Follow Loveglobal for latest updates

I have decided to put updates now on Loveglobal....Loveglobal is an internet forum that I can share what God is doing along with other missionaries around the world who have followed God's calling in their lives.

My latest update is here  http://www.loveglobal.com/project/project.aspx?asset=884  you can read some of my other posts here also .

I will send my links out to people who are interested and would like your help the next couple of months.

What I would like to do is to still send my links out for the next couple of months and start refining my contact list....If you could I would appreciate you signing up at LoveGlobal.com to receive my updates . If you would like to continue to receive links with my updates by email or would like to be taken off my update list please send me an email in response . I appreciate all the prayers and support I have received from everyone and would love to continue our relationship as God is doing so much here in Cambodia and I am excited to share that news with all of you .

One of the benefits of Loveglobal is that I am able now to offer tax receipts for all donations to our ministry Manna4Life both personal and for ministry projects. For those that would like to support us financially please do so through our loveglobal page and please leave a note stating what project you would like to donate to or if it is personal funding to support us here in Cambodia . At this time we are only able to offer tax receipts to our canadian partners .

As in any ministry we are always in need of funding to facilitate all God is doing here . In saying that ; God provides for us abundantly and in His timing and we patiently wait for His guidance in what ministries He wants us to focus on at any particular time. This is done through prayer both in seeking and answered prayer and we are grateful for all His provision. I struggle every month in whether to share our needs for ministry and personal finances and do not want funding needs to overwhelm my updates  but rather Glorify God in sharing what He is doing here already. My updates will be more focused on struggles and triumphs and I will update people once every three months on where we are at financially and the needs of the community.  . I feel this will be a better way and allow everyone to pray and focus on the content and the message God wants those to hear through our telling of His stories here in the community and greater Cambodia .

We will be looking for people to help us in an upcoming fundraising drive for the community farm and will probably voice that next month after more prayer and discussion with my mentors and church and board members of our ministry.

I pray that you will continue to encourage us through prayer and emails ... for those that haven't seen our ministry facebook page it is at https://www.facebook.com/Manna4Life and you can spend a little time and see photos etc of the community and hopefully get a feel for what God is doing there.

Som Preah En Pro Te An Poh  ( May God Bless You)

kevin and leakhena   

Manna4Life - Mission, Vision & Needs

God has blessed Manna4Life and the community with many ongoing projects in various stages of completion. It is our goal to continue to walk with Christ in making these projects come to fruition and to Glorify Him. We cannot do this without the Body of Christ working together to bring " His Kingdom o n earth as it is in Heaven." HERE IS THE LINK TO A NOTE on Manna4Life its Mission and Vision and the needs of the Ministry. Please spend some time reading this and asking our Lord how he would like you to join us in sharing His love to this community. 

Thank-you 

Kevin and Leakhena 

 

God is Great!!!!!

It has been awhile since I have updated everyone through the forum of blogging or email...although many of you know through some emails and posting on our Manna4Life site some of the things that have been transpiring.

Since my last blog here are some things that have kept me busy.

1. Praise the Lord!! Praise the Lord!!!! I got married
2. Was able to have a whirlwind trip to Canada for 18 days of meeting up with many of you and having Leakhena meet family and friends.
3. Preaching again as the Lord opened the door and used me this way again at the U.G.M. drop=in centre
4.Share about our ministry at the justice meeting that Servants facililitates in the Downtown Eastside
5. Sharing about our ministry with many of you at Mosaic church
6. Praise the Lord!! Praise the Lord!!! I got married again in Cambodia with the big Khmer wedding
7. Spent time with family and friends who were here for the wedding and/or share in serving God here in the community
7. Built 18 more structures of hope for the community
8. Have almost completed our home also for moving into next month.

It has been an exhausting few months and at times found myself drained but the Lord refreshes as we spend time with Him. The fact that Jesus has thousands waiting on Him and needing care and healing and the Word of God but knew that the most important thing was His relationship with our Father. Even great things like the ministry God has blessed us with can take time away from that relationship which is a detriment for ourselves and the very people he wants us to Love. It has certainly been a time of reflection on how best to serve in our limited time here on earth and have definitely prioritized my devotional life and thoughts of the ministry God has laid before us.

Spending time with my friend Wally was refreshing and us being able to share about the amazing God that loves us despite ourselves and as we give our life over fully and completely to Him that is when we are fully in His will and the life we live in that relationship is worth all the sacrifices here in this broken world we live in.

