Rich and Ronda Dolan

Before I get into our Christmas happenings, I just to tell you something I have been thinking about. Several times now, when one of our students have been giving their chapel talks, they would say "I don't remember exactly where this verse is, but..." and then go on to say what the verse says.  And that is great!  But what is really wonderful is to hear several of the students (who didn't know their books of the Bible a year ago) tell them where the verse it is.  To hear them just immediately be able to give scripture like that is amazing!  Such a blessing to watch their growth! I took this picture on Tuesday.  We have split chapel on Tuesday, where the girls and I have our chapel upstairs and the boys downstairs.  We are currently waiting for the boys to be finished.  I noticed that these 3 were just squatting on the floor in the kitchen.  What you can't see is that there is a stack of chairs to the left.  They thought it was funny that I to...

We rejoice at the news that 6 additional souls have been saved in Battambang province.  This is at the same village of the last baptisms that I told you about.  Sokun and Soklee do a great job working for the church there and being an active part in the community. Wednesday morning, we found out that Vannak, one of the teachers at the preaching school in Siem Reap, had died.   This is the front of the church building/school.  My sister, Julie and I along with Khemrin and Dara went up to Siem Reap.   Vannak was 45 years old.  He became a Christian, attended and graduated from the Bear Valley school in Siem Reap and then became one of their 3 teachers there. His wife, Sophouen (pronounced So-poo-un) is the school cook.  They have 3 children.  The boys are 19 and 18 and their daughter is 14. He lived his life as an excellent Christian man and example.  He will be missed here.  However, we rejoice that he is getting to see His Lord...

In the previous blog, I showed you our girl students.  So here are the guys. Bunly, Kimchhouy, and Khern (pronounced Khooen) These are our 2 newest students.  They have just started. Touy and Phalin For these 2, their next class is Basics of the New Testament taught by Khemrin. The rest of our guys are: Bunthai, who only lacks a couple classes to graduate; Phanit, Sokna and Somnang They are pretty great!  Today the all took their final in Rich's class on the Resurrection. All the students except the two newest ones will be studying I Corinthians with Rich next. We got the great news from our graduates Sokun and Soklee that there were 5 new baptisms in their village. If you remember, this is the village that was flooded and the church was able to provide many with food and provisions during this time.  Sokun and Soklee used this time to touch so many lives.  We are so grateful that these ladies have declared Jesus as their Lord and King.   Please keep t...

On Saturday night, we finally had another Women's night.  Since it has been awhile since we have met, we had a Bunco night and enjoyed pizza and plenty of fellowship. Khemrin's mom and grandmother were at CBI, so they also joined in.  They weren't too fond of the pizza but they really enjoyed the Bunco game!  We only had 21 women all together, but those that were there had a good time.  I intended to get a picture of everyone at the end, but I forgot. In the middle of the evening, it started raining. By the time we finished, the water had flooded the road and was in the gate halfway to the doors.  Many of the girls from the BEST Center (the dorm that my sister, Julie runs) walked, so I made a couple trips driving them back. This is a picture of all of our currents students, plus Lek (on the far left) who has already finished. I'd like to introduce you to our girls. This is Kimson, Jenthra, and Sraynij.  They have now been at CBI for one year.  They are...

On Monday, November 9th, we drove to Takeo province to attend a wedding of one of our graduates.  Kimsroeun is the youngest brother of 4, all that graduated from CBI.   This is our table.  Rich is in the maroon shirt on the right.  There were others there from CBI and the church, but this is the group that travelled with us.   This is Kimsroeun and his new wife, Srayjen.  When Kimsroeun and Srayjen first started "dating", he told me that "she is tall, like me".  They are both much taller than the average Khmer.   Please keep them in your prayers.  Please pray that she will open her heart and become a believer in the true God. Before COVID, Kimsroeun would take a carload of our students to a village one weekend a month to help the church and teach and preach.  This is the view from our table facing the other direction.  Kimsroeun made sure to tell us that we should sit out there and enjoy the river. As for COVID, we ha...

