As I write this prayer letter, it is only nine days until we leave for our first furlough to the States. It is a time of high emotion as we say goodbye to our Khmer friends and our teammates and then greet our family and friends in the States. Except for a two-week trip to the States for Heidi, Rachel, and Isaac in October 2006, we have been in Southeast Asia since March 2004. We praise the Lord for His grace in our lives during this first term on the field and are excited about sharing God’s doings with many of you in person.

Teammates and Weddings

Since our last prayer letter, we have seen our teammates arrive back on the field (January 14) and our first Khmer Christian wedding in Pursat (February 4). The McPhails are doing well, but Forrest’s health is still an issue of continued prayer. He has been able to take over much of the teaching, for which we praise the Lord. His knowledge of the language was especially helpful for the big wedding. The McPhails are anticipating the birth of their fourth child at the end of March and would appreciate your prayers for Jennifer and the delivery of their new daughter.

Even before the McPhails could completely settle in, our team was very busy with the wedding of Phuek and Prum, two members of the Inheritance in Christ Church. They really wanted to have the wedding while both of our families were in Cambodia. After much preparation and a church-wide time of fasting and prayer a week before, we believe God blessed the wedding ceremony and strengthened the faith of the believers. In the ceremony, I was able to give the charge to the groom (Phuek). I challenged Phuek to be a servant-leader based on the example of Jesus in Philippians 2:3–8. The concept of servant leadership doesn’t exist in Cambodian culture, but it needs to be in the Khmer church. Forrest explained the meaning of marriage from Ephesians 5 and also gave a charge to the bride (Prum). All of this was over a loudspeaker, so the entire village could hear us!

By God’s grace, the wedding was alcohol-free, which was probably a first in the town of Pursat! I believe that God honored the decision to please Him over man. The couple did not lose money at the wedding reception as many of their Buddhist neighbors had predicted. Even Buddhism, the dominant religion of Cambodia, teaches that drinking is one of the five greatest sins. Yet the people do not follow their own religion. It is tremendously important for them to see the Khmer Christians follow the Scriptures and Christ in this area of holiness of living and separation from the world.

Having said all of that, I must tell you that unfortunately, Prum’s father Aun did not have complete victory over alcohol. Though he didn’t drink at the wedding, others tempted him to drink in the days before and after the wedding. I am mentioning this to ask you to continue in your prayers for Aun. It is my prayer that while I am in the States, this man and others will have complete victory over this sin that Satan uses to destroy individuals, families, churches, and countries.

Traveling and Furlough

We will greatly miss the believers here in Pursat but will be able to keep up with things with our teammates’ help. We would appreciate your prayers for us as we travel across the world starting on February 21. Our plan is to stop over in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, for four days for some family time and then fly to Memphis, Tennessee, to pick up a minivan for our furlough. We will then drive to Greenville, South Carolina, where Heidi’s family lives. The month of March will be spent getting settled in and visiting family. Our first furlough meeting will be at the end of March at our sending church, University Baptist Church in Clemson, South Carolina. Then we head up North for two months of meetings in April and May! This furlough thing will be new for us, and we hope that we can remember how to be Americans again! ☺

Since we will be in the States over the next 10–11 months, we would like to ask you to change our mailing address to our furlough address in the States. It is the following:
Chris and Heidi Seawright
c/o Dr. and Mrs. Mike Gray
120 Twinbrook Drive
Greenville, SC 29607

We are greatly looking forward to seeing each of you and reacquainting ourselves with our supporters as well as those who labor in prayer for us and the Khmer church. We plan to visit all 25 of our supporting churches, 2 or 3 churches that support us in prayer, and most of our suppporting individuals. Some of you we haven’t seen since 2002!

Please pray for our family during this time of major adjustment and for our teammates as they “cast the net” alone. Our next prayer letter, Lord willing, will be written from America!

