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Rang and Veng baptized

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We were thrilled when 2 of our students decided to put their Lord on in baptism. The top 2 pictures are of Rang and then the next 2 are Veng.  (Sorry but the program didn't let me space them well)  They are 2 of our new students.  This is Rich with Rang and Veng singing after their baptisms.  Please keep this 2 in your prayers as they strive to follow God in their lives. After the song, there was a prayer of thanksgiving for these 2 new brothers. Such a sweet time! Love, Ronda

Scenes along the way

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We enjoy seeing different signs around town with incorrect or funny usage of English.  This sign is on our walk to the preaching school. We wondered if the house was ranting, or if this is where you needed to come to rant.  But, it is only upstairs.  On our trip to Siem Reap last month, we were held up as one of the schools along the highway was getting out.  Just thought you might like to see the cute kids on their bikes leaving school.  There were tons of them!  I just got the last few. These are flowers on the pond in front of Angkor Wat.  I think they are pretty and it looks so peaceful.  There is a lot of beautiful places in Cambodia.  You should come and see them! Much love, Ronda

A couple pictures of Matt Wilks, a new birth, and a couple random road pix

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 Matt is back in the US now, but we enjoyed him being here. This picture is of Rich, Matt, and Veasna one morning.  Matt is just getting ready to teach.  Veasna was his translator. I told Matt that I was going to put this picture on the blog, since he gave me a goofy face. He taught Bible Geography to our students.  He gave each of our students 18 maps, which was great as most of their Bibles don't have maps in the back. We hope he will be able to come again.  On Sunday, we got to see a new sister born into Christ.  Her name is Da.  She has been visiting for some time. We rejoice with her in her decision.  She and Bora (the guys with his back to the camera baptizing her) will be engaged shortly.  These next pictures of just ones I took along the road. We passed this van on the highway from Siem Reap.  As we passed the van, I noticed that there were probably 30 people inside the van, so I think these guys are the lucky ones. This pickup was going down the

Matt Wilks here now!

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 Matt Wilks is here now!  Since we have a holiday this week, we got David Maynard and Scott Keele on the plane on Sunday night and took Matt to Siem Reap on Monday afternoon. This first picture is of all of us on Sunday evening.  It was fun to have all 3 of them together for one day.  Of course, Scott and David got the beds, so Matt ended up sleeping in a chair.  I think he was tired enough that he chose not to move.  This is a picture of Rich, David and Scott buying Roties off the cart in Siem Reap.  Roties are a very thin tortilla type dough, fried and then banana and/or Chocolate syrup and/or sweetened condensed milk and then rolls up.  Truly fantastic!!  This is from one of the walls in Angkor Wat on the trip with Matt.  I thought that the headdresses on these soldiers depicted on this wall were interesting.  Can you imagine trying to carve these?  Each of these walls are about 100 feet long.  This is the stairway coming down from the middle of Angkor Wat.  You can se

Scott and David - wrapping up their time here.

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Scott Keele taught his last class and gave his final test (they all passed).  As I am writing this, David Maynard is teaching his last English class at the BEST Center. This is a picture of them with Rich and the students.  (Timothy, front middle is NOT a student) We have enjoyed having David and Scott here and we hope they have enjoyed their time here as well.  We always enjoy getting to share our work, our students, and this wonderful country with anyone who wants to come visit. Tomorrow morning, we pick up Matt Wilks at the airport.  He will be teaching Bible Geography. Keep us all in your thoughts and prayers.  Much love, Ronda

David Maynard and Scott Keele are here!

I am so irritated!  I took some pictures of Scott Keele, David Maynard and Rich at Siem Reap this weekend and...deleted them off my camera accidentally.  So, those of you in BA will just have to look at Scott and David's pictures to see where we were and what we saw. Scott and David have been here a week.  Scott is teaching I, II Timothy and Titus to our students.  He is teaching all day for 2 weeks.   David is teaching some at the BEST Center.  In case you aren't familiar, it is a program where you teach English using the Bible.  He filled in for another teacher last Thursday and half of Friday.  The rest of the time, he has students from 4-6pm.  He will also be teaching chapel at CBI on Thursday morning. It has been great having them here.  We have gotten to visit and remember about past times and then get caught up on friends that we love in Broken Arrow.  I am especially appreciative of Elaine Maynard and Kim Keele for being supportive while their husbands come here.

Kimsrauv

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This is an old picture of Kimsrauv when he was a student here in school.  I figured it is nice to have a face to put with a name. Anyway, Kimsrauv is having a hard time in his village.  The village chief where he lives is trying to keep him from teaching God's Word.  And also happens to be the next door neighbor.  He has been telling the kids that Kimsrauv is teaching that they shouldn't come and listen to him anymore. He is still teaching and trodding along, but he is getting verbal abuse daily.  Please pray for him to have the strength to endure this time.  Pray for the village chief to have a change of heart.  Pray for the people that Kimsrauv is teaching that they will continue to seek God and His Word. Kimsrauv's older brother and his wife preach in another village and one of his younger brothers is at our school now.  Wonderful family. Thanks for your prayers. Ronda

Some of our graduates (and sweet people)

