Greetings from Weirton, West Virginia! This is our first Stateside prayer letter in over four years! It is hard to believe we have been in the States for two months already. Thanks to each one of you who prayed for our transition back. We have finally figured out how to be Americans again! We never realized how Cambodian we had becomed. Things that used to be normal to us had become abnormal. Heidi and I spent hours talking about all the differences between Cambodia and America. This is definitely a different world!

Cultural Adjustment

I thought I’d share a few of the cultural mistakes we made or things we said in our first weeks:
1. My first time driving in America was a very scary experience. In Cambodia, cars just merge slowly into on-coming traffic and those on the main road must yield. There is no right-of-way. Thankfully my wife gave a few helpful hollars to keep me from getting into accidents those first few days and I quickly re-learned how to drive here. Another facet of driving that is completely different is the use of the car horn. In Cambodia the horn is a friendly reminder that our car is near but in America it is used, in many cases, as an expression of anger. I must admit to honking the horn a number of times just to say that I was nearby. ☺
2. At home our first week back, I asked my mother-in-law where I could get hot water in the house. She graciously responded to me, “In any of the faucets.” Heidi later asked her, “Can it rain any day here?” In Cambodia, we have a rainy season and a dry season, in which it never rains.
3. Apparently our children were impacted by the fact they had to sit in a car seat here in America. When Isaac saw a nativity scene with Jesus in a manger, Isaac asked us, “Is that Jesus’ car seat?”

The list could go on but that’s enough to show how we experienced some real reverse culture shock. Heidi and I adjusted more quickly than the kids, since we had at least some memory of this place called America.

Traveling Adjustment

Over the past month of traveling, we have enjoyed seeing many of you who faithfully pray for the work of God in Pursat province. As I write this letter, we have been in five churches already. We plan to have a busy May and June visiting churches in Ohio, Michigan, and West Virginia. We praise the Lord for the wonderful vehicle He provided for us from a church in Memphis, TN. Please continue to pray for us in our travels.

During the month of April, we had two unique opportunities to see Cambodians living here in America. We visited a Cambodian family outside of Washington, DC who are related to some of our friends in Pursat. It was very strange to speak in Khmai here! Just last week, while at a missionary conference, I was able to visit a Cambodian community in Lowell, MA. I passed out 10-15 of our Ancient Path tracts after enjoying a delicious Khmai meal. Praise the Lord for these two times to minister to Cambodians here in America. Please pray for spiritual fruit from these two opportunities.

Baby Adjustment

This adjustment is more for our teammates, though our little Susanna has definitely made many changes since our last prayer letter. At six months, she is at the exciting phase of sitting up, eating Cheerios, and soon will be crawling! We want to praise the Lord for the safe delivery of our teammates fourth child, Sierra Hope, on March 30. They were in Bangkok for just over a month and have now returned to Cambodia. Please remember Jennifer and baby Sierra in prayer as they adjust to Cambodian life and the heat at this time of year.

While the McPhails were in Thailand, Tee (formally spelled Thi) did much of the teaching in the Preiy Nyee church. Forrest plans to help the believers there as well as Ming Khom to mature in areas of Stewardship in the coming weeks. Please pray for the believers to understand their responsibility to give their time (Lord’s day) and resources to their Lord. The McPhails are also planning to start a children’s Bible club in our village of Khbal Hong. Pray that many of Rachel and Isaac’s friends will come to believe in Jesus and that their parents will attend and repent as well.

Over the summer months, Forrest will also be hosting our first summer intern from Bob Jones University. Matt Hancock, an undergrad missions major, will be spending June and July in Pursat living in our house. Please pray for Forrest to effectively mentor Matt and know how to integrate him into the ministry. Also begin praying for the Lord to use this trip in Matt’s life. We are excited that he is coming to Cambodia.

There are many adjustments and people to bring before the throne of grace. Thanks for your prayers for open doors, Gospel words, and spiritual fruit!

Until the net is full,

Chris for the Seawright family

Greetings from Clemson, SC! We are currently at our first furlough meeting, a missions conference, with our sending church, University Baptist. We have been in the States for four weeks now and have gotten used to being Americans again! The culture shock only lasted for a couple of weeks. It has been great to see so many of you already and we will be looking forward to seeing more of you in Ohio, Michigan, and West Virginia in the coming weeks. We would like to ask you to “hold the ropes” for the following requests over the next few weeks:

1. Please pray for our travels up North during the month of April and May and for the Lord to be glorified and God’s people to have joy as they hear of God’s doings in Pursat.
2. Please pray for a unique opportunity to meet some Khmai-Americans in Virginia next week (April 2). They are related to some of our friends in Pursat. Some of them are believers, but many are not. Many of them only speak Khmai though they have been in the States for more than 20 years.
3. Please pray for our teammates who are in Bangkok awaiting the birth of their baby girl. Jennifer is due March 29 so it could be any day now.
4. Please pray for the church in Preiy Nyee during the McPhails absence. Thi will be doing most of the teaching and his mother, Janna, will be teaching Ming Khom over the next few weeks.

Until the net is full,

Chris for the Seawrights

Greetings from the United States of America! We left Cambodia on February 21 and after a few days of traveling arrived in the States on February 26. When we left Southeast Asia, it was 90 degrees. When we arrived at the Chicago O’Hare airport there was 6 inches of snow and it was 30 degrees! It was the first time our kids had seen snow (or can remember snow, in Rachel’s case)!

The jet lag has been harder than we remember and we are definitely having some reverse culture shock but things are getting more and more normal each day. We praise the Lord for good health overall in this transition time. We are now settling into our new home (with Heidi’s parents) in Greenville, SC. Her family has been very helpful to us during this time of adjustment. They have especially enjoyed our funny questions that show we have been in another world for four years :-).

Thanks to all who prayed for us in our travels from Pursat to Greenville. We are looking forward to seeing each of you soon. We start our furlough meetings in three weeks.

Until the net is full,

Chris

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

Praise the Lord for the safe arrival of our teammates, the McPhails, this past week. We have been helping them get settled in and just had a good first weekend with them in the churches. Everyone is glad to have them back–not just us adults but also our kids!

The first wedding in the Preiy Nyee church is only two weeks away. This will be our family’s last big event before we leave for our first furlough on February 21. This wedding is going to be a huge event in the life of the church and the community. Many of the families in the church are already experiencing increased persecution and temptation. This wedding will, in many ways, be a test to see how much of our Biblical teaching they understand and are willing to obey.

In this update, I want to limit our prayer requests to one family in the Preiy Nyee church: Aun, his wife Peul, and their children. Their daughter, Prum, is the one getting married on February 4. Over the past couple of weeks, this family has been experiencing intense verbal persecution from their neighbors and others in the community because they are refusing to serve alcohol at the wedding reception. Most of Aun’s work friends have been pressuring him to drink and last week he gave in and got drunk a few times. Satan is trying to destroy his testimony before this wedding. He has repented of his sin but is still struggling to do what is right. He wants to please everyone, but this is impossible. This is a true test of his faith in Christ. Both the church people and the members of our team have promised to pray for he and his family every day until the wedding is over. Will you also pray for Aun and his family over the next two weeks?

Thanks for your prayers.

Until the net is full,

Chris