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Leadership, Community Work, and Bible School
Cambodia June 2019 Update

Honestly, I cannot believe it is already June. As of today, I have been back in the beautiful Kingdom of Cambodia for five months! Without writing a 500 page novel on what all has happened since being back, I will do my best to catch you all up with what God is doing here. Warning, it is a little long, but I promise it is worth the read! 

Also, since my updates are not too often, if you would ever like to talk face-to-face via Skype, Facetime, or FB Messenger, feel free to reach out! I love to share what God is doing here in Cambodia! 
Only a few weeks ago, our second DTS held its graduation. Over the past 5 months, these 7 students have gone from not knowing God to having an intimate relationship with Him. These young men and women have gained freedom, accepted their identity in Christ, and shared the Gospel in Cambodia, Thailand and China. 
The second picture is me alongside one of our DTS graduates named Vichea. While all of the students have influenced me and challenged me in my walk with Christ, none have done so like Vichea. He joined DTS with virtually no knowledge of who Christ is. Throughout the past few months, I have seen a hardened heart softened like I've never seen before. He has taught me what it truly looks like to be hungry for the Lord, from crying out in prayer, to constantly listening to the Bible, to living a life of worship. He has shown me what it truly looks like to do all things, whether big or small, in a way that allows God to receive Glory. 
I ask that you join me in praying for Vichea as he takes his next steps. That he only draws closer and closer to the heart of God, that he remains in the house of the Lord all his life. I know God is going to do powerful things through Vichea. 
I stand in awe of what God is doing in the lives of the Cambodians and in Southeast Asia as a whole. 
Check out this video to see who University of the Nations (YWAM) Poipet is!
A Khmer New Year Party at one of our local schools, and biggest community partner, Ming Hua. I love Khmer culture, especially when it comes to Khmer New Year Parties!
I introduce to you University of the Nations Poipet! (minus a few Khmer staff on outreach to China and Thailand)

These are the amazing men and women I get to run alongside every single day. However, three of our incredible staff have felt God call them back to their home countries in this next season. Kayla and Eric will be heading back to the United States in the Fall and Megan will be heading home to New Zealand at the end of this month. We will greatly miss these guys and cannot wait for them to come back!

With three integral people leaving, a leadership position opened up and I got asked to join and take on new roles and responsibilites. Honestly, I felt like I couldn't do it. Being only 21, I would be the youngest base leader on our base and in the country. However, I prayed and reached out to some close friends and family to also pray for me. I wanted to make sure that God's hand was on this. God spoke a word to me and then confirmed the same word through three different people. Joshua 1:9, "Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous...for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go." This is the word that Joshua recieved when taking the leadership role that Moses left behind. When I got these confirmations, I knew that I had to say yes - God was calling me into this position of leadership. I know God is walking with me and strengthening me in this new venture. 

So what is my role on leadership exactly? Alongside running our NGO's finances, which I have been doing for 2019, I am now also the Head of Base Operations. Since we are a Non-Profit (NGO) and live in a community environment, we have many departments: Kitchen, Hospitality, Maintenance, Finances, Worship and Intercession, Community Development / Ministry, Human Resources and more!  While we have incredible leaders overseeing these departments, it is my job to make sure everything is getting accomplished efficiently and that our organization is running smoothly and sucessfully. I get to help each department when they need a helping hand and help to design systems that ensure the departments are organized, and thus run like a well-oiled machine! This is a very important role, as the health of our base is reflected in our main goal: Making Jesus Known in Poipet. 
Alongside my new leadership roles, my heart is still fully for evangelism and community involvement.
 
While every day is different, there tends to be three main things that I do: translate, teach, and do building projects. 

I currently partner with a church in our community that often hosts outside teams from America, the Philipines, and Europe. When they have a team, I get to translate for their evangelism times. Sometimes, as shown in these pictures, evangelism is hanging out with kids, playing games, and teaching Bible stories. Other evanglism oportunities include house visits, in which we visit different people in the community and hear their lifestories and build relationship in order to eventually share the Gospel with them. 

I also get to teach English to Khmer youth everyday in our Youth Development Center (YDC), which is located at our base (or house). I teach level 12, which is our highest level. This is also our smallest class, which is super cool. I get to develop deep relationships and call them my friends because of the small class size. Even though preaching the Gospel in schools is illegal here in Cambodia, our YDC opens a door for us to become friends with our students and share the Gospel outside of class.  Our YDC has seen over 75 salvations in just two years. God is doing incredible things through our English school! 

