#67 - 5th Year in Cambodia

Gryphon and Joelle are in their new uniforms

Praise the Lord. We have now entered into our 5th year of mission work here in Cambodia. Personally, our faith, our Bible knowledge have grown tremendously and our relationship with God has become much more intimate, which affected our marriage, and our parenting. We can now testify that God is with us in all circumstances when we trust and obey Him. Gryphon had graduated from Elementary and entered Middle-School and Joelle is in 4th Grade now.

The Discipleship and Dormitory program has ran for almost 4 years now --- of course it is not perfect and we can think of many things to improve and change but one thing we know for sure is that our decision to focus on teaching the Bible and steered away from teaching English or computer is crucial.  We truly believe God's words have been planted in these students heart and God is working in their personal lives.

Concerns & Prayer Request for this year
1) Children's School:  We have increasing concern about the academic strength and the Christian value of the school especially as our children are in upper grades.   Our school has lost 14 of its international teachers/staff at the end of last school year in addition the Elementary Principal and her husband, the School Chaplain also returned to the US.  Total of 16 international staff left at the same time.  We pray that God will give wisdom to the school administration to continue to provide quality Christian education in Cambodia.

2) Ministry:  We are disappointed to see most of our older students did not rise up to be a stronger or better student leaders.  The laid-back culture and lack of self-motivation upbringing are very difficult to reverse.  A handful of students show significant growth in the past years and we will continue to help them to reach the next level.  We pray that God will bring up the next generation youth leaders to serve Him in the ministry and guide the young students.

Praises and Sharing -- Here's a few things God has continue to put in our hearts in the last few years:

1) After serving God full time at Pui Tak Center in Chicago and now in Cambodia, we know for sure we want to serve Him for life, especially in the mission field or related to mission.  We want to share our experience with God and encourage more people to give their lives to God as a living sacrifice as Paul said and the workers are few in the mission field.  There are plenty of people willing to GIVE things and do charity work but we need more people to teach His words.

2) We want to bring up our children to know God's words, to fear God and to love God but not to chase after successes in school, in extra-curricular activities or in their future career.  We have seen how Christian parents joined hands with non-believing parents in chasing after academic success, prizes from piano lessons, multi-lingual skills etc........ We pray that we can be a living testimony to our friends, that we focus on our children to know God, to fear God, to obey God, and to follow God for the rest of their lives.

3) We need to search our heart and see if we really have the love of God.  If we love God, we have to love His words. When we don't know His word, how can we live a life that is according to God's desire?  May you join us in prayers for ourselves and other brother and sisters to truly know His words?