Happy July from the Filbrun family. We hope you had a great month. We've had quite the change of events and we are happy to share them with you. But first we want to make sure that you, in whatever way you support our family, are thanked! We've had so many of you reach out to us, pray for us, and give financially. We hope you know how grateful we are to each one of you who intentionally support our family. Thankyou for your love. We hope you are blessed in Jesus name.
Beautiful views from our beloved home in Battambang. We got to call Battambang our home for over two years. In the few provinces we've traveled here in Cambodia we still think Battambang is one of the more beautiful ones.
We made the best of friends in Battambang, especially our little village buddies who we will miss.
Back in June, our family went together to serve at the church in Sisapon. And during the Sunday service, God gently spoke to our hearts the idea of moving to Banteay Meanchay. As you know Britton has been traveling back and forth this past year to this church in Sisapon. The idea was brought up a couple times before of moving our family to Sisapon, a town in Banteay Meanchay province. The reality of the idea never seemed possible until that specific Sunday.
Our beloved Khmer brothers and sisters in Battambang are doing so well in their work for Cambodia Impact. The construction projects that we initially came to help oversee for Cambodia Impact are now finished. Khmer leaders have been hired to carry on the with the future work in Battambang, Praise the Lord. With Britton traveling so often to help with the church in Sisapon, it seemed like the right thing to do was move our family there so we could be of better service.
With that being said, We as a couple prayed about the idea for a good week before we presented the idea to Cambodia Impact. Once we got the go ahead to move, Britton took another trip to search for a house to rent. He spent over three hours riding up and down roads in the city in search of a good rental. With no luck in finding a good home, there was some despair. But the next morning, the pastor we work with was on his morning walk when he came upon this home above. This home is located on a Bible collage/ church property. The head pastor of this church and Bible collage was very happy to rent it to our family. We praise God for such a wonderful place to call home in Banteay Meanchay.
Once Britton returned home we decided to pack everything up, say our goodbyes and not delay our move. We spent a last morning in Svey Kong village loving our sweet friends we've known for the past three years.
The Pastor of the Svey Kong church, Pastor Saran, was excited to hear what God had laid on our hearts. We will definitely miss working day to day with him and his family, but if God allows we will be back to Battambang often. We will still continue to work together but mostly from a distance now.
Friday Bible study has always been one of our favorites. We have enjoyed seeing these little children grow !
Sweet Ming was helping Savanna wash her feet. They don't have to much of anything, but they do a great job of showing love by their servant hearts.
A last little lunch together after Bible study.
Another joyful Sunday at Antioch. This place really touched our hearts when we came on a vision trip to Cambodia in 2016. We've sat here many Sundays enjoying these dear young people. We are glad to see them all doing well. We will stop in to see them each time we are in Battambang.
And so the packing started. Our family has refrained from buying to many things other than necessities. While we do have a lot more stuff since we moved two years ago from Phnom Penh, we really didn't have to much to pack. We were able to sort through a lot of things and give it to the village for them to use.
All the while we have continued to do school. We have a goal of being half way done with our school year by September! And then we will do school three days a week to finish in May.
One last walk behind our home. Its been a wonderful place to live.
We, (Britton and Kristy), decided it was the best thing for us to get the vaccine. While our preference would have been to not get it, we decided with the amount of Khmer people we meet and talk to in the name of Jesus, that this would be the right choice. There is so much fear around the virus here that we would not be welcomed without the vaccine.
We will get our second dose the first week of August.
One last supper from La Casa. We took our pizza to the nearby airport and enjoyed the evening with our friends.
Celebrating a birthday with our friends and saying goodbye as they move to Phnom Penh and we move to Banteay Meanchay.
One last Sunday in Svey Kong while living in Battambang. While we do plan on traveling back to Battambang often, this seems like the ending of a chapter for our family.
Our children have grown in height and stature since moving to Cambodia three years ago.
Sophear, one of our beloved friends and an amazing leader in Svey Kong. We are so proud of him and the enthusiasm he brings to sharing Gods love in this specific village.
It has been such a joy and honor to serve alongside Pastor Saran and his family. Its amazing that our relationships together have been so wonderful! We have spent hours alongside each other planning, discussing, and teaching. We praise God for such a wonderful friendship in Jesus.