We have had a lot of rain here lately that has caused flooding.  When it rains hard and for a long time, the water doesn't have time to drain.  Then put days of that type of weather together and we have a lot of flooded streets. One of the major problems is that this flooding is happening at a time that the trash collectors are on strike.  Not a good combination. This picture is of our road.  If you can look past the wires, you can see the water in the road.  However, our street drains pretty well after a few hours. We have not had any problems with water in the house. However, the road that CBI is on isn't as good.  Last Sunday, when we met with the church at CBI, the water was over my knees.  By Monday morning, it was just below my knees. This picture was taken this morning while we were walking to the school from our house.  Right in front of the school is where it is the deepest.   Thankfully, the school area itself is built up, so a...

You have 2 new sisters and a new brother!  3 of our students were baptized on Sunday night.  It was raining, the street was flooded, and it was the most beautiful night!   Gimson was baptized by Khemrin.   Phanit was baptized by Lek. And Sraynich was baptized by Lek.  Lek and Sraynich are cousins.  When she gave a devotional talk with the girls, she mentioned what a good example Lek was.  She talked about how he used to do the things of the world, but then he came to CBI, learned about Jesus and now he lives his life in a totally different way. Lek has already graduated (although we having had his ceremony yet; we are waiting until Bunthai also gets finished).  He is pretty quiet and not a big speaker; but obviously he been a wonderful example of how Jesus should change your life. Please keep these 3 in your prayers as they begin their walk with the Lord. Sophannmai (Mai for short) has asked a lot of questions for awhile now.  She w...

Rich gave his final on Thursday, Sept 10th at CBI.  As the next week is one of the major holidays here in Cambodia, we had a some time to relax at the beach.   This first picture is from the beach area looking north.  Probably only about 2 of those tall buildings were there 2 1/2 years ago.  The Chinese came in (the government sold the land to them) and set up casinos.  However, now the laws have been changed and there is no online gambling, so many of these buildings are sitting empty and/or half built.  It has been really difficult on the Khmers that live here.   But as much as people mess up the land, we were able to enjoy God's handiwork in the sunsets.   Since there are no tourist visas being given now, there are...yes, you guessed it...no tourists!  Which is really nice for us.  (Not good for the Khmers however). We got to enjoy several days on the beach, just relaxing, swimming and watching the storms roll in. This ...

Friday at noon, we got to watch the old Bunthai be buried and a new Bunthai raised. He has been at CBI for 3 years.  He kept telling us he wanted to know more and be sure.  We are so thrilled that he made this decision. I wish you all could hear him teach.  He is a very good teacher.   Please keep him in your prayers as he begins his life with the Lord.  Please also pray for him to have guidance and wisdom as he decides about his occupation and life after finishing at CBI. The last picture is the group that was there to witness his new birth. Much love, Ronda

We had a poor start to our Monday, August 3rd.  When Rich got up, he decided to cook some eggs for breakfast...we were out of cooking gas.  So he had cereal instead (which is WAY more delicious!) Then on our short walk to school, right before we got there, a man on a motorcycle tried to steal my Bible.  Rich was walking on the outside and I was in the inside.  The man, dressed in all black with black helmet, came up slowly and squeezed between me and the wall and pulled at the top of my Bible that I was carrying in front of me.  Thankfully, I had a good grip and he didn't get it. (If I thought he would have read it, I'd let him have it.  But since it would have probably ended up on the side of the road, it is far more valuable to me.)   My Bible was in a Bible cover so he wouldn't have known that it was a book and I didn't have any money. BUT, Monday got so much better when Sonah (pronounced Soknah) decided he wanted to be baptized.  He has b...

 Hello!  I hope you all are doing well. I just wanted to update you a bit.  But first, a couple funny things I saw. These Almonds Mixed Anchovy are "Buy 1 Get 1".  Is it any wonder??  And no, I didn't buy them even if they are on sale.  Because our plumbing pipes are small here, you don't flush the toilet paper down the toilet in many public restrooms.  Most of those bathrooms have some kind of sign making sure that you don't flush any paper. I always appreciate those with a little more creativity! I took this picture of part of our students.  It was during chapel; and you can only see about half of the students. To update you, Rich is teaching a class called Major Biblical Doctrines.  It is primarily about helping them understand God the Father, God the Son and God the Spirit. Lek has now finished his studies.  Bunthai has just a few more classes to go.  Rich plans to wait until Bunthai can graduate ...