Well the subject could definitely be referring to the temperature in Cambodia, this place is insanely hot and it would be scary to think of the number of gallons we have sweat since being here. However, that is not what I am referring to. This past week, God has been turning up the heat on us! Have you ever felt that you have been dealt a bad hand? Well that is how we felt during this seminar. It seemed that everything was working against us.
1. The people here had never done a five day seminar, but they set us up for five days. It is a sacrifice to skip work for three days, so especially hard to do five.
2. This is the first seminar in the area to ever require the students to pay for the food themselves. They expect the westerners to pay for everything. We are trying to help the church stand on its own feet, but apparently we were pushing a little to hard for this audience. During a typical seminar here, the teachers spend about 800 bucks paying for the student's food for a week.
3. We were provided with a translator who had very little experience and poor English. Because of some cultural reasons, we could not switch and we couldn't find another one even if we wanted to.
4. Not only was the translation poor, but it means everything we said took at least twice as long to say and so the seminar went extremely slow compared to normal.
5. There were two major seminars in the capital going at the same time that many people went to attend and
6. I was getting so worn out from trying to compensate for the translator's weaknesses that I would go home and go to bed without any time to prepare.
7. So many other things that it felt we didn't stand a chance and our contact here was equally discouraged. We were almost ready to chalk it up to a "learning experience" and move on.

& But what does Romans 8:31 say? "If God is for us, who can be against us?" Well on Wednesday morning we were praying and I cried out to God, "God, what are you doing?" "Show us what you are doing, we don't want to follow our own plans, but want to get on board with what you are doing. We'll do whatever you want, even end the seminar two days early, just show us." I then asked God to show us a small piece of the fruit of what He is doing, because for the first two days it seemed like we were wasting the people's time and everything was going wrong. Well, on Wednesday in class, things were not looking good, we were supposed to start and no one was there. We waited a few minutes and two people showed up. Ten minutes later, about four more showed up. In two days we had gone from fifty students to six! So we asked the main pastor what to do, he encouraged us to end the seminar that day or the next if we wanted to keep going. So I asked him to ask the students what they wanted and I was extremely discouraged. But in my heart I was just happy to finish and to travel to the next city early and take a couple days off to rest and lick our wounds. When he asked the students who were there, about eighteen of them at that time, almost all said they wanted to finish Thursday. I was shocked I was sure they wanted to be done that day. But then God gave us a gift. One of the older women in the front said with determination in her voice, "narrow is the pathway to heaven and few people take this path, even if there are only a few faithful people who want to keep going, I want to study through Friday!" I was truly humbled by her perspective and answer. Well, the pastor agreed with the majority and said class would end on Thursday. I didn't feel good about this because I believed we were here for five days, but my flesh was relieved. Then at the break I spoke to the older woman and the man who came with her. It turns out he is a pastor starting a new church and she is one of the leaders. They told me that they have been praying for an opportunity to study the word of God and learn how to be godly leaders and serve the church. They said the teaching has been amazing and they don't want to stop. I asked them if they would like for us to keep going with a special one day seminar on Friday and they enthusiastically said yes!

I couldn't believe it; God didn't bring us here for the fifty that showed up for the first day, but for these two church planters. I believe that God is also working in others and we will never know all that God is doing. But on Wednesday God answered my prayer from that morning. He showed us the fruit that He was growing in the midst of the chaos around us. I praise God for his faithfulness and am so thankful that He gave us the privilege of working with these church planters and the other faithful ones who continue to come at their own expense.

