Hello dear friends and family far and near. As we always say, we hope this finds you doing well. We pray for Gods blessings over each of you who support our family in all the various different ways.
We have had another wonderful and busy month. Our blog posts are a way to personally keep track of all of our comings and goings. We hope things are clear as you read through our post. The main writer is Me :) (Kristy) and so its easy to write from my perspective. Alot of pictures are from my point of view as Britton does not enjoy taking pictures as much.
Enjoying coloring pictures out in the village. We were teaching them one of the fruits of the spirit, patience.
The amazing Kids Pastor, Khemry.
Laundry hanging to dry and eating a yummy banana. The rainy season is over now and we have a cooler windy season now.
Our khmer friend, How.
The first part of November we headed to Phnom Penh to a wedding of our very first Khmer friend. Makara was the apartment manager at our first apartment in Phnom Penh. He became a close friend for the 9 months that we lived there. We were thrilled he asked us to join his wedding.
Gracie decided she would rather take a small trip to Battambang to spend time with her good friend there. So she did not join us to the city, hence the lack of her face in our photos. She had a great time in Battambang.
Made it to the city and immediately met our beloved brother David. We booked a hotel close to his work so it would be easier for him to spend time with us.
Oh how we have loved getting to know David the past four years.
Enjoying some pizza in our old stomping grounds. We loved going back to our apartment and walking on our old road. We saw alot of our old friends they remembered us which was really special!
David took us to his work place. He works in a law firm. He recently finished four years of collage to be a lawyer.
Playing a few games upstairs at his work place.
Phnom Penh means foods we miss from home, including Krispy Kream donuts.
We love to visit! We miss living here!
Enjoying the pool upstairs at our hotel
Savanna and I went to a little Chinese salon next door to our apartment. This is a common and cheap way to prepare for a wedding in Cambodia. It is expected to get all dressed up and quite fancy. We have to say that the Chinese did a not so good job verses going to a Khmer salon. The Khmer girls are quite talented in makeup and hair.
Little wedding favors. These wood things go over lights, big or small.
The boys enjoying a yummy feast at the wedding. Endless pops are the main excitement for the boys.
With the bride and groom.
Our friend, Makara. We love him dearly. It was very special to join his wedding day.
Sunday morning we had the privilege of joining Nations church. Nations is an Australian based church plant that was right down from our apartment in PP. This is where we met David years ago. Our dear friend Pappy and his wife are church members. We were so happy to hear David lead worship and see all of our old friends.
After church, we headed to the mall.
Thank God for fun weekends in the city.
Meanwhile in Battambang, Gracie and her good friend Nika spent the weekend together.
AND we brought David back with us to Siem Reap for the week. This was Water festival week in Cambodia. The water festival is a celebration of the rainy season being over.
One night, we had alot of khmer friends over to our home for a cookout.
Some of the fresh spicy sauces they mixed up to eat with the meat.
We love having friends in our home.
We enjoyed lots of family time during this holiday break.
David helped me buy and make this popular green tea. It is so yummy and refreshing.
Dowtown Siem Reap was all decorated for the water festival. We enjoyed an evening of walking around and seeing all the fun sights.
Cold bubble tea always hits the spot.
One day we went to a local garden that has alot of flowers and we enjoyed the morning there.
They have a little spot to practice shooting bows.
It is alway fun to facetime with family.
Making play dough for the Sunday morning Mighty Kids program.
A peaceful view of the ICF office. We were waiting here for a meeting one day.
An Adventure Kids Saturday we had the children put the words of a verse together that they were learning.
Waiting to receive our green tea we ordered.
Savanna enjoys helping in the Mighty Kids program on Sunday mornings.
So fun to help with face painting!
Lots of coloring as well in the Sunday morning program.
Savanna celebrated her 9th birthday this month.
She enjoyed a small little tea party with a few of her friends.
Our good friend How also joined the party.
The boys help with loading and unloading the hundreds of chairs every Sunday for a couple of the programs. They have enjoyed making friends with these Khmer boys. They don't speak English so this is a good time for the boys to practice speaking Khmer with them.
Thanksgiving prep started a couple days early between our work time.
After School Program, learning new Bible verses.
Thanksgiving morning with the Roach family. All the Americans from ICF got together for the day. Only 13 of us in all, so it was very small group. We were thankful anyway and enjoyed the familiar food.
Little American girls enjoying a Thanksgiving craft.
Another morning in a new village. This specific house has followers of the devil who live there. We will start to spend alot of time now in this village. Please remember us in your prayers. This is not uncommon to have conversations with people with strongly tell us they will stay on the side of the dragon who visits them in their dreams. We know Jesus brings freedom and we pray that over this village and all the people in darkness who live there.
We enjoyed decorating for Christmas after Thanksgiving was finished.
An evening of shopping ended with a stop at a local restaurant for dinner.
Handsome and hard working
Savanna got some birthday money and she thought long and hard about what she wanted to purchase. A stuffed puppy was high on the list.
As well as a new pink bedspread!
Every one is precious in the sight of God. Once we were blind but now we see. Amazing love, Amazing grace.
The man in the green shirt used to be a drunkard. He would hang all over the outreach team in a drunken state mocking them while they shared Jesus. One day he started coming to an outreach group and Jesus changed him! A few weeks later he started coming to church with his wife. Now he believes in Jesus and he is drinking less than before. Today the family lives in victory and they were all baptized.
The Outreach team prayed together before they split up into two teams of two and headed out to the village small groups to share Jesus. We fininshe with our group early and felt God leading us to go visit another small group in the area. The group was being led by the other two outreach leaders. When we arrived to the small group they were already praying to finish up their time, so we met with a neighbor next door not to disturb our small group. This man was a former solider after the Khmer Rouge and was known around the village as being harsh and hard to get along with. We visited awhile talking about carious things and about his pet crocodile he had in his cage. Soon we shared with him about the love of Jesus and we asked if we could pray for him. He agreed and so we laid hands on him and prayed that God would open his heart and hearts to hear and receive Jesus. We didn't know this but at the same time his wife was next door praying in a circle with the small group. She prayed that God would send some men that would be able to connect and share Jesus with her husband. After praying, she went out the gate and seen two men praying with her husband! After we finished praying he said, "something came out of my ears and I have goosebumps on my arms!" Sure enough we looked and he had goosebumps all over. Hallelujah! He met Jesus. His wife says he is a new man. He comes to church every week now with a smile on his face. He was recently baptized and before the baptism him and his wife shared their testimony. He tormented his wife for ten years because she loved Jesus. He used to burn her Bibles but now he loves the word of God!
This testimony is written by Britton.
Baptism Sunday. Britton is involved with the Adult Sunday Celebration and this specific Sunday they had baptisms. What a joy!
Britton leading a team meeting before they go out to the villages.
Lots of little ones eager to have a teacher that will listen to them.
A quiet shaded spot in the village to teach the children.
Coloring is always so fun!
Thats all for this month folks. We are sure enjoying our time in Cambodia. We are all doing quite well with our roles at ICF and we thank God for this time and place to serve Him. We are so thankful for each one of you who read our blog and support us in whatever way you do!
May God bless each one of you!
