Musicianaries International Year End Report 2011

As we remember the events of 2011, we treasure the Lord’s goodness He has showered on us.  Together, with your prayers and encouragement, we have served through Musicianaries to spread the hope and joy of His saving grace.  We were so blessed this year to continue our ministry in Cambodia, the Dominican Republic, Singapore, and here in the States.

In the Dominican Republic, we were able to visit in the homes of many neighborhood families.   The difficulties that come from their impoverished conditions marked each face as they told their stories.   Because their needs were overwhelming by human standards, we prayed with them for our precious Lord to intervene–only His blessing and loving direction will create a lasting change for them.  We were also able to have daily Bible studies and craft time with adults, teens, and children at a designated community site. It was a treasured opportunity to share our testimony and the Lord’s gracious love for them.  My heart overflowed to see their attentiveness and hunger for His Word as they opened their Bibles with anticipation.  The Lord is working His miracles in those precious lives and He allows us to witness this beautiful change!

In Cambodia, thousands of lives continue to be impacted each year through God’s Word and multiple rice distributions throughout the country!  Heart-warming stories surround us everywhere we go as we witness the Lord’s loving mercies amid their poverty and hardship.  Two months ago, over $200,000 was pledged for rice donations for the 2012 Cambodia outreach as Musicianaries joined the staff of Positive Life Radio for a 3-day on-air campaign!  We are praising the Lord for His overwhelming outpouring once again and we thank everyone who participated in faith with such generosity!  We so appreciate the staff and volunteers who sacrificially give of their time, efforts, and talent to help us each year in raising funds to supply the rice we distribute in Cambodia.  With every trip to Cambodia we see firsthand the progress being made in that country as a result of the Lord using ministry outreaches.  We are so grateful for this ongoing opportunity!

We were wonderfully blessed by dear friends this year, providing a brand new, updated Musicianaries’ website, www.musicianaries.org!  We are so excited to have this available to present Musicianaries’ information concerning our organization, our upcoming mission trips, recent newsletters, outreach pictures, and event updates!  We have also included a blog that is updated regularly with mission stories and devotional thoughts. We trust they will be an encouragement and inspiration to you.

As we share mission stories with you throughout the year, we ask the Lord to speak to your heart about joining Musicianaries for one of our mission trip opportunities: to come and personally minister with us! It is a wonderful experience that will truly change your life!  Please prayerfully
consider this possibility for you to see His loving hands moving mightily in these nations firsthand.  We’d love for you to join us!

So many thanks for your continued investment through prayers, love, and gifts as we work
together to bring the light and never-ending hope of Jesus Christ to so many around the world!  May the Lord richly bless you in this coming year!

“If you offer your bread to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted one, then your light will shine in the darkness, and your night will be like noonday.” Isaiah 58:10

 

Musicianaries International 3rd Quarter Report 2011

The Lord is so good!  It was a joy to return to Cambodia for the month of July and see the progress being made in that country in so many ways!  During the first few days when our team arrives there, we spend time in meetings with their Secretary of State and other top government officials in Phnom
Penh listening to their reports of growth and improvement during the previous year.  We, at Musicianaries, are so happy to invest in the Cambodian people who are learning to help themselves, on all levels, by improving their education, physical surroundings, hygiene practices, and increasing awareness of spiritual truth through Jesus Christ.

As we traveled to rural areas throughout the month, our team spent time with the precious locals who had built roads and bridges into their villages—all with their hands, no machines!– to improve their capacity for commerce, schools, health, and general well-being.  We were able to dedicate these roads and bridges in formal ceremonies as we prayed with them for the Lord’s blessings on their families and community.  You could see the beautiful smiles on each face reflecting the happiness and pride in their weeks of hard labor!  They so appreciated the tons of rice that you provided for them and Gospels of Luke and John that were given to each one.  You are making a significant difference in many lives there!

Through this year’s outreach we were able to help thousands of Cambodians as we:

• Distributed 223 tons of rice in 22 distributions, feeding over 8,000 families
• Passed out 13,000 pieces of Gospel literature
• Prayed with hundreds of people–80 made decisions to follow Christ personally
• Presented 400 children with new school uniforms and supplies
• Gave out backpacks and notebooks to school children
• Provided 400 children with new clothes
• Provided clothing, toys, meals, and playtime together at Joy Daycare (a ministry to
  children who live in the city dump)

Our 19-member Cambodian drama/music team accompanied us on the entire trip again this year, presenting the Bible story of “The Prodigal Son” at each rice distribution.  The villagers could totally relate to this story:  Each of them totally know what it is to experience severe hunger and losing all that they possessed (during the Pol Pot era).   I broke out in tears many times at their reaction watching this drama.  In their childlike understanding, the villagers were so touched that they came forward to help the prodigal son with “gifts”—which amounted to less than a penny (representing a full day’s work), but it was everything that they had to offer!   They really did relate.

My heart is always filled to overflowing by the love and generosity that I see in the lives of these precious people who have nothing.  Seeing their acceptance of simplicity with joy is so refreshing.  Every trip I take brings me back home with so much more than I could ever give to them!  (Complaining and ungratefulness subside significantly after being with them!)

We would love to invite each of you, personally, to join us on our mission outreach trips.  You will experience firsthand what the Lord is doing in so many lives that you have already touched.  Please
prayerfully consider the upcoming trip to Cambodia in July 2012 or possibly our trip to the Dominican Republic March 3-10.  We would love to send you more information on these opportunities to serve Him with us!

Again, we thank you for your sacrificial giving to bless the broken-hearted recovering in Cambodia.  May the Lord continue to richly bless your family, your health, your church and workplace with His loving kindness.

Psalm 112:6,9, “The righteous will be remembered forever.  He distributes freely to the poor; his righteousness endures forever.”