My Grandma Reimer Passed Away.

At 1:30pm yesterday, November 29th, my Grandmother, Lydia Reimer, passed away at Bevan Lodge in Abbotsford, BC. She was 92 years old.  

I loved my Grandma. She was a feisty lady who often spoke what was on her mind. She was a survivor. She survived the depression on the prairies, she survived the loss of her still born child, she survived breast cancer, she survived open heart surgery, and the passing of her husband in 1986.  

Myself and my cousins were blessed to be able to spend a lot of time with her while we were groing up when we worked on the raspberry farm. She would make us lunch almost everyday at her house and deliver us snacks when we were on the raspberry machine.  We spent lots of time sitting in her kitchen asking her questions about our Dads, and how life was in the 'old days'. 

She had a great laugh and was quite the stylish dresser in her old age. She would get all dressed up for our high school basketball games.  It was great. 

Often after a game she would slip me a loonie and tell me to go buy a drink.  Or she would dip into her purse that had everything in it and more, and pull out an old cookie wrapped in an old napkin and tell me to eat it. Those were good times.  

At Christmas time she would often give us 2nd hand t-shirts that she had bought at the MCC thrift store.  They were absolutely random and often didn't fit.  We would just laugh.  

Often when I would be home in the summer time she would ask me to come to her Seniors prayer meeting at Church and share about what I was doing in Asia. It was always an honor to meet her friends and pray with them.  

I loved my Grandma. She was an amazing woman of God. I will miss her.

Martin Smith! Delirious? Frontman!!

Well the other day, a dream came true! I have always been a huge fan of the anointed worship/rock band Delirious? and their amazingly talented songwriter, lead singer, Martin Smith. He has written a ton of songs that the whole world has sung for many years now.
So the other day I went to a worship Leaders seminar in Vancouver that was hosted by Martin Smith and Brian Doerksen.  (Brian is another hero of mine! Abbotsford, Mennonite boy!)
The session was great and really helpful and afterwards I chatted a bit with Martin and got my picture taken with him, courtesy of Matt Unger and his iphone! (Thanks Matt!)
Here it is!
Joel

Heading back to Poipet!!

 

Joomreeup Sooah!! Sok Sah Bye day groop K’neeah?!! Yerng Atee tahn groop k’neeah jeeah Prah teein Poh!!!! (First person to translate this gets a prize!! All you former interns should dominate this challenge!!)

Guys!!! Here is a story right off the bat from Avin that we pray will encourage and inspire you:

One of the most inspirational people I have known here in Phnom Penh, is my Khmai language teacher, Chantuen. She is 34 years old, has a husband and two children, and just recently bought her land title for her home in a small village on the outskirts of Phnom Penh. She loves Jesus!! She barely makes ends meet every month but she speaks passionately about the Lord and is constantly teaching me more and more about my faith.

Chantuen has a blessed life today but this is not the way things started out for her. She was born in 1980, just after the Khmer Rouge fell. She was the youngest of four siblings, and her family was unique, they survived the years of civil war. Sadly, her mother died only months after her birth and so her father left the responsibility of raising Chantuen to her sisters. As soon as her oldest sister married, Chantuen went to live with them in the Phnom Penh where she became the household help. Her stories from these years remind me of Cinderella.  She tells these stories with a smile on her face, simply thankful to anyone who gave her a roof over her head and food to eat. She wasn’t allowed to go to school and sold sweet desserts around the city from a basket on her head. She didn’t go to school until she was older and only then completed a basic version of grade six. Her stories of life through her younger years and her teens speak of life in a third world country, but one thing always stands out, Chantuen always believed there was a spiritual world beyond what she knew. She saw  demon possessed people, she saw religion and rituals, but she had hope that there had to be something more.

She married in her early twenties and moved to the small village that she still lives in today. A Korean church moved into her village soon after that and she started asking questions. Through a long process Chantuen came to know the living God and developed a deep personal relationship with Jesus. Her husband soon followed her as he saw the change in her and now both of their children are learning about God on a daily basis.

She speaks with tears in her eyes of losing one of her brother-in-laws to demon possession. He was choked to death before her eyes by something she could not see. She still wishes she had known more about spiritual warfare at that time so she could have battled for his life.  Chantuen knows the value of having God on your side. She tries to be a light to her community, is honest in her humble work and desires to learn more and more about God. It shines through whenever she speaks!  When she gets preaching on a certain topic, she has authority and it is beautiful!

Last week I confessed to her that I was less than excited to learn Khmai without her, and to be finally in the “deep end” with no English outlets in Poipet…can I tell you her beautiful response to me? “Avin, you will do great. And for all the areas you are not sure of, it will make you trust God even more. Every time you open your mouth, you will have to trust God that he will use your words to preach the gospel, He will do what you can not.” Such sound advise from a Khmai who’s heart is sold out for the one true God!


