A few weeks ago I invited our neighborhood children to come and experience pizza making. About 15 kids show up to make mini pizzas. I was a bit nervous about the event, but it went really well even though most of the kids were disappointed by the cheese and lack of fish sauce.
November is Becca’s birthday month, but we started by celebrating in October with an early birthday present. Becca loves horses and the last time we were in Siem Reap we saw a poster for a place that does horseback riding. We decided it would be a perfect birthday surprise.
In October we had to go to Siem Reap to get immunizations for Clara, so we planned the extra activity. We gave Becca an hour horseback ride as an early birthday present. She was thrilled!
Josh and the younger kids rode in a horse-cart while Becca and I rode on horses. The morning was a success for all! Happy Early Birthday to our horse-loving girl!
Thankful for the many blessings God has given our family.
Life right now is really full and I’m so tried I can hardly write coherent thoughts for a Thanksgiving blog.
I’m so thankful God made us for His own glory and thankful for the ways He shows us His glory each day. Thankful for His effectual call. Thankful He is slow to anger and abounding in love. Thanks be to God.
The cuteness continues as Clara enters her ninth month. This past month she started eating mashed pumpkin – she loves it! She also started standing up in her bed, which she does as soon as she wakes up. She now says “uh – oh”, waves at people, claps her hands, and continues to cruise using pieces of furniture. She still uses her army crawl instead of a formal hands-and-knees crawl. She is one busy little girl!
Clara is such a happy, precious girl! We can’t get enough of her. Thanks be to God.
Meanwhile, Anna can’t get enough of playing outside in the dirt! (See picture on the right.)
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| Many of the men pictured here (studying Matthew at the Jarai Bible school a couple months ago) participated in today’s meeting, too. Like at Bible school, we all sat on the floor, and nobody followed Robert’s Rules of Order. The discussion was sometimes chaotic, but eventually, by God’s grace, a consensus emerged. |
Six months ago, leaders from Jarai churches throughout our province gathered together to discuss whether they wanted to translate the Bible into the dialect of Jarai spoken here in Cambodia. At that meeting, arguments were presented for and against, and we asked leaders to return to their churches to discuss the matter further.
Wednesday, while many of you watched U.S. election results roll in, we had another meeting with representatives from the churches throughout our province. Arguments for and against translation were once again presented. After an extended discussion, the gathered pastors decided it was time to vote: either “yes, we should translate” or “no, we shouldn’t.” Each church delegation cast one vote.
The votes were counted, and it was unanimous: the Jarai churches of Cambodia have decided to commit themselves to the long and difficult work of translating the Bible into their own dialect of Jarai.
Just a few years ago, the majority of church leaders either opposed the idea of a new translation, or were indifferent. God has worked to change many minds and hearts.
One highlight of the meeting was to hear a pastor say, “A new translation won’t only help the next generation. It will help me too. When I study the Bible we have now [which uses a dialect of Jarai spoken in Vietnam], there are words I don’t know, and I have to look at the Khmer Bible for help.” It took true humility for this pastor to say that.
We also saw several older leaders – men I would have expected to be the last to embrace change – make statements in support of translation.
Please pray for us now. Deciding was the easiest part. There’s much work before us. Over the next year our family will be focussing on learning Jarai. Also over the next year, our team will begin making plans and laying the foundation for the translation project — in consultation with the Jarai church leadership. Please pray that God would provide faithful, gifted men and women to act as translation committee members and translators. Without a strong, ongoing commitment from the Jarai, the translation work will stall out.
Thank you for your prayers!
This week we had our annual Cambodian Coronation Day celebration. Meet the new kings and queens of Cambodia! (The youngest queens had a little trouble behaving. 🙂
(The man wearing the hat is Pastor Choul who we have requested prayer for. He’d been having a good week and came along with the men from church.)
Two Sundays ago we asked our church to help us cut our grass. This requires weed eaters. They said they would come Monday and we had no idea what to expect. Ten men showed up. One of the things Josh prayed that morning was that they would offer to help with making a brick path from our stairs to the cement under our house. Josh had started the project, but was unsure when he’d have time to get back to it. The men asked if there was anything else they could do and had the project done in less than 2 hours.
