Women's NIght and Battambang

On Monday, September 10th, we had a Women's night.  I made tortillas and they had their first taste of chicken fajitas.  Well, you can't win them all...so about 4pm it started raining and rained until after 6m.  Since most of the women come on motorcycles, that puts a big dent in attendance.  So instead of having about 25-30 ladies, we only had 15.  That is to be expected at times when you live in a tropical country and it is rainy season.  

Our emphasis this time was on prayer.  We used different colors of index cards to remind the ladies to remember to praise God, confess to God, thank God and make request to God when you pray.

On Friday afternoon, Rich and I along with 8 others in our car made the trip to Battambang.  There was also a van from the BEST Center that went as well.  Phanat and Chakriya have recently moved from Siem Reap to start a work in Battambang.  Battambang is a large city to the NW of Phnom Penh.  

Phanat had arranged a seminar this weekend with topics from questions that he has been asked in the past.

 These are just pictures of the countryside.  I think the rice is such a pretty color of green.

Vannat, a graduate from the school of preaching in Siem Reap, was the first speaker.  He and his wife work with the church in Siem Reap.  They have 3 boys.

Vannat spoke on "How Do We Know God Exists?"

 We were all sitting on the floor, so it was difficult to get pictures, but there ended up being about 75-80 people there.  About 30 of those were from the community, so that was great!

Chakriya did a great job of planning the food and having meals for us all.

 One of the things that everyone really enjoys when several congregations get together is the singing.  Since our congregations are small, it is very uplifting to hear so many voices together.

 Veasna, Rich's coworker and a graduate of our school, was the next speaker. 

He spoke on "Why Do Christians say that Jesus is God and the Buddhists say that our parents are God?"

 I forgot to keep count of all the different song leaders that we had.  They all did a great job.

Most of the people were from Battambang, Siem Reap and Phnom Penh. 

 Rich spoke next. His topic was "How is Christianity Different from Other Religions?"

 This is Phanat.  I failed to get a picture of him when he was teaching or a picture of Chakriya, his wife.

Pray for their new work in Battambang. 

I also didn't get a picture of Darat when he was teaching.  Darat is a graduate from the school in Siem Reap and now is one of the instructors there.

Darat spoke on "Who is God?"

 Richard and Linda Benskin from Austin, TX were there visiting.  Richard ended up teaching on "How Do We Know the Bible is From God?"

 Khemrin, one of our graduates, and an intern at the University Congregation in Phnom Penh spoke on "Can Someone be a Christian and a Buddhist at the Same Time?"



These were during the day on Saturday.  Then on Saturday evening after supper, Phanat taught on "Why I Believe in Jesus."  He also had 3 other of the men tell their stories.

 Piset taught during the class time Sunday morning.  He is a graduate of the Siem Reap school and works there now.

He talked about why we need to teach, that we need to teach truth, and apply that truth to our lives so that others can see our example.

During Assembly time, Rich spoke again.  He preached on "The Benefits we Receive Now as Chistians."

 After the meeting was over, we said our good-byes and headed back to Phnom Penh.

This is just a picture of sellers beside the road.  They sell all kinds of foods - fruit, vegetables, fish, dried meat, etc.  They also sell gourds, drinks, and about anything else you can think of.

We stopped in Pursat to eat lunch.  This is a picture of our group in the front and the group from the BEST Center in the back. 

We had a great plate of fried shrimp!  Most of the kids got fried rice of some sort.

We had a great weekend! 

Please keep the Christians here in your prayers.  That they might grow in their faith and stand strong.

Much love,
Ronda