Planning to cast the Gospel net in America soon,

Chris, Heidi, Rachel, Isaac, and Susanna Seawright

Praise the Lord for the safe arrival of our teammates, the McPhails, this past week. We have been helping them get settled in and just had a good first weekend with them in the churches. Everyone is glad to have them back–not just us adults but also our kids!

The first wedding in the Preiy Nyee church is only two weeks away. This will be our family’s last big event before we leave for our first furlough on February 21. This wedding is going to be a huge event in the life of the church and the community. Many of the families in the church are already experiencing increased persecution and temptation. This wedding will, in many ways, be a test to see how much of our Biblical teaching they understand and are willing to obey.

In this update, I want to limit our prayer requests to one family in the Preiy Nyee church: Aun, his wife Peul, and their children. Their daughter, Prum, is the one getting married on February 4. Over the past couple of weeks, this family has been experiencing intense verbal persecution from their neighbors and others in the community because they are refusing to serve alcohol at the wedding reception. Most of Aun’s work friends have been pressuring him to drink and last week he gave in and got drunk a few times. Satan is trying to destroy his testimony before this wedding. He has repented of his sin but is still struggling to do what is right. He wants to please everyone, but this is impossible. This is a true test of his faith in Christ. Both the church people and the members of our team have promised to pray for he and his family every day until the wedding is over. Will you also pray for Aun and his family over the next two weeks?

Thanks for your prayers.

Until the net is full,

Chris

Happy New Year! 2007 has definitely been an exciting year for our family. As we look back, we have much to be grateful for. We hope and trust that, by God’s grace, we accomplished our goal this year of “Spreading the Sweet Aroma of Christ in Cambodia.” We are truly thankful to God for helping us to minister without our teammates this past year. It has definitely been a growing experience for us in many ways. At the same time, we are excited that our teammates will be returning on January 14. Over the next two months, we will be switching places with them as we return to the States at the end of February. Our teammates and our family haven’t seen our newest joy—Susanna! We can’t wait to share her with them!

Since we arrived back in Cambodia on November 5, we have had a full two months of ministering here as well as preparing for our upcoming furlough. Let me share some of the highlights and give each of you some matters for prayer:

1. (deleted)

2. Evangelistic Christmas Outreach in Anlong Vul—On December 16, the entire Inheritance in Christ Church went down to the countryside village of Anlong Vul, where Ming Khom lives, to hold a Khmer-style Christmas program. In order to do this event according to the church’s financial ability, they limited their invitations to those near Ming Khom’s house who had expressed some interest in learning more about Jesus. With the entire church from Preiy Nyee (about 25 or so) as well as the guests in AV (about 25 or so), the Lord gave them a wonderful time celebrating the birth of Christ. I had the opportunity to preach over a loudspeaker for about 20 minutes. I focused their thoughts on the reasons why Christian people like to celebrate Jesus’ birth, even though it is not commanded in Scripture to do so. I told them, using Luke 2 and Rom 15, that Jesus’ birth brings true and lasting joy, peace, and hope to all peoples. In the program some members sang, read Scripture, and one lady gave a short testimony. It was a great bonding time for the church folks in PN as well as for Ming Khom. The seed now has been sown (through evangelism this past year) and now watered (through this outreach). We are praying now for a harvest in God’s timing!
3. Wandering Sheep—After returning from Thailand, I have had to spend time visiting and admonishing some members of ICC who have been wandering. I would like to ask your prayer for three men: Pisut, who has been mentioned in many prayers letters, continues in his lifestyle of drunkenness. Just last week, two men from the church came with me to confront him. He has promised to repent and start fresh with the New Year. Please pray, if Pisut is truly a child of God, that he will be controlled by the Holy Spirit instead of alcohol (Eph 5:18). Layda and Pros, two teenage boys who were baptized earlier this year, have been struggling spiritually and have experienced persecution from their family. I have gone to their houses many times to encourage them to put Christ first in their life. This is a test of their commitment to being a true disciple of Jesus.
4. Upcoming Wedding in Preiy Nyee—I would like to ask you to begin praying about a big event coming up in the church in Preiy Nyee. Two members, Phuek and Prum, will be getting married after Forrest arrives back from the States. They hope to have the wedding in February since Forrest and I will both be here in Pursat. This wedding will be a joyful occasion in the life of the church but it will also be a testing time. All Buddhist weddings serve alcohol and it is a big time for people to drink and get drunk. Unfortunately even recent “Christian” weddings in Pursat have done the same. Khmais, in general, don’t think weddings are “sabai” (happy) without alcohol. Since people generally give money as wedding gifts and since many may not be interested in coming if alcohol is not served, this will undoubtedly lead to a great loss of money for the family as well. Phuek was saved this past year but his entire family is unsaved and they want alcohol at the wedding. Prum’s family are all members of ICC. Her father is Aun, who still hasn’t had complete victory over alcohol himself. Aun knows that serving alcohol at the wedding would be a great sin against God and a bad testimony for Christ. This wedding will definitely cause ripples not only with the unsaved but also with those who profess salvation. We will need special grace to handle this situation in both a culturally and biblically appropriate fashion. Please begin to pray about this.
5. Transition Time for our Team—We would covet your prayers for our team over the next two months as we switch places. Forrest’s health is still not 100% and he will need wisdom in adjusting back to life in Pursat. Our family still has many details to work on in preparation for this first furlough. Thankfully most of our furlough meetings are scheduled. Please pray for our entire team, both adults and children, during these next two months of transition.