The kindness these men showed to us was a great encouragement. Sometimes I feel like we give and give and give and are expected to give more. The fact that they gave up their time (not expecting payment) encouraged us that we are a part of the body of Christ together with our Jarai brothers and sisters…not just missionaries giving continually.
This girl – this girl is a bundle of energy, a ocean full of giggles, an explorer in the making. Last week Clara celebrated her 7-month birthday and she continues to be a complete joy to our family.
A few weeks ago Clara started putting up on things and standing. This was a bit of a surprise to us, since she is still shaky sitting up by herself. She has now had a few falls from standing up when one one was watching. She just loves standing!
In recent days Clara has become a bit wary of having strangers hold her. People are always wanting to hold her and it’s been interesting to watch her response. I noticed the other day she was less inclined to let Caucasians hold her.
Clara is a pacifier baby rather than a thumb sucker. At first I thought this would be better in our very dirty culture…keep the hands out of the mouth, right. However, she is still nursing 1-2 times at night, unlike her thumb-sucking siblings who were started sleeping through the night around 4-months.
Clara loves to laugh – I cannot say this enough. Everyone who meets her talks about how she is always smiling. She’s of course, not perfect…she does cry! Love this sweet little girl and so thankful for God’s gift to us in her!
Just a little after lunch photo. Our table is on our porch. Everyday we get to enjoy eating outside and watching the highway traffic go by. People enjoy staring up at us too, as we are the only non-Asians in town. I get a little tired of people standing at the road and staring at us, so I started giving them a friendly wave and big smile. One Sunday morning this got me in trouble. The woman I waved at assumed I was flagging her down because I wanted to buy her market veggies. Oops…we ended up with some greens thanks to my waving.
This week Josh participated in the funeral of a Jarai church leader. His name was Romah Hiem and he was in his early 30’s. Romah left behind a wife and three children, ages 6 to 1 years old. (The picture above shows Hiem’s casket, lowered in the ground. According to Jarai custom, the deceased is buried with his possessions–even valuables such as a motorcycle–so he can have his things in the spirit realm. Hiem’s grave had nothing but an open Bible, an open hymnal, and the flowers traditionally thrown in by mourners.)
(In the above picture, the widow leaning over the casket is Romah’s widow. Following Jarai custom she has shaved her head.)
Josh met Romah Hiem at the end of Jarai Bible School last week, when all the participants went to pray for him. He had been sick for months and had seen multiple doctors without any significant help. The family was expecting him to die soon at home. Later that week after the family got enough money to pursue surgery, Josh drove Romah and his wife to the Vietnamese border to go to a hospital in Vietnam. Romah died a few days later from a burst kidney.
Josh preached the graveside message (in Khmer) about Jesus, the Resurrection and the Life.
One of the saddest things about Romah Hiem’s death is that his wife was not allowed to be with him in his hospital room. He died alone. I don’t think she even got to say goodbye. Heartbreaking. After the funeral she asked Josh pray often that she would see her husband again. We weren’t sure if this meant she was afraid of leaving the faith or if she was suffering from not being able to be with her husband when he died. Josh promised to pray, and reminded her of the promise of Jesus that he had just preached: everyone who believes will be raised to new life.
I think one of the things that has affected me most since moving out to Oyadao is watching people physically suffer yet remain strong in the faith. This week we sat with Pastor Chuol as he wept because of his intense pain, yet he continues to say he will believe in God whether he suffers and dies, or is healed. Sobering. You could not be in that room without weeping too. Romah Hiem suffered intense pain before he died, but he did not turn his back on his Lord, an easy thing to do in this animistic culture. They refuse to sacrifice to the spirits. They refuse treatment from witch doctors. They remain strong until the end.
Revelation 12:11 And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death. (ESV)
Even so, come quickly Lord Jesus.
