Filbruns In Cambodia : February 2021

Hello friends and family! This past month has been a busy and exciting month for our family. We enjoy sharing little bits of our lives with you. Here is what we have been up to.....

School has been going very well. Our mornings start sharply at 8 am and often end around lunch time. That leaves plenty of time for afternoon activities.

Our cats, George and Lily, help with the boredom in the classroom.

Savanna loves helping in the kitchen. We eat lots of fresh fruits and vegetables here in Cambodia.

We are continuing reading the Bible together in the evenings. We are enjoying this time with our children.

Family bike rides around our village are so fun.

Carter and Brysen graduated to their yellow belt a few weeks ago. They were so excited to pass the ceremony of the breaking of the boards.

Little miss Panha enjoying a leftover Christmas candy cane.

We seem to be ahead in our school books, so the last few Mondays we have went out to Svey Kong as a family to encourage a new Bible study group. Here the boys are helping sweep the church yard.

The Khmer word for the uncooked rice above is called 'ong-koh' (The word can hardly be spelled in English). Thanking God for a bountiful rice harvest for this family.

Singing and praising Jesus together.

Delivering soup packets to one of our dear friends in the village who has been going through a hard time.

Gracie celebrated her 16th birthday on January 23. But a week before we surprised her with a birthday party!

A lot of her friends were able to join and help surprise her.

Rachel and Savanna. Rachel works for YWAM and has taught several sessions of fun dance classes for the young children.

Savanna and our neighbor Carols teddy bear, Beth.

Our neighbor, Carol, lovingly allowed us to host Gracies party in her home. Kristy prepared a yummy taco bar, which is Gracies favorite food.

Thankful for a time of sweet fellowship and fun. We ended the evening with some Karaoke singing and cake.

Kristy and her dear friend Kakeda. We want to thank everyone who personally prayed for this sweet friend. This past year she was bit by a cobra and barely lived. Then a few weeks ago she lost her newborn baby and spent several days unconscious due to delivery complications. We try to visit her when we can and pray for her and encourage her.

As you know, Britton has been overseeing a building project in Sisapon, about 2 hour moto drive from our home. It was asked that our family all come for a weekend to join their Sunday church service. We drove our three motos (Gracie is driving a moto now too!) on a Saturday afternoon. The drive was absolutely beautiful. At one point we were driving with a train on our right and on our left was gorgeous rice fields. Thankyou for everyone who again specifically prayed for safety for our family. We arrived dusty but safely a couple hours after departure.

Banteay Meanchey is a province (or State) of Cambodia located in the far northwest. It borders Battambang to the South and shares an International border with Thailand to the west. The capital of Banteay Meanchey is Serei Saophoan or Sisapon as the foreigners say.

Bright and early Sunday morning. The boys are posing with a very large rooster!

This is the little church in Sisapon.

Sweet Ming worshipping Jesus.

An after church meeting with Pastor Buntan.

The neighbors home beside the church.

Playing with one of the Pastors fourteen grandchildren.

A yummy snack while we wait for lunch. This is a mixture of pickled cucumber, mangos, ripe bananas and apples dipped in hot chili sauce.

Cha Bonlae for lunch or in English, Fried vegetables. Very yummy!

Later that afternoon we traveled about a half an hour to a new Bible study location. Here we are praying for this new leader. The tattoos are confirming his former allegiance as a Khmer Rouge soldier just a few years ago. Now he is a beloved brother in Christ.

We spent quite some time with these dear ones. We sang and prayed and spoke lots of Khmer. Building relationships and smiling at each other.

We spent time teaching the little ones about Jesus. None of them have Bibles, so at the end they all prayed for Bibles. Britton will bring them a couple 'Jesus Story Book' in Khmer, the next time we travel. Our family was gifted 5 of these Bibles to pass out when the Spirit leads us. This will be a great home for a couple of them!

Just a few sights from our walk around the small village. We were shown some land for a possible new church site for this group of new believers.

Monday morning, we work up bright and early and met Pastor Buntan and his wife at the church. We scrunched together in his car and took a little trip to a nearby park.

Fun fact, the Khmer people enjoy the taste of the stems from the Water Lily. They often use the stems in their food. A common sight here is sellers selling these stems from big baskets on their bikes.

Such a lovely morning with these two. Lots of Khmer speaking, chatting about Khmer history about life in America and family.

We enjoyed a lovely lunch in the home of one of their daughters.

Things that used to be strange are becoming normal and part of our life here, like eating lunch on the floor.

Our family was invited to the two day wedding of our dear friends Sophear and Sara. Sophear and Sara both work in Svey Kong for Cambodia Impact.

Day one of the wedding is filled with many little traditions. Savanna joined her Mom and Dad for the early morning fruit walk, while the other three children stayed home and did school.

Cutest little wedding attendants

The bride and groom

We had to capture this. Life in Cambodia requires us to wear a helmet wherever we go or whatever we may be dressed like. At least her helmet is pink!

The official wedding day and party.

We enjoyed a yummy lunch which included eight courses of delicious Khmer food.

We've been planning a trip to the city for awhile. Thankyou to dear Grandparents and parents who sent us Christmas money, our family was able to travel down to Phnom Penh for a week of relaxation.

Mr David Chan, a family favorite by now.

Thankyou for the ice cream!

We spent a couple days at the big mall in the city. They have a great bookstore that reminds us of a library. We miss having a library to go to, so this is second best.

Moto adventures

Quiet time for mentoring

A common sight here in Cambodia. We don't know to much about Buddhism, but these monks are going door to door and chanting prayers over people for money.

We found a restored factory in the city that is being used in many fun ways. One way is lending out bikes to ride around free of charge.

Another way is a huge indoor trampoline park. A great way to spend Christmas money. Thankyou!!

Sunday lunch with a few great young men. We sure enjoyed our day with them.

A very delicious Khmer dish. Canned fish and steak along with onions and an egg. Served over rice.

Our last day in Phnom Penh was spent at this amazing new development/park that has several landmarks from various countries.

The Opera house from Sidney Australia

Big Ben from London. They had the Eiffel Tower, several giant windmills from Holland and a boat in the water to maybe represent Venice Italy.

What a special time making memories together.

Navigating through rush hour traffic, balancing children on motos, in the heart of Phnom Penh is not for the faint of heart. A skill we don't plan on using in the States, but maybe patience and endurance we can use :)