Friday Night Fellowship (November 30)

For our final Friday Night Fellowship with the students, we had everyone over to our house for a night of games. We started on the roof with a time of singing together, and then we played several games. Here you are seeing the men and women preparing to go head-to-head in a game of Send the Message.


The next game required the students to search through the rooms of our house, looking for small packages on which was written the clues needed to complete a puzzle. It was fun to see them running up and down our stairs, digging through our rooms, and hurrying to be the first to find all of the packages. Here you are seeing several of our students writing down the clue from one of the packages they found in our guest bedroom.


After the game, we located all of the packages, and they were used as an illustration for Tiffany’s message about entering the Christmas season. Each package contained a character from our Nativity set, and as we talked about them, one by one the students came to carefully place their character in our manger scene.


It was a great night of fun, and as we shared a treat together, Tiffany and Zanda paused to take this picture together.


It was interesting to see how our Khmer students placed all of the characters closely encircling the Baby Jesus in the manger. We often have then traveling toward the stable, but our students placed them in a tight circle, all adoring their Messiah.

Isaiah 9:6 (NIV)
For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

God’s blessings to you all,
Tim and Tiffany Gallant

Preaching and Sharing in Khmer (November 27 and December 18)

We have been studying the Khmer language for a little over one year, and we have found it to be a very difficult yet rewarding process. To move slowly to a place were you can converse with our students and the local people, asking and answering questions has been a huge achievement, but we have also set several other goals for ourselves. Tim set a goal to preach an entire message in Khmer before Christmas, and in this picture, you are seeing him sharing at chapel, preaching in Khmer about receiving wisdom from the Holy Spirit.


Tiffany’s goal was to share a story with the students during her time of preaching at chapel. Tiffany worked to prepare this special reading of the story Red Boots for Christmas, a story that tells of God’s special gift to the whole world. The students enjoyed both hearing this special Christmas story and listening to their teacher tell the story in Khmer.

Thanksgiving (November 25)

The day after water festival, we had our Thanksgiving meal with some of our friends here in Phnom Penh. We spent days preparing the foods, selecting all of our favorite holiday dishes, save for the Tom Turkey whose price was nearly $60 in the store and a pumpkin pie which we were unable to make because there was evidently not a single can of pumpkin remaining in the entire city of Phnom Penh. It was a great night of feasting and fellowshipping together, well worth all of the effort. In this picture, you are seeing three of our friends, Rolitess, who serves as an English teacher in the School of Hope in Kratie, and Mamel and Jairah the wife and daughter of our mission director, going through the buffet line.

Water Festival in Phnom Penh (November 24)

The Water Festival took place the week after we returned from the marriage conference. The population of Phnom Penh soared to nearly 4 million people who came from all over the country to view the boat races, which are the central attraction of the three-day festival. Here you are seeing Tim and some of the students walking together shortly after arriving at the festival grounds which take over the entire riverfront section of town.


Along with the boat races, there are many vendors who put on shows and contests for the people’s enjoyment. Here you are seeing a large crowd of people sitting atop the Vietnamese-Cambodian friendship monument, watching one of these contests.



After walking many kilometers, we decided to sit for a while and enjoy a snack together. As we waited for our food, we snapped this picture of Tiffany and two of our students, Som On and Pholla.


It is always great to share these special moments with our students. Here you are seeing Tim posing with Nol and Malachi.

Pastors and Wives Retreat (November 17-19)

We were privileged to be a part of the Wesleyan Pastors and Wives Retreat of 2007. Over fifteen couples attended this two-day seminar in the beautiful town of Kampong Saom, and it was well worth the months of planning and preparation. In the picture above, you are seeing the pastors and the missionaries gathering together for a group picture at the close of the conference.


We were the speakers for the opening meeting, and we focused on sharing some of the lessons about marriage that God has taught us over our six years of married life. Here, you are seeing Tiffany sharing at the beginning of the seminar.


