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
Pine trees in Cambodia - Kirirom National Park has many!
- Children scrambling on the rocks in Kirirom N.P.
Dennis preaches at TNT village church
Greetings from Phnom Penh !
Spring is in the air here and we know it must be there too. We see evidence of the changing seasons all around us. We have had our first heavy rain and know the rainy season will be here soon. This beautiful place called planet Earth with which the Lord has blessed us is amazing and wonderful. Praise God!
We pray you have had an exceptional good week. This week was rather interesting as we experienced more adjustments to life in Cambodia . As the weather changes and the temperatures warm the stability of electricity lessons. Although we have had a few power outages none of these have been for a long period of time. Well this week they were, two days of 12 plus hours and 1 of maybe 4 hours. We didn’t melt (well maybe just a little) and are grateful our landlord worked extremely hard at contacting the right people and resolving the problem. Through this experience we have consider the many Khmae people who have never had the luxury of air conditioning or maybe a fan for circulation. Wow, God has indeed blessed us so richly!
This week we learned five more consonants bringing our total to 20. Our language teacher makes our work interesting and fun. Ok…maybe not fun, but certainly more pleasant. We see light at the end of this long dark tunnel. We also thank the Lord! With our desire to help the villages with their medical needs our Khmae tutor took time to give us some medical terminology. Lord willing, with these specialized words in our vocabulary, we will be able to communicate and understand the medical needs as request are being made. The Cambodian people have so many health issues, unfortunately, many we cannot help with. Please pray for wisdom as we serve these people in their medical needs and we continue to build relationships.
Saturday we joined together with many church children including the orphans from TNT for a trip to the Kirirom National Park . The vans were full and we calculate approximately 60 to 70 gathered for the trip! The first time we visited this park we thought we were in a different country. The typography was unlike any other areas we have seen in Cambodia , mountains, pine trees, forest, and lakes. It was a real treat to be involved in this event. The children as well as the adults had so much fun, from swimming in the stream, in a lake and playing in a small rapids/waterfall to hiking, romping and stomping. What a sweet blessing this was for all of us. We appreciate the hearts and love of all those that made this trip possible!
We continue to see the village churches grow and mature as they focus on knowing the Word and then living it day-by-day. On the Lord’s Day, including us, the Cambodia Bible Institute had 4 different teams of preachers in the countryside preaching at 7 locations with other staff/students serving in the city at both churches. A team of two students was sent to a new village we first became aware of 2 weeks ago when a man came to where we were teaching and asked for someone to come to his village to teach. We made an investigative trip out there last Sunday and now we share with much excitement this Sunday began the weekly sending of students to plant a church, the 3rd such new effort currently in motion since our arrival. We are grateful the Lord has allowed us to observe Him at work around us! Dennis continues to preach at TNT the fourth Sunday of each month, so we enjoyed a great lesson he presented. The Lord’s work has been productive and encouraging; we give thanks and ask you to do so also.
Well that concludes this past week. We are so glad we can share just a little piece of what life is like here. We love you and miss you more than ever and are so grateful for you.
Love & Blessings,
Dennis & Sharon/Pawpaw & Nana
Sharon enjoying the children at KSP village church
- Dennis worships in song at PTT village church
A Buddhist pagoda in the countryside
Greetings & blessings from the beautiful land of Cambodia,
We are doing very well and hope you are too. Sorry for the delay in this week report, unfortunately, we had a power outage that lasted approximately 14 hours. It’s hard to do much without electricity, especially at night. The good news is we once again have electricity…yea!!!
The Lord has been extra gracious to us recently as he has showed us some of the work He is doing here, a part of which is fruit of our efforts for Him. Thank You Lord!!! If we have calculated the numbers correctly in the last 4 or 5 weeks our group (CBI & PIP) has been blessed to witness 22 new Christians. We rejoice with all of heaven.
This week was a pretty basic week for us. Our language training now includes learning the alphabet—fun stuff, but challenging memory work. Do you remember first grade as you were learning to write your letters? Well that’s exactly what we are doing, 15 down, 73 more consonants and vowel/vowel combinations to go!!! We are excited to share that we can actually write these letters and pronounce their sounds 
We once again had our Tuesday morning accountability meetings, Wednesday night Bible class, and Thursday evening small group. This week 12 of us gathered together, this time at the PIP house. We enjoyed a meal together, ice cream and cookies for dessert, a great devotional time and beautiful singing. The only thing that could make it better is if you could have been here.
