Proverbs 3
⁵Trust in the Lord with all your heart
    and lean not on your own understanding;
⁶ in all your ways submit to him,
    and he will make your paths straight

Greetings and belated Happy New Year.  Soon we will be saying Happy New Year again as we celebrate the Lunar New Year on February 12th.  Even here in Cambodia the local Vietnamese still hold on to their tradition of celebrating the Lunar New Year.  But we’ve been told, like everything else that has been affected by Covid-19, it will be a much different and subdued celebration.  New Year’s here has always been about going back to hometowns and visiting family; and for many, going to pay respects to parents and grandparents who have passed away.  Like the rest of the world, Cambodia and its people are still figuring out how to live life and carry on traditions in the midst of a pandemic.

As we reflect upon the year that has gone by and the year that is to come, we’ve also been forced to figure out a lot of things.  Like everyone else, we’ve been going with the flow.  This past week we were given a very tangible reminder of what it means to go with the flow….in this case it was the flow of dirt.  Some of you may recall our posts from the end of last year about the road construction that is going on in front of our house. On one occasion we were told that if we left the house, we would not be able to come home that day because they were closing the road. We unfortunately had to leave as Josiah was at a friend’s house and needed to be picked up.  We indeed were not able to go home that night.

In November we were told that the roadwork could take up to a year to finish.  But we’ve learned in our 2 ½ years in Cambodia, that time is often a number given but you should not hold on too tightly to this number.  This past week the flow of dirt found its way again right in front of our house. Along with the dirt came a 6-foot-deep trench that stretched up and down our street.  This was totally unexpected as just a few hours earlier the workers told us that our car couldn’t leave but we can enter and exit our house via motorbike.  But with a 6-foot-deep ditch in the way, that was not going to happen. So on Sunday, Joyce, Elisabeth and Josiah found themselves stuck in the house and unable to go to church while Jadon and I (David) found ourselves unable to return home as we had left earlier on to go to another church.  While the workers did not “finish” the area in front of our house like they said, we are grateful that we were able to climb over some piles of dirt and get back into the house later that night. We were even able to dig a small pathway to get our motorcycle back into our yard.

So, what have we learned from this? We are trying to find a moral to this entire roadwork adventure.  I believe God is reminding us that the work that He is doing and going to be doing here in Cambodia among the Vietnamese people we work with is not going to be done according to our pace or schedules.  Even our plans, as well thought out as they are, can be interrupted by something as simple as a pile of dirt. We sense God calling us to draw in closer to Him and listen to Him as He whispers to us His plans.  We know that God has a clear and definitive plan for the work amongst the Vietnamese in Siem Reap and in all of Cambodia.

Will you continue to pray with us, that God will reveal to us clearly His plans for the Siem Reap Vietnamese Ministry?  Our greatest desire as a team is still to raise up leaders and disciple well, particularly the 4 individuals God has laid on our team’s heart.  The journey has not been easy and we have faced many difficulties in this journey.  We’ve also had moments of breakthrough and joy that we can thank God for. Pray for these local leaders that they will have a great passion to lead the local Vietnamese Church here in Siem Reap, Cambodia.  Pray that that they have an enlarged heart for the lost and for one another.

Please continue to pray with us:

• Pray for us to find new creative ways to connect and encourage those who we are discipling.
• Pray for those who have been studying the bible with us and hearing the gospel but have not made a personal decision to believe in Jesus yet.
• Pray for the students in public school as the new school year just started on January 9th. This is a delay of 2 months because of COVID.
• Pray for Joyce as she continues to learn Vietnamese with a tutor. 

Thank you for continuing to journey with us in our ministry! 
In His Grace, 
          
Dave, Joyce, Jadon, Elisabeth and Josiah.

Joyce teaching Bible stories in Khmer/Vietnamese