I just now realized that it’s been almost 3 months since I last updated my blog! Hold onto your seats because the highlights from the last 3 months are pretty epic. I pray this will inspire you guys to continue to cultivate intimacy with God that will overflow into your families, your career, and your community. Girlfriend Jehovah Jirah!! LOL Yes it’s true I’m very intentionally dating an amazing young woman who is definitely beyond what I could have ever imagined. Her name is Naomi Hokyo and we actually both did our DTS at the same time in 2003. She has more or less been in ministry ever since. 5 years providing leadership to a YWAM base in Chad, Africa while starting a primary school there , 2 years in Malaysia where she received a commendation from the UN for a school she started there for Burmese Refugees and most recently spending the last 4 years in Myanmar where she serves on the national eldership team for YWAM while starting a school focused on training teachers and supporting them to start more schools to bring hope and education to their communities. The best part is she loves Jesus, Ywam, Missions, Me, is stunningly beautiful , smart, and the funniest person I know. Stay tuned for more : ) Miracles Besides the obvious miracle I just shared above where I found someone so amazing who thinks I’m the bees knees God’s been up too much more. I shared earlier about how in January we started our first DTS program with 6 students and 2 staff all Khmer nationals. We just graduated them and heard some of their stories and were blown away! 123 people committed themselves to begin living according to the teachings of Jesus and they saw over 60 miracles happen through their times of prayer and service. One of my favorite stories was when they captured a crazy man who had been running wild for years in a local village. After praying for him, they bathed him, fed him and made him a part of their group for the next few weeks. By the end he was 90% better reading, singing, eating, and laughing in his right mind for the first time in years. Viral Social Media I think I have officially established myself as a bit of a Facebook celebrity in Cambodia. It’s been over a year now since my first video went viral. Since then I’ve had 3 videos get over 1 million views with my most popular video getting 2.4million views. That means that roughly 1/8th of Cambodia has seen me on Facebook. Practically every day now I have people coming up to me telling me they follow what we do and thanking us for serving Cambodia. It's such a blessing but it’s been no small task praying into and thinking through how best to walk out this new found influence. Creating entertaining viral content that includes pieces of the gospel, staying free from any political topics, and still bringing helpful inspiring info? I really need your prayers on this one as moving forward requires wisdom and creative energy at a level far beyond my natural abilities. Training Schools One of my greatest privileges serving in YWAM is seeing the young leaders who come out of our training schools. 3.5 years ago I staffed a DTS in Kona where a young man named Conner King was a student. In our DTS program we assign one on one mentoring relationships between our staff and students. I was assigned to Conner and today Conner is the leader spearheading our training school programs here in Poipet. After an extremely successful first DTS we’ll be kicking off the first ever BCC in 2 weeks. The BCC stands for Biblical Core Course and is a 3 month bible school intensive. We have 17 students signed up and will read through the entire bible together while studying 15 books in depth. We will follow up our BCC with an 8 week leadership school. The vision for our training schools is to provide basic Christian discipleship through our 6 month DTS, a biblical foundation from the 3 month BCC, then practical leadership and life skills from our final 2 months leadership school. Every year we believe that the young Khmer leaders who come out of this program will be forever transformed and will transfer that change into their family, careers, and community. Mercy Ministry Recently God has been pressing on our hearts to enter into the suffering of the community around us. Our next door neighbors live in poverty that you would have a hard time imagining, They’re a family of 5 living in a small pieced together shack with no running water, bathroom, or any amenities at all. After a construction accident the wife asked me to come and look at her husband’s foot. It was severely swollen and bruised. He assured me the local witch Dr. had recently pulled on it and said some magic words telling him it would be better within days. I smiled and took him to the hospital and payed to have it x-rayed. $3.75 later we had a picture saying the witch Dr was a liar and his heel bone was shattered. The Dr. said he needed surgery but we felt led to pray for healing and committed to help provide food for his family while he rested it in a cast. While praying for healing one day him and his wife cried and told me they’ve decided that Jesus is the true God because they’ve never had someone love them like we have loved them. Just today I went to visit them in the hospital and sat and listened while the husband shared how God healed his foot after just 2 weeks in a cast and how he’s became a Christian because of it. We feel led to continue to stand with this family as they literally get back on their feet while reaching out to more people in the same way. Team
Finally I just want to say how amazing the team of people I get to work with here are. We just finished our quarterly 3 day leadership meetings and without the synergy created by everyone sharing and carrying this vision forward none of the above stories would be possible. We’re all volunteers but put in 110% into the work here. Long days, financial obstacles, health issues, relational conflict, constantly provide an environment to remind us of our dependence on God and each other. As I write this I’m also reminded of you the readers who are very much a part of this team. Providing the prayer and finances for us to continue advancing the Kingdom of God into every part of part of Cambodia. Sickness, addiction, poverty, injustice, ignorance, and fear don’t stand a chance as we stand together as the church to say that Jesus is coming to right every wrong and wipe every tear from every eye. Thank you so much for helping us to demonstrate Jesus, teach his ways, and carry his message to the people here in Cambodia. It’s a joy to partner with you. Much Love, Uriah
1 Comment
Rhoda Gigstad
6/24/2018 10:06:30 pm
Wow Uriah, just wow! I was so blessed reading this blog and am praying more favor, more creativity, more Holy Spirit downloads to you my friend. You are amazing. Congrats on your new relationship. May it blossom and flourish and have Kingdom values as a foundation. Love and prayers, Rhoda Gigstad
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Leave a Reply.AuthorMy name's Uriah Lyford and I'm a volunteer with YWAM. My dream is to see the spiritual solution of a restored relationship with God through Jesus be made available to every person on earth. I do this through the mentoring and training of young people to build and become the Church Jesus died for. Archives
June 2018
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