Pray for this emerging country...

The economic system here remains difficult. We have noticed some new construction, but the financial impact of new business and industry on the common citizen is probably many years away. Pray for the Lord to bless the infastructure of this incredibly poor nation, and that the church will be empowered to respond to the economic hardships.

Teacher & Translator

Jeff is teaching one of the sessions in Phnom Penh. BuNa translated for us and did a great job. What you can't see in this picture is how incredibly hot it was. We were blessed with some fans during this past week. Not sure if they have fans in Svay Reing.

More Pictures from Cambodia

Nivath Nhem is the President of the Cambodia Baptist Union, and is our Coordinator for Aquila Institutes in Cambodia. His wife, Sithong, and son, Zacharias (4 years old) are pictured with him. Another son, Zachalip (who is one year old, is currently visiting his grandmother).

Graduation Day

Our time with this group of pastors came to a close this afternoon as we completed the final sessions and had a graduation ceremony. This has been a very special time for David and I as these pastors have truly become friends over the past couple of years. During the graduation ceremony several of the pastors shared testimony to the impact of this study on their lives and ministries. It is always humbling to know that God is using you to impact the lives of His servants.

These men and women truly are heroes of the faith. About 95% of them are full time farmers who also serve the Church. There really is no such thing as a "vocational minister" here in Cambodia, as the churches are very small, usually meeting in homes or in open fields. The main prayer request mentioned during the conference this week was for rain. Cambodia is in the midst of a terrible drought and there are fears that this years rice harvest will be poor. Please join us in praying for rain in Cambodia.

David and I will be leaving early Monday morning for the trip to Svay Reing and the next conference. This will be our first time in Svay Reing and we will be teaching the Systematic Theology curriculum. This is a very demanding study and we covet your prayers during this time.

Thank you for the emails and encouragements we have received they mean a great deal to us.

That all may hear!

Jeff

Day 3 - Phnom Penh

What a great day!! Our last full day of training with the 56 pastors and church leaders has closed.

We will finish tomorrow by noon, and close with a graduation ceremony and a time of prayer. It seems as each one of these precious men and women are becoming more like family each time we meet with them. We care for them and they care for us. As we discussed the future training sessions, they gave some great input. Their greatest need is to have materials and to learn how to disciple believers toward maturity in Christ. Pray for us as we begin developing this next level of material.

Our friend, Jason, shared about his life experiences in that large East Asian country that he is living in. The class asked a lot of questions about life there. Jason did a good job of answering their questions and building into their lives.

Sometimes I forget that these men and women really do live an oppressed life. They are joyous in their service and they work faithfully. As we were teaching today about Paul and Silas in jail, we asked them about their experiences. Several indicated that they had been in jail for the sake of the gospel.

They are truly amazing servants!

Continue to pray, and we'll update tomorrow.

Thanks for standing with us in prayer.

David & Jeff

PS - your emails and comments to us are a blessing, hopefully we can respond on our off day on saturday.

Day Two - Mission Principles

Well, day two is in the books and the conference is going very well. The schedule is gruelling but the Lord has given us the energy and strength that we need to accomplish His purposes. We have completed the first twelve lessons of the twenty in the course, and the students seem to really be enjoying the time together. I think the most productive time is in the small group time at the end of each session. The groups are put together by province and the pastors are encouraged to discuss the material just covered and to pray together. Most of these pastors are from rural areas and rarely have the opportunity for fellowship with other leaders, so this is a vital time.

Another benefit of these conferences is the time the pastors have together in the evenings. After dinner they have a time of worship and prayer followed by a sermon from one of the pastors. This is a rare opportunity for them to be together in a large group for worship and fellowship. Please make these times together a matter of prayer.

Jason arrived safely from China last night and we have had a great time of fellowship and "catching up" after 18 months apart. Jason and his family are dear friends of David and I, so this is a precious time together. Please pray for Jason as they have some big decisions to make in the next six months about there future and ministry. Tomorrow Jason will be sharing with our pastors about the situation in the country where he is working, this promises to be very illuminating for our pastors.

Your prayers and emails during this time have been very encouraging to us, please keep up the good work!

Jeff

Nivath Nhem and the sign they make (those letters are styrofoam)

On the streets of Phnom Penh!!!

Pastor Savinn and others enjoying a cookie break!

Day One - teaching Acts...

We had a great time with this group of leaders today. It is our third time to be with them, so there is a familiarity. There were 54 present today - and they represented 12 different provinces across Cambodia. Most of these are rural leaders as will be evidenced by my story a little later on.

We aked them to share about what God was doing in their lives, and two gave testimonies of God's grace and how He rescued them, giving them new life in Christ.

Teaching the book of Acts will be a life-changing investment in these leaders lives. It is relevant, and instructive to the situations they are facing as the emerging church in a culture of Buddhism.

We intentionally built some time in each lesson for our students to break up into small groups and pray and discuss the implications of each lesson. It was evident that they were really enjoying that time, and I think it will help them connect with each other better.

We made it through five of twenty lessons today. Tomorrow will be challenging, but promises to be a great time.

The funniest thing that happened today is that at the end of our time, Nivath Nhem, the Cambodian Baptist Convention President, went up and looked like he was going to make a couple of announcements. Well, he stepped over to the white board and drew a picture. I was trying to figure it out, when Jeff leaned over and told me - ""it's a toilet". OK, I'm a little slow. Evidently Nivath had to give our rural pastors a lesson in " how to flush a western style toilet" . It was complete with discussion and took about 5 minutes.

Just another reminder that we aren't in the US anymore.

Hopefully pictures tomorrow, I'm running into some technical difficulties with USB ports here.

Keep praying for us - your prayers are making a difference - pray especially for BuNa, our primary translator.

David & Jeff

A Day to Study

Greetings from Phnom Penh!

It's Monday here and David and I have taken advantage of a day to study and prepare for the conference which will begin in the morning. As I have said before, we are very excited about this conference as we will be teaching a survey course on the book of Acts entitled "Mission Principles". This will be our first time through this course, so we are anxious to see how it will communicate in this culture.

We have recovered from the flights and are feeling well as we head into this week of teaching. Please be in prayer as the conference begins in the morning (Tuesday for us, Monday night for you). We will leave the hotel at 7:30 each morning and head to the Cambodian Baptist Convention building for the conference. We are 12 hours ahead of Central Standard Time so that should make it easy for you to pray for us.

We have received some exciting news since we arrived in Cambodia, our good friend Jason will be coming to see us this week. Jason and his family serve in a large Asian country just to the north of us (which we are not able to name online). Jason will be arriving in Phnom Penh on Tuesday evening and will spend the week with us before returning home on Saturday. David and I haven't seen Jason for about 2 years, so we are really looking forward to this time together.

We will write again tomorrow afternoon and let you know how the first day of the conference went. We will also try and post some pictures...

Jeff