One of the priorities we have set forward for ourselves and our ministry is that we will spend time in the Word and prayer for the first hour of our ministry day for ourselves and all future staff. I can't think of a better way to start our day of loving people than to spend time with the one who as Romans 5:8 tells us"But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. "

I think of the past life I led and am so grateful to be able to serve the very One who loves me this deeply.

Although this is a very short update considering my lack of words recently I just wanted everyone to know that as we move into the community in the next couple of weeks is that our relationship with our living ,loving God is ever increasing and everyday that I can say there is "less of me and more of Him " in my heart and mind is a great day.

I will enclose many photos in this update from the weddings to friends helping in serving our Lord . I will include the last 18 structures of hope and will also show you a pic of our future home. Click here for my online photo album, which includes wedding pictures.

Some prayer points... that our devotional life will bring us forever closer to God.
we continue to make this a priority
that we can be the fragrance of Christ to many in the community
God's provision as we still need some funding to complete our home for plumbing and electrical

God bless you all as we cannot do it without the help of the Body of Christ.. we love and cherish all your support

kevin and leakhena

Pouv & Samean

Pouv and Samean (see picture here) met each other nearly 16 years ago while both were living in the Dey Krahorm subdivision of Cambodia’s capitol city of Phnom Penh. Pouv grew up in a suburb of Phnom Penh called Steung Meanchey. Though Samean was born in the province of Kampong Chnang, about 80 miles north of Phnom Penh, shortly after her birth, her family moved to Phnom Penh in hopes of finding work and a better life. This was shortly after the genocidal Pol Pot regime (Khmer Rouge) was defeated by the Vietnamese army, and all who were evacuated from cities such as Phnom Penh were permitted to re-enter and begin to rebuild. Pouv had been doing odd jobs as a child, and eventually worked in construction during the rebuilding (which is still going on today).

Pouv and Samean were married 15 years ago in the Dey Krahorm subdivision. They have six children total. All but one of their children were born to them during their time living at Dey Krahorm. When he wasn’t working on a construction project (for around $2.00 per day), Pouv enjoyed playing volleyball with his friends. Before the children arrived, Samean enjoyed playing badminton with her friends and cooking all kinds of Khmer dishes. In Dey Krahorm, she sold fruit, and cooked a popular dessert to supplement their income. Though always at poverty level, the Pouv family never went without, thanks in part to construction projects such as luxury hotels, universities, and embassies, which were being built close to their home. Unfortunately, the development of their area caused their land value to rise rapidly and become attractive to developers. Eventually a certain developer, with the backing of the Cambodian government, was given permission to acquire the entire subdivision of Dey Krahorm, with the promise of fair compensation to those who owned property there. What the families were offered, was about 5% of what the property was worth, and by that time, would not be enough for them to by another home in any of Phnom Penh’s worst slums. After a trial eviction in 2007, stopped by human rights organizations, the people were promised they would not be evicted while negotiations for fair compensation continued.

At 2am Saturday morning, January 24, 2009, unilaterally breaking their promise, the development company arrived with municipality police in riot gear, and an army of hired workers with hammers and axes, using tear gas and rubber bullets, forced over 400 families to flee their homes, which were then flattened by bulldozers and back hoes. The Pouv family managed to take some clothes and their children out of the house, while inhaling and choking on the tear gas, but lost everything else they owned. Samean recalled trying to get to coolers in their house which had food and safe drinking water in them, but those too were destroyed by the violent workers and their tools. They ended up being taken to a relocation area owned by the developer, about 12 miles outside Phnom Penh. No schools for the kids, no markets for the families, and no jobs for those without transportation. At their new home, they had no clean water, no electricity, and no shelter. Just a pile of scraps from Dey Krahorm to build what they could. Eventually, their makeshift homes were destroyed again, so the developer could finish building condos on the relocation area land, which led them to this community less than a year ago, where Manna4Life is working to helpbuild a viable community which will one day be able to sustain itself through agricultural enterprises.

When asked what she missed most about Phnom Penh, Samean says it was much easier to make a living there. In her new community, now 23 miles from Phnom Penh, the only customers she would have if she attempted to sell fruit or dessert, would be the community’s other residents who are just as poor as the Pouv family, having little money for luxuries. Pouv himself goes to Phnom Penh for construction work by ‘taxi’, which means an overcrowded minivan, but the cost of such transportation and food while he’s at the site, make the small wage he receives; practically not worth the trip. The children not pictured were staying with relatives who live closer to a school, and their daughter Socheata who is pictured is mentally disabled, and is currently being cared for by an organization called; ‘Friends International’.

