"Baby Sam" loves to climb

Happy New Year,

That’s right…we are now celebrating our 3^rd new year for 2009.  First, just like you we celebrated January 1^st, then in February “The Chinese New Year” (as many here in Cambodia are Chinese descendants or Chinese/Cambodian.  Now, this week begins the Cambodian New Year.  More regarding the Khmae New Year in next week’s report!

We pray you had a Happy Easter and a week filled with joy and blessings.

This past week was packed with much activity.  On Monday, we took the day off and headed out to the province.  The translator and his wife form CBI rode with us to Kampong Cham (approximately 3 hours away) for the wedding of a Khmae preacher.  It was a festive affair deep in the countryside.  We’re pretty sure they rarely see foreigners because we really drew attention.  We pray Jesus was glorified!  We really had a good time!

Two days we went with the students of CBI and instructor/translator Tawn to the countryside during “Evangelism Week”.  This is something the school does the week following every class term as an additional form of training for the students and outreach to the people.  We go to the countryside where we have existing works; such as church plants, or in the hometowns of the students.  We are glad when we can share in these times and also see how the training the students are receiving is being used practically as they teach all day.  It is with much joy we share with you that this week resulted in 6 new Christians.  We are grateful the Lord is showing us how the hard work of the students is helping to grow the Kingdom!

Last week we also continued our language training.  We added the last of the 33 consonants to our memory work.  Yea, we have 33 of the 88 completed (well almost, we must continue to put them to memory).  Our teacher forces us to converse with him in Khmae much of the time helping us to learn to listen carefully, learn street slang, and piece together our own response phrases and sentences.

Thursday evening we went to the home of Rich & Ronda Dolan (Rich is the dean at CBI) for our weekly missionary care group.  There were several people absent due to travels, but we did have about 8 attending.  Oh, BTW, if you have never had sweet sticky rice and sliced mangos you just haven’t lived, YUMMY!!!  We did not know how much we liked mangos; you must come and try them.  J

CBI students Pisey & Nika help children to sing

For the very first time since our arrival, we had all of the students and staff from CBI plus a number of their friends over for supper and singing.  Sharon made 2 dishes and Ronda brought 2 so we had plenty of food.  Then we sang about 25 songs (all Khmae) together sprinkled with prayers.  What a special time of great food and sweet fellowship.

Saturday, Dennis had the two CBI students studying Galatians come over and spend most of the day with us helping to finish-off the leftovers from the night before.

On Sunday we worshipped in the countryside at PTT, PTC & TNT.  CBI student Try taught a lesson at all three churches.  At PTC, Sharon continues to receive several requests for help with their medical struggles. She expresses her wishes of having more training to serve them.

God is so busy here which fills our hearts and souls with joy.  At the same time we see evidence of Satan’s evilness…daily.  Please continue to lift up prayers for the people here that are lost and the struggles within the church body.

We miss you all so much and send our love.  Although we are miles away, you are always near in heart!

Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me."

Greetings to all,

Here we are and another week has gone by!  We hope you are doing well.  With the changing seasons comes vulnerability to illness so we hope you are protected from these maladies.  We are doing well…enjoying the blessing of good health from the Lord.

This past week flew by with our normal routine of meeting for chapel at CBI each morning, followed by our morning session of Khmae lesson, lunch break, and then our afternoon language session.  Language training brought us 4 more letters.  We’re getting there, slow but steady.  The training each week includes much review.  With so much memory work, special effort is being made for additional study time.

We enjoy the opportunities we have to visit with the neighbors and those we meet while running errands and taking care of business.  There are several guards and labor men working in our neighborhood whom Dennis continues to converse with and build relationships.  Sharon continues to meet with a few Khmae ladies once every couple of weeks or so.  She is trying to build enough relationship with them so that they know she cares and want to know “why” she cares.  Please pray for Kuntia, Sophea, and for Pove.

Instead of the usual Sunday in the countryside, we stayed in Phnom Penh this weekend for the big gospel meeting at PPcoC.  Two brothers came from Four Seas College of Bible and Missions in Singapore.  They taught us the following eight lessons for the church:

·         What does it mean to be “in Christ?”

·         Church Leadership – Joshua

·         Attitudes of Church Leaders

·         Motivation to do the work

·         Have I become your enemy? Gal 4:16

·         God shows no partially…do we?