I wish we could take Chantuen to Poipet with us, but she won’t leave her family and her own piece of land that she has worked so hard to buy…but maybe one day. For now she remains the inspiration in my life to what God can do with a willing spirit. She is no longer just my Khmai language teacher, she is also my Khmai life coach, sister in Christ and simply…my big sister. She has more daily struggles than I may ever really know, but she keeps going with a deep joy in her heart, knowing that all this is temporary, her eyes are lifted higher.

I will miss her the most when we leave Phnom Penh.

Here are some High-lights, and Low-lights from the past little while:

• We have been ‘officially’ approved to return to Poipet to continue church planting! Praise God!! We met with all our leaders here in Cambodia on February 19^th and we got the green light!
• Mya had a high fever for 5 days, a severe eye infection and a cold all at once! (This was a first for us as parents!!) Our prayer life dramatically improved and she has since recovered, thank you Jesus!!
• The traffic in Phnom Penh continues to get worse and I, Joel, have to ask the Lord for forgiveness for my desire to give people a ‘love tap’ or ‘slight ramming’ on a daily basis!!
• The Hot Season is back and we are dripping once again like a faucet!!
• God has brought another young man named Victor into my life to mentor and teach the drums to.
• I had the opportunity to have a ‘revival’ meeting at a student house and the Holy Spirit showed up in power!!

Please pray for Gods anointing to be upon me as I continue to lead worship at our International church until we leave Phnom Penh, and that the contract for our house/church in Poipet would finally be delivered to us and that it would be legit and above reproach.

Blessings

Joel, Avin and Mya

We are off once again!!!!

For those of you who read this blog, Greetings!!! I pray you are blessed and are doing well!!!
For the past 3 and a half months we have been in Canada for the main purpose of having our baby girl Mya!! She was born September 15th and was beautiful and 100 percent healthy, praise God!! Avin has since recovered and is doing great and Mya now has a passport, (that was a challenge!!) and yesterday she got her 2 months shots (talk about painful for her and for the parents!!)
This morning we just finished packing for our return trip to SE Asia and this afternoon we will spend some more time with friends and family.  We fly out officially on Cathay Pacific at 1:25am on November 16th but will head to the airport tonight at around 10pm.
It truly was a blessing seeing all of you while we were home!! We loved seeing many of you at church, in your homes and at coffee shops and restaurants!!!
It was amazing to celebrate our daughters birth with you and to talk about what God is doing in Cambodia together!!
We are so excited to return to SE Asia to serve the King of Kings!!! I will be teaching at Victory Bible College in Sriracha, Thailand for 2 weeks and preaching at various churches.  Then we will be travelling to Phnom Penh to study the Khmer language for a few months, and connecting with our missionary friends.  In February we are planning to return to Poipet, where I previously lived, to plant a church.  We will be preaching the gospel and making disciples by every means possible and are believing God for a great harvest in that infamous border town!!!
We covet your prayers for souls, transformed lives, signs and wonders and ultimately for God to build His Kingdom!!
Blessings
Joel, Avin and Mya

More Mya Pictures!!!

Mya Elizabeth Reimer!!!!

Avin and I just wanted to tell all of you that we've had a BABY GIRL!!!!!!! Mya Elizabeth was born on September 15th at 7:56am.  She was 6 pounds 5 ounces, 20.5 inches long and perfectly healthy, praise God!!! We went to the hospital at 2:30am on the 15th and then Avin went into hard labour at 6am.  We were praying that Avin would have a natural birth and she did!! After 4-5 hard pushes Mya breathed her first breaths!! I was crying for most of the labour and when Mya was born I pretty much lost it! For sure one of the greatest things to ever happen to the both of us!! We are so in love with this little girl it's incredible!!
We want to thank all of you for praying for Mya! We are praising God for this newest addition to our family!!
Blessings
Joel, Avin and Mya!!

Pre-Baby Pictures

Avin and I went to Campbell Valley in Langley, BC with Alan and Nancy to take some pre-baby pictures. It was a beautiful fall day and the setting was pretty sweet! Here are a few pictures!

NEW 'Original' Music!!!

Friends,
Just wanted to give you guys a heads up that I will be posting some original songs on YOUTUBE beginning next week!!
I will be posting a NEW SONG Every Week, for 12 Weeks!!! Some of these songs were written back when I was in Bible School in Thailand, and some were written just a few months ago.
My prayer is that as you listen to them, God would touch your heart, and give you a new revelation of who your Heavenly Father is.  I pray that the Holy Spirit would minister to you and refresh and bless you as you listen to them.
You can check them out, beginning next week on YOUTUBE at 'Joel A Reimer'.
Blessings
JR

Newest Video Update

Hello all!!!

just wanted to keep you connected with our newest video update!!!

