19th CBI Graduation and Our 10th Anniversary in Cambodia

 Sorry it has taken me so long to get this posted.

Last Friday, August 25th, we had a graduation ceremony in addition to our anniversary of being in Cambodia for 10 years.

We had a good group with good food.  It is always fun to get to pull a lot of Christians together.

 Kimsruv, one of our former graduates spoke at the graduation.  He is also the older brother of Kimsrouen, one of the ones that graduated this night.  Kimsruv is currently working with the church in his village with another one of his brothers, Kimsrun, who is also a graduate of CBI.

 This is Aet (pronounced Utt).  He is just a good person.  He is very encouraging to our newer students and really wants to live his life in the right way and helps others as well.

 Khemrin is another one of our graduates.  He started school some time ago and then stopped studying for awhile before coming back.  His attitude when he returned was totally different and he has become a strong Christian man.

He is currently working as an intern for the University congregation and then hopes to be a travelling evangelist and encourage those working in the villages.

 Kimsrouen is the 3rd graduate of the night.  He is also the 4th CBI graduate in his family; all 3 of his older brothers came to CBI.

He is a good student.  He loves to learn.  He told me a couple days ago that he would like to gather up some of the area teenage boys and teach them English and Bible.  He has a wonderful personality for that.

 We were blessed to have Brandi Kendall in Phnom Penh during this time.  Brandi and his wife, Penny, have been working with the Sunset International Bible Institute in Singapore for the last 6-7 years.  He has just accepted a position of Dean of the Asian Sunset schools and they have moved back to Lubbock, TX.

Brandi is giving Kimsrouen the Sunset pin.

Dan Wilson was also able to be with us.  Dan worked with us at CBI when he and his wife, Ravy, first came to Cambodia.  However, they are currently working on the Partners In Progress Ship of Life.

Dan is giving Aet his Sunset pin.

Dan with Khemrin.

 Here are our 3 graduates for the night.

This diploma that they have is a Bachelor's Degree that Sunset International Bible Institute issues for them.

They also receive a diploma from CBI - Cambodia Bible Institute.  The reason for giving 2 diplomas is that the CBI diploma actually includes more hours than the Bachelor's degree requires, so we want them to have both.

As it was also our 10th anniversary in Cambodia, Brandi Kendall did a special presentation to Rich.

I can't believe that we have been here for 10 years already!  It has just been a wonderful blessing from God to be able to live here and teach these sweet souls about God, Jesus and God's Word.

We pray that we will use God's wisdom while working here and use us to shine God's light in this dark place.

 This is a picture of some of our graduates who were able to come back and join in the celebration with us.  I wish you could all know them! Including the 3 graduates of this evening, we have had 49 graduates; 39 men and 10 women.

Please keep all of our graduates in your prayers as they work and show Christ to those around them.

Please especially keep Khemrin, Aet, and Kimsrouen in your prayers as they seek the work that God would have them to do and as they start on their journeys.

The day after this graduation, we started the process of moving the school to the new location.  I had intended to take pictures of the move.  But when you are busy boxing up, moving, cleaning, loading, etc, pictures don't happen.  But we are in the new place now.  I'll get a picture to you soon.

Much love,
Ronda