Welcome!

Welcome to our new family blog! I (Kristy) will be posting monthly updates of our life here in Cambodia. God called us to serve Him in Cambodia. The journey for our family started when we adopted our oldest daughter from Ethiopia almost 8 years ago. After visiting another country, God broke our hearts for His people who were suffering. God placed the dream of serving Him, outside of our comfort zone, inside of our hearts. After many years of being proactive in moving forward with this calling, we finally moved to Cambodia in July of 2018. 

We moved to Phnom Penh, which is the capital of Cambodia. We lived in a apartment in a wonderful neighborhood. This was a great place to adjust to such a different culture than what we were used to.

Britton and I went to a language school. Britton accomplished 4 levels and I accomplished 3. We learned a new alphabet called the International Phonetic alphabet, because the English alphabet does not have the same sounds as the Khmer. This was and still is challenging to speak Khmer! We are so thankful for this accelerated learning time. 

Here I am with one of my language teachers and fellow student. We took a field trip to a local market and bought fruits or vegetables while using our new language. 

Britton and I attended our first Khmer wedding of one of our teachers. I was able to get a traditional Khmer dress made.  This was a wonderful cultural experience for us.

We made many new friends while in Phnom Penh. Here we are with one of our favorite guards. We still keep in contact with him and visit over FaceTime or when we go back to PP to visit. 

Learning how to drive a Moto has been a fun experience for our whole family. While traffic is a lot different in our home country, it has been a fun learning experience.

Our family took a camping trip to Kirirom. Cambodia has many neat places to visit! 

Here we all are along with one of our favorite Khmer friends on the right.

Britton is a wonderful leader for our family. His steadfastness and faithfulness helps to keep our family grounded. Here he is at a Christmas party in one of the villages we work at. 

Here we are making a video for our supporters. We have enjoyed working together. We volunteer for Cambodia Impact. So that means we help serve in Battambang city at church called Antioch Grace Brethren. On the church site they have dorms for underprivileged children. There are a total of 64 children along with house parents divided up to take care of them. Another place we volunteer is in a nearby village called Svey Kong. Here we help encourage and support a local church. We spend time going on house visits, helping the pastor with different needs, helping organize new water wells and bathrooms, fixing up the church, and teaching English. Another church site is in Sisaphon, a town about 2 hours away from Battambang. We occasionally spend time here encouraging the local Christians and helping put water wells in. 

Britton helps lead a soccer ministry every Saturday and Sunday for the children from Antioch. 

Here we are in Sisapon. We are making house visits delivering new Bibles and songbooks. 

And here we are in Svey Kong. We spend time keeping the church clean.

Here our family is in Phnom Penh by the river front. 

Another morning in Svey Kong. Because it is the rainy season and the roads are to muddy, we had to park our motos at a house and walk back in to do a Bible study 

Monday through Friday in Svey Kong Village, the local Pastor makes house visits to encourage his congregation. We get to join in and help sing, love the children, and bring joy and encouragement.

Britton and I have learned many words and phrases in the Khmer language as well as some of the alphabet and reading rules. We continue to learn the language with a Khmer tutor several times a week. We get lots of language practice in our daily life. It has been a difficult language to learn, but extremely rewarding and fun. We can build great relationships, with the Khmer, by speaking their heart language with them.

So many beautiful flowers 

Here I am with one of the sweet little boys from Antioch. 

Every other Sunday morning, I help lead Sunday school for these little ones. 

Here I am in Svey Kong on a house visit. I enjoy bringing coloring books and snacks to share with the children while the Pastor teaches their parents. 

We took a little trip to Banaan Mountain. 

This summer we helped with VBS at 3 different locations. One of the Khmer mothers handed me her baby to hold. 

Sunday morning worship time with the children from Antioch.

Sunday school at Antioch

Our family moved to another city called Battambang in March of 2019. Battambang is about 6 hours NorthWest of PP.  We are fairly close to the Thailand border. 

Here we are in Svey Kong. 

House church visits. We had someone donate a Khmer Bible for these children. I am doing my best to tell them the story in Khmer.

The jungle is so beautiful! 

Here is a view of our new city.

It truly is so beautiful! We are excited to see so many people coming to Jesus here in Cambodia. 

We stay very busy with our volunteer work. But sometimes we enjoy having fun together! Here we are on a Bamboo train with one of our favorite Khmer friends, David. He visited us from PP. 

Thankful for our family and this experience we get to live. 

We are still thankful to be Americans! Here we are celebrating 4th of July. 

Gracie is our oldest daughter. She is 14 years old. She is doing well in school. She loves to play with the children. Recently she has had some babysitting and tutoring opportunities. 

Carter is 12 years old. He does an amazing job helping his Daddy with any projects. 

Our boys are very adventurous in their eating! They enjoy trying new foods. Partially developed baby ducks, frogs, crab brains, crickets, and worms are just a few food items that they have tried. 

Brysen is 10 years old. He loves playing with the children. I am so proud of all of my children and the way they have so willingly moved to a new country. They spend a lot of time traveling, riding motos, skipping normal dinner times, bored days without mom and dad, no communication with other children their age and many more difficult situations. But they are amazing troopers, we rarely hear them complain.

Little geckos are fun to play with! The boys are involved in music lessons. Also our children are all taking Khmer language lessons once a week. 

Here is Tashayla Benedict. She so graciously came with our family for two years. She helps with homeschooling and babysitting when needed. She also does an amazing job at taking pictures. We have been thankful for her calm presence in our family. The adjustment hasn't always been easy and I have been thankful to have her here with us! 

Tashayla teaches the older 3 children. They are on their second year of homeschooling. So far they are all doing very well. 

And Savanna! She is our youngest. She will be 6 in a couple months. She loves her kitty, Derrick.

Savanna recently started school at the local YWAM base. They have a school called Cornerstone for grades K-3. We are thankful for this opportunity for Savanna. She is loving it! 

We sure love her little stage of life.



We want to THANK our financial supporters, prayer supporters, friends, family, loved ones, and anyone who supports our family in any kind of way!
We feel absolutely honored to live in Cambodia and to serve Jesus through Cambodia Impact.
Life is not always easy here. The days are extremely hot or raining, the culture seems to be the opposite of our culture we know, the food is difficult to eat at times, friends are hard to make as we have a language barrier....BUT on the days that are difficult, we remember that God called us here for this time and this place. And that truth helps us get through the difficult days!


Please pray for the health and safety of our family.
Please reach out to us at KristyFilbrun@yahoo.com OR BrittonFilbrun@yahoo.com
We would love to hear from anyone!
Lord willing, we will be making a trip home to America, next summer. We are looking forward to seeing all our friends and family again as well as spending time sharing what God is doing here in Cambodia. We don't know how long God will have us here, we do not have an extended plan for our future. We will continue to live and serve in Cambodia until God calls us differently.