Since moving to Cambodia, we’ve been praying that the Lord would provide Khmer friends for our children. We’re watching God answer that prayer in our new home here in the town of Oyadao.
We have been blessed with several neighbor children who are great playmates for our kids. Almost everyday our kids are outside playing with their new friends.
Somehow I have become the new “rec” leader. One afternoon I went out to help the kids use our parachute. We played some games with the parachute and then played some Khmer games. Now they ask if “Ming” (Aunt) is coming out to play every afternoon. Sometimes we play outside. Sometimes I have the kids up on our porch. This week we taught them how to play Uno. I really enjoy being a Ming, but it is a bit exhausting as I also deal with attitude issues, speaking a second language, and doing some translating for our kids.
We’re so thankful for the friends God has given our children. We’re praying they choose to follow Jesus.
I’m going to take a moment to comment on life here.
This week (M-W) Josh participated in Jarai Bible school. They studied Matthew using the lessons from the book our team leader wrote. Josh was assigned to teach one lesson on Tuesday (he taught in Khmer since all the participants understand Khmer). Saturday he was asked to teach an extra lesson on Monday for someone who had another commitment. Thankfully it was the same lesson he taught at Khmer Bible school a few months ago. Then when he arrived Monday morning he was asked to fill in for another lesson that same day. So proud of my man for teaching 3 lessons.
We have yet to find a helper and so far have no leads on anyone who would be able to work for our family. My days are very full. (Just took a break to remove a dead rat from under our house!) Meal prep is time consuming. It takes hours to prepare lunch and dinner for our family. Most mornings I go nonstop from getting up, to breakfast, to teaching the kids, to kitchen things. If I stop, lunchtime comes and there’s nothing to eat. 🙂 I’ve only mopped twice since we’ve moved in and there’s plenty of housework I’m leaving undone. By the time I get done putting the kids to bed at night I’m ready for bed myself.
However, this is a good tried. I’m tried because I’ve spent the day taking care of my family and interacting with my neighbors. (Honestly, even though I enjoy it, sometimes I dread doing the latter because I just want a break.) This is the work God is giving me now.
I’m very thankful for Josh who helps so much, making the oatmeal and scrambled eggs every morning and washing the evening dishes, among other things. I’m very thankful for kids who enjoying playing with each other and have great imaginations. Thankful for all the blessings God has given our family. So while we’ve entered a new stage and my days are very full with work – we’re thanking God for everything He is providing. Thanks be to God.
Our little 6-month old girl is now on the go! Just a few days ago she started inching forward and now she’s into a full army crawl. Watch out world!
Clara continues to be our happiest baby yet. She laughs all the time and always seems so excited to be included in everything. So thankful for our little Giggles!
Last Friday we were able to move into our new rental home. It appears that all the plumbing problems have been fixed. We’re spending the week unpacking and doing projects.
We praise God for allowing us to move here. It is a perfect fit for us: much larger than we expected, great neighbors to play with, lots of access to people. We’re thankful for all God has done.
Can you tell Clara is tired of waiting for a home…or maybe she’s tried of seeing Angkor Wat.
Late Monday afternoon, the day before we were planning to move into our new rental home, we found out that our home had some plumbing issues. So instead of moving into our new home we moved into more temporary housing while deciding what to do. We’re very thankful for the Crowley’s kindness to lend us their downstairs.
The main problem was water was leaking down the side of the house from the bathroom. It appears that the water was coming from the toilet (which hadn’t even been sealed when they installed it). Another problem was that they didn’t install any water cutoffs for the plumbing. Josh has spent the past two days at the house to make sure things are being taken care of.
As of Wednesday night it looks like we’ll be able to move in a day or two. We’re trusting the Lord for His timing. Who know what will happen next. Life is an adventure!
Lord willing we’ll be moving our belongings into our new home this Friday. We hope to sleep there Tuesday or Wednesday night. We’re so thankful the time has finally come!
It will be different living away from the missionary community here (it’s about a 35 minute drive). I think it will hit the hardest when Josh has to travel and I’m home at night by myself, fortunately our kids are very resourceful and are working on building door barricades (just kidding).