Please click the link below to view the video...baby bump and all!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3MQvgFmgKk0

blessings

We're back in Canada!!!

Friends!! Just wanted to let you all know that Avin and myself are back in Canada until November!! We are excited to be home to have our baby and of course to see all of you!! Our baby is due in September and we are just delirious at the thought of being parents in the very near future!! God is so Good!!  We feel really blessed!!
Here are some pictures from our last month in Cambodia.
- myself with my 2nd year Bible Students at Cambodia Bible Institute after our last class
- myself with Makara, one of the prisoners in the Kandal Prison who I've been teaching English
- Avin and I at the beach for our friends 5th year Wedding Anniversary and our other friends 30th Birthday
- Phnom Penh riverside at night
-Phnom Penh sunset

Please continue to be praying for the nation of Cambodia and that the Holy Spirit would move in power in that place!!
Blessings,
Joel and Avin

Pictures from Cambodia!!

No longer on FB!!!!

Just wanted to give a brief shout out to all you guys!! I just got off FB, but I wanted you to know that I still would love to connect with all of you.  So feel free to write a comment or whatever!!
Here are some pictures from a few recent trips and life in general out here!!
JR

Home in Phnom Penh

Friends and Family! How are you all doing?  Pray you're well!!  Here is a summary of what we've been up to here in South East Asia: Daily life for a child in Cambodia -  February 1st we finished teaching at the ‘Impact School of Missions’ (ISM) in Bangkok, Thailand. We had a great time leading worship, going on different outreaches and getting to know the 6 Canadian students.    -  February 4th we were blessed to be driven to the Thai/Cambodian border by Pastor Al Purvis. We had a great time catching up with him. -  We survived a pretty major truck crash on the National Highway as Avin and I drove towards Phnom Penh in our truck. We praise God that besides sore necks, sore backs and Avin's 4 broken toes, we escaped unharmed!  As of today we are almost 100%!  God is Good!!  Now we’re on the look out for a new truck!!   -  We are now back in Language School learning Khmai 5 days a week. -  Avin is back helping out at ‘Sparrows Nest’ and is enjoying loving on the street kids there. -  I just found out that I will be teaching about '1st and 2nd Corinthians' at the Cambodia Bible Institute in April.  I can’t wait to teach Cambodia’s future leaders!  -  We are excited to be currently hosting Chad McCarthy, a PAOC Global Worker, and then Maria Gambone DeJesus, a former ISM student, at the end of February. Avin's mom and sister will be visiting us in March.  We would really appreciate your prayers for: - God to speak clearly to us as we look for our future church planting location - Safety, as the roads here in Phnom Penh are pretty crazy!  - That God would bless our relationships with our fellow missionaries and neighbors  - That we would be disciplined to study the Khmai language faithfully - For God's anointing and empowerment when we teach, serve and go about our daily routines   Also please pray for the Church as a whole here in Cambodia, that God would empower it with His Spirit and that Cambodians would have theirs eyes opened to truth.   God bless you guys and thanks again for standing with us and believing with us as we serve and study.    Joel and Avin Impact School of Missions Outreach Joel leading worship at NightLight Ministries. ISM Class of January 2013  These are some amazing students! We were blessed to have been able to teach them this semester. Our truck... God is good! This is the wreck that we walked away from. Good-bye faithful truck!

The Most Recent!!

Friends and family!! 

Greetings from Udom Suk, Bangkok!! 

How are you all doing?!! Pray you are doing well.  We are already into week 3 here at the Impact School of Missions (ISM) in Bangkok.  Time has flown by as we have gotten settled into SE Asian life and have been busy with ministry.  Here are some of the highlights: 

- Preparing and teaching classes at ISM (Avin is teaching right now!) 

- leading the students in worship

- serving at a 'Night Light' Cell group and Church Service, (Night Light is a Christian ministry that reaches out to woman in the red light district, disciples them and then employs them as factory workers) 

- loving on kids at a ministry that reaches out to kids from poor/dysfunctional homes in a Bangkok Slum

- exposing the students to different ethnic foods at restaurants in Bangkok! (The Indian food was unreal!!) 

- Not exactly a highlight but....traveling all over Bangkok trying to solve our computer problems!! 

- getting stranded at a soup shop due to a classic SE Asia thunderstorm!! 

- leading the students to the 'Ancient City' last saturday!!  A must do if you come to Thailand!! 

School here is finished on October 5th.  After spending some time visiting friends, we will head to Poipet, Cambodia to pick up my truck and things and then will head to Phnom Penh.  

