Rich and Ronda Dolan

Here's a hodge podge of thoughts . Our shipment finally arrived from the U.S. last week. (Well, we finally got it. It's been here for several weeks.) I've been in hog heaven finally having my books. I did find some treasures. For instance, the logbook and journal I had to keep when I was a ministry intern. I was so green! I'm teaching Isaiah now. It is great to have my books to help me study. We added another student to the school this week. His name is Try. He seems to be a good one. Last week, two of the students here baptized 15 people at the village they went to preach at. All of these are between 13-26 years of age. (Don't know if I told you before, but Ronda & I are the oldest members at the Phnom Penh congregation.) I cautioned the boys about not relying on numbers to measure our effectiveness. At the same time, they were excited. And, they should be. We had a wedding or funeral celebration yesterday(one street over). Loud music started at 6;15...

Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving. Of course, how could we not with how much God has blessed us. These are some pictures of the long boat races at the Water Festival. It was really very exciting. The Partners In Progress Ship of Life was docked so we actually got to watch from the ship. Great seats! Friday night we watched the fireworks and the barges all lit up with the different emblems (king's, parliaments, courts, etc.) Rebekah got some pics of those so hopefully, I will get one to put on soon. On Saturday, we watched some of the races. There were over 400 long boats involved. Most have between 60-75 people per boat. 3 of the pictures are of them headed upriver; they went right by the ship, so was closer to us. The 2nd picture is of a couple racing. With the exception of the front and rear guys, they all stand. They are in pairs all down the boat. There were a few boats that had oar holders and they stand on the side of the boat to row (we were amazed that th...

We got gifts for Thanksgiving!!! Our shipment got here on Wednesday, so we were thrilled. Of course, 25 of the 30 boxes are Rich's books so it didn't take Rebekah and I long to go through our stuff. But even that, there is stuff that we packed that we were wondering why we packed it (Rebekah "How many pairs of socks did I pack...I don't even wear socks here!) This first picture is road paving the street in front of CBI, the preaching school. They just put the bamboo shields across the road and you can't get a car in or out until they move on. It is nice now that it is finished. But thought you might like to see their roadblocks. No warning either...just one day we showed up to the road being blocked off. This little girl was walking with her mom to the market. They are very family oriented here. It seems no matter what the parent does (trash pickup, food place, seller, etc)the kids are right there all day long, unless in school. Truly family businesses....

I am going to try to stick on a couple picture each time so you can get the feel of town. This picture is dark, but we were on our way to language school in our tuk tuk and these boys were riding their bikes down a busier street and decided it would be easier to 'grab' a ride, so he is hanging onto our tuk tuk. They thought it was great. The boy on the back has a big grin, but it is hard to see. Today, Rebekah and I started teaching language at the PIP house (Partners In Progress) for the next 6 weeks while all the teachers are in the US. It is probably good because it helps to remind us that English words don't all make sense either, so not to get too wound up when Khmer doesn't (like silent letters on the end of words...why not just leave them off!?) Unfortunately, I couldn't zoom in fast enough to get a good picture of this sweet baby. When the family 'car' is a moto (motorcycle), like most families here, you all get on, you load it down, etc. We ...

Time for an adventure. Yesterday (Monday), I went to pay our internet bill. You can only pay in cold, hard cash. The company does not takes checks, credit cards or on-line payments. Kind of ironic to have an internet provider that does not have an on-line payment option, isn't it? We have to pay by the megabyte, and Rebekah does her school on-line, hence our bill is somewhat expensive. This month, it was over $200. Driving the motor-bike, I set out for what would become a great adventure. There are ATMs at most Cal-Tex stations here. Unfortunately, I stopped at what must be the only one without an ATM. Still needing to get money, I decided to head to the bank. Go for the sure thing. Because this particular intersection is the busiest one in town, I wisely decided to make the block and head out. Too bad for me, the street I turned onto was a one-way street. There is a sign showing that, but it's covered up and you can't see it until you've already turned onto the street....

Just a couple pictures while we are walking down the street. The first lady, with her bike loaded is our 'Walmart household department'. If you can't tell, she has brooms, dusters, rugs, spiderweb dusters, etc. You can see them all over town. The 2nd picture is a boy who says hello to us most mornings as we walk by for chapel. However, when I got the camera, like most of the small children, he started crying. OK. Now for the language. Sometimes, things are just funny...or embarrassing. They use a lot of compound words. For example, the word for toothbrush (jrah-doh-tmayny) is really 'brush (noun for a 'brush'), 'to brush' (doh) and 'teeth' (tmayny). A funny one, however is the word for towel, which is really 3 words compounded: gahnsing (scarf), pbuah (stomach), go (cow). I don't know if their first towels were made from the cow's stomach or not, but that is the word! Now, for a little embarrassing one, everytime you say the word for mil...

From left to right is: Cheav (pronounced 'Chew'), Veashna and his wife Lynna. Cheav is 21 years old and has been a Christian for 1 year. He is the 3rd child of 6, however one of his older brothers is deceased. His likes chicken and pork and in his free time likes to listen to music and play football (soccer for those of us from the US). Veashna is 23 years old and has been a Christian for 2 years. He has one younger brother. His favorite food is sour soup(I haven't had any yet). He and Lynna have been married for almost 2 yrs. Their 2 year anniversary is January 14th. Lynna is 20 years old and has been a Christian since February. He is the oldest and only girl; she has 4 younger brothers. She tried to explain to us her favorite food and all is got is that it is a soup with mashed up fish as well as other stuff (we haven't had that either!). You can't really tell from the picture with her jacket but Lynna is really tiny. She is really sweet. I hope you have enjoyed...

This is our recycling system. Both men and women pull these carts down the streets to pick up recycling. You can see them walking all day. This is a picture I got while we were riding down the street. They are on the back of a motorcycle (called 'moto'). It was drizzling so she had the baby's head covered. I can only get this to let me put on 2 pictures at a time, so guess you'll have to wait until the next blog. I have marked my calendar to try to add every 4 days, so we'll see how I do. Walk with God always and in all things. Much love, Ronda

Meet Chanty(on left) and Sokchea. Both of these students are 21 years old. Chanty has been a Christian for 2 years and is #4 of 6 children. He likes to read and listen to Khmer music. Sokchea is the brother to Tawn, Rich's interpreter. Sokchea is #10 of 10 kids. He has been a Christian for 1 year and also likes to listen to khmer music. (I personally don't think it is all that great!) Both are very good songleaders as well. When I ask their favorite food, they usually respond with something that I fixed them for lunch so I'm not sure how true that is, but Chanty says he likes curry and Sokchea likes beef. I'll tell you...I am really enjoying starting each morning with a devotional with the students. It helps the day go well, to start it off by singing to God and listening to them practice their sermons. This is just a family that I saw in town. Mom and the kids doing down the road on the motorbike. You really have to come and experience the fun on the road. They can g...