We talked about marriage as a gift, about communication, about treasuring each other and caring for needs. We both felt that it was a great blessing from God to be able to prepare this message and share it as a team to the pastors gathered there in the conference room.


We talked, we laughed, we shared stories, and we had a great time of discussion during the seminar as certain pastors stood up to ask questions about how we handled certain situations in our own marriage. It was humorous to us to see that the Khmer and American marriages share the same struggles such as husbands driving too fast. Here you are seeing Tim and Kimsua, who did a great job as our translator, sharing during the seminar.


After we finished sharing, Tiffany went to work with the children. She and several WBI students worked to share lessons and crafts with the kids, keeping them entertained and happy while their parents enjoyed the conference. When entering the small room shown here in the picture, one could always expect a warm rush of humid air and the sounds of 10-15 children playing and talking together.


It was great to see the pastors and the wives sharing their hearts with one another. Here you are seeing Pastor Nit Banyon listening to his wife read the letter that she had written to him during one of the conference’s activities.


For the final session, the pastors and their wives reaffirmed their vows to one another, promising once again to keep God at the center of their marriages while remaining true to their roles of godly husbands and wives.

The Visit of Tim’s Parents (November 5-14)

Dear Friends and Family,

During the first week of November, we had some very special guests here in Phnom Penh. Tim's parents braved the long and arduous plane ride here to Cambodia, and we had a great time during the ten days that we were able to spend with them.



The four of us went to many of the cultural and historical spots in Phnom Penh. Here you are seeing us at Chung Eik, the Killing Fields where they buried the victims of the torture school at Toul Sleng. It is always such a hard place to visit, but it was nice to be able to show my parents the history of the people and the country to which we have been called.


On one of the first nights of my parents' visit, we had all of the students and pastors over to our house for a fellowship and a time for them to be introduced to my parents. Here you are seeing Dad meeting and greeting some of our students, much to their delight.


This is us at Wat Phnom, the central temple here in Phnom Penh. We are climbing the steps to this ancient temple. It was a perfect day, great weather with a nice breeze. However, five minutes before this picture was taken, these same smiling faces did not look so cheerful. We had an encounter with one of the monkeys that resides at the temple when he suddenly charged Tiffany and stole one of our mangos that she was holding.


I am sure that this picture is one of the highlights of the trip for Dad. Here you are seeing him feeding Sambo, the elephant at the temple. Dad simply took a hand of bananas (a hand here meaning a bunch of 6-8 bananas), and gave them to the elephant. Sambo obligingly ate them in one quick "chomp", and that was it. Dad said afterwards that he had never had a chance to feed an elephant before, "that was pretty neat."


After touring Phnom Penh for several days, we traveled up to Siem Reap, the town that is near the ancient temples for which Cambodia is so famous . Here you are seeing Tiffany and I posing for a picture at the Cultural Village, enjoying a beautiful Khmer sunset.


Being able to spend time with my parents and sharing the Khmer culture that we have experienced and worked in for the past year was a special pleasure for us. It was like by answering their many questions, and leading them to experience new sights, sounds, tastes, and smells we were experiencing them all over again for the first time.


We had to include this picture of Mom as she took one of her many pictures of "something new" here in Cambodia.


Here you are seeing Dad and I taking a short break as we walked around the Cultural Village.
After the five hour drive to Siem Riep and then constantly moving from one area to another in the village, we were all pretty tired by the end of the day.



The next day, we all went to see the temples of Angkor. These temples were built around the turn of the millennium, when the Khmer Empire ruled all of South-East Asia. Here you are seeing Tim and his parents posing for a picture in the main temple of Angkor Wat.


In this picture, you see Tiffany posing for a picture in one of the internal windows at Angkor Wat. I have to say a huge "thank you" to Tiffany for taking so many of the pictures that you are seeing on this blog update. As I had fun talking to my parents, I would often forget to take pictures, so Tiffany took it upon herself to photo document my parents' visit. She is definitely a good wife.


