeps on bringing and saving people in our ministries. One of this soul was the elder sister of the two young ladies that I baptized last February. So, it’s a blessing to have the whole family in our church. Secondly, God gave me the opportunity and privilege to officiate the wedding of one of our newest members, Rotha and Vee. It was a simple but very blessed wedding held in the garden. Actually, it’s my first time since I became a missionary to solemnize the very first wedding in our church. Thirdly, surprised birthday celebration for me last May 18 (Saturday) from our Sunday school teachers and home boys in our church. They came to our house early in the morning serenading me with Christian songs and warm greetings. Then, the next day (May 19) after the service, thru the leadership of my wife Janeth, they surprised me again with a cake and delicious noodles and even bread that my mother in law prepared and cook for everyone who came to church that Sunday. It was indeed a blessed and unforgettable Sunday because not only did we received spiritual food thru our guest speaker, Bro. Noun Rotha but also physical food that we enjoyed that day. Bro. Noun Rotha was a graduate of our Bible School from the Philippines who will be going to continue serving the Lord in his home province in Battambang, Cambodia. Also, we had our 1st Lord’s supper in the afternoon for this year. Lastly, we celebrated our successful and blessed 6th mission-church anniversary last May 26, with the theme “Growing in Grace Together”.  Our Dean and one of our deacons, Mario De Ocampo from our church in the Philippines was our guest speaker. He spoke boldly about growing in grace even when we fail both in our lives and in our ministries. It was very encouraging and challenging to all of us to keep on keeping on serving the Lord, in spite of our failures and problems in our lives. The young people gave some inspiring songs and the choir sang “Grace Greater Than Our Sins”. God blessed us with 154 people with about 30 visitors came that Sunday. Also, it was a blessing to see the Muslim family of one of our faithful member and Sunday school teacher, Sunny. During the invitation, many of our members came forward for commitment in serving God faithfully and to grow spiritually and 3 young men came forward as well for salvation and 1 for baptism. Praise the Lord for the success and outcome of our 6th mission-church anniversary. To God Be The Glory!

       We thank you so much for your continuous partnership with our ministry here. I heartily acknowledged that everything we have accomplished was made possible through your prayers and faithful support of our ministry here. Heaven will reveal someday how much you have done for His name and for His glory. Thank You...

Yours For The Harvest Of Souls,

KIT and JANETH

January-March Missions Report 2013

Dear PASTORS and Rope Holders,

As we enter into this new year of 2013, our desire for you is  “. . .That in everything ye are enriched by him, in all utterance, and in all knowledge." (1 Corinthians 1:5). We are both well here by God’s grace. God continues to be both merciful and gracious to us, enabling us to do those many things that are necessary in life and in the work set before us – and for this we are so grateful! We realize that your prayers are one of the means God uses to supply both our personal and ministry needs and so we are very thankful to each one of you..

       I am writing you today with so much joy in our hearts! Everything is going wonderfully with us. We want to thank all of you who pray and sent us letters as well as financial offerings for support of the work. All of these are a huge encouragement for both of us. We are now entering the height of our “dry season.” Yet, the lakes and waterfalls are still nearly full and some grasses are still green in some places. Even better, most peoples’ cistern still have a good supply of water to hopefully last until the rainy season begins the first or end of June. In spite of the summer or dry season, we praise the Lord for the cool weather and very strong wind especially in the afternoon and at night time. Also, we’re not only enjoying the things that the Lord has called us to do in the ministry but also enjoying the variety of fruits of our trees in our front yard and backyard. Praise the Lord!

JANUARY

       This month brings with it a new set of opportunities and challenges. God is so faithful to bless us and strengthen us as we faithfully serve Him. Our first Sunday of the year was spent for spiritual evaluation and I then challenged, inspired and encouraged our people to move forward in the work of the Lord for there are more villages yet to conquer for the Lord in this place. After the wonderful and successful Thanksgiving and Lord’s Supper last December, many of our members especially our young people engage their lives to serve the Lord in various ministries of our church. Some are now involved, in teaching, inviting, sharing or serving in some capacity in the church. God has been so good to us for many years now as He continued to prosper the ministry here. Souls continued to get saved and baptized and added to the church. I'm glad for the excitement of the members to invite their friends, classmates and neighbors every Sunday. We have visitors almost every Sunday both in our Sunday school and worship service. We’re averaging 50-60 people every Sunday. To God Be The Glory!!

       Also, the ministry in two villages (Tropeang Krohom and Pom Usap are growing slowly by God’s grace. We praise the Lord for the availability and humbleness of some of our men and young people to go to these villages preaching and teaching both the adults and children. Tropeang Krohom is about 40 kilometers from Rattanakiri and three of our young men ride a motorcycle every afternoon. While Pom Usap is 25 kilometers and we (Janeth and I) accompany one of our preacher (an adult) and our young people (sometimes two ladies or sometimes two young men) to teach the children. The services in the afternoon are both in these two villages. Please do pray us as we travel to and fro from these villages.

