January and February 05

Temples of Cambodia

The Temples of Angkor are truly the pride of Cambodia and, to many people, are more impressive than the Pyramids!  In 1860 French explorers re-discovered these Hindu-influenced temples (built between the 9th & 14th centuries) that had long been abandoned by the vast and powerful ancient Khmer empire.

  We had seen many photos of the temples—truly, no picture can communicate the incredible size of the structures or the intricacies of the countless wall carvings, so we were happy that we finally got to see them for ourselves last month. But, as we walked and climbed around the huge complex I thought about all the many people who committed their lives to carving, hauling, and lifting hundreds of thousands of stones to build what will one day come to nothing.

  We as Christians are also in the temple building business, but the foundation we lay is not stone, but the Lord Jesus Christ (1 Co 3:10-11)! This temple is made up of those who belong to God—“Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?” (1 Co 3: 16). We are so thankful for your prayers and support in helping the Temple of God to be built in Cambodia so that God’s Spirit may dwell here.

Our First Visitor!

In December we heard the news that my brother, Bobby, was coming in January to spend a month with us on his way to China. Needless to say, it was absolutely great to see him. We had a lot of fun together, and he was such an encouragement to Cheryl and I. While he was here, we all had a lot of fun going to the Angkor temples together and doing some sightseeing, but he was soon put to work. He began teaching soon after he arrived. The following is an excerpt from his letter back home:

  “I praise God that I had the chance to be put to work for the month that I was here! I studied with several students a day and I was encouraged by their hard work and dedication to learn about God and the Bible. The last lesson I taught one group of students was the Parable of the Sower. I made sure that the students understood this important lesson from Jesus. The seed is indeed being planted here in Phnom Penh, please pray for the Khmer students here that the word of God might be planted in their hearts, that it might grow and that they will bear fruit. Also, please keep Nathan and Cheryl in your prayers as they continue to learn more Khmer language and work to plant seeds in Cambodia.”

The Mango Tree

  Even though they’re really messy, mangoes are my favorite fruit. I’ve eaten them in Africa, Latin America, Asia, but they’re usually too expensive or not available in the States. I was looking forward to eating my fill in Cambodia, especially since we have a mango tree in front of our house. But unfortunately, they’ve been out of season for quite some time!

  For so many months we thought our mango tree would never produce fruit, but now we see dozens of mangoes ripening very slowly. It’s hard to be patient (Perhaps that’s why many Khmer people eat them while they are still green, hard, and sour) but we know it will be worth the wait.

  We’re reminded of the mango tree as we work here. We feel confident that some of the people we’ve been studying with will make the decision to follow Jesus, but we know it’s just going to take a little more time, prayer, and patience on our part. In the meantime, please be praying for these two young men in particular: Pisey (pronounced “bpee-say”) and Dara (“dah rah”). They both believe in God and want to follow Him, and we believe they are very close in making that step.