Rich and Ronda Dolan

We really enjoyed Kim's visit - it was just too short. Rich leaves for the US tomorrow for several weeks. Another exciting thing, yesterday, Veashna (one of our students) and his wife, Lynna, had their first baby. His name is Timothy. I haven't seen him yet but will certainly forward pictures when I do. Rich is wrapping up Church Growth class in the mornings. He taught Song of Solomon yesterday afternoon and said that the students had no problem getting sleepy! For those of you who sent gifts with Kim...THANKS!!!!! It is all so much appreciated! I will put the magazines and popcorn to good use while Rich is gone and I get some quiet time. For those of you who will see Rich, please don't spoil him too much and tell him too much how great he is. I have to live with him when he gets back, so don't make his head too big!! Ha! Know that we love you all! Ronda

I can't believe it has been 2 weeks since I blogged last. Time flies! The first picture is Mark Hooper and Rich. Mark was here for about 10 days to teach in the preaching school. We enjoyed getting to know him. He is a Longhorn fan, like Rich, so they hit it off quite well! We look forward to getting to know him better in the future. On Friday, Nov. 3rd, we had the students, members of both the Phnom Penh church and the Partners In Progress church over for a singing. Then on Saturday, the 4th, there was a party/fellowship at Partners In Progress. Everyone seemed to enjoy getting to know each other, playing games, eating, etc. We hope to do more of these in the future. The last 2 pictures is of the group that was at the party. At this moment, Rich is teaching at the school and I am waiting for a few more minutes before going to pick up Kim Binkley at the airport. She will be here for a week. Several things are going to be happening: Kim gets in today, Veashna (one of our...

We are back to our routine now. Rich is teaching Church growth in the mornings until noon, then comes home for lunch and rest and leave at 1:30 to go back to the school to teach Job/Prov/Ecclesiates. He gets done there at 3:30 and heads to language school for his class from 4-5pm. He gets home in time to eat dinner and study for tomorrow. In language school now, we are using different teachers (I go to class at 3pm) but we are both starting to study the book of John. You have no idea how nice it is in English that we use the same words for everyone. Here, God, Jesus, HS, gods, royalty to things on a little higher plain than the rest of us folks, so they use different words. For example: the regular word for 'to come' is 'mok' but when God comes it is ýeeang'. The regular word for 'to give' is ówie' but for God it is 'brahdteean'. And so studying the Bible makes you feel like you don't know any vocabulary since so much of it is differ...

The first picture is of Sokphea's, the future groom, little brothers. Sokphea is the oldest of 6. I don't know who the others are, but thought they were cute. Mark Hooper left this morning headed to Singapore. We were grateful to have him teaching at the school for a week. The students seems to really enjoy him. I think I mentioned before that school is out this week. Rich will start teaching both the morning and afternoon classes on Monday, the 6th. Also, on the 6th, we will start back at language school. And on top of some conversation, we will be getting some Bible, by going through the book of John. So between teaching all day until 3:30 and then heading straight to language school for an hour, Rich will be used up! Pray for him to have the endurance and patience on both fronts. Much love to all of you. Ronda

Lanny Partain taught in the school for month. During that month, his sweet wife, living in Houston, had to leave twice for hurricanes. She might not let him leave again. Anyway, it was great getting to meet Lanny and have him with us. While Lanny was here, one of our students, Sokphea got engaged to Srayneeang . Here, there is an engagement party where the people invited carry food on decorated plates in pairs and walk in a procession to the brides house. There is food while the ceremony goes on upstairs. In the engagement ceremony, the future groom and bride and both sets of parents meet. The groom discussed with the bride's parents what he will give for her. (Of course, this is a formality usually as this has really already been settled) Sokphea and Srayneeang had 2 changes of clothes, both traditional dress. Also, the bride, as you can tell from the pictures, gets quite decorated up. Due to the heat, etc. the Khmers don't typically wear any makeup, but they ...

I know Ronda just posted, but we're going to get more pictures up and do a better job of posting. So, here is a picture from a church meal. Sorry about the quality, it was taken on a cell phone. Notice we are enjoying the meal and we are shoeless. Reason #7 to live in Cambodia -- I have not worn dress shoes in over a year! Here is a picture of our current class of students. Notice they are small, in both height and quanity, but it's a really good group. Don't they look smart? It's because I'm not teaching them right now. And, here is a picture of our family in front of the school. In case you can't tell, I'm the older looking guy on the left, then there is Jason, Randall and Reuben. Rebekah and Ronda are in the front. Rich

Hi! It seems like I am always apologizing for not writing more often. But you know how it is...you get on a routine and it doesn't seem particularly noteworthy. But, again, I will try to do better so you feel more like you're with us here. Lanny Partain, who had been teaching for the last month (yes, I did get a picture of him; and yes, it is still in the camera) left on Monday headed, hopefully, home to Houston. Needless to say, he had a lot of work ahead of him once getting there. Preliminary reports from his friends indicated that his home didn't seem to have much damage. His family was safely out of Houston. We are grateful for the time he spent here with us and the students. Dennis and Sharon Welch, who have moved here to help the work, have found a house and should be able to start moving things in this weekend. Mark Hooper will be here teaching for a week, so we will pick him up at the airport on Saturday. This week, the students are out to different villages ...