Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Thank you Jesus!!

God is so Good!! His Mercy endures Forever!!!
I have been on a whirlwind ride for quite a while now but for sure the last few months have been off the charts busy!! They have also been very fruitful months which I praise God for!

March 4th I headed out to Nepal with Kris Pagan and Aua Treeaynon to have a meeting with 50 Pastors in Eastern Nepal. We first arrived in Kathmandu, met our good Nepalese friend Prem, and then stayed at a Christian guest house that night, before heading out the next morning by Jeep. We drove for 4hrs over a mountain range on a hard-core road and after seeing some amazing sights we arrived in Hetuada.
The next day we had a meeting with all these 'independant' pastors and shared our vision with them about Church planting and serving God, not for what we can gain but for what we can give!
After 3hrs we let these leaders ask us questions and most of them brought up money and support!! It's like they hadn't been listening at all.
The next morning I preached in one Pastors church and had a great time ministering to his church members. Then we packed up our stuff and took the Jeep back over the mountain range to Kathmandu.
We spent a day buying souvenirs and getting some Video footage for Continuum. We also visited some Hindu temples that were totally demonic with all these Hindu 'Holy' men called 'Jogis'.

On March 9th I came back to Bangkok, met my good friend Paul Degagne on Khao San Road and hung out with him and Sonny of Ethnos Asia for a day. Was such a blessing to be around Wise men who love the Lord.

Then I took Paul to Poipet and met Ellie and Joanna who work with a ministry called A.R.C. I showed Paul and these girls around town and introduced them to different ministries as well as our Church. After Church on Sunday I drove to Phnom Phen to meet my parents, oldest sister Kim and the MEI Team!!
Toby Friesen and Doug Wiens came with me and then on March 16th we met the Team at the Airport!! It was quite the reunion for the Reimers!! Was an answer to prayer to have them on cambodian soil to serve the Lord!

So that day we went to the 'S-21' prison which was quite the eye opener.
After that sobering experience we went to the Russian Market and did some shopping and that evening went out for Pizza!!! (I tried to them ease them in slowly!)
The next day we did a school Assembly at Dean Weiss's school, Logos International. My sister Kim and I led worship which was a thrill for me cause she has such a great voice and sweet spirit!! The MEI team did a powerful drama to music and then after some testimonies my Dad shared a salvation message and around 16 teenagers gave their lives to Jesus! It was awesome!
That same morning we went to a Cambodian school and shared the Gospel with these primary school kids and got to pray for them.
That afternoon we visited Pastor Ros's school that reaches out to the Kids of Garbage dump people. The team painted Faces, blew bubbles, taught songs ect. and after we went to the actual garbage dump which was something to behold. It smelled so bad and hundreds of people were milling around looking for garbage that could be recycled.

The next day we all went to Siem Reap and had dinner at a cultural show that was pretty impressive and did some shopping. The MEI team got a good taste of Cambodian culture that night!

The next day the girls did some prep work and us guys helped clean up a job-site and visited a well known Christian authors place.

That afternoon we toured around Angkor Wat and took lots of pictures in the extreme heat of Cambodia!

The next day we headed to Poipet on the much improved highway and right away got settled in and then headed out to some house churches.
For the next week the MEI team visited all our house churches, shared testimonies, did dramas, taught Bible stories, did crafts and games with Kids, passed out water to cart pullers and blessed our church big time!

We saw 85 people born again and baptized 35 people while they were in Cambodia!! Praise God!! Ministering with my parents and sister for 2 weeks was a totall thrill as well!!

I am now in Thailand teaching at VBCI in Sriracha for 2 weeks on Leadership. Please be praying for me as I teach these future world changers!!
Blessings
JR

1 comment:

Team AC said...

Wow Joel, again your life inspires me! Thanks so much for sharing all your experiences and pictures.

~Corinna