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 Ok.  They aren't really our graduates, just the wife and son of one.  This is Srayneeung and Reuben.  Sophea, Srayneeung's husband and our graduate, works in one of the villages about an hour from here.  They are responsible for an orphanage there.  He also preaches for the congregation in that place.  Srayneeung is currently pregnant and very sick. (They lost their first child)  Please pray that the remainder of her pregnancy will go well and they will be the Christian examples to all those around them.  And not all of these are our graduates either.  But, here is what they are usually like...eating and being goofy!  They enjoy when they get to get together and catch up with each other's lives.  We are grateful for the Christian family that God designed to enable us to have sweet times like this.  This is Sovann and Sokna.  They work in her village.  They teach Bible and English classes for the children in their village.  Sokna also runs a little store in front o

Holiday Time

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 We had a major holiday here in Cambodia, Pchum Bunh.  It would be comparable to our Christmas.  Everyone goes back to their home villages to be with family.  Consequently, we had a week break from the school.  So, Rich and I took a few days to go to the coast and enjoy God's creation here.  We also enjoyed the quiet; being out of the city.  Hope you enjoy the pictures.  Rich eating shrimp fried rice on the beach after sunset. We passed this van on the way back to Phnom Penh.  As you can see, it is a normal van.  The 3 people you see are all behind the back seat.  Added to the stuff on top the van, when we passed, I noticed that there were probably 30 people inside the van.  I'm sure they were envious of just the 2 of us in our van! School started back today.  We are supposed to get 2 more new students this week sometime.  Rich is teaching Christian Evidences through science in the mornings.  And if you think that is difficult with all the scientic terms

More on the graduates

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Kakada had originally thought that he would continue on in a university here.  But his plans have changed.  He has decided to go back to his village and work there.  There is a church in the area (Krang Dak) that he wants to help as well as start another congregation nearer to his house a few kilometers away.  It doesn't seem far to us, but many of the people don't have transportation and stay in their small area. This way, he could help his parents as well as a couple of congregations.  Kakada is very smart.  We pray that he has the desire to work hard and be the Christian example to those in his village.  Several of our students and graduates have come from this area, so the church is certainly being strengthened in this part of the country. Phally is staying in Phnom Penh.  She is currently working (cleaning a place of business) during the week and going to beauty school on the weekends.  Her plan is to set up a beauty shop here in the city (nails, hair and makeup for

12th CBI Graduation

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 Saturday, September 14th was our 12th graduation, making a total of 32 graduates! There were 4 graduates this time, although Linna still has a couple classes to finish.  She was allowed to participate and will be given her diploma once she has completed all the requirements.  I thought you might like to see one of the plates of chicken that I took.  I bought the grilled chickens whole and then chopped them up. The reason that I thought you might enjoy it is because you can see the head and feet.  And yes, they eat all of it.  At the end of the night, I think only a couple feet were left.  Here are our graduates.  We have very few girls; it just happens that 3 ended at the same time. The graduates are, from left to right: Sraymom Linna Phally Kakada In another blog, I will give you information on their plans for the future. And here they are with the faculty.  Veasna, on Rich's left, is on staff at CBI.  He has started teaching a few classes and translates for

Our New Students

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Meet our new students!! Kimsron is 21 years old and is from Takeo.  His older brothers, Sovann and Kimsrauv are graduates of the school.  Excellent family! Sokmang is 18 and from the Gondal province.  His sister, Linna, is a student and the wife of Veasna, who is now on staff at CBI. And then Cameron, on the right, is 19 years old and also from Takeo province.    Vung is 21 and from Takeo province.  All these guys from Takeo came from a village where Kimsrauv has started a new congregation in the last year. Leeto is 19 and from Kampot province.  He has returned to his home, however.  He told the other students that it was too hard.  He has been exposed to Christians and the church so our prayer is that he continue seeking.  There is far more studying and reading than they are used to, so it is quite an adjustment for them to study at CBI. Rang is 21 and also from Takeo. And our new girls... Thary (and Sokmang) actually started in May.  But I included them here as I haven

The New School Year Has Started!

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 The fall semester at CBI has started.  We are excited to start another year. The first 3 pictures are of the students before class actually starts. Currently Rich is teaching Major Biblical Doctrines in the morning.  Then in the afternoon, Veasna is teaching the new students just some basic Bible facts and information.  Dennis Welch is teaching the rest of the students Ephesians. I think at this point, they are writing out their memory verses. Below is a picture of our 9 new students.  Actually 2 of them started in May and then we have 7 more that just started now. From left to right, they are: Sraynooj Thary Kimsrun Sokmang Vung Leeto Jumron Cameron Raung In future blogs, I will give you a bit more information on each of them. Much love, Ronda

Where are they now? - June 2009 Graduates

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Sometimes you may wonder where people have gone and what they are doing.  I wanted to flashback to the June 2009 CBI Graduates and catch you up on them. (This was the 2nd graduating class.) CHANTY, seen here teaching a group of children during one of our Evangelism weeks, is currently with Sokhom Hun at a preaching training school.  Chanty has many roles, including teacher, solver of problems, driver, organizer, etc... He (and his wife) continue to help train men who will preach and teach.  VEASNA, seen on my left, helping to translate at Sovan & Sokna's wedding, has worked with the church in a couple of different roles.  He also  started teaching some at CBI. And, he helped out with some translating and with lining up the Evangelism Weeks. In December of last year, he started working full time with CBI as a translator and teacher. He, his wife Linna and their son Timothy, all live at CBI now to help with the students.  He continues to help train men wh