October 2019

Hello from the Filbrun family! Hello from Battambang to all of our friends, family and supporters! We have had a busy month! It seems the weeks just go flying right by! There is lots happening here in our ministry with Cambodia Impact. We are excited for the continued growth of new believers. It is encouraging to our family to see many people coming to know Jesus as their personal Savior. We are feeling hopeful and encouraged. This is made possible by the many people who support our family in so many different ways. Let us share a little bit about our past few weeks with you...

 Britton spends the majority of his time helping Pastor Saran with many different projects in a nearby village called Svey Kong. Svey Kong is approximately a 30 minute moto drive from our home in Battambang City. Kristy tries to go one or two days a week to play with the children and give encouragement where needed. She is currently working on earning an online TEFL degree. Then she will be certified to teach English to young, eager participants in Svey Kong. In the picture above the boys got to take a break from a regular school day and join Mom and Dad. 

The children are so cute and sweet here in Cambodia. 

Everyone loves the chance to hold cute babies. 

Kristy and Racheney enjoy working with the children together. They are becoming good friends.

There are a lot of red ants, especially in the village! We make sure to avoid these leaves full of ants. There have been some instances of red ant bites! 

Spending time with little babies is always a highlight. The Mothers really enjoy when we take the time to love their children.

Kristy and Racheney are teaching the children a Bible story. Meanwhile Pastor Saran, Mose (a fellow coworker) and Britton are helping teach the adults. Each morning is spent going out from the church to a home. And there we spend time encouraging the families through song and Bible teaching. This is a great time to build relationships. We enjoy taking small snacks or coloring pages to help bring smiles. 

God is an amazing artist. Cambodia is full of His artwork. 

Here is a quick shot of Kristy during the drive to Svey Kong. The roads are quite dusty as well as dangerous with many moving vehicles. Please continue to pray for our safety as we travel almost daily on this dangerous road. 

We had a wonderful visit with familiar faces one morning. Merle and Judy Flory and Sam and Danelle Wray stopped in to see us while traveling through Battambang. We enjoyed an hour of fellowship, prayer and song. We thank God for small moments of encouragement. 

Every once in awhile we have the opportunity to help some children from Svey Kong who lost their Mother earlier this year. Through building relationships, we have gained the trust of the Grandmother who has the 5 motherless children in her care. 

We spend this time snuggling, laughing, watching movies, playing, cleaning little bodies, feeding empty tummies and trying our best bring encouragement. 

A few weeks ago the Filbrun childrens beloved kitty, Derrick passed away. We think he ate some rat poison. 

This was quite a devastating time for everyone. Derrick came all the way from Phnom Penh with our family when we moved in March. He quickly became a friend to the sometimes lonely Filbrun children. It is hard to make friends here in this foreign country and Derrick was a friend to all. 

Derrick will be missed. 

In September Cambodia celebrates a very evil holiday called Pchum Ben. During this time the Khmer people believe their ancestors are released from hell. Many families come together and spend time going to temples to give rice to their family who have passed away. While we cannot understand this holiday, we have this time to pray for Cambodia. We continue to pray that eyes will be opened and many people will come to know the love of a living God.
We had the honor to host our good friend David from Phnom Penh. He came and brought two of his friends with him. Our family has known David for almost a year now. We appreciate his Christlike example to our children. 

We took David and his friends to a local mountain to enjoy the day. Gracie and Tashayla are enjoying th excitement of a fun day. 

Kristy is sitting between her language teacher from Phnom Penh on the right and her good friend Carol on the left, who we met in language school. Carol has moved to Battambang as well and is quickly becoming a good friend to our family.

Here is a view of Battambang from the Mountain

We also took the boys to a nearby swimming pool. Thankyou to everyone who donates financially. Some of your money is spent hosting our friends. Each one of the Khmer boys in the picture above is either missing a Father or has a family who doesn't support them in their decision to follow Jesus. Our family enjoys, with Gods help, being a example of love and kindness.

We spent a wonderful weekend together. Here we are at church on Sunday morning.

Our friend Carol is a dental Hygienist. She so lovingly gave all the boys a good cleaning on their teeth. 

'Chu Chukang', this is how you say the word cross in Khmer. We think this cross is so beautiful, especially here in Cambodia.

Here our family is with our Pastor friend, Pastor Phanny, after church one Sunday. Also we are with our good friend Chumno (in the red tie),  his fiancé and a few of his brothers, sisters and friends. We are so thankful to feel included and loved here.

Kristy is currently spending some time on Saturday mornings taking pictures of the children from Antioch Church and Orphanage. She takes their pictures, records some interesting facts about each one and then sends the information to John Grover in California. There the information will be organized and sent out to many wonderful donors who so lovingly donates money for these sweet children to live a fulfilled life. Meanwhile Britton continues to lead a soccer ministry on Saturday mornings and Sunday afternoons.

Here Britton is taking the night bus to Phnom Penh with our new friend Rith. Rith is a new believer in Jesus. We pray the Lord gives us many opportunities to show Christ love to him. Britton is working on building a relationship with him by mentoring him through coffee dates and occasionally doing some fun things together.
Britton and Rith are going to Phnom Penh to pick up our passports. We have been given visas for another year to live in Cambodia! We want to thank our donors again for your financial support. The cost of visas is quite expensive for our family. We are trusting God with every financial cost. He has provided through our donors every step of the way.

While Britton was in Phnom Penh, Kristy was invited to go to a birthday party of our friend Chumnos Mother and sister. Gracie was also unable to join as she had already made arrangements with a friend for the evening.

Here is our brother Chumno in the front and his fiancé in the black shirt behind him. Chumno lives at Antioch Church and volunteers for Pastor Phanny. So we get to work a little bit with Chumno. But more then that, he has went out of his way to befriend our family. This invitation to his families birthday party was a big honor. We are making plans for our whole family to go again to his hometown soon. 

We were treated to a yummy but spicy Khmer meal.

We don't spend to much time relaxing here. It seems that quiet time is really hard to find. Our new life is teaching us the importance of balance. We are thankful when we find moments of quiet in Gods creation. Although the above moment didn't last to long as the red ants came marching. :) 

Here our family is at the boat races in Battambang. Each village races a boat against each other. The winner will go to Phnom Penh to the annual Khmer boat race. It was quite an exciting evening. 

Lots of food, people and fireworks.

"Whom have I in heaven besides you? Earth has nothing I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. Those who are far from You will perish; you destroy all who are unfaithful to You. But as for m, it is good to be near God. I have made the Sovereign Lord my refuge. I will tell of all your deeds." ~Psalms 73:25-28


We want to say thank you again, from the bottom of our hearts, to all who lovingly give to our family. Whether it is through prayer, email, message or financially, we appreciate it all.
Please contact us at BrittonFilbrun@yahoo.com or KristyFilbrun@yahoo.com

May God bless each and every one of you!