I can't say that this ended up being the best seminar yet; it was definitely the most difficult and chaotic one I have done. Yet God did work in powerful ways. We were able to pour ourselves into these two church planters along with the other eight or so leaders who came every day up to the end. It was so great being able to focus our teaching directly to the needs of the audience. During our time of application we had a few different things prepared, but felt led during prayer to hammer home the need for holiness. While teaching on holiness, we learned that none of the people had ever realized there was a need for holiness, they thought that it was impossible and that they should just do their best. They were not concerned with "small sins" or old sins committed before. I didn't know how to apply this, but during the break, just before applying the need for holiness, I was talking with Mitch about if we should have another time of people confessing their sins by writing them down. I couldn't say that God was telling me to do it, I just didn't know. Mitch's response was great, "Why not! What harm can it do?" I said, "good point!" and we went with it. It again was amazing this week to see God move during the time of repentance. People were writing as fast as their hand could move. We gave about ten or fifteen minutes to write, and for some it was not enough time! When I said, "two more minutes left," the hands of a couple people started to fly even faster! We then repented of the sins that were written down and the tears of some just started flowing and didn't stop for the next thirty minutes. We burned the papers, had a time of worship and then took a break. Mitch was prepared to finish up with a different application, but as we came back from break, we knew that God was not done yet. Some were still crying, others had their heads bowed in prayer, so we decided to forget our plan and just have a time of prayer. It was awesome, we prayed for everyone there and they prayed for each other. The Holy Spirit was ministering to each person; you could see it on their faces and feel His presence. It was such an awesome time of ministry as the Word of God was truly coming alive in their lives.

There are many other awesome stories from this past week as well, but I don't have time to write them now because we are here in Siam Reap preparing for our seminar tomorrow. But I wanted to thank everyone for your prayers this past week. As mentioned, the first two days were about as bad as two days can go, but on the third day, God provided us with another option for a translator who was far better than the other. The main pastor's own daughter speaks English, but had never translated for a church before. The pastor did not think she could do it and no one thought to ask her, but when he realized how bad the situation was he asked her to try and help if she could. She was wonderful, and the pastor himself was shocked that she could do it. She was able to translate half of the remaining seminar and was able to assist our other translator when he was translating. This answer to prayer turned a guaranteed disaster into a blessing for us and all who attended. Prayer is powerful and it works! Thank you so much for your prayers. We had been told that there were no options for us, but God found one in a very unlikely source and we are eternally grateful.

So this week has been a hot one for us. One thing you have to learn on the mission field (and I am trying to learn this) is not to run from the heat, but learn to love it. God does the most amazing things during the times of refining and He did some awesome stuff this week not only through us, but in us as well. It is so cool to see how it forced us to rely upon Him and trust Him even though we didn't have a clue what was happening or why we were there. It forced us to check our hearts, swallow our pride, and fervently seek the Lord. It also focused our attention back on our real audience, not the pastors and leaders, but the Lord. The Lord reminded me again this week that I must always teach as though teaching for Him. I have an audience of one.

This week we have a seminar here in Siam Reap. We are facing the same problem as last week in that we are not paying for them to eat, and so no one knows how many will actually come. This was a HUGE issue last week and we are thinking this might be a little early to try to fight this battle. Yet, we believe this is what God is telling us to do so we are trying it again. We will have a good translator this week coming up from Phnom Penh which is a blessing.

So please continue to pray for us.

• First, please take some time and ask the Lord how you should pray and pray accordingly
• Please pray that God would bring the people He wants to be there this week. Even though they are not used to seminars without free food.
• Please pray that we can effectively communicate God's truths across the cultural and language barriers.
• We are crying out for God's anointing as we minister and teach. Please continue to pray that God moves powerfully during times of ministry and that lives are transformed.
• Please pray for the pastors and leaders who will be attending our seminars. That their hearts would be open and that they would be hungry to learn and be changed. Pray for their minds to be quick to grasp the concepts we are teaching as well.
• Please pray for continued good health and safety as we travel throughout Cambodia
• Please pray for our team; that we walk in humility, unity, and God's strength, not our own
• Please also pray for guidance and doors to open for the extra month I will be spending here. I have yet to set up anything for that time and there are only a few weeks left to get things set up.
• Please continue to pray for my financial situation, that the Lord would raise up monthly financial partners.

Thank you again for all your support. If you receive anything specific while praying please don't hesitate to contact me via email. I am always greatly encouraged to hear from those who are praying.

Thank you,

If you have any questions or would like to contribute financially you can email me, contact me through my website at www.ToMakeHimKnown.com or contact my parents, Jim & Annette Lunn, who will be handling all stateside concerns while I am away.