We also had to include this picture. With the taking of countless numbers of pictures comes a certain amount of camera trouble. Here you are seeing Tim helping his mom with her camera as Dad does a good job as acting supervisor to the task.


The temples of Angkor is the largest temple complex in the entire world. Here you are seeing us at the temple of Ta Phrom, made famous by the huge trees that have grown in and among the ruins of the temple. These great trees are a mystery to see as it does not seem possible that such hulking trees could have just grown up in the middle of this temple complex.


A fun experience that we had as we traveled from temple to temple was finding a small troupe of monkeys who were waiting for the tourists to come and feed them some bananas. Here you are seeing Tiffany feeding a small guy who was perched atop a bicycle.


This great picture was taken at the temple of Angkor Thom. It was great to experience these temples and the history of Cambodia with my parents, and I am sure that it will be a memory that we will all long treasure.


When we arrived back in Phnom Penh, we decided to have a nice dinner at our house. We cooked a special dish, broiled lamb chops with thyme and served it with several side dishes and bruschetta as an appetizer. We are lucky to have access to certain ingredients that are difficult to find in the United States, and we had a great time sharing them with my parents.


Sitting down to a special meal together as we celebrated a very early Christmas together was great fun. It was nice to see Mom and Dad enjoying the food that we had prepared and it was a pleasure to eat, talk and enjoy a quiet evening together at home.


As I said before, we celebrated an early Christmas with my parents. We feel very lucky to have had this great opportunity to share a Christmas with family, even if it took place in the middle of November. Here you are seeing some of the spoils of the evening, lovingly sent by our family and friends back in the United States.


On our last evening in Phnom Penh before Mom and Dad went back to the United States, we took a walk around one of the parks at the center of the city. Here you are seeing Independence Monument, lit up for the night's activities. Special evenings like these are made exceptional by great scenery and the lively culture of downtown Phnom Penh.


Walking around together that evening was nearly perfect, despite the fact that we had to say goodbye the next day. We enjoyed the city, a great Italian restaurant, and an evening spent in memories of the trip and great conversation. We will eagerly await the next time that Mom and Dad can return so that we can make new memories together here in Cambodia.

Church Dedication in Kampong Chnang (November 4)

Dear Friends and Family

Traveling here in Cambodia is always a very interesting and memorable experience. For example, when we traveled to a church dedication recently, we had several memorable moments that we want to share with you.

• an encounter with a chicken who, unlike his famous predecessor in the joke, unfortunately was not able to not cross the road…in front of our car.


• the experience of leaving at 3:30 in the morning, and still almost being late because we got lost in the countryside several times


• the great fun of "off-roading" for many hours in our 1992 Toyota Camry (as can be seen in the picture above)


• the nervous excitement that can only come from crossing bridges that make even the stoutest Khmer person's heart grow weak, causing them to make the decision to get out and walk as I drove the car across the weak and wobbly bridge.
  
  
  
  Though all of these encounters were very trying, when we arrived at Pastor Sideth's church, the long hours in the car were well worth the effort. For those of you who remember, Pastor Sideth was the pastor who was in the nearly fatal moto accident last year. As you can see now, he is fully recovered, cutting the commemorative ribbon, and celebrating the opening of his new church in the Kampong Ch'nang province of Cambodia.
  
  
  Here you are seeing Pastor Sideth's daughter and another dancer performing the Harvest Dance to commemorate the opening of the church. We have come to appreciate the grace and control of the apsara dancers as they move throughout the dance and its intricate hand gestures and body contortions.
  
  
  

Finally, we have to comment about the food. All Khmer celebrations such as weddings, graduations, and Christmas parties have elaborate foods. This church dedication had two dishes, and served some of the sweetest coconut milk we have tasted thus far.

It was a great opportunity to attend and participate in this memorable celebration. Pastor Sideth is reaching into the community where he already serves as a doctor, ministering to the people's physical needs while also sharing the healing message of Jesus Christ. Continue to pray for him and his family as they continue to minister.

God bless you all, and thank you again for you interest.
In Christ,
Tim and Tiffany Gallant