FEBRUARY

       On the second week, God blessed us with 20 adults and 40 children in Pom Usap (Village Usap). While in Tropeang Krohom, because this is a new outreached, God continues to bless us with more than 20 children with few adults. But we are still happy with the slow progress of the on-going ministry. The ministry in both villages are very encouraging to both of us because you could see in their faces the excitement and their interest in listening to God’s Word every Sunday. The adults learn the book of Matthew while the children learn the creation to Christ.

While in our church base, Bethany Baptist Church-Mission here in Pom Thmey, God continues to bless the work and all the ministries. God added again three more souls in our church. Last year, I was able to baptize the parents then this month, three of their children (a young man named Koun with her two sisters—Salom and Lin) obeyed the Lord in the waters of baptism.  We praise the Lord not only for the quantity of people that added in our church and visitors every Sunday but most especially the spiritual growth in their lives.

       Brethren, if your church is looking for any missionary project please prayerfully consider the ministry up here in Rattanakiri. 

       Finally, thank you once again for your prayers and support. We really appreciate you. Together with you, God’s glory is declared among the people here in Rattanakiri.

 

Your friends in the Harvest,

Kit and Janeth

Year - End Missions Report 2012

Dear PASTORS and Praying Friends,           

“Season’s Greetings and a Blessed and Fruitful New Year to all of you”. 

       Year 2012 is behind us, we cannot go back and correct the things that went wrong, and we can also not go back and redo the things we did right. We move forward, learning from both, realizing that the situation might be different next time and to repeat the thing that we did well, might not work again. Because God’s kingdom is not an assembly line… it is always changing, each situation is different. We can look back though and learn from our experiences. We can see how God’s principles are at work around us, and we realize that God’s principle’s work, but the ideas that come from our human nature, the things that do not correspond to God’s principles, they usually don’t work. Our resolve for 2013 is to do our best to ensure that the things we do here on the field in Rattanakiri correspond to God’s Principle’s. Then we are sure to experience many blessings this year.

       I would like to start by thanking everyone who has been and is praying for the church here, the work among the Khmers and tribes and specifically for us. Without your prayers we would not be here. 2012 has come and gone and has left its impact on all of us and has challenged us in many ways. As I reflect back, I thank God for the way He has lead in our personal lives, knowing that we have grown in our faith. I know that this has been the experience for more of our people here, who have had to reflect on their walk with God and the result has been positive as we have seen it resulting in further unity and commitment.

       Last January, starts of spiritual blessings in our church. Finally, Sunny, the Muslim lady faithfully attends our church decided to follow the Lord in water baptism together with Buntha, a Krueng young man. Both of them are faithfully serving the Lord in the ministry as Sunday school teachers.

       Last May, we had our successful 5th Missions-Church Anniversary with the theme “Redeeming the Time”. Our speaker is none other than Pastor Sihok; he has a church in Dangkao close to the Killing Fields. After the successful anniversary, one of our young men, Makara surrendered his life to be use by God for future ministry. Also, most of our young men and women (formerly students of Janeth in our Sunday school) gave their lives to be part of our Sunday school team. This means, they would be helping my wife Janeth teaching the new breed of children in our church. It’s really a blessing to see these young people of ours grew up in the church and they’re the ones reaching other children and young people with the Word of God. 

       Last September, a single lady who just finished her nursing studies and recently passed the state board exam came to visit and help us in our ministry. Her name is Estepanie Paje, from San Diego, California and currently member of Ocean View Church formerly known as Midway Baptist Church under Pastor Jim Baize. We held an English Camp for two days in our church. Many children and even young people came from other villages which she enjoyed teaching them Bible stories from creation to Christ, crafts and some games. She had a good time of fun and fellowship with our young people during her short but blessed and memorable stay in our place.

       Last October, we were invited by one of our neighbors whom presently and faithfully attending our church to visit one place about 30 kilometers away from Banlung. And consider starting a ministry. The name of the place is Tropeang Krohom. It’s an old dusty rough road going to Rattanakiri-Phnom Penh. There are about more than 50 families currently residing (Khmer and tribal people). By God’s grace, we were able to open up an outreach in this area and it’s a blessing to see some adults and a lot of children attending every Saturday morning.

       Then, last December, we had the opportunity to have again Pastor Pich as our guest speaker for our Thanksgiving and Year-End service with more than 120 people came to grace the occasion and hear God’s precious Words. Two people raised their hands for salvation and three for baptisms. Praise the Lord!! In the afternoon, we had our first Lord’s Supper as a mission-church. And then, in the evening, we had our Bonfire fellowship as Bethany family. Some of our adults and young people brought their loved ones to join us welcoming the New Year 2013. To God Be the Glory!!

       Finally, we want to thank you for your consistent support and prayers that have made it possible for these realizations and many more untold stories for many, many years. With your continuing support and prayers more souls will be saved, more believers will be added unto the church thru baptism, more members will be encourage and committed, more young people will be trained and more adults will participate. You may never meet those you’ve helped and they may never meet you either. However, they’ve experienced your love and prayers, and as a result they’re living with hope. For this, we say again Thank You!! 

Yours for Missions,

KIT and JANETH JAMANDRON