Dear Prayer Partners, The rice is growing tall and green, lots of kids with white shirts and blue pants or skirts are heading back to school, and the daily cooling rains are all part of our life here on a typical October day in Pursat, Cambodia! At the same time, it is at this time of year that many Cambodians are deeply religious—worshipping their dead ancestors and performing ceremonies in order to earn merit to wash away their sins. It grieves our hearts as we listen to the monks chant at two funerals near our house, saying that people can have peace and prosperity if they keep doing their sacramental ceremonies. How vastly different Biblical Christianity is from false religion! Praise the Lord Jesus that He offers the forgiveness of sins and the liberating gift of the Spirit to all who repent and believe! This is the Gospel we preach as servants for Christ’s sake (II Cor. 4:5). In this letter, I have asked Heidi to write a prayer update about the family, and then I will close with some ministry updates. Family UpdateThe last couple of months have been eventful ones for our family. We have had the wonderful privilege of seeing our children become involved in some of our evangelistic outreaches for the first time. Rachel especially is speaking with more ease in the Khmer language and has started learning verses and songs in Khmai. She tells us that when all of our kids are old enough to speak Khmai, we can stop using English in the home!
For the last several years, we have planned and looked for the right opportunity to enroll Rachel (six years old) and Isaac (four) in the Cambodian kindergarten. The timing was never right—until now. Both Chris and I experienced some typical parental feelings last week as we dropped them off at school for the first time. Our goals for our kids in the Cambodian school this year are not as much academic as they are immersion in the Cambodian language and culture. We already see that it will be a positive experience as the children learn more how to be courteous in the Cambodian way. Hopefully this will open doors for the Gospel in our community. Many of our neighborhood children are at the same school, which is especially nice for Rachel. We are still working hard to finish Rachel’s American homeschooling in the afternoons. It should be completed in the next month, Lord willing! In the meantime, Mommy and Susanna (two years old this month) are having some quality time together during the hours that the other two children are away at school. She is a “go-getter” and has, to our delight, adapted to a big bed and potty training without difficulty. It won’t be long before she becomes a big sister! Baby T seems to be growing nicely, and we are praying that he won’t be as active in person as he is in the womb. We could use a laid-back counterpart to Isaac! Prayer Requests for Family: 1. Please pray that Rachel and Isaac will profit much from the language and cultural instruction that they will receive in the Cambodian school system. Ministry UpdateThe summer months of August and September were very busy with some special outreaches into our community of Khbal Hong. We held a video outreach for four Friday evenings and saw many of our neighbors come and watch the evangelistic video. For eight Tuesday afternoons, we held a kids’ club in our neighborhood, mostly with Rachel’s friends. They sang songs, memorized verses, listened to a Bible story from Genesis, and then colored a picture about the Bible story that day. In the past week, our family, as well as three ladies from the church in Prey Nyee, has decided to do a similar kids’ club on Sunday mornings in Anlong Vul (AV), where Ming Khom lives. It is wonderful to see these ladies ministering God’s Word in that village. Prayer Requests for Ministry: 1. Pray for the follow-up visits to our neighbors who came to the video outreach this summer. May the Lord bless you as you pray for these family and ministry requests. Until the net is full, You must be logged in to post a comment. |
