Rich and Ronda Dolan

 I thought you might like to see who you are praying for.  So let me introduce you to our students at CBI. These are 3 of our girl students.  Teang is not in the picture because, as I told you a few blogs ago, she was in a motorcycle wreck and had to have surgery on her ankle.  Her mom came and took her home - to Battambang Province.  We had expected her back before now, but her sister got married and, honestly, her mom doesn't really want her to leave.  She told us that she would be back this week. Sraynu, is in the yellow shirt.  She is 19 years old. She is from Kompong Cham Province.  She is the oldest of 2 in her family.  Her dad is a farmer and her mom sells in the market. Sokray is in black.  She is 20 years old. She is our newest girl student.  Bahn, one of our newer boy students was a friend from their village and encouraged her to come.  She is from Kompong Thom province. She is the 2nd of 4 kids in her family and her ...

 On Tuesday, the 7th and then on Friday, the 10th, we had 2 more weddings. Actually, they were for the same couple.   This is Bondeth (groom) and Socheat.  They are both members of the church here in Phnom Penh.  They were both students at the BEST Center and that is how they met.  They wanted to have a wedding with their Christian family on Tuesday, before having the normal Khmer wedding to appease their parents in the village. Please keep Socheat and Bondeth in your prayers as they start their lives together. I was so proud of them for wanting to have their Christian family together for their wedding.  During their vows, both of them talked about their desire to follow God in their lives and marriage together. This is a picture of the wedding in Kompong Cham.   (You should see our truck!  The road was terrible!) This is outdoors.  These are tents set up at the bride's house.   I took this picture from my seat.  Just...

 We started off a busy 10 days with the wedding of Channo and Sraydte. They are both Christians and members of the Phnom Penh Church of Christ.  Sraydte, the bride, became a Christian because she is from the village of Borey, one of our graduates. Borey taught her as she was growing up, and was converted. Then she came to Phnom Penh to go to the university and met Channo.  Channo studied and became a Christian as well. They are both now working here in Phnom Penh. The venue you see in the picture is a tent that is set up just before the wedding and by the time we were leaving town, they were already taking it all down. I took this picture because the MC of the wedding told her to kiss the groom.  (They don't kiss each other at the same time.  In fact, they don't really kiss at all.  They just put their face beside the other.)  She was really embarrassed and didn't want to do it.   In this picture, she ended up kissing his hand.  A minute...

Saturday night, we had our CBI Christmas Dinner.   These buffets have a pot with 2 kinds of broth and then a small grill on each table.  I think we had 5 of each for 17 people. Just so that you know, there is a definite process on how a buffet is to be eaten. First is the meat.  The Khmers don't usually eat a lot of meat, so it always surprises me at the tonnage of meat that they can consume if given the opportunity. Seafood, pork, beef, chicken, duck - and lots of it!  It is all raw that  you either grill it or boil at the table.   After MANY plates of various meats eaten by eat person, then they get stacks of vegetables. It is said that you eat the meat until you are full.  Then you eat vegetables to kind of settle it down.   Truly the amount of food they can eat is amazing.   After they get through the vegetables, then you get a plate of fruit.  After that is shaved ice with fruit and syrup for dessert. As you can ...

 Every November, during our Water Festival Holiday, we have a nation wide all-ages church camp.  This year it was November 14 - 17.   This is the main camp picture.  There were about 200 people attending. This is the group that came from Phnom Penh.   The theme this year was Duties and Responsibilities of the different groups who make up the church, like leaders, elders, youth, parents, etc.   A few more pictures from camp. Rich teaching his lesson to the entire group.  His topic was on the Duties and Responsibilities of Elders in the Church. This is the 'old ladies picture'.  That is what they called it.  As you can tell, I am substantially older than any of the other ladies in this picture! Just a picture of some of our group. The girl in front in the bright green shoes is Teang.  She is one of our students.  Please keep her in your prayers as she was in a motorcycle accident.  The doctor she saw wants to wait ...

Sokun and Soklee are 2 of our students who are working in a village in Battambang.    We are incredibly proud of the work they have done for the past few years.  They are very active in their community.  They did a lot of teaching and helping during Covid.   The church there is growing.  They have a wonderful reputation among the people there.  When we were there last, several people let me know how much they are doing for their village as well as being leaders in the church.  They have classes for all ages of kids.  Every Friday night, a group of teenagers meet at Sokun's and sing for an hour or so as well. Sokun is now the village chief.  All the villages, even the areas in Phnom Penh, have a village chief that takes care of the needs of the village, etc. I sent to Sokun a few days ago after I saw his post about the flooding, and asked if, on top of prayers, they had particular needs.  He told me food and fresh water. This is...