End of June 2026 Update
Can I be honest with you? If life is a Sour Patch Kid, July is the part where our eyes water before the sweetness kicks in.
You see, we're leaving Hawaii. Leaving our precious Judah (who has no inkling how he's wrapped us around his chubby little finger), leaving Liz and Aaron (who have made Hawaii a second home), leaving the prison ministry (where the women are fighting so hard to walk differently), leaving shared meals and morning walks on breathtaking beaches, and leaving Sunday mornings with our New Hope Windward Church community that has quietly become family. That's the sour — and it's real. But Cambodia is the sweet, and we know it. Because we've been there. We've seen what God does when a handful of faithful believers catch a vision for making disciples who make disciples. We know the joy on the other side of the long flight and the jet lag and the goodbyes. So yes, our eyes are watering — and yes, we're going back for more.
Of course, Peter and I cope with preparations for leaving entirely differently. He has been packed…I mean, TOTALLY packed including toiletries…for a month (which means I needed to wash his few remaining clothes several times a week to keep him decent), and has completed what I like to term his Good-Bye Tour. I, on the other hand, take the make-lists-and-complete-as-late-as-possible approach, which makes these last few days, shall we say, eventful.
As always, the reports of God’s work from our team members in the Dominican Republic, Thailand, M___________, Pakistan, and Cambodia pour in for June. Each partnership continues to grow and expand exponentially, as disciple makers make more disciples, plant churches, and conduct children’s outreaches in unreached areas, while we scramble to train ministers in pastoral skills on Zoom to help lead house churches. Pastor Jaime Blandon, for example, has been in the DR for a mere 6 years…yet the Haitian churches he first helped plant now have daughter churches that number 24! Such is the power of the Holy Spirit working through personal evangelism to spread The Good News!
So what are our plans when we get to Phnom Penh? Peter, bless him, has every day/hour/moment plotted out, as our first fact-to-face with the 50 ministers we’ve been training over Zoom takes place within a week of our arriving. This will be followed shortly by the training of 10 to 15 group leaders/facilitators for the intensive, credentialed Ministers' Essential Training Course, starting, God willing, in January. There will be a lot of emphasis on the characteristics of adult, Cambodian, and rural learners so that these leaders can multiply the work in the following years.
To help us with this, and the goal of reaching more children in Cambodia with the Gospel, The Lord’s Table VBS kids COVERED a tree (their theme was Rainforest) with leaves representing their daily offerings, totaling an astounding amount. As Pastor Ken said, “And they don’t even have jobs!” What a way to teach missions to little believers! Not to be outdone, The Lord’s Table Church and Journey Global Missions, who have contributed for many years, added to that total unstintingly. How faithful they have been!
How can you help us as we head back to Cambodia?
1. Prayer — our first and greatest need:
· Personally: safe passage, stamina for a long journey, health while we’re there, favor with customs and immigration, and manageable connections — plus a miracle or two with the luggage!
· Ministry: that the Holy Spirit would be present and active in every meeting, training, and conversation. We are fully aware that we cannot do this on our own.
2. Financial Partnership:
First, we want to say something clearly to our monthly supporters: thank you. You have been our stalwarts — faithful, consistent, and irreplaceable. We are NOT coming back to the well to ask for more. You have already given us so much, and your ongoing faithfulness is a gift we do not take lightly.
If, however, you are reading this and you've been quietly wondering whether this might be the right time to partner with us — it is. We truly need additional partners to get us over this particular financial hump. As anyone who has traveled recently knows, costs have climbed across the board, and this season is particularly full: flights, accommodations, bringing our Zoom pastors into Phnom Penh for face-to-face training and ministry visits, and laying groundwork for our next cohort of credentialed pastoral training beginning in 2027. Every gift — large or small — moves the work forward.
3: Protection and Covering:
Please pray for our ministry partners around the world — particularly those in Pakistan and M____________, where persecution, political instability, and ongoing conflict put believers at genuine risk. They are bold for the LORD, and they need our prayers.
God willing, by the time you receive this, even I will be fully packed and ready to give Judah his last squeezes. Next time I write you, it will be 105 degrees, mountain-less, beach-less, baby-less, and pouring rain…but we’ll be blessed to be elbow-deep in the LORD’s work!
"Those who sow in tears shall reap in joy. He who continually goes forth weeping, bearing seed for sowing, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him."
— Psalm 126:5-6
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