We trust each of you had a wonderful Christmas season. What a joy it is to spread our joy in Christ to all the peoples of the world! You are helping us to do this by your prayers.

Until the net is full,

Chris for the Seawright family

Dear Family and Friends,

Happy belated Thanksgiving and an early Merry Christmas! Last time I wrote we were in Chiang Mai, Thailand waiting for Susanna’s passport. November proved to be one of the busiest months so far on the field so unfortunately this update is long overdue.

We praise the Lord that Susanna’s passport arrived on November 2 and we were able to return to Cambodia on November 5, when Susanna was exactly three weeks old (for pictures see our blog post ‘The Trip Back to Cambodia’). We “hit the ground running.” Many things happened while we were away in Thailand. The biggest issue that we faced upon our return was dealing with some of the recent government changes which I alluded to in previous correspondence. Some of you have asked about these changes. We are still waiting to see what will happen. There are two important government meetings in December and January that will shed more light on the state of Christianity in Cambodia. I will definitely keep you posted but please continue to pray.

During our time away, the Lord strengthened the faith of some of the believers, but some wandered from the Lord. I have spent much time over the last couple of weeks in the homes of these people encouraging them to pursue their own joy in Christ by putting Him first in their lives.

As we enter December, we would covet your prayers for the following things:
1. Continue in your prayers for Pisut–While we were away in Thailand, he repented before the church for his drunkenness and saw complete victory for over a month. Recently, he has fallen again and is causing great grief to his immediate family and the church family. The believers in Preiy Nyee need to see the power of God in changing lives. Until he has victory, it will be difficult for this small church to make progress.
2. The believers in Preiy Nyee have decided they would like to have a special evangelistic Christmas outreach in Anlong Vul at the home of Ming Khom. Their goal is to invite many of the best contacts from their effort of witnessing during this past rainy season. They are planning to hold a Khmai-style (sit-down meal, invitation only) Christmas program. They haven’t decided on a date yet but it may be December 23. Please be in prayer for this special opportunity.
3. Thanks to all who prayed for Thi, the man who taught for me while we were in Thailand. He saw God’s grace in his life as he ministered the Word. He will be preaching again in December from the book of Matthew. Please pray for this man as he teaches God’s Word to God’s people.

Have a holiday season full of joy!

Until the net is full,

Chris

We left Chiang Mai to return to Cambodia on November 5. Susanna did a great job on her first airplane flight and the kids enjoyed running around a beautiful Asian garden that we stopped at during our long layover at the Bangkok airport. We were able to get some good family pictures there as well.