January/February 2012 Prayer Letter/Update

Dear Pastors and Praying Friends,                                                                                   

Soul winning

Every Saturday, I take a group of 5-10 folks into different areas near our church to pass out tracts and talk to people about Christ. Several months ago Adam Wood, a missionary who was working with us temporarily while waiting for living arrangements to be finalized in another province, met a family on the other side of the main river that runs beside the city of Phnom Penh. Adam witnessed to the wife on at least 7 different occasions, but she did not seem understand the seriousness of her sinful condition. Adam has now moved to another province, and I have been meeting with this lady. This is really the first person that I have had a real chance to sit down and go through the plan of salvation in the Khmer language. Please pray for me, that God will give wisdom in dealing with her; and pray for this dear lady as well- I call her Ming, which means aunt. Pray that the Holy Spirit would open her spiritual eyes, and that she would trust in Christ alone to save her. Also, last Sunday we had two 17-year old young men who visited our services for the first time. One of them is the son of a lady who has been attending our church for 9 months or so. Please pray that I will have an opportunity to sit down with these young men and teach them about the glorious Gospel of Christ, and that they will receive Him as Saviour.

There's Only a One Letter Difference Between Idiom and Idiot

Recently, my family and I went out to eat with some of the young men in the church. We had a wonderful time of fellowship at Lucky Burger, the closest thing to McDonald's here in Cambodia. In the course of our conversation, we started talking about the fact that Khmer people for the most part are vertically challenged (short), and foreigners (white guys in this context) tend to be a little taller. As an example, one of the guys brought up a missionary here in Cambodia that we all know and love. This guy is about 6'5, which is exceptionally tall in Cambodia. As the guys speculated about this man's height, I felt led to say, "Yeah, he is a big guy, and he has a big heart also!" In Khmer, that goes something like this, "Baat....go-aht tom mairn, howy go-aht mee-un jut tom dye."

November/December 2011 Prayer Letter

What a blessing it is for me to write to you again and report about what God is doing in Cambodia. Over the past few months our faith has been stretched, which is quite an uncomfortable experience sometimes; but without this stretching of our faith we would not see the mighty hand of God at work in our lives and in the lives of others around us.

Adjustments Part Eight- Troubling Sights and Experiences

It is a common sight in Phnom Penh. Young boys, some as young as seven or eight years of age, walking casually through the streets holding a clear plastic bag filled with a light yellow colored liquid. Every few seconds they lift the bag to their mouths and inhale the fumes from the bag. That yellow liquid is glue, and the damage it does to these boys is devastating. It is just a cheap way for these children to escape their chaotic, tragic lives.

The Blessing of a Faithful Pastor

My wife and I were looking through some pictures from the past year, when I came across this picture from my ordination service. This is my pastor, Derik Lawrence, doing what he has done countless times in my life- giving me words of wisdom and praying with me. This picture captures the influence that Pastor Lawrence has had on my life. He was my youth pastor throughout my middle and high school years. During that time of my life, God used Pastor Lawrence to instill principles from the Word of God into my heart that have never departed from me. He modeled faithfulness, joy in the ministry, biblical preaching, and a genuine heart for God. And he is still modeling those things today. Today, most of those who grew up in Pastor Lawrence's youth ministry are still faithfully serving the Lord. I will never forget Pastor Lawrence's influence in my life, and I will continue to cherish the influence that he has on my life to this day as my pastor. I love you, Pastor Lawrence!

Learning to Lean

Here are some areas in my life that I am learning to lean on the Lord. More than any other time in my life, I am learning that apart from God's grace I am absolutely void of all ability to serve Christ effectively and faithfully. The following are areas in my life that I have had to throw my hands up in the air and say, "Lord, I don't know how to do this. I don't know what to do. I don't know what to say. You must guide me through this. In fact, Lord, You must do it."

Adjustments Part Seven- The Weight of Words

I am figuring out quickly that some words in the English language that are not so "heavy" actually carry quite a bit of weight when translated into Khmer. Unfortunately for me, the way that I have learned about this important aspect of the language has not been so much from my language teacher, but from my own ignorant usage of these words in public. I will just say that I have had a couple of "Well, stink!" moments in the past couple of weeks because of offensive things I have said unintentionally.