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