Update Mar 2026 | Some Wins and a Hard No
Hey all,
It’s been a full start to the year! Between campus wins and our family walking through some unexpected hurdles, we’re still seeing lots of good things happening.
Unexpected Testimony
Pheap was in our weekly community night gathering helping with translation. At the end of the service, a girl approached her and asked for prayer. Pheap was surprised because she wasn’t one of the people that volunteered to help with prayer that night. The girl said that Pheap prayed for her once a long time ago and God answered, so every time she saw Pheap, she remembered that prayer works. Her words really touched Pheap’s heart and remind her that “We are here because someone has prayed for us and believes in us!”. On that note: Thank you for praying for us.
Pheaps Work
In our previous update, Pheap shared that she would step back to be with the kids and help with mentoring or doing small projects. She finds it’s a blessing to be able to take care of the kids and free Pat to serve full time. Since then, Pheap has had only one major meeting instead of many, helped with translation, and accepted an invitation to speak in one of the campus youth programs. This was during a “love series” and her message in a nutshell was how without God there is a hole in our life which nothing on earth can fill (drugs, money, power etc). Only the love of Jesus can fill that emptiness in our heart.
Photo of Pheap giving an illustration to a group of youth.
Pats Work
In the last email we mentioned that Pat now has a team helping to revamp the campus website. With changing needs and serving multiple roles (everyone here has multiple roles) the team ended up without having a single day where they can all work together. To coordinate the team and serve them well, he met with them and their other leaders to improve schedules ensuring everyone’s needs are met. Now his team has time each week to work together, and he’s more confident that people can maintain a healthier long-term schedule. Everyone has been a blessing to work with and Pat enjoys learning how unfamiliar parts of the campus operate and hearing what’s on the hearts of other leaders.
Campus Life
We started our January quarter with 32 students (11 for School of Ministry Development, and 21 for Discipleship Training School). We weren’t sure if the DTS school could run due to the border conflict, so we’re thankful that a way was made even though there are less students.
There are about 1,400 families, more than 5,000 people are still living as refugees due to the border conflict. Currently, we still help with providing food and practical things like medicine, mosquito nets, ect. Please continue praying for them, for complete peace.
20 year anniversary for the campus in Battambang.
There is so much to be thankful for. We met each other and started serving here 16 years ago. Now our family has grown to 4 and we’re grateful for the opportunity to be able to contribute to the impact the campus has had in Cambodia for so long.
Last week, our staff formed 5 teams for outreaches to Singapore, Laos, Malaysia, East Timor and Rothanakkiri (Cambodian Province). After an awesome 24hour prayer and worship burn they headed out to pray and and encourage the workers there.
On the Family Front - Unmet confirmed expectations
A little over a month ago we started the process for Pat to get Khmer citizenship by naturalization. We were told it’s possible and what will be needed. So after checking and being given the green light we took a few trips to the capital, paid for and organized docs and services. Then last week we went to hand in everything in and apply but we were told that rules have suddenly changed and Pat is no longer eligible for Khmer citizenship by naturalization. Since he’s married to Pheap, who is a Khmer national, he now must apply by marriage. It’s supposedly an easier pathway but that’s only if you have a Cambodian marriage certificate. So we now need to get a Khmer marriage certificate (historically not an easy feat) and possibly wait 3 years from the date of that certificate instead of our Aussie certificate. It’s frustrating and disappointing to work with people, confirm and check things, lay down about $1000usd and go through a lot of effort just to be met with a hard “no”.
So what do you do when faced with confirmed expectations that are unmet?
Grieve a little, have a good meal, process it with God and each other, and then get back up.
It’s good to get our marriage legal ‘strength’ in Cambodia and having gone through the process so far has given us a lot of the docs we need to acquire a Cambodian marriage certificate but it still might be tricky moving forward. We’ll need more wisdom, favour from various authorities, more money, and timely processing. And there’s a little hope that we’ll be given favour to not have to wait 3 years for Pat to get citizenship. So please be praying for the needs of our journey and for our hearts to remain soft.
We’re so grateful for our friends, family and ministry partners like you who pray for us and give time and resources to us generously. You have been such a blessing to us and the people we are ministering to.
Photo of the family during the 20th anniversary celebration.
Prayer requests
- For success in getting our Cambodian marriage certificate.
- Currently we receive about 27% of our monthly budgeted needs and with rising costs and 2 growing kids we find it hard to meet those needs. We want to see at least another 25% to help us to continue serving here. This is our largest need and prayer request right now.
Beside Prayer - Talk about us
Next time you’re in church or hanging out with friends, talk about a couple with kids that you know, who have been faithfully serving with a group of people dedicated to serving communities, educating youth and developing leaders. Let them know what we’re doing and how you’re a big part of it.
Maybe the people you’re talking to will want to know more or even help. Give them our website address, undeservingjourney.com
If you know someone personally then we don’t mind if you forward our updates to them.
For anyone looking to partner in bringing transformation to communities:
Every contribution, no matter the amount, makes a significant difference! Your generosity will fuel our ministry and allow us to continue sharing the message of hope and love to those who need it most. Together, we can truly make a world of difference.
Along with these prayer points, we ask you to consider mobilizing our mission by connecting us with potential partnerships, both prayers and finances. We are so thankful for your love, prayers, encouragement and finance. It would have been very difficult to do this mission without your partnership.
Your commitment brings stability to the mission. By becoming a monthly ministry partner, you ensure our budget is stable, allowing us to focus on the ministry rather than fundraising. If you feel led to make a big difference with a consistent, small commitment, please respond to us or find ways to give at our personal site’s giving page at https://undeservingjourney.com/give/.
Thank you for being there for us through the hard no’s and the wins. Knowing you’re there for us helps us move forward. We’d love to hear how you are doing as well, so please reply and let us know how we can be standing in prayer for you this month.
Take Care,
Pat & Pheap.