In late January and early February Josh made two visits to Kachok villages in our province. The first visit was to the village of In. Josh had a very profitable time gathering words. He worked with the father of the village leader, a man whose Khmer and Kachok were very clear. They accomplished everything Josh was hoping to get done on the trip. It was an encouraging trip for Josh.

For the second village trip, Josh — along with a Kachok friend who’s attending high school close to where we live – drove to Kaoh Piek, a Kachok village about two hours from our home. They spent two nights there; recording words to compare with the data Josh has from other villages. It was said that the Kachok in Kaoh Piek spoke quite differently from the Kachok spoken in other villages.

Josh’s trip to Kaoh Piek village was a success. He recorded and transcribed about 550 words, and discovered that the differences between Kaoh Piek village and the other eight are not nearly as significant as he’d been told. While there, Josh learned that there are no believers in Kaoh Piek village of perhaps 1000+ adults (this is quite a large village for our province), though there has been at least some missionary activity there in the past. Josh and his friend shared the Gospel with two ladies, one of whom is the (distant) aunt/cousin of the Kachok young man who traveled with Josh. Josh’s traveling companion later overheard her talking to other villagers around the fire outside saying that she wants to believe, but is afraid to be the only believer in the village.

Please pray that God would open a way for some believers to make plans to regularly visit Kaoh Piek to share the Gospel systematically.

Please also pray that Josh would have success in finishing his analysis of Kachok sounds and begin working on the alphabet.