A Message from Sam and Yein Tolle

Dear Friends and Family,

We have some exciting news to share with you. Yein and I believe God is leading our family to new areas of ministry here in Cambodia. In preparing for this new season, I have recently resigned my role with FCOP (Foursquare Children of Promise). For the time being, I’m still in the office every day during this month-long transition.

We are incredibly grateful for FCOP and the role it has served in our lives. Yein grew up in FCOP’s church orphan home, a place she lived until we married. For me, when I arrived in the country, I moved onto the property of the ministry’s head office. Serving with FCOP for nearly 12 years now, I have continued to learn what it means to work and live in Cambodia.

We are incredibly grateful to have served alongside the many leaders and people of FCOP. We will continue to stay integrated and connected with our FCOP family.

This decision has been in process for a while. Yein and I are together in understanding that this is God’s will and timing.

For now, with the transition in process, our daily lives remain relatively the same. We are excited to move into new areas, ministering to young adults, ministry leaders, and business people helping them to break free from a whole host of addictions, human limitations, and sins. As you know, Jesus sets captive people free!

Our status and deployment, as FMI (Foursquare Missions International), missionaries stays the same. We will be under their oversight and will continue to receive your faithful support through them. We look forward to this new season ahead of us here in Cambodia.

We are very thankful for the opportunity to have served and been a part of the FCOP family.

Thank you for your love, support and care for us,

Sam Tolle (on behalf of Yein, Nora, Alina and Anna)

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PS: Want to read a little more? Here are two links with some highlights of the last couple of months...

samtolle.com/blog/2022/2/14/updated-new-years-resolution

samtolle.com/blog/2022/4/11/shes-got-a-gift

She's Got a Gift

We were attending an outreach being put on by a local home church with some friends we have in a coastal town in the South. Yein was asked to translate as the home church was doing a small outreach to local families, helping meet some of their practical needs and continuing to build relationship.

We enjoyed chatting with the local Khmer in their language but could see they were a bit shy or hesitant. As our friend Kris started to address the group and Yein translated, you could sense the atmosphere change. Kris gave some great remarks and welcomed them then turned it over to Yein to communicate. Yein got them laughing and shared the good news of the Gospel with them. We all had a great meal together and it was great to see each family leave with some practical gifts that will help their household.

Seeing Yein in front of people reminded me, SHE HAS A GIFT with that! A combination of a generous, loving heart, combined with a fearless, bold courage to share the love of Christ, makes for a dynamic message.

On the way back to our home, the transmission of our car gave out. We had left at 4:30 in the morning, so we were stranded just as a tad bit of light started coming up over the horizon. Luckily, we were right in front of a small gas station. As soon as the gas station opened the kids had an area to run around and the family the lives on the gas station site and operates the gas station invited us in as they would their own family. I’m always impressed with their hospitality towards visitors.

It took about 4-hours to get a plan implemented and we were towed by a friends van. We used a cable, so it was a stressful three hour tow back into the capital city. The cable was about 2 meters (6ft) and I had no ability to see infront of the “lead van” so I had to make sure to keep my eyes pealed for when he would hit the brakes. I also had to make sure I didn’t brake harder than the lead van, so as to yank them back if there was slack in the line. A stressful three hours, but we arrived home safe, sound, and a bit worn out.

Towed Back to Phnom Penh

Back from the Dead...

I've never really experienced any death defying circumstances in my life.  I've been in a couple car accidents, which of course, in the moment make you wonder, but came out from all such circumstances unscathed.  I'm also pretty sure, there's some stuff I've had to eat here in Cambodia that make you wonder also, but alas, I'm still alive.

No, the title is not meant in the literal physical sense.  It's figurative, and it's more ironic than anything else.  The irony lies in the fact that as far as what's happening here in Cambodia, I've never been more alive but to everybody who relies on updates or social media for what's going on with me, I've never been more lifeless.  There's challenges and obstacles to the ministry here that remind me on a regular basis, this is a fight, and I'm not dead yet.  However, in terms of personal care and balance, 

Freeeeedom!!!

There's this line at the very end of a long movie called Braveheart. The character, William Wallace, played by Mel Gibson is about to die and he yells, "Freeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeedooooooooom!" The story is incredible and loosely based on some real events in history. I don't mean to dishonor that story and wonderful cinematography, because our (Yein, Nora and Sam) story is not life and death and it's not going to go down in any history books. It's just the word that came to mind when my wife, Yein, was finally approved to travel to the United States with me.

We were out of bed by 5am, rehearsed the interview one last time, got ready, out the door at 6:30am and arrived at the United States Embassy by 7:15am. Yein was allowed to enter the Embassy twenty minutes before her 8 o'clock appointment time. The embassy allows only the person applying for the visa to enter the embassy. Even I, an American citizen, am not allowed to go in without an appointment. I waited outside accross the street under the shade of some trees. As I watched people go in, there must have been at least twenty before Yein and twenty after her. All Cambodians, mostly applying for a non-immigrant travel visa, the same as Yein. I watched a few people slowly exit through the security door and leave the embassy. Some were incredibly happy, some it was hard to tell. To me, Cambodians are notorious for being stone faced until the moment

Our Tribe to Their Tribe

Our little group of young lions, our little tribe if you will, begun years ago when we saw God's power work through us to bring freedom to oppressed people, including ourselves. After our first experience, we've always been hungry for more. Not just hungry to see amazing miracles, but hungry to see the most amazing miracle of them all, a person be born-again and start a new life in Jesus Christ, experiencing God's love for the very first time, or in a totally new way.

This month we got to travel to a remote area of Cambodia. It's much different now that Cambodia has developed a little bit, but that doesn't erase cultural differences in this tribal area of Cambodia, where people often speak different languages, eat different food, believe in different spiritual influences, and to be honest, look and dress different than your typical Cambodian. We set out on our journey with the same purpose we always do, share the love of Jesus and introduce them to a relationship with God and be filled with His Holy Spirit.

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Sam and Yein sing a special song on a Sunday morning.