Finally, I also get to help plan and do community develpment projects in our community. Through our house to house evangelism, we get to find ways to bless people and allow them to see the love of Jesus through servitude. Our most recent project was a roofing job. While not a lot, we got to bless family with a new roof. Their old roof was worn and leaked water. God receives so much glory when we serve people - I mean, that's what we are called to do, right? 

My schedule is busy. My weeks easily over 50-60 hours. But I wouldn't trade my life for anything else. Seeing Jesus transform communities and building relationships with the amazing Khmer people gives me more joy than anything else I could be doing. 
From July through October of this year, I will also be staffing and teaching the book of Jeremiah in our Bible Core Course (BCC). Discipleship Training School (DTS) is the first of many schools you can take within YWAM. BCC, a secondary school, consists of 12 weeks of intensive Bible study. During this time, students are taught how to accurartely interpret the Bible through a historical lens (looking at the original culture, context and audience of the book) and then apply what they learn to their own lives. I was a student last year in this school and God grew me so much in character, identity, and evangelism. It is so important as missionaries that we have an accurate and solid foundation in the Word of God. I ask you to join me in praying for this school - the students, the teachers, and all of those helping. 

We recently were able to start construction on a training schools classroom due to some generous donations! After two years, we will no longer have to have class in a cramped classroom! On Friday we were able to pray over the room and write down any scriptures or words that the Lord put on our heart. I am so excited to learn with the students in this new classroom! 
As many of you know, YWAM is a Non-Profit organization. This means that all staff, including myself, are unpaid volunteers. We are expected to pay our own rent, food, health insurance, travel, etc.. So, we all depend on support. I cannot be a missionary in Cambodia without financial backing. When people partner with me, they are also partnering with what God is doing here in Cambodia. Please pray about stepping into the story of what God is doing here!  I invite you to join me. Your investment, no matter the size, makes a huge difference in what God is doing here. My gratitude honestly cannot be expressed in words. Thank you to all of you who have supported in the past or are supporting now. 

Below I have included a breakdown of my monthly expenses. Even though Cambodia is cheaper to live in than America, without a salary, buying the neccessities can often be difficult. Every amount donated goes to wise purchases. I believe that as God blesses me, I must handle my finances with integrity. If you would like to support a specific part of my monthly expenses, I will honor your donation and soley spend it on the specified expense.
 
Rent (room) $220
Food (budget around $2/meal) $100
Health Insurance (required) $30
Phone Plan ($2/week) $10
Gas (about $5 every two weeks) $10
Khmer Staff Support $100
Travel  $150
Savings  $100
Extra (for weekend, soap, laundry, bike repair) $60
Total: $780
 
Every month, I would like to help support our Khmer missionaries here in Poipet. Due to economical decline, it is often very hard for them to get their monthly support, pay for schools, and so on. I would love to have enough monthly support to also commit to supporting one or two of our Khmer per month and saving some to donate to our DTS and BCC when the Khmer need their tuition. 

For travel, I would like to save up little amounts every month to be able to fly home once a year. Also, I often have to travel for work for finance meetings with our National Office in Phnom Penh, travel to our sister bases throughout Cambodia, and attend different conferences. If I do not get enough support, I cannot visit home. Please consider partnering with me in my travel.

Even though I am currently a missionary, I do not know that I will always be a missionary. If I feel called somewhere else, I will need to have money saved to start my life, possibly pursue education, and continue to partner with God wherever He calls me next. 
 
$100 $100 $100 $100
$50 $50 $50 $50
$25 $25 $25 $25
$30 $20 $20 $10

Above, I have created a monthly scheme to breakdown possible monthly donations - no amount is too big, and no amount is too small. I have highlighted the donations people have already committed to give montly. 

While one time support is greatly needed and appreciated, I am whole-heartedly searching for monthly supporters to stand by me throughout the year. My current comitted monthly support is $260 / month. I am in great need of more finances! 

If you feel led to donate, please reach out to me or click the link to my paypal below. For committing to support me monthly, please email me at brandon.mcmanus@uofnpoipet.com or direct message me on Facebook. Also, don't forget to message me about a video call if you would like to do so sometime! 
 
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