MISSIONARY PROFILE
Koumaly & Darath Thongdy

Missionary Update 11/07/2016

Dear Pastor and Friends, Hello! Our family is anticipating and looking forward to our return back to Southeast Asia. In fact, my son got up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom and interrupted our sleep to tell us that he had a good dream. He dreamt that he was back in Asia. Our travel and report back in the states has been awesome. It was great to catch up with some family and friends, and see our supporting churches. I think the best part was to spend five days with my brother and his family, who have moved from California to Colorado. He was very against us going back to Asia to spread the gospel. Although he is still not saved, I see that he has softened up to the gospel. We will spend our last Sunday at our sending and home church in Long Beach. I will be speaking for our Cambodian Sunday school and their service in the morning, the English service at 5:00 pm, and the Spanish service at 7:00 pm. We have been gone from Laos for three months now. The mother church’s attendance is down a bit, but the village ministry had a record attendance of 58 last week! We want to thank our team from Cambodia for filling in for us while we are gone. They have been a blessing to the ministry there. We got news two weeks ago that a twelve-year-old student, Kenny, passed away while riding a moped too fast without a helmet. He was very close to my kids. My daughter said, “Dad, I’m glad we went to Laos so that we could meet Kenny and see him saved.” We will see him again one day. What a blessed hope! Thanks again for praying and sending us to Laos. Please continue to pray for Juii’s mother (the new chief), Tat Din Dang village, and Phong Hong village where we would like to begin another work in the near future. Continue to pray for the registration of our English school which will provide visas for us and others. Please continue to keep Pastor Joe Esposito in your prayers. He has been hospitalized for over three years now. In Christ, Koumaly, Darath, Sommer, and Hudson Thongdy

Missionary Update 06/24/2016

June 2016 Dear Pastor and Friends, This month the Lord brought Brother and Mrs. Jim Doyle, a retired couple from North Carolina, to us. They have helped to fill in the void and meet our need for extra Bible teachers. Brother Doyle teaches the Bible for an hour in the morning and an hour in the evening. He teaches English in the evenings as well as an adult Sunday school class. Mrs. Doyle teaches English to the teens, Bible to the children during Sunday school, and piano to a couple of students. They automatically bring wisdom and seniority to a very young church. We thank God so much for them. We pray that they can come back again next year. In last month’s prayer letter, I had mentioned about Kong, a young Hmong Bible institute student. He has been saved for less than a year and has such a desire to see his people saved. Previously, I had challenged them to love their people group, to reach their people group, and to teach their own people as the Apostle Paul did in Romans 10:1. Three months ago, he went to his village alone. Eventually, I encouraged another student to go along with him, because two are better than one. For almost two months now, they have been going every Friday night to do one-on-one discipleship. When the villagers found out about it, they desired to come learn as well. Within the last three weeks, we have been sending six of the young people to help with the teaching. So far, they have seen nine come to Christ. Kong says that his desire is to teach someone in that village so that they, in turn, can teach others one day. Please pray with us, as we try to multiply by dividing. Our Visa Situation: We have been trying to apply for a Cambodian passport. My wife and I, both have been going to our birthplace in Cambodia to apply for it. This process has taken us two and a half years so far. A Cambodian passport will give us access to all ten ASEAN countries with less suspicion. Our United States passport is not practical at this time. Please pray with us about this. Church Planting: A fellowship of Baptist churches in Thailand and Lao have united together to cast a vision to plant independent Baptist churches across these two countries. Our desire is to train young men and women for the purpose of the gospel. We will also assist with struggling independent Baptist churches across these two countries. In Christ, Koumaly, Darath, Sommer, and Hudson Thongdy

Missionary Update 09/14/2015

Brethren, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may have free course, and be glorified, even as it is with you. II Thessalonians 3:1 Dear Pastor and Friends, It has been a very busy summer. Now, we are gearing up for the next term. We just renewed our lease for the current building for one more year. Please pray with us for our building situations. Also, we just got our annual visa renewed, so that is a huge burden off our backs. Thank you for your prayers for the work here. You are very important to us. We had previously asked for prayers for our students. I am excited to let you know that another student, Thip, got saved after one of the activities. I want to give an update on some of the members. It is encouraging to see them grow spiritually. Jui, who has been saved a little over a year, has a burden for his people and has been bolder to tell others of the love of God. Just a few weeks ago, he went to his class reunion (without my counsel), and his peers were drinking, partying, and do what unsaved people do. They were surprised that he had become a Christian and that God had changed his life. Some respected him while others just mocked and ridiculed him. Lilly is bright and very outspoken about her faith. She is always looking for an opportunity to share her faith, tell someone about Jesus or serve someone. She has no desire for money, fame or the things of this world and what it has to offer. She just wants to serve God with her life. She is such a huge blessing to the ministry. Both Jui and Lilly have family members who are not yet saved. Could you please pray for their families? Both Loun and Kong, who are from two different tribal groups, have a desire to take the Gospel back to their villages. Loun’s village is a seventeen hour bus ride up into the mountains, while Kong’s village is only one hour away. Please pray with us as we teach, train, and disciple these two young men. They love their country and they love their people. They want to see their people group saved. They have such a desire to learn and to know God’s Word. Lamphan and his sister, Baiyan, are great at Judo and travel internationally to represent this country. They are the only two Christians in their family. Lamphan has been on fire for the Lord since a camp meeting in April earlier this year. He has been witnessing to family and friends. His family thinks that he is just a kid and they show him zero respect in listening to the foreigner’s religion. Ever since then, he has had a desire to grow in his knowledge. His first judo buddy, Juke, got saved about two months ago. Another teen boy moved in from a different province, who happens to be a Christian already. This new young man, King, was looking for a church to attend and asked around for a church. So Lamphan directed him to our church. So now, these three Christians, Lamphan, Juke, and King, have been rallying their judo friends to church and Christ. As we told you in our last prayer letter, their three judo friends got saved after one of the Sunday morning services. So with a total of six judo Christian boys now, they have been witnessing to their family and friends. Their families rejected the Gospel, simply because of their age and the fact that their family thinks it is a foreigner’s religion. Please pray for these young athletes and the new converts. Pray for us as well because everything will lead back to us, the foreigners, after all this is a Communist country. We have a church full of young people. They have a lot of potential and could do a lot of good for the cause of Christ and His kingdom. They are the future of this country. Our prayer is that we will train them up properly and they go out and win their people for Him and His kingdom. As these young people get saved one by one, we are praying that the Lord will use them for the furtherance of the Gospel. Some are being tested. We pray that they remain strong and true to the Lord. In Christ, Koumaly, Darath, Sommer, and Hudson Thongdy