The Pouv family has received a new home by the generosity of people like yourself who are willing to share their blessings in life with those less fortunate .

If you feel led to help another family like the Pouv’s please go to this link at Canadahelps to make this a reality.
http://www.canadahelps.org/GivingPages/GivingPage.aspx?gpID=14993

Each new home costs $ 570 we have built 31 homes so far and a total of 100 homes are needed. Every dollar received from Canadahelps will go directly to building a new home .

This Christmas season a time of giving what better way to use your resources than being a part of building HOPE in this community.

God bless
Kevin and Leakhena

Make a difference this Christmas !

As most of you are now inundated with advertisements and suggestions to purchase on this upcoming Christmas season I would just like to put out an alternative Christmas scenario for you. A way for you to make a huge impact on a family in need this year. Please just spend a few moments reading about how you can make a huge difference.

As most of you know I have been engaging with a community in Cambodia that was forcibly evicted from their land by a corrupt government in partnership with a development company. The link to their eviction is HERE.

After their eviction in January 2009 they were unceremoniously dumped 20 kms west of Phnom Penh with nothing as everything was destroyed by the bulldozers you witnessed in the video. Since then they were evicted again and dumped 38kms north of Phnom Penh where they are currently located. I was onsite the day of their first eviction and it forever changed me as it was the most emotional day of my life witnessing this tragedy.

Leakhena my fiancée and myself have been working with this community the last year and have plans on moving there in February this year.

The lack of proper housing as you can see here or on our facebook page—Manna4Life--is one of their greatest needs . Proper housing will improve not only their situation but will keep them protected from more health issues by being out of the elements and able to stay dry. Most homes now are just a few sticks put together with any type of tarp material they can find whether it be a rug ,plastic sheeting,a bed sheet or anything to defend against the torrential rain here in Cambodia. We have been able to raise enough funding to provide 31 new homes in the community by the generosity of people like yourself but there are 70 more families in dire need also. Each home costs $570 U.S. dollars to build, this includes the hiring of the workers from the community and food and refreshments during the building. This provides much needed financial assistance to the families also as they are in need of work also and barely get by each day.

We are grateful to have joined with Norval Presbyterian church in Georgetown, Ontario in setting up a Canadahelps page in order for people to donate this Christmas season. Every dollar received through Canadahelps will go directly towards the building of homes for this community. I have also set-up a Causes page on Facebook called Manna4Life where you can follow along on the progress of this community and our work there. One of the things I always say is that we are building not homes but HOPE in this community. Just the small amount we have done so far has built a spirit of hope and a real sense of community. We all work together on the homes as a community with the whole community coming out in force to shave the bamboo for the flooring and building the palm leaf walls for all the homes. Here are a couple of the finished homes.

If you feel led to prayer for this community we know God answers each and every prayer and trust me it gives us and the community great comfort knowing our brothers and sisters are reaching out to Him on our behalf.

For the price of a new ipad or iphone you can substantially change a families life and health this Christmas season and beyond.If you feel led to help in a financial way by organizing a fundraising drive ,getting this message to your friends and co-workers, getting your sports group together etc or having your family donate this Christmas please click here and VISIT THIS GIVING PAGE on Canadahelps. A canadian tax e-receipt will be sent to you automatically. Make sure you print off a copy for your files. Or you can donate through Paypal (no tax receipts) through my blog page HERE.

My blog page which you are probably on now includes stories from this community that I am sure will touch your heart and you will get a better understanding of the people you are helping and learn to love them like I do.

The other project we need funding for is to purchase land for a farm that is connected to the community. We are looking for 50 groups or individuals to donate $100 a month for a one year commitment or the equivalent...this comes to $60,000 which is enough to purchase 5 hectares of land where we will start with chicken coops, then pig raising, fish farming and then agriculture...this will provide jobs for the community and a much needed food source. The community itself will be raising $ 5000 dollars towards the cost of the first chicken coop and 2000 chickens by the homeowners putting in $2 a month for 2 years in order to purchase a share in the farm. They are investing a lot when you consider how poor they are in monetary funds. The farm will be run as a co-op with a committee selected from the community to run it. All the proceeds from the farm will be re-directed to the community to different job producing projects voted on by the community. These can include water filtration for better health, bathroom facilities in each home, garbage collection, job training programs, schooling etc.

Thank you so much for considering helping and God bless you and your family this Christmas season.