Beautiful Battambang.
A little trip to Phnum Sompew or the bat caves as the foreigners call it.
Our beloved friend, Rith. A few days after we moved to Battambang, Britton was getting his haircut. And God placed this young man right in the same barbershop. And because Britton was speaking in Khmer, our now friend Rith, introduced himself and asked Britton if he was a Christian. And since then we have had the most wonderful relationship with this young man. We have watched him grow not only in his English speaking but also in the ways of Jesus. We have spent hours and hours laughing and talking together. He has showed us all the wonderful hidden places around Battambang. Many adventures were taken together, especially this past year with Cambodia in lockdown. He will forever hold a special place in our hearts.
Can't pass up a $15 cleaning from the Dentist. You do get lots of water in your face and a few extra jabs in the mouth but by now this has become the norm. haha
Hours and hours spent packing, cleaning and sorting. Britton and Carter went ahead of the rest of the family. Somehow with Gods help we made it through an extremely difficult week.
Our new house in Banteay Meanchay has not been lived in for a few years. The cleaning started on tall ladders from the top of the walls to the floor. As we are typing this we have been in this home for a week and things are definitely looking up. But honestly we had a few moments of desperation as a family. We are thankful to be on the other side. Praise God for his strength.
Two weeks seemed quite fast to pack everything up. But nevertheless, a Christian moving company showed up and moved our belongings and unloaded them in Sisapon before noon!
A few tears, and a prayer with our neighbor. This has been a wonderful place to call home.
And now all together in Sisapon. We got a hotel for the first night because we couldn't get our new home clean fast enough! Our new home comes with an outdoor kitchen. :) So far we have been greeted with two extra large giant spiders, a long green jumping tree snake, a rat and large red ants that leave huge bites that lasts for days. We are smiling as we write this, we know we couldn't have did this three years ago when we first moved. But God has definitely prepared us for such a time.
Our new living room! We are able to use a lot of extra furniture left in this house if we wanted it! Even in the hard, there are many many things to be grateful for.
Our first supper in our new to us home. Our goal was to get the kitchen cleaned so we could make our own food. With the virus being so great in this specific city, there doesn't seem to be much takeout. Hungry bellies have now been filled. Meat and rice have been found. Again we thank God for his provisions.
First Sunday living in Sisapon.
Enjoying time with Pastor Buntans new granddaughter.
And our first school day in Sisapon! A lot of changes for the Filbrun children. We are thankful for a big upstairs landing and lots of new tables to spread out for our school days.
Slingshots hanging in our kitchen makes us smile. Made for our family from Svey Kong, especially used for evening rat hunting. Maybe we will put them to good use!
Trying out some baking in our new kitchen and we decided to share with everyone from the church. Turns out they love carrot cake muffins!
A new place to hang laundry, beneath the banana trees.
Freshly washed curtains brightens our home right up!
A small market outside our front gate.
A swings inside our compound. This is a great space for our children to be outside and play.
The church that is inside our compound as well. A very active little church in Sisapon.
Our new schedule kind of looks like Britton joining the Bible studies in the mornings with the Pastor and his wife. Kristy and the children work on school until around noon every day. The afternoons are spent in rest or household chores. The evenings are spent at the church helping with the two English classes, connecting to the children, talking through things with the Pastor and his wife and building relationships. We usually head out for the church on our bikes around 4:30pm. Its a 5 minute bike ride away. Pastor Buntans son, Kim San, has offered to teach all of our children music from 6-7pm and then we head home for dinner and evening routine after that.
English classes being held despite the covid.
Pastor Buntans grandchildren enjoy coming to our home and playing with Savanna and her toys.
We found a tiny Western like market in Sisapon. We are thankful for anything we can get.
Last Thursday we took a family day and drove around a hour on motos to Poipet. This is the Cambodia/Thailand border.
We found a big Thai grocery store much like a small Walmart called Big C. We found meat and a few other essentials we could stalk up on. We also found some pizza and icecream. It was a treat for sure!
We want to thank everyone for your continued prayers and support! Sending love to our friends and family. We love you and miss you all.
