Update Sept 2024
Hi there,
Hope you and your loved ones are doing well.
Here’s an update for you on some of the things that have happened during the past quarter.
Bible Teaching
Photo of Pheap teaching in Poipet
Pheap taught for a “Discipleship Bible School” in Poipet, on the book of Joshua, Judges, Ruth and Psalms, to 25 students. It was really a joy to be able to teach and share with them Israel’s journey through times of sorrow and victory, and the faithfulness of God through the faithfulness of His people. It was a refreshing time after recently going through the loss of our sister. Pheap wasn’t sure if she could do it but she’s glad she did it.
While she was teaching in Poipet, Pat was sick the whole time with a viral infection. Then 2 weeks later the rest of the family became very sick. Pheap was in the hospital for 3 nights because it could potentially harm the baby. It was challenging for us because we don’t have an emergency fund ready for things like this. So we had to consider the likelihood of a time of imposed fasting. However, once again God had provided for our needs through a friend who didn’t have any idea that we were in need of money.
Faithful in the little things
“A society grows great when men plant trees in whose shade they know they shall never sit.”
Pat spends some of his time serving by using tech to serve others. By managing WiFi networks and creating systems, among other things, he’s able to help many missionaries serve in greater capacity. Lately more people are coming alongside him to help with some of the things he does and this has led to Pat spending more time in documentation. It’s one of those little things to be faithful in. It’s boring and takes a while but simply writing things down so that other people know how things work, why it’s done a certain way, etc, can go a long way to prepare others to continue serving well when Pat’s away. In this way he’s planting trees for others to benefit from the shade.
Baby Prep
Photo of the move
As preparation for our second son, we have moved out of our one bedroom apartment as it won’t be able to host four people in one bedroom including room for the baby to sleep. We thank God that we found a 3 bedroom apartment close by the campus, with a very low price. And this is another God story because we needed $900 by 1st of September to deposit for the rent. He provided, so we moved in. However, we are going to continually need $200 per month to pay the monthly rent.
Dens New School
Photo of Dad & Den going to serve and learn.
Den is in kindergarten now. The school is in Khmer so even though he understands Khmer language, he speaks English a lot more, so he’ll be in kindergarten to help his Khmer foundations. He loves his school and he especially loves that it’s in the same building where daddy spends time serving. We are thankful that he could be in a good school that cares for not only his intellectual development but also the development of his character as a person. We are still looking for someone to commit to help with his tuition fee, we have one friend committed for $50 per month, so we need someone to help with another $100 monthly.
Church leaders gathering in the Capital
In the last update we talked about churches across Cambodia getting together for a national day of prayer and the common vision for Cambodia to be 10% christian by 2033 with having a church in every village.
In August a summit was held in Phnom Penh with YWAM (that’s us) being one of the organizers. 300 – 400 pastors and church leaders met during this time to plan, pray and strategize towards making the vision happen. It’s encouraging to see the unity and collaboration efforts growing here.
Prayer Request
- Wisdom and strength to serve well and love to our people and our family.
- The delivery of our second son will be smooth and good health for both mama and baba. And that we have $1000-$1500 for the hospital and living expenses while waiting for the baby in the capital city.
- For more financial partners to join us so we can continue serving full time.
Blessings,
Pat & Pheap.