In the month of June, we held our annual pastors convention and national church conference. This was the time to meet together to talk about the plans for the future, remedy the mistakes of the past, and encourage each other in the faith. Here you are seeing Tim giving an opening message to the pastors about trusting God in the midst of the storm, citing a story from the history of the Cambodian church about a pastor during the time of the Khmer Rouge.
Worship times are always very special moments here in Cambodia, fusing us together as our voices praise our God in Heaven. This picture was taken as we all sang the song "In Jesus Christ, We Are One Family."
After Pastors Convention, we were blessed to have a youth team come from Brookings Wesleyan Church in South Dakota. These young people were a great encouragement to our hearts, and we hope that they come back in the near future. We want to say thank you to all of the youth and their leaders for being a blessing to us and the ministry here in Cambodia.
One afternoon, after returning from Boeng Krum, we planted mango trees on the new lot. These trees will grow large in the years to come, providing cooling shade and delicious fruit for the future students at the Bible School, who will greatly appreciate them. Here you are seeing Pastor Arun and Lyle from Brookings carefully planting one of the trees.
The main focus of the youth team was to minister to the children at the various churches around Cambodia. Here you are seeing Tiffany and some of the members of the team preparing balloon animals gifts for the children at the end of one of the Backyard Bible Schools.
Several weeks after the youth team departed to go to the United States, we were very fortunate to have another team from Brookings. This team focused on preparing medical/hygiene clinics. One of the first clinics that they did was in Salamet, which is a small church on the other side of the river. Here you can see us, and our car, crossing the river on a very small ferry. Though it may look rather rickety, and they did suggest that we ride outside of our car in case our car happened to fall into the water, it was a very pleasurable way to cross the river.
One of the great things about traveling to different churches is that we get to see our students living and working in the ministry. Here, Tiffany and Srey pose at the medical clinic in Salamet.
The focus of the clinic was to educate the people in proper hygiene and diet. This message of good health was coupled with testimonies of God’s goodness and times of teaching and stories for the children. In this picture, you are seeing Leak and Colleen teaching at Ramole.
Seeing the children at each of these clinics is always a very moving time. These young children are hearing about the Gospel of Jesus Christ, seeing it lived out in the lives of the pastors in their community and in the lives of the guests that have come to bring medicines and love. This is the entire Gospel, and we feel so privileged to be involved with the whole Kingdom of God.
The final message given to the children was the salvation message, acted out by members of the team. Here you are seeing Tyler, Mary Jean and Chaney, telling the story of God’s plan of salvation for each of us.
One of the most popular events during these medical clinics was the bubbles. A little soap, a little glycerin, water and numerous tools for making bubbles provided a fun experience for the kids.
The story behind this picture is really quite amusing. After each clinic, the team passed out wordless bracelets to the children. The boy on the right went to Tiffany to accept a bracelet, much to the dismay of the other boy who obviously thought that these foreigners had something up their sleeves. After the first boy received his bracelet, the other boy did his best to get him to take it off and throw it away, absolutely refusing to accept one himself.
The clinic focused on proper hygiene, good nutrition, and the dispersal of simple, yet very necessary medicines. Here you are seeing Pastor Jun, our mission director, giving some further instruction to one of the men who received these medicines.
This is a picture of the medical team from Brookings. To the team, thank you so much, you were a great blessing to us. (pictured here in the front row: Phil, Tim, Tiffany, Mary. Second row, Sylvia, Mary Jean, our translator Leak, National Superintendent Rev. Kimsan, Colleen, Tyler, Pastor Sopear and Pastor Menghong who is the District Leader in Kampong Cham.
A highlight of this year, and an event that has been long in the making, was the marriage of Pastors Arun and Charea. Many of you might know this fine couple, and it was a blessing to be able to share in this blessed day with them. Here you are seeing Charea present a garland of flowers to her soon to be husband at the beginning of the ceremony.
The entire wedding was a blessed affair with many pastors and guests coming from all over Cambodian and many visitors from the United States as well. Here you are seeing Arun and Charea exiting the church amidst as shower of palm seeds.
After the wedding, we were able to take the team to Angkor Wat. It was a perfect day to tour the many temples, with perfect skies and less than oppressive heat. Here you are seeing the main temple of Angkor with its reflection in a nearby pond.
Here is a picture of us posing in one of the window alcoves at Angkor Wat.
The Brooking Medical Team at the entrance to the temple.
When we returned from Siem Riep, we were able to go visit Greg and Resie and their new family member. We received a text during the wedding telling us that Resie had gone into labor and delivered their daughter Esher Eirine. The entire family is doing well, and we are blessed to have a new member of our ministry team here in Cambodia.
As we were preparing for Graduation, we did some work on the school that included a new coat of paint on the exterior walls. Here you are seeing Tim and Pastor Arun, recently returned from Siem Riep with his new wife, posing outside of the school, covered in dust and paint.
We were proud to conduct the graduation ceremony for the second graduating class of the Wesleyan Bible Institute. Here, you are seeing SoPhol and Som On, two of our present students, holding the Cambodian flag to honor the country of Cambodia at the beginning of the ceremony.
These pastors have completed three years of study at the school and then one year of pastoral ministry around the country. It was a proud day for these graduates and their families who were also in attendance.
Here you are seeing Pastor Greg, the president of the school, and Pastor Jun, the mission director, presenting Chaney with her diploma and stole.
It was an honor to share this day with our new pastors and their smiles showed their pride and their love of the life to which God has called them, that is to bring His love and His healing message to the people of Cambodia.