Kevin and Leakhena

P.S. If you need anymore information please feel free to contact me at kknight45@hotmail.com and feel free to share this link with anyone you feel might be moved to help this community.

August 2011 - Our Lord at work

Hello again from Cambo

It has been a blessed month of answered prayer, healing,direction, building,relationship strengthening and an overwhelming presence of our Lord at work. (For photos from this month, click here to see an online album.)

Just a few bullet points before I share a story about this month.

...God has been providing us with whatever we need..He has blessed us with timely answers to our prayers for numerous needs

...Our relationship with the community is growing everyday and we were all brought to tears when I shared about Leakhena and mine's love for the community and I shared about everything I saw in this community and what they have...love for each other, community,bonding from going through the same hardships,the skills,the strengths and God on their side. At the end of the meeting one of the committee members came up to me and said Som Preah En Pro Te An Poh...May God bless You

..We built two more homes for the community this month...one from a short term team from Calvin Presbyterian an ESC partner with Tenth church who were so moved by the testimonies given by the community members that they supplied the funding before they left to build this home and are looking at raising further funding for more homes.

..We have a list for the community in order of greatest need and the woman who moved them was next on the list and God provided through the same team

..We have a commitment for 15 homes with a possible 20 which we will be building starting the 17th of sept for approx 3 weeks

..Tenth church will be supporting Leakhena and I to go for cross cultural and pre marriage counselling in Chiang Mai probably in Oct. such a huge blessing and a great grounding for our forthcoming marriage in January

...the process of starting our own NGO called Manna4Life is almost completed and ready to send to the government..just working on the final board members before sending for approval.

..Just finalizing the MOU with Dove and will be partnering with them as the advisor to their sustainable community development section .This is a great ministry that tenth supports and our ministries will be a great blessing to the Oudong community and the Kingdom of God

..Working on a 4 phase plan for the community and our ministry at the village .

..working on a proposal for this 4 phase plan

..have joined forces with my brother Tony Tom with World Helps Ministries as their Cambodian partner and will be doing projects together in education and building in the community


This is just a short recap of the month....as you can see a lot is happening here and God is really moving forward so pray that I hang on tight to Him.

Now for a story of healing prayer.


The pictures attached are our friend Rhum.

We had been on a medical missions trip with Tenth church and when we got back at the start of the month and visited the village we were informed that Rhum a friend from the community had suffered a stroke the night before. Rhum is a great guy and usually carries water for the village in a big blue drum to all the homes especially the dry season. This is how he supports his family and his son is now doing it in his place. I think he gets 2000riel for every drum which is approx 50 cents and wheels this heavy load around to the homes.

We immediately went to the hospital to see how he was praying for him along the way.

We couldn't find him at the hospital because he had been released already because he had no money. Not exactly a rare situation in Cambodia as most people cannot afford the medical care however inadequate it is.

We called around and it wasn't until the next day that we were able to get his number where he was staying and went to visit him. His whole left side was paralyzed ,his face frozen and his arm and leg numb and useless.He was staying at his daughters place which overseas the old Dey Krahorm eviction site where he used to live.It is a building next in line for eviction and one with a horrible reputation and is a den of prostitution , drugs and gangs.

When we were leaving we asked him if we could pray for him and reminded him that we were Christians and would like to pray to Jesus for Him. He is a Buddhist but both himself and his wife said they would be very grateful if we prayed to God for them. Leakhena and I both prayed out loud in Khmer and English asking for God's healing powers to reach our friend and for him to then be a light for the rest of the community and to share about who healed him.

We then went home and a few days later took Tara Dawn a medical student from Tenth who was on the medical team and visited him again he had improved slightly and his face was now no longer frozen but had to use his other hand to move his arm or leg. Tara gave him advice on not doing that or his movement would never come back. We then asked him again if we could pray for him and he welcomed our prayer again. Leakhena,Tara and I all prayed for him similar prayers as we prayed before telling God of our uselessness in this situation and that we needed Him and Him only to help our friend.

On friday night I said to Leakhena we should go see how Rhum is doing but we were unable to and said we would go after our normal saturday meeting at the village.

When we got to the village there was Rhum walking around the village with the help of a stick and we were prasing God at the amazing healing. He was walking with a stick because the only boots he had were big heavy army boot styke and it was hard for him to walk in those as his healing was continuing. Leakhena wanted to get him some sneakers so we went to the local market and after putting these on he was able to walk around the village without much problem.

Please pray that Rhum recognizes where his healing came from and is a light to the community of the powers of our loving God

God bless you

Kevin and Leakhena