Saturday morning, Dennis went to the countryside to assist a village church with their community assistance program. While being in the village there was a good down pour which shows us the rainy season is on the way. This will also usher in the new rice-growing season. We look forward to sharing some picture from the rice-growing season, the fields are absolutely beautiful.
Sunday, we accepted an invitation to join the translator and some of the students from CBI for a scouting visit to the new village. We met with 5 adults and about 55 children. As a result of our meeting we understand CBI will begin sending students to this village each week to teach there. The numbers continue to grow…this brings to a total of 11 locations where CBI students serve (8 in the countryside, 2 city churches, & CBI + other places they go occasionally during evangelism weeks). We are so excited about how God is using these brethren to ring out the good news. We also attended at KSP where CBI graduate Sothea is living and working.
We are excited Sharon has served more and more as a resource for the village women to bring her their illnesses. She recently saw an outbreak of Chicken Pox at KSP village and alerted the mothers it was contagious. When we returned, 3 more children were infected. As you can tell we have so much opportunity for medical education. Do you know of anyone with graphic arts training and a heart to serve by helping us design and produce some posters?
On the horizon is a trip to Kirirom National Park with other missionaries and all the TNT orphans plus a few others this Saturday. This will surly be a fun event for all. Watch for pictures. That’s it for now. May God bless each of you with a wonderful week.
Until next time…unless the Lord comes first…
Love & Blessings,
Dennis & Sharon/Pawpaw & Nana
Abbreviations
V CBI – Cambodia Bible Institute
V PPC – Phnom Penh Church of Christ
V UCC – University Church of Christ (also known as PiPcoC)
V PiP – Partners in Progress
V WEI – World English Institute
V TNT – Tum Nob Thom (village and church)
V PTT – Preah Tuk Tung
V PTC – Preah Tuk Chey
V TTT – Tuk Tung Thngay
V KSP – Kror Sang Peam
V KD – Krang Dong
V KT – Krang Trob
10 New Creations at PTC village church
Traditional Khmae Wedding and guests.
Children of the TNT village church orphanage
Greetings from Phnom Penh ,
Is the today’s date really Monday, March 10th, 2009? Oops, let’s try that again in Khmae “Thngai Chan (day Monday), tii pram pii (10th), khae mii-nea (month March), chnam pii poәn pram buen (year 2009).” Can you tell what we have been studying?
Don’t close your eyes or the month may be gone. We continue to be amazed how fast time flies by. We pray all is well with each of you. Have we told you this week we miss ya? WE DO…
Our week was spent with Dennis teaching at CBI and both of us continuing with our language lessons. Dennis has now completed teaching the Book of Acts and gave the final exam today! He loved teaching the students the record of the first Christians, the first missionaries and the first churches. It never fails as one prepares a lesson and teaches it, the teacher always learns so much more. This is truly one of the blessings of teaching! Language class was mostly review as tomorrow we are to begin learning the alphabet so we can read and write, not just converse. Thank you for allowing us to practice some of our language training with you, it will be fun when we can show you some of the Sanskrit writing it’s beautiful!
By now we hope you have received our long-overdue newsletter. It seemed to be packed with information. Guess that’s what happens when we miss a month. Our goal is to keep you more informed from week to week and we hope these weekly reports will help in doing that.
We are so encouraged when we receive emails, cards and packages from each of you. With the miles between us our spirits continue to be lifted as we hear from each of you. Please keep the contact coming, it is greatly appreciated! Another way we stay enriched and encouraged is our weekly meetings with the other missionaries. During the week we met with our accountability partners, attended the Phnom Penh church and had 14 of us gather for small group missionary care.
We had a special time on Saturday as we took some visiting missionaries out to the TNT orphanage we work with. The children really enjoyed some hamburgers, cokes, chips, cookies and playtime. We are pretty sure the old folks did too!
