and on the 17th day they rested

At right is our graduating class in Battambang. They were so very exicted to receive their certificates and were proudly displaying them.

Well we are back in Phnom Penh from teaching in Battambang, the second largest city in Cambodia. It is about 290 kilometers from here and it took right at four hours to drive. Dodging bicycles, motorbikes, cattle, and water buffalo make for an exciting journey.

Our last day in Battambang was adventurous. We went to get in the van to travel to the church for our last day of teaching and it wouldn't start. It seemed like it was out of gas, and yet it was sitting in the hotel parking lot. Below is the rest of the story as recounted by Kyle Spencer...

We are fortunate to even have gotten to the church today though. When we
went out to the van and tried to start it but wouldn't turn over! The
gauge said it had just under a 1/4 of a tank, so we called Nivath to see if
the gauge was broken or something. Come to find out, when it gets down to
a 1/4 it's really out. Being a diesel made it very difficult to start
after putting fuel in it because we tried starting it so many times on
empty. It took 2 1/2 hours to get fixed, so we were getting pretty anxious
that we'd even get to go to the church and have the last session and
graduation for the pastors. Although it was hard to see the blessings
through the situation, there were many that we realized once we got on the
road. We could've very easily been in transit out in the middle of nowhere
and run out of fuel, so we were thankful to be at the hotel when it
happened. And what was even more amazing was that about 12 guys came
immediately and helped fix the problem and bleed the fuel lines. We
realized that in America, nobody actually just drops what they are doing to
help some complete strangers get back on the road and running.

The van "repair" bill came to a whopping $5. We tried to offer more money, but the men working would not accept it. Amazing display of God's mercy.

Kyle left for home today, and hopefully his flights will be on time. Jeff, Caleb and I went to Jars of Clay coffee house for lunch, and then have basically done nothing but take naps, read, and watch some TV. We had a burger for dinner and now are catching up on email and blogs.

We leave Monday morning early for Svay Reing - and will have our last institute there. For more entries and pictures you can visit Kyle's blog at www.xanga.com/notcountingthecost

I'll post more tomorrow - some reflections and thoughts about the trip.

Caleb is much better - thanks for your prayers...

Thanks for taking this journey with us!!!!

David

and HE answers

Thanks so much for your prayers and the emails. I just wanted to let you know that Mades is much better today and he translated all day. The teaching went much better, with good response and discussion.

Isn't it amazing when God displays His power!

Thanks to all - and continue to pray.

Caleb is feeling very sick to his stomach tonight, please take a moment to ask for God's intervention in his life so that his illness might pass.

Thanks for taking this journey with us!

David

Battambang & prayer

Just a brief update and prayer request. We began in Battambang today and the sledding was a little difficult. This class of young rural leaders has little "classroom experience" and struggle with reading comprehension.

On top of that Made, (pronounced Ma - day) our translator, is battling a sinus infection - or bad cold. So we had to get a substitute translator for this afternoon. Made called his doctor and we went by the pharmacy and were able to buy him the medicine he needed.

Pray that the Holy Spirit would truly be the teacher in the lives of these students, and pray that He would impart truth to them in the areas of their greatest need.

Pray for Made - that he will have complete healing as a result of the Master's touch and be feeling well by morning.

Pray for our ability to focus on teaching people, not simply covering the material. Pray that we will be sensitive to every need in the classroom tomorrow.

All the guys are missing the "luxuries"of Phnom Penh, not to mention home. Kyle and I ordered a "hamburger"at the hotel restaraunt - and it was a bit, shall we say, in need of some meat. It tasted like about 2 ounces of meat mixed with a whole box of hamburger helper, which is in fact an oxymoron, because there was no helping that hamburger.

Funny how something as simple as a hamburger loses the main thing (meat) when the recipie was translated from our culture to theirs. It made me think of the movie title "lost in translation", a movie which I didn't happen to see because the title pretty much summed up the movie.

As we work cross-culturally, our desire NOT to be "lost in translation" compells us to stay true to the text of scripture and point our students to answers therein. Our goal ïs one of "thus says the Word" instead of "thus says two guys from America". Pray that all that is said and done tomorrow and Thursday, (and next week in svay reing) will bring glory and honor to the Author of the Truth.

Thanks for taking this journey with us!

David

phnom penh conference complete

We are now officially half way through this trip to Cambodia even though we still have almost 2 weeks left in the country. We completed the Aquila Institute in Phnom Penh on Saturday afternoon with a graduation ceremony for our 49 students. We had a great time with these leaders as this was our 4th time to meet with most of them. These students were with us here in Phnom Penh for the very first Aquila Institute back in October 2003, and they continue to come each summer, what a blessing they are to us!

This conference dealt with Discipleship and we utilized the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7). We had some incredible discussions as we worked our way through this amazing passage of scripture. These students are some of the finest leaders in Cambodia and it is always a privilege to stand before them.

Tomorrow morning (Monday) we will be leaving for the second largest city in Cambodia, Battambang. It is about a 4 or 5 hour drive northwest of Phnom Penh. Our third institute will begin on Tuesday morning with about 50 pastors and church leaders. This will be our second time to meet with these students, so we will be teaching Leadership from the Pastoral Epistles. David and me are very familiar with this curriculum since we taught it 5 times this spring in Myanmar. Please pray for us as we teach and pray especially for Kyle as he will be teaching one of the sessions on 2 Timothy 2.

We will return to Phnom Penh at the end of the week and then Kyle will head home and David, Caleb and I will head off to Svay Reing. Thank you for your prayers and emails, they are a real encouragement to us. Please pray for the leaders of the church here in Cambodia, they truly are some of God's choicest servants...

That all may hear!

J