(for those interested in a pdf version of the letter: click Jan-Feb 2010 )

Dear Family and Friends,

This is our first prayer letter of the new decade and first prayer letter since our family expanded to six! We have much news to report. In this letter, we will see an honorable defender, an earthen fortress, and a former Khmer Rouge stronghold.

An Honorable Defender

This is the meaning of the name of our fourth child, Titus Fraser, who was born on December 16 in Singapore. Thanks to each of you who prayed for Heidi and the baby while we were in Singapore. Titus was born only four days after the girls and I arrived from Cambodia! We were able to obtain Titus’s passport and birth certificate pretty quickly, and we returned to Cambodia on January 11. As we have done with all of our other children, we wanted to share how we chose his name:

Titus—Greek for “honorable, defender”
“Whether any do enquire of Titus, he is my partner and fellowhelper . . . the messengers of the churches, and the glory of Christ” (II Corinthians 8:23).

Fraser—named after James O. Fraser, a pioneer missionary in China
“Solid, lasting missionary work is done on our knees” (J.O. Fraser).

Of course, there are pictures and more information about Titus on our website for those interested (blog.seawrights.com). Titus is two months old now, and all the Cambodians call him “sloat” (like “boat”) which means he is an easy baby (at least so far). Please pray for us as we train him to be an honorable defender of God’s Word!

An Earthen Fortress

In each of the last three months (December–February), we have had a two-day extensive evangelistic thrust in an area called Banteay Daiy. Banteay is the Khmer word for a military fort, and Daiy is the word for earth, ground, or dirt. So Banteay Daiy is literally the “Earthen Fortress” district! We have had many good opportunities to talk with people about the Gospel using the new “Honoring Parents” question-and-answer tract, as well as “The Ancient Path” tract that Forrest wrote a number of years ago. This month of February we actually were witnessing in our helper Ong’s village. We started going back through the area again to follow up and see if individuals had read the tract and had any questions. Please continue to pray for the sowing of the Gospel seed as we continue next month.

A Former Khmer Rouge Stronghold

Back in 2008 while we were on furlough, our team decided that our family would concentrate our energies in 2009 on evangelism in Kandieng district to see what kind of doors would open for Bible studies and church-planting. We planned to reevaluate in early 2010 and make a decision about where our family should move next based on what happened in the Kandieng district during the year. In 2009 we used many methods of evangelism: house-to-house, bookselling at the market, a kid’s club in two different villages, and showing an evangelistic video in our village. We praise the Lord for the many seeds planted and watered during this time, but they did not generate the Bible studies/church plants that we were praying for.

As we reevaluated 2009 and after much discussion of possible options, our team decided that it would be best for our family to move away from Pursat province. We will continue to have fellowship and accountability with the McPhail family but will be working in different provinces, at least for the next couple of years. We also plan to work on various projects together, including evangelistic and discipleship materials.

As part of our overall vision to see a fundamental, indigenous church-planting movement fostered in western Cambodia, our family believes that the Lord is leading us to move to a province near the border of Thailand called Pailin, where our team has had an ongoing evangelistic ministry since 2003. We have taken numerous survey trips to this area this past month and are planning to move there at the end of March.

The province of Pailin, smaller than Pursat, has about 60,000 people. In the past it was known for its mines (which are mostly cleared now) and as a former stronghold of the Khmer Rouge communists, who led a genocide in Cambodia in the late 1970s. Much has changed in Pailin in the past five to ten years, but there are still no fundamental, indigenous congregations. Many of the neighboring districts in Battambang province are also in great need of Bible teaching and evangelism.

So as we make this move and transition in the coming months, how should you pray? Here are a few requests to bring to the Lord our defender, fortress, and stronghold in time of change:

1. Pray for our family, especially Heidi and the children, as we pack, move, and transition to a new place and life.
2. Pray that we will be able to start off on a good foot with individuals in Pailin town and develop good relationships.
3. Pray for me as I am finishing the editing of a discipleship booklet that our team has been working on. Our desire is to have this project done before we move to Pailin so we can use this new resource there.
4. Do please continue to pray for our dear brothers and sisters in Christ in Pursat, especially our teammates and our helper, Ong. Pray that the work will progress there after we leave.

Our next letter, Lord willing, will be written from Pailin, Cambodia. We covet your prayers.

Until the net is full,

Chris, Heidi, Rachel, Isaac, Susanna, and Titus

(For those receiving our email prayer letter, we wanted to see if we could enlist the special prayer support of 25 individuals to pray every single day for our family and the province of Pailin for the rest of the month of March during this time of transition. We are feeling the enormous need for this extra prayer in our own lives as we move to this new location and definitely want God’s blessing on the work there in Pailin. The first 25 individuals to respond to this “special prayer thrust” will be included in a special list and will receive extra communication from us this month.)