Rich and Ronda Dolan

 We have had a great time in the US!!!  We have enjoyed seeing our kids and their families.  I got to be here when Lily Rose Dolan was born to Reuben and Emily.  We've seen so many of our friends.  We've been blessed. But, now we have Covid.  We were vaccinated while we were in Virginia.  Our sons, Randall and Reuben also have it.  We were supposed to fly out on Wednesday, the 28th.  But since we both still have positive results, we are going to have to push those dates back.  Like I told many of you, the restrictions of getting into Thailand and Cambodia is a hassle; and now we have to start all over with those requirements.  Please pray that we will 1)get negative Covid results soon; 2)can smoothly fulfill all the requirements for entry.   Below is our family - minus Reuben's wife, Emily and new baby, Lily.  It is always a sweet gift to get to spend time with our family. Thank you for your love and prayers.  Ag...

I'm sorry that I haven't written.  I'm been so busy trying to get everything lined up for our US trip that I totally forgot to blog. We are now free to move about the city!!  Most of Phnom Penh is now in "Yellow Zone" meaning that we can pretty much go back to normal.  Still no dine in places and we still have to wear masks or shields outside of the house, but we can otherwise do like normal. These first 2 pictures I took from our roof.  Rain!!!  Let me tell you, after several months of hot, dry season, the rains are exciting!  It is still very hot (currently the heat index is 110 F and the humidity is about 60%) but at least we get a "cooling off" occasionally. The neighborhood markets are still not open.  I put up some pictures on our last blog of the sellers, but here are some more. I hope you can see the slabs of pork on the back on the motorcycle and then the pig legs handing off the next cart.  I woke up one morning to fish all across the fr...

As of April 29th, the government put the city in 3 zones.  Red zones for those areas with a lot of COVID cases; Orange zones for those with moderate cases and then Yellow zones for those with very little cases. We are in an Orange zone and so very thankful.  My sister lives about half a mile from us and she is in a Red zone.  Red zones people can't leave their house for any reason; not even to buy food.  They are grateful that they have a refrigerator and freezer, unlike most Khmers. Some pictures from our area.  The first picture is a barricade across the street at an intersection.  It is getting more difficult to find a way out of the area, but so far, we haven't had any problems finding a way out when we needed it.    As we are in a Orange zone, we are allowed out of the house 3 times a week to buy food and we can now also exercise outside.  Yeah!!! Our neighborhood market is in the same Red zone area as my sister's house.  And all th...

 As of April 14th, the government put a lockdown on Phnom Penh.  It is to last until the 28th.  It wasn't too bad.  We could get outside to exercise and go to the nearest grocery store/market three times per week.  They did have some road blocks in and out of the neighborhoods and you had to show papers to get to go through.  I had gone to the grocery store just before they set up and they let me go back to the house.  Now I am told that they have moved permanent blocks in most of the entrances to the neighborhoods so that they can control better who is coming and going. However, we just got an email from the US Embassy with the stricter guidelines.  Most of them don't really apply to us but we aren't allowed outside to exercise anymore.  (I will say that I saw a lot more people out exercising these last few days than normal.)  So, we are home except food runs.   We are thankful that some of the food stores now have delivery se...

Every now and then, some of our graduated students who are out preaching in their villages, send me pictures.  I thought that I would share some of them. This is Borey in the first 2 pictures. He has quite a few teenagers.  4 of the teenagers that were in his congregation are now in Phnom Penh studying in universities.   These next 2 pictures of Sokun and Soklee's village in Battambang province.  This is the same place as the picture I sent of everyone during Sunday services with their feet in water. Sokun and Soklee have worked hard to teach in their village and in the surrounding villages. Sokun particularly has made a point to get involved in the community.  Here he is giving them tips on COVID.  I think his involvment in his village and the care and love he shows all the people have made a big impact on them, and therefore, on the church. This is Kakada and Piset's village services.  They have had to deal with terrible neighbors and other prob...

 Good morning (well, for us anyway).  We have a special request of all of you. As I mentioned in the last blog, due to 4 Chinese women, COVID has spread and nearly doubled our amount of cases.  We suspended school for the last week and a half, and are starting back today (Tuesday). However, today, there was a notice put out that the prime minister has suspended all public gatherings indefinitely.   The prayer request is: 1.  For Rich to have the wisdom to know how to continue.  As Khemrin is teaching most of the students, starting today, and he lives at the house, as of now, that class will continue.  (Since they are all living there and are there anyway - no one coming in or out like a regular school).  Rich was to start teaching the 6 new students.  As we do not live at the school and being foreigners, we need to be careful what we do. Pray for Rich to have the wisdom to know how to deal with this class.  (Especially in light of w...

For those of you who might not know, Chinese New Year started on February 11th.   Many people were burning in these little metal burners all up and down the street.  These are 2 ladies that we say 'hello' to often when we walk down the street, so I asked her some of what they do. They burn gold colored paper and other pretty paper.  I am not sure how much of what is done in Cambodia is for the New Year angel and how much is for the ancestor worship that they do.   This is inside of their little house.  I asked them if they leave the food out all day.  They told me that they put the food out in the morning as an offering.  Then, when she is done burning all the 'gold' offerings, then they can eat the food except the fruit which is put up ont he wall on the spirit house. (I assume that it is like Khmer New Year and when they burning is done, that signifies that the ancestors are done eating.) Many of the stores had offerings of mainly fruit, br...