Merry Belated Christmas and Happy New Year
We just returned from ministry travels to NW Cambodia and a quick vacation to Thailand and wanted to send a quick update before the New Year on what has been going on in our lives.
Jenna: Is in 3rd grade at Hope International School in Phnom Penh. She is a good student and her favorite subject is art. She has lots of good friends and enjoys going to sleepovers with them. Upon our return to Cambodia, she got a new puppy, “Pooka”.
Janelle: Is in 12th grade at Northbridge International School. She is president of her senior class and very much enjoys hanging out with her friends as well. She has her own 110 cc motorcycle that gets her around town. Next summer she will return to the US for college and is planning to study somewhere in the Twin Cities area with a possible focus in medicine.
Joel: Is a sophomore at the University of Minnesota. He is still fine tuning what he wants to do but is thinking about counseling. In addition to being a full-time student, he works as a cashier at Rainbow Foods to pay the bills. He also spends quite a bit of time with his girlfriend, Nikki. This past May and June, he worked with his dad and showed some amazing carpentry, electrical, and plumbing skills to rebuild a basement at our “new” home (see below).
Josh and Kelsey: They have the BIG news for our clan since they are expecting in May! You can start calling us Grandma and Grandpa! Please pray with us that we will be able to swing a trip to the US this Summer to see this little one. In addition to that exciting news, Kelsey graduated from Bethel University in May. She is currently working for an appraisal company. She and her parents also helped us a lot with our home rebuilding project. Josh will graduate from Bethel in May. This spring he will be doing an internship with World Relief Minnesota where he will be interviewing recent immigrants/refugees and sharing their stories.
Chris: After our return to Cambodia in July she has been helping to get a new church started, working with the Guest House, and assisting language students. As part of the church planting effort, on December 18, we joined in a Christmas meal at one of our missionary’s homes with about 15 high level Cambodian government officials and their wives, only one of whom was a Christian. The message of Christmas was clearly shared and instead of ending at 8 PM as originally planned, they wanted to stay to talk until 10 PM. That was an encouraging sign because Cambodians don’t usually stay out at night past 8! One of them even talked about the rapid growth of Christianity in South Korea and his hope that Cambodia would follow that example.
David: Just before returning to Cambodia, we were able to purchase a small home in St. Paul. It is 87 years old and needed quite a bit of work but in just six weeks, we were able to make it almost like new J. After living in 23 homes in 25 years of marriage, we have our first “permanent” address (other than heaven). Josh and Kelsey are currently living on the ground floor and Joel is living in the basement. While we were still in the States, David was reelected by the missionary team to return as Field Director for another term. We currently have about 35 missionaries serving with the Alliance here in Cambodia. This is his 8th year in the Field Director role. Although it involves a lot of administration, he still gets out for more hands-on ministry from time to time. On Dec. 24 our family went to Poipet in the far NW corner of Cambodia for their Christmas celebration. About 500 people were present. The service was outside in the evening and David was asked to preach. Most of the people there were already believers but when he gave an invitation of those who wanted to become Christians more than 30 people came forward. These are the kinds of things that continue to remind us of the importance of serving in this open and responsive land.
We wish you and yours a Blessed New Year! Dave & Chris
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