Rich and Ronda Dolan

On the first official day of Khmer New Year, the older people in the family bless the younger ones. This first picture is part of the line of the elderly ones sitting and you younger ones in front, getting ready to receive blessing on the new year from their grandparents, aunts and uncles. The 2nd picture is the perfumed flower water that the younger members in the family use to bath the older ones. After the blessings are given, then all the younger members of the family pour water over the older ones and "bath" them with perfumed water. And the last picture is of the actual bathing happening. Again, Cambodia is very family oriented and everyone watches out for each other. In the immediate area, everyone is related. Usually upon marriage, the husband moves to the wife's family's house. If they have the money, they will build a house on their land or nearby; if they don't have the money, the newlyweds move into the bride's parents house. So there are aunt

Khmer New Year is in April. As it is a big holiday here, the school was out for a week. So April 13th we went to Kampot Province with one of our students. This first picture I took because I thought it was funny. I don't think these pigs were having a good day! And it probably got worse! In the village that we went to, there was this "cattle truck". As you can tell in the 2nd picture, it is a motorcycle with a cart behind it. The last picture is the house that we stayed in for the 4 days we were there. Under the house is a table type thing that is used for a eating table as a bed at night. It is probably the size of a queen sized bed. They put the food in the middle and then we sat around in a circle cross legged on it. Rich and I were given a bed upstairs. We were thankful that this has been a relatively mild hot season as there were only small windows and no fans. All of the people were wonderfully kind. They wouldn't let us help with anything! More in the

Before all the students went to their homes in the village for the Khmer New Year holidays (April 11-16), Navy organized a party. Of course there was food, laughing, talking, etc. These are just a couple pictures from that. I need to explain the last picture. At most of the parties here, they have Khmer dancing. Basically you walk or step around a table with some hand/air movements. It is very calm and not done in couples; just everyone going around a table. In the last picture, before we left for the night, some of the boys thought that they would teach Rich how to do it. You can't tell from this picture, but Pben, the boy behind Rich is laughing at Rich so hard that he can hardly move. Anyway, they had a good time. And were ready for a holiday break. Much love, Ronda

I took these pictures as we drove down the highway back to Phnom Penh from Siem Reap. The first picture is sacks of rice being loaded. All up and down the highway were truck loading rice. The harvest is over and the rice has been laid out and dried, so now it is ready to go. The 2nd picture is a pig either going to market or to another place. Doesn't look good for the pig! And the 3rd is just another taxi. It still amazes me how much they can get in one pickup, van or on a moto! And then they climb on and ride for hours. Well, hope you are doing well. Come and see us and enjoy our little country! Love Ronda

Before we left Siem Reap, we did take the students to Angkor Wat area. This is a picture of them in front of Bayon Temple. Since they don't travel like we do, most of them had not been there before, so they were pleased we took the time to let them see some of the area. The 2nd picture is us eating lunch at the school/church building before we left. Again, the guys in Siem Reap did a great job with the planning of this lectureship. The 3rd picture is of Pisay. She graduated from our school last year. Now she works in the orphanage that is in Siem Reap. She is holding Daniel, one of the 13 orphans there. It was great to get to see her and hug on her. We miss her. Love, Ronda

The last weekend in March, we took our students and went to Siem Reap for the 2nd Annual Siem Reap Lectureships. The school of preaching there, backed by Bear Valley, hosted. Phanat and Chan, the men that run the school there, do a great job and we really appreciate their hard work. The theme was from Ephesians 4:1-4 and Rich taught Saturday night on One Faith. I never counted how many people there were. The 2nd picture is of part of the crowd. Unfortunately you can't see the back of the crowd. As you can see from the 3rd picture, not everyone was enthralled with the speakers. (The boy in the black shirt had been asleep as well) Actually, it was a long day for the kids since there was preaching all day long. Tim Brumfield, who is staying with us right now and teaching at our school, preached Sunday morning. Love, Ronda

On Tuesdays at the school, we are splitting chapel. The boys still meet downstairs in the classroom. The ladies go upstairs. These pictures are of the ladies. Sokna gave the talk. She did a great job. She is engaged to Sovann, who graduated in December. The 2nd picture is of us singing. And then the 3rd picture is of Sraythouj, Golap, and Makara listening to Sokna. We have also been trying to have a ladies study on Saturday afternoons at my house. There are a lot of times that there are other things going on, so we can't meet, but we have had several good studies so far. Ronda