Rich and Ronda Dolan

This morning started new classes at CBI.  In the mornings, for everyone but Bunthai, Jerry Lundy from  Broken Arrow is teaching online.  He is teaching the Characteristics of Christ.  Rich is teaching Bunthai the books of Ezra, Nehemiah and Esther. Bunthai only lack a couple classes to finish. Then in the afternoons, Bunthai and Mai are studying Work of a Preacher with Rich. This is a stalk of bananas straight off of the school landlord's tree.  So incredibly good.  I wish you could have the opportunity to eat bananas right off the tree.  However, it does make it hard to eat bananas in the US.     Saturday, one of the Christian young women got married in Kampong Thom.  For those of you that have been here,  Kampong Thom is the halfway point to Siem Reap. We decided to go during the day instead of the usual nighttime activities.  We left the house at 7:20 am and arrived at 11am.  We had rice and soup for lunch and then...

Before I get into our Christmas happenings, I just to tell you something I have been thinking about. Several times now, when one of our students have been giving their chapel talks, they would say "I don't remember exactly where this verse is, but..." and then go on to say what the verse says.  And that is great!  But what is really wonderful is to hear several of the students (who didn't know their books of the Bible a year ago) tell them where the verse it is.  To hear them just immediately be able to give scripture like that is amazing!  Such a blessing to watch their growth! I took this picture on Tuesday.  We have split chapel on Tuesday, where the girls and I have our chapel upstairs and the boys downstairs.  We are currently waiting for the boys to be finished.  I noticed that these 3 were just squatting on the floor in the kitchen.  What you can't see is that there is a stack of chairs to the left.  They thought it was funny that I to...

We rejoice at the news that 6 additional souls have been saved in Battambang province.  This is at the same village of the last baptisms that I told you about.  Sokun and Soklee do a great job working for the church there and being an active part in the community. Wednesday morning, we found out that Vannak, one of the teachers at the preaching school in Siem Reap, had died.   This is the front of the church building/school.  My sister, Julie and I along with Khemrin and Dara went up to Siem Reap.   Vannak was 45 years old.  He became a Christian, attended and graduated from the Bear Valley school in Siem Reap and then became one of their 3 teachers there. His wife, Sophouen (pronounced So-poo-un) is the school cook.  They have 3 children.  The boys are 19 and 18 and their daughter is 14. He lived his life as an excellent Christian man and example.  He will be missed here.  However, we rejoice that he is getting to see His Lord...

In the previous blog, I showed you our girl students.  So here are the guys. Bunly, Kimchhouy, and Khern (pronounced Khooen) These are our 2 newest students.  They have just started. Touy and Phalin For these 2, their next class is Basics of the New Testament taught by Khemrin. The rest of our guys are: Bunthai, who only lacks a couple classes to graduate; Phanit, Sokna and Somnang They are pretty great!  Today the all took their final in Rich's class on the Resurrection. All the students except the two newest ones will be studying I Corinthians with Rich next. We got the great news from our graduates Sokun and Soklee that there were 5 new baptisms in their village. If you remember, this is the village that was flooded and the church was able to provide many with food and provisions during this time.  Sokun and Soklee used this time to touch so many lives.  We are so grateful that these ladies have declared Jesus as their Lord and King.   Please keep t...

On Saturday night, we finally had another Women's night.  Since it has been awhile since we have met, we had a Bunco night and enjoyed pizza and plenty of fellowship. Khemrin's mom and grandmother were at CBI, so they also joined in.  They weren't too fond of the pizza but they really enjoyed the Bunco game!  We only had 21 women all together, but those that were there had a good time.  I intended to get a picture of everyone at the end, but I forgot. In the middle of the evening, it started raining. By the time we finished, the water had flooded the road and was in the gate halfway to the doors.  Many of the girls from the BEST Center (the dorm that my sister, Julie runs) walked, so I made a couple trips driving them back. This is a picture of all of our currents students, plus Lek (on the far left) who has already finished. I'd like to introduce you to our girls. This is Kimson, Jenthra, and Sraynij.  They have now been at CBI for one year.  They are...

On Monday, November 9th, we drove to Takeo province to attend a wedding of one of our graduates.  Kimsroeun is the youngest brother of 4, all that graduated from CBI.   This is our table.  Rich is in the maroon shirt on the right.  There were others there from CBI and the church, but this is the group that travelled with us.   This is Kimsroeun and his new wife, Srayjen.  When Kimsroeun and Srayjen first started "dating", he told me that "she is tall, like me".  They are both much taller than the average Khmer.   Please keep them in your prayers.  Please pray that she will open her heart and become a believer in the true God. Before COVID, Kimsroeun would take a carload of our students to a village one weekend a month to help the church and teach and preach.  This is the view from our table facing the other direction.  Kimsroeun made sure to tell us that we should sit out there and enjoy the river. As for COVID, we ha...

We have had a lot of rain here lately that has caused flooding.  When it rains hard and for a long time, the water doesn't have time to drain.  Then put days of that type of weather together and we have a lot of flooded streets. One of the major problems is that this flooding is happening at a time that the trash collectors are on strike.  Not a good combination. This picture is of our road.  If you can look past the wires, you can see the water in the road.  However, our street drains pretty well after a few hours. We have not had any problems with water in the house. However, the road that CBI is on isn't as good.  Last Sunday, when we met with the church at CBI, the water was over my knees.  By Monday morning, it was just below my knees. This picture was taken this morning while we were walking to the school from our house.  Right in front of the school is where it is the deepest.   Thankfully, the school area itself is built up, so a...