So thankful to be moving soon. Thanks be to God!
Can’t seem to keep with how fast our 5-month old is growing! Clara continues to be a joy – I just want to eat her up! She loves playing on the floor and grabbing things. She can turn around, but has yet to creep forward on her own. She now wants to sit up and play. She does pretty well sitting up, but still needs something or one to catch her, since she doesn’t have perfect balance yet.
Sometimes I step back in wonder…I’m the mommy of three girls. What a sweet gift from God. Before we had kids I wanted 6 boys, but I’m so thankful for the precious girls God has gifted us with. Wouldn’t trade these girls for anything. Praying they will become the best of friends
Of course I can’t leave out Isaiah. He is such a sweet boy, full of energy and life. Love him. I remember there was a time I wondered if I would have more than 2 kids. So thankful for these precious four and the man God has given me to live this adventure with. Thanks be to God!
Here in Cambodia we walk the path the Lord sets before us. Sometimes the way is easier than we’d planned. Sometimes it’s not at all what we’d hoped for. Our original “plan” was to move into a new home at the end of June. The adjusted “plan” was to move into our new home August 1st. It’s August 11th, we’re still in temporary one-bedroom housing, and the landlord just told us she thinks it will be another 3 weeks before we can move in. This isn’t the path we were planning on…but it’s the Lord’s path, it’s a good path…lead on O King Eternal.
A few days before my parents left Cambodia, we took them to Angkor Wat. (The trip worked out perfectly since my parents flew out of Siem Reap at the end of our visit.) The big events were an elephant ride and exploring the temples. It was really fun watching my mom take in everything. I think she had a blast. My dad was very hesitant about riding an elephant, but once he got on, he had a great time with the kids.
Thankfully, besides a short rain shower, the heavy rains held off until we were finished for the day. We were very thankful for that. Thankful we could share the trip with my parents.
In the middle of June we were delighted to welcome my parents for their first visit to Cambodia. It had been over two years since we’d seen my parents. They went through quite a time to get here, missing their flight from Seoul, Korea and arriving a day late. We really appreciate all the adventures they went through to come all the way to Cambodia to be with us. We appreciate all the time and money they spent to make a trip halfway across the world to see our world.
The kids were really excited to see Grammy and Grampy Grace (as they started calling my dad). We loved hearing them laugh with delight as they played together. Becca learned some new tricks from Grampy Grace and enjoyed hearing stories about Grammy’s first graders. Anna who typically is a bit resistant at first was warm and friendly when they arrived. Isaiah had so many memories of my dad from when he was 1, he was really excited. Clara was her happy self to meet her grandparents for the first time.
The first part of my parents’ time with us was pretty rainy and we spent a lot of time inside. We spent one morning moving a lot of our belongings into storage. We were able to visit the Sleeping Buddha and a waterfall on non-rain days.
Among other local things, my mom enjoyed going to the market and riding the moto and my dad enjoyed eating pork and rice at a local Khmer rice shop we affectionately call The Shack.
It was really great to have my parents here. We’d been looking forward to their visit ever since they mentioned it before we moved to Cambodia. It was nice for us to be able to show them our life…some things just can’t be explained without experiencing them. Between having little kids and the time difference, it’s hard for me to talk on the phone, so it was really nice to be able to talk to my parents in person without having to be on a device.
We really enjoyed my parents’ visit. I’m very thankful for my parents’ complete support of our being here. They are always so excited for us and grateful we’re here. They encourage the kids in their adventures here. That means a lot. I’m thankful for the way they raised me to go and serve the Lord and the ways they encourage our whole family as we serve the Lord in Cambodia. Thankful that they were able to come and see our lives here. Maybe they’ll come again during our next term….
A big thanks to my mom for all the pictures. I haven’t even seen the pictures she took on her phone yet. Next week I hope to post pictures from our trip to Siem Reap with my parents. Maybe I can get my mom to guest post on her impressions from their visit sometime.