Yesterday we spent a wonderful day in the countryside worshiping in 3 places with 3 churches. The Lord allowed us to see Him at work in many special ways as 1st a man came to one of the assemblies and ask if we could send someone to teach several people at his village every week; 2nd at PTT church, we witnessed 4 put their faith in Christ to save them; and 3rd we witnessed 10 more baptisms at PTC church. We feel so blessed God allowed us to join Him and all the hosts of heaven in rejoicing for family growth!! Fourteen new brothers and sisters who put their trust in Jesus to wash away their sins – Praise almighty God!!! What a blessing this day in the countryside was. We humbly ask you to give thanks to God for His kingdom growth and pray for these new Christians and their maturity and spiritual growth.
Once we returned to the city we rushed home, cleaned up and went to our 2nd Khmae wedding. We had the opportunity to attend the wedding with friends we met while attending KSL Language School . Sharon ’s teacher (Pov) had invited us; it was her brother whom was getting married. Traditional Khmae weddings are quite a memorable occasion. The wedding lasted about 6/7 hours (we only stayed 3 hours). The wedding had many events, a lot of yummy food, and a big party! We enjoyed ourselves and were able to learn more about the Cambodians traditions and culture.
We hope you are enjoying the updates. If you have any specific questions or things you would like to know about regarding Cambodia or our work, please feel free to email us and let us know. Don’t make them to difficultJ!
Our love and prayers are with you always. May God bless you with His peace, joy and love.
Eternal Love & Blessings,
Dennis & Sharon/Pawpaw & Nana
Abbreviations
· CBI – Cambodia Bible Institute
· PPC – Phnom Penh Church of Christ
· UCC – University Church of Christ (also known as PiPcoC)
· PIP – Partners in Progress
· WEI – World English Institute
· TNT – Tum Nob Thom (village and church)
· PTT – Preah Tuk Tung
· PTC – Preah Tuk Chey
· TTT – Tuk Tung Thngay
· KSP – Kror Sang Peam
Koh Ru guest houses on Koh Russei (Island)
Sharon teaching the children at TTT village church
Dearest Loved Ones,
We hope you have had a good week and we send our love to you. Although there may be many miles between us you are always near in thought and prayer and we thank God for you. We are having a blast!
The work here keeps us very busy. There are so many amazing opportunities. Like so many places Cambodia need more workers. Dennis and I took our first R & R break in mid February to a remote island. It was very primitive but we had a wonderful time of rest & relaxation. Of course we did have to venture off for a little excitement and went rock climbing (around the beach). The area was beautiful and peaceful!
Last week was kinda normal if life on the mission field is ever normal. As unusual as it sounds we actually have somewhat of a daily routine! Oh, in case you are interested in seeing a few words in Khmae “tum loab prαα cam thngai”…yep these words in English mean “daily routine”. Dennis and I continued with our language training every day this past weekday. Since Dennis is still teaching Acts at CBI, I did language class by myself in the AM and he joined in the afternoon. In another week we will start learning reading and writing, up till now we have been using phonetics to learn (see above). The language is done in a sanskirt, similar to Indian and Thai. Well I guess its back to kindergarten with the #2 pencils and Big Chief padsJ! We are excited to finally getting started.
Each Tuesday morning we are blessed with the opportunity to meet with a missionary couple and be encouraged with prayer, Bible study and some fellowship. The remainder of the weekdays consisted of Wednesday evening Bible study, Thursday night we enjoyed our small group meeting in the home of other local missionaries with 12 attending. Another great time together with some yummy dessert too fill our tummies.
Just because we are in a different country, we still have some responsibilities to the USA so part of Saturday was spent preparing our 2008 taxes. The remainder of the day Dennis worked on CBI lessons for the week ahead. I did the weekly trip to the grocery store. This is fun because you never know what the grocery store will have in stock. I certainly have a greater appreciation for Wal-Mart and stateside stores. Generally speaking we are able to find mostly all we need! I even splurge and sometimes buy ice cream…but not Häagen Dazs. Why, because it cost $12.85 a pint, not in our budget, so only the inexpensive local brands for us.
Sunday, we were back to the countryside where we worshipped at TTT (Tuk Tung Thngay) & KSP (Kor Sang Paem). We had 2 of the CBI students Nouen & Sophea join us. After assembling together we were treated to a wonderful Khmae style lunch. Then it was back to the city to meet with the University Church of Christ. What a sweet blessing it is for us to get out of the city and into the countryside to be with the Christians of Cambodia.
We are doing ok – of course we miss everyone – wish you could be here…
Eternal Love & Blessings,
Dennis & Sharon / Pawpaw & Nana
