Update Sept 2026 | Love but it’s a little goofy
Hi all,
This is a newsletter of love. It doesn’t look like it at first glance but most of it is related to love in some way, and it’s written to people we love, who also love us.
Pheap Bible Teaching
Pheap was invited to teach in Discipleship Bible Schools in Siem Reap and Poipet. So she lovingly served.
Due to how the schools are structured she had to study and prepare a lot more than usual.
Poipet: Leviticus, numbers, deut
Siem Reap: Joshua, Judges, Ruth, Psalms
She also was invited to teach in their community nights and received awesome feedback for it all.
Photo of Pheap speaking at YWAM Siem Reap’s community night.
Pats School Coming Up
This is a big opportunity for Pat to grow in how God has been using him for a long time.
Pat has noticed that over the years people keep trusting him with difficult things they’re carrying.
One time it was a woman Pat never met before who opened up about some pains.
Another time it was a young man Pat spent time getting to know who shared some dark thoughts & struggles.
Sometimes it’s people who need someone to hear them out and ask good questions so they can make a decision, or people navigating transition etc.
Looking back, Pat sees 2 things:
1. It’s not a coincidence. God is trusting Pat with these people.
2. Willingness to help isn’t the same as being equipped to help well.
Now an opportunity is present for Pat to be equipped to do this better. It’s a counselling foundations school here in Cambodia starting 28 Sept.
It will cover a range of topics like active listening, trauma and abuse, power of the cross, coaching, conflict resolution, and other practical tools for walking alongside people well.
This training won’t make Pat anyone’s savior but it will help him be more faithful and effective with loving others to take healthier steps forwards. And its training that will be relevant for whoever God puts in Pats path for years to come.
So here’s an invitation to help make this possible.
Altogether we’re raising $3,200 USD.
As of 8 Sept, we’ve raised $1,218.75 USD.
The total includes $2000 for the school fee and extra for costs involved with attending the school including trips for the family to see each other occasionally during the 11 week training since the training is in another city.
If you would like to contribute, gifts of any size will help.
We also appreciate your prayers too.
You can find ways to give on our website here.
Please share this with people who might be willing to help. We also have a page about this opportunity on our website with more info that you can check out and share here.
Photo of Pheap & Pat.
National Staff Conference
This year’s staff conference was particularly good. The theme was on climbing the mountain together and the main speaker (Martha) had excellent stories and points relevant to missionaries and anyone serving God long term.
Towards the end sickness broke out and many staff were out of action the following week. This is not how we typically recommend ‘spreading the love’. Our family was hit too. Liam had Covid and the Flu, we were also sick, but Jayden stayed strong remaining unaffected.
Photo of session at the conference.
Moved House
Right after the staff conference while we were sick we had just days to pack up and move house before the rental contract ended. We had to get out due to mold. The new house is a little smaller but it feels a lot better and there’s no mold! There’s a yard the kids can play in, as well as windows that actually allow a good breeze and light. We love the light.
Isaiah 32:18 “My people will live in safety, quietly at home. They will be at rest.“
Now we might be grasping at straws to show how this bit of news relates to love, but here are a few verses that connect light and love:
1 John 1:5 “This is the message we heard from Jesus and now declare to you: God is light, and there is no darkness in him at all.”
1 John 4:8 “But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love.”
Photo of Pat pointing to a window of light to the yard, with stuff that still needs sorting below.
Getting Legally married in Cambodia
We’ve been on quite the journey trying to get our marriage legal standing in Cambodia. Cambodia recognizes we’re legally married in Australia but that doesn’t mean much here.
After a few months being bounced between ministries and the Embassy, we finally had an interview with the ministry of foreign affairs. There’s a couple more trips and things to do but so far it looks like we’re set for Cambodia to legally recognize our love. That will let us have our own family book (an important legal document), and Pat will be able to restart the process to acquire citizenship.
Photo of us driving to Phnom Penh for the interview.
Prayer Requests
- For success in getting our Cambodian marriage certificate.
- For the remaining $1981.25 for the upcoming school starting 28 Sept.
- Currently the financial support we receive is about 27% of our monthly budgeted needs and with rising costs and 2 growing kids we find it hard to meet those needs, so please pray for more people to join our team. Thankyou to those who already are our partners because you make what we do possible.
Thanks for helping us spread the love and for being there for us on this journey.
At the start we wrote that this is a newsletter of love. We managed to fit the word love, in some form or another, in this newsletter a total of 16 times. How’s that!?
Take Care,
Pat & Pheap.