End of September 2026 Update
Y’all already know Peter and I've become (obnoxiously) proud grandparents, celebrating each of Judah's (amazing) accomplishments. This month, that included his very first steps! (Life for his parents will never be the same!)
With that same parental pride, we watched in September as God wove together three threads of our story into one mission trip to the Dominican Republic. Twenty-two beloved people from New Direction Church in North Carolina (great supporters of MissionzHeart), led by our own dear translator and guide, Emily Stader, teamed up with church-planter, disciple-maker, and builder-extraordinaire Pastor Jaime Blandon for a life-changing week of mission work. Each day, the Facebook reports and photos rolled in: hard physical work of painting and constructing, with heart-work of preaching, worshipping, visiting Haitian churches, and distributing food. How special to see the children on the team connect so naturally with the children there! We watched from the sidelines, grinning like Cheshire cats — the way parents do when their kids excel — reliving through their eyes how God is touching lives in some of the hardest places we know.
Sharing yet another “proud parent” moment, Aaron, the second family member who has been slaving away on his PhD, successfully defended his dissertation proposal, so he joins Peter Jr. (also in PhD purgatory) in a writing sprint to the finish. Very soon, dinner table conversations at family get-togethers will be entirely too erudite to include us!
And in final parental bragging rights…His Royal Highness, Judah, will be welcoming (at least we hope his attitude will be “welcoming”) an addition to the Royal Family in March of next year, a little Princess. Grandparents on both sides are thrilled, while Mom and Dad (brave souls) are still sleep-deprived from HRH#1.
Here in Cambodia, we've been working hard, too — helping a different kind of family take its own first steps. At last, we're making significant progress on translating the Ministry Essentials Training Program to begin in January. This has been a critical missing link: we couldn't progress with the training of our 10 Group Leaders, who speak Khmer, without providing them curricular materials in their own language. God willing, all the materials will soon be completed, proofed, and printed, so we can resume training — and prepare these leaders to take their own first steps toward shepherding a class of their own. It is crucial for the success of the Essentials Training that each Group Leader be trained and equipped to shepherd their assigned students. Serving as Group Leaders in 2027 will prepare them to become the program's main facilitators in 2028 — leaving Peter and me, eventually, as pleasantly unnecessary (at least for this project) as any proud parent hopes to become.
Along with preaching at several of our Group Leaders' churches, we've continued our year-long Pastors and Leaders Training Program, our video library in Khmer now approaching 100 hours of teaching. The dearth of Gospel training available in Khmer is hard for us to grasp in the USA…where we have thousands of excellent books, hundreds of respected preachers, and sermons galore on YouTube. Not so here. A sermon Peter preached at a local Khmer church that was posted on Facebook earned over 15,000 views…that's how great the need is. Our library of training videos is helping train pastors in rural areas who won't be able to attend the face-to-face Essentials Training next year — believers we'll likely never meet face-to-face.
In Cambodia, we are humbled by some of the local pastors, many of whom have to “tent-make” as their churches can't/don't support them, yet they run comprehensive programs. One local church holds prayer each morning and on Wednesday nights, supports two dormitories of students (so provincial kids can afford to study at university), has a Christian day care, Bible teaching on Monday, a weekly family night, Sunday school before church, lunch every Sunday after service for the whole congregation, men's and women's groups Sunday afternoon, plus youth meetings, and two teams of young people running children's outreaches in the provinces…all this without paid staff! Whatever money is left over after paying the electricity, rent, and programs goes to the pastor…often only $100.00! This hard work and dedication by pastors is the rule rather than the exception. Is it any wonder our hearts are compelled to help these people? We may not have given birth to their ministries, but we are honored to help them reach the next level.
Two main goals of our ministry in recent years have been: a) multiplication, and b) replacement. It is essential that everyone we teach be capable of teaching others, and that the mission becomes their own. And oh, how proud we are of our partners in the Dominican Republic, Thailand/Pakistan, M______and Cambodia, whose reach now far exceeds our initial vision. Every proud parent hopes for exactly this: that their children grow up, walk on their own two feet, and go further than they did. We got to watch Judah take his first steps this month. And we’ve watched a whole roster of partners go farther…faster… than we ever dreamed.
We have SO much for which to be thankful this month! Here are just a few:
Thank you, LORD, for…
1) the tremendous support that has allowed us to provide aid to the widow and children of our Group Leader, Joshua,
2) an expert, experienced, and efficient Theological translator to translate the Ministry Essentials Training Program into Khmer,
3) some gracious believers versed in technology to hold our hands through new territory in flyer production, reels, applications, etc.,
4) Peter's continued health, energy, and passion for the people and the project, and
5) the privilege of watching our spiritual children — partners and pastors alike — excel in the ministries God called them to.
And, lastly, we thank and praise our LORD for the major financial need we know He will supply. In addition to the commitments we already have to pastors and projects, we’re praying for funding for the Cambodian Ministry Essentials Training Program (CMETP), beginning in January 2027, which (God willing) will equip 100 students. Please pray with us. If God whispers to you to partner with us in equipping these faithful, we would be enormously grateful.
“One generation shall commend your works to another,
and shall declare your mighty acts.” Psalm 145:4