Rich and Ronda Dolan

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 ...

 I wrote a blog yesterday but wasn't really pleased with how it sounded so I didn't post it yet.  This morning, we got the call that Tee, Veasna's mother, died.  If you remember, Veasna is the man who worked with Rich at CBI since December 2012.   Just about a year ago, he moved to the village of his in-laws. Veasna converted his mother about 10 years ago.  She was a sweet lady.  Tee has not been in good health for several years.  She had diabetes as well as some heart issues.  About two years ago, they told her that the only way they could really help her was to "exchange her blood" (dialysis).  The family opted not to do that.  She had gone blind as well as deaf and had difficulty getting around at all.  But even with all of that, she loved getting to come worship with the church family on Sundays.  And now, she is seeing Jesus' face (can you image how incredibly awesome that must be!!) I thought you might be in...

 THANK YOU!  THANK YOU!  THANK YOU for your prayers.  As of 11 a.m. today, I am through quarantine and free! We had the option of 2 places to go to get the 2nd COVID-19 test done.  I chose NOT to go to the Khmer-Russian Hospital because I figured it would be more crowded and I also heard that one of the people giving the test was a sadist.  I had not been to the Chak Ang Re Clinic before so this was a new place.  This is the area in front of the hospital building.  I drove our motorcycle, arrived at 8:40 a.m., filled out my paperwork and then, sat under the tree and waited.  There were about 8 "workers" sitting there taking the paperwork, but they weren't in a hurry to get the process started. Here are a few of the others waiting with me.  There were about 7 people in front of me.  We ended up waiting until 10:40 a.m. before they started calling names.  I will say that they man administering my test was checking for s...

Thank you all so very much for all the prayers on my return to Cambodia.  It is quite an ordeal trying to time everything right. Foreigners have to have a negative COVID 19 test and arrive in Cambodia within 72 hours.  Since the flight is around 30 hours (and that is with short layovers), it is quite a trick to make it.  Since I had a return ticket, I decided to have my COVID test, get the results and then change my flight dates.  When I landed, I was at 71 hours. Also, since the flight from Atlanta to Seoul, Korea was operated by Korean Airlines, they checked my documents for COVID test, medical insurance, visas, etc. there.  That is nice because if there was some problem, I would have still be in the US.  Other that I have heard of have gotten to Korea and then had to pay to fly back to the US if there documents weren't right.  I did see a man that didn't make the flight to Phnom Penh because his COVID test was over 72 hours. The hardest part ...