We are loving being back in Asia and really couldn't be here serving without you.  Please, please, continue to pray for us as a couple and that Gods power would flow powerfully through us so that the name of Jesus would be glorified, an people would come to know Him!!   

Blessings

Joel and Avin

We've Arrived!!!

September 5^th, 2012

We have Arrived!! (Physically speaking, Lord knows not in a lot of other ways!!)   After talking about serving God in Asia, preaching about serving God in Asia, praying about serving God in Asia ect., ect., we are finally BACK,  SERVING GOD IN ASIA!! We are ecstatic! Feels like we’re home, though it sure was a tear fest saying goodbye to our families!  We had a great flight on Japan Airlines from Vancouver to Tokyo and then to Bangkok.  We stayed with Peter and Sandra Macintosh last night and were just treated like royalty. Had a great time this morning talking about all the crazy missions trips we’ve been on and then Sandra took Avin and myself to the Pentecostal Bible College in Udomsuk, Bangkok where we will be staying for the next 30 days, teaching at the IMPACT SCHOOL OF MISSIONS (ISM)  

Our apartment at the Bible school is a 3 bedroom place with a living room, a kitchen and Air Conditioning!!!  I am getting soft in my old age!!  

We got unpacked and settled in today, got all our phones hooked up with SIM Cards, went grocery shopping, experienced a classic SE Asia 1 hour rain storm with thunder and lightning and had some amazing ‘gang keow wahn guy’ for lunch!   Just feels so good to be BACK!!  God is so good!

We begin teaching on September 10^th, so for the next few days we will be preparing for our classes, having staff meetings and hanging out with our friends here in Bangkok. 

Really appreciate all your support, prayers and for believing in us!!  Please be praying for Gods anointing to be on us as we teach and pour into the students at ISM over the next 30 days. 

Blessings,

Joel and Avin

Next Steps...

Our newest update: please do continue to follow us at www.joelandavinreimer.blogspot.com

 

 

Praise God, He is good! “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to His purpose.” (Romans 8:28) Thank you to all who are working with us so we can follow God’s call on our life to Cambodia!!!!

Peter & Wanda: Three Hills Alberta

In the last month our fundraising efforts have taken us to Vernon, Coquitlam, Osoyoos and Three Hills, Alberta to share the Word and our vision at different churches. We have met so many new people and have felt so loved and welcomed…the family of God is one amazing thing!

Fireside Worship: White Rock Beach

We have finished our restaurant jobs, which we thought was going to leave us a ton of extra time for “other” things, but life has a way of filling up quickly! We have spent a lot of time committed to completing our courses for Impact School of Missions (www.ismsea.com), and spending time with supporters, friends and family.

Ready for the journey!

So where are we at these days? Well we need to let you all in on the best news of the month! Our team in the PAOC has given us the final approval to go and book our tickets back to South East Asia! PRAISE GOD! So many of you are a part of this news because it is YOU that has listened to God and decided to get behind us monthly! THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!! We are still believing God for the a few more monthly supporters to get us to 100% budget. We need the last 20% (about $900/ month). We know it is God’s economy and He continues to show us this, so we are moving forward full of faith and gratitude!

So by September 5^th we will be in South East Asia! That first month will have us in Bangkok teaching at ISM, and then we will be heading to Cambodia in October! This means we will be celebrating our 1^st anniversary in our new home, what a year it has been!

Stayed tuned…this is only the beginning…

Good News!!!

Jesus is Lord of all the Earth!    Every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that He is Lord!! Amen!!  

Avin and myself are so excited to play a small part in what God is doing in SE Asia!! After our fundraiser on June 24^th, we feel really supported by so many people who love the Lord and care about what He is doing all over the world!! 

Tim Lindberg and Crystal Asplend blessed us with some great folk music, the Thai and Khmer food was amazing, but more importantly, we just loved seeing many of you and being able to thank you face to face for getting behind us as a couple.   Thank you as well to many of you who gave so generously at the fundraiser! 2300 dollars was raised for the work in Cambodia, praise God!!

Avin and myself will be quitting our restaurant jobs in the next week and a half, and focusing entirely on writing courses for our teaching stints at ‘Impact School of Missions’ in Bangkok ,Thailand, as well as continuing to fundraise and share at different churches. 

In July we will be sharing at Vernon Full Gospel Tabernacle,  Coquitlam Community Church and Osoyoos Pentecostal, as well as a fundraiser in Kelowna and 3 Hills, Alberta.  

We are still believing God for 25 percent ( 1,300 dollars) to come in, in the form of monthly support.   Please be believing God with us for this last amount to be raised.

We would love to see many of you this summer so don’t be shy!! Email us or give us a call. Would be great to get together!!

Blessings,

Joel and Avin