·         God cares for all people

·         How I can love the unlovable Rom 12:14-21

The meeting lasted from Friday evening, all day Saturday, until Sunday at lunch, with all meals provided for any who attended.  Some of the brethren from the village churches came to join us too.  We really enjoyed all the fellowship and some yummy traditional Khmae food.

This week’s schedule is filled with many exciting events, but that’s about it for the past week!  Stay tuned for next week’s report.

We are in the process of planning a furlough trip during the summer.  As details are confirmed we will certainly keep you posted.

Sending our love and blessings!  We do remember who sent us and why we came.  Please pray we maintain a good balance for the long distance race ahead. 

Children color Noah's Ark at TNT village church orphanage

Tradiation Khmae food served at a wedding

Morning chapel time at the Cambodia Bible Institute

Weekly Greetings with Love!

We pray the Lord has blessed you with a delightful first day of the week and the prospect for many new opportunities as this week unfolds.  It is now Monday evening and we have been blessed with a great day.

Well we are now up to 25 consonants with only 8 more to go!  Okay, actually we have another 23 vowels and 32 sub-consonants to complete the alphabet.  The good news is we are getting closer 1 letter at a time.  Much of our Khmae lessons this past week were spent practicing conversation.  We welcome the opportunity to converse with our tutor.  Although we are eager to learn the alphabet and be able to read and write, the ability to converse helps us now in our day-to-day activities.  We praise God as we see our vocabulary growing.  Yet, there is still so much to learn!  Please pray that we can remember what we study and also that we might understand quickly the concepts we are taught.

Each week we start our morning with chapel at CBI.  This is similar to what we did the 2 years we went to Sunset International Bible Institute.  The big difference is we are in a different country and the lessons are taught in Khmae.  The last few Monday mornings as we close chapel at CBI the dean of the school has the students give a recap of their Sunday “ministry missions.”  It is great to hear these men and women tell of the “what and why” of the lessons they teach each week.  This week two mentioned specific lessons tied to the upcoming Khmae New Year.  One taught about not worshipping angels and spirits because this is a big element of the festival.  The other taught about grace because Buddhism advocates works salvation and the pressure to do good deeds during the holiday goes up.  We are thrilled to see their zeal as they continue their studies and serve in the community.  We also heard of 3 more baptisms at the new church plant at Krang Trob (KT).

Our Sunday included worship with TTT and KSP.  At KSP, a couple of days ago, a woman 4 months pregnant took a bad fall causing an instant miscarriage.  She is recovering well now after her visit with the doctor, receiving the necessary care and meds.  We were able to help a bit and pray for her as have several others.  This family is among the poorest we know, but the Christians are pulling together to help!  Once again we see evidence of the individual Christians and their churches growing and maturing.  When we returned to the city, we assembled with the American, Khmae and one Romanian saints at UCC.  It is such a blessing to see so many young Khmae seekers and Christians meeting together at PIP.

This past week included meeting with an American Cambodian who is striving to make disciples and plant churches on the far west side of the city.  We had a wonderful traditional Khmae style meal together and time to share ideas.  The Missionary Care Group joined for another special time of fellowship.  We continue to have opportunities to meet with and build relationships with the Khmae people.  Sharon spent time Saturday with a young lady she met while we were on our R&R trip and looks forward to sharing more time with her!  Dennis had the opportunity to preach a good lesson on the need for telling about Jesus because many are dying in their sins.  A couple of students were struggling with the God of grace who says we will die if we are not in Christ.  We think they got HIS message!   As you can see we always have plenty to do whether we are in the city or the countryside.

We had a couple of questions this week!  Jessica is curious what the exchange rate is here in Cambodia.  The exchange rate is 4000 reels to the dollar.  Cyndia has an inquiring mind and wants to know what a typical meal is here and if we are able to have Americanized food.  Typical Khmae style meals consist of rice, a small amount of meat and some vegetables!  However, as the county has had more and more foreigner it is relatively easy to get Americanized food.  Thank you for your interest in our lives and the county of Cambodia.  Keep the questions comings!

We appreciate you more than words can express.  More to come next week!

Eternal Love & Blessings,

Dennis & Sharon/Pawpaw & Nana