Rich and Ronda Dolan

Some of you have probably heard about King Norodom Sihanouk of Cambodia dying on Monday, October 15th.  I thought I would just fill you in a little He is not the current king.  He became king in 1941.  He is attributed to helping Cambodia get their independence from France and is respected by the Cambodian people.  And during the Khmer Rouge in the late 70's, they were under house arrest.  However, in 2004, he ceded from the throne.  A 9 member panel appointed his oldest son, Norodom Sihamoni, as king at that time and he is still king today.  King Norodom Sihanouk died of a heart attack in Bejing, China.  He and his wife spend quite a bit of time there.  In fact, a few years ago, during election time, it was rumored that the Prime Minister wanted to do away with the monarchy.  (The royal family are in an opposing party from the Prime Minister) At that time, King Norodom Sihanouk said that if he did, that he and his wife would move to ...

 This top picture is of our 3 newest students.  And, amazingly enough, they all have the same name...Vanna.  So we call them Vanna #1, Vanna #2 and Vanna #3.  Vanna #1 is the one in the middle; he got to the school a few weeks before the other two.  He is the 2nd of 4 kids and is from Takeo province.  He is a very good student; one of those who thinks and absorbs. Vanna #2 is on the right.  He is the 4th of 5 kids in his family and from a province near Phnom Penh.  He is friends with another one of our students, and that is how he came to the school. Vanna #3 is in the blue shirt.  We knew him before, as he came to the University congregation a few times.  We are glad he is back.  He was baptized on June 20th of this year.  He is the youngest of 4 kids in his family and from SreyReung Province.  It is funny how these 3 have just banded together.  For example, Rich has a deal that if they forget to put their name...

We met with the church in Saang, a little village where 2 of our graduates, Sovann and Sokna, live and work.  The house in the picture, where the church meets, is the house that Try (another one of our graduates) and Sokna grew up in.  Their mother as well as Sovann and Sokna live here now.  Downstairs is where they have Bible and English class (in the background of this picture).  Here is one of the new Christians leading part of the worship service.  Sovann has done a great job of having the boys help during the service.  The 4 boys on the right side of the picture all had a part.  There are just boys playing along the street.  As you can tell from the other pictures, there is quite a number of kids who come for English and Bible class at Sovann and Sokna's house.  A few blogs back is picture of Sovann and Sokna with the store that they have started at their house.  She wanted to do this so that she could be at the house to parti...

When we first got to Cambodia, I asked Tawn what was in the neighborhood market, meaning was it just food or was there other things.  He told me that it has everything that a KHMER would need, emphasizing the work 'Khmer'.   Well, this is the market that I go to for our fruit and vegetables.  As you can see, I can also get any number of things:  mushrooms, coffee, ovaltine, sauces for cooking, candles, sugar, plastic bags, crackers, etc. The market is covered, somewhat, but there are gaps in the ceiling allowing in the sunshine.  Of course, that also let in the rain.  So now, during rainy season, it is a muddy mess walking through the market. Here they are selling pineapples and pomeloes (I think that is what they are in English).  Of course, the fruit and vegetables here are wonderful!  One of the great benefits to living in the tropics. Also, in the market, you can buy all kinds of meat.  I have shown a picture of beef and pork han...

These top 3 graduates are all working in the Battambang Province.  They are all from there and have gone back to their village to teach there.  Their names are:  Sopheap, Sokgoon, and Soklee.  They have recently had 15 baptism.  Keep all these new Christians in your thoughts and prayers. Sovann, on the left, and his wife, Sokna, work in her village and have started the church there.  On Sunday, one of the congregations here in Phnom Penh are all going to meet with the church there and encourage them. Borey, on the right, is one of our most recent graduates and has just started the church in his village.  He has had a good response from people in the area and many are interested. Please keep these as well as all of us in your prayers. Much love, Ronda

 Sunset International Bible Institute, who we are affiliated with, have offered a Bachelors Degree for those students who complete their studies. For our graduates, they need to take 2 extra classes:  Christian Living and Greek.  Since they all have their own work that they are doing, Rich has arranged to meet with them one weekend of a month.  They will study Christian Family Living Friday and Saturday morning of that weekend; and Greek in the afternoons. It was wonderful to get to see all of them again and they had a great time being together again.  There were several of the graduates that we not able to make it. Veashna and Serewudt, the 2 shown above are 2 of the graduates that are working with the University Church of Christ here in Phnom Penh. These students will meet again the last weekend of the month and then one weekend a month until they have completed the courses. Nothing like Rich, an American, speaking in the Khmer language...

This is Sraymom and Makara.  This isn't a great picture, but, oh, well.  They are both good students.  They come from the same village and will graduate in May.  And this is Chuan and Tola.  Tola and Makara are brother and sister.  They are 2 of the 9 kids.  Chuan's older brother is a Christian as well.  Chuan plans to go back to his village and teach there.  They are a lot of fun, always with smiles. We had a group of our graduates back for a couple classes that Rich is teaching so that they can get their degree from Sunset.  I'll show you some pictures of them on the next blog. Much love, Ronda