Gallant Photos 2007

Friday Night Fellowship (November 30)

2007-12-29T08:08:00.000-08:00

For our final Friday Night Fellowship with the students, we had everyone over to our house for a night of games. We started on the roof with a time of singing together, and then we played several games. Here you are seeing the men and women preparing to go head-to-head in a game of Send the Message.

The next game required the students to search through the rooms of our house, looking for small packages on which was written the clues needed to complete a puzzle. It was fun to see them running up and down our stairs, digging through our rooms, and hurrying to be the first to find all of the packages. Here you are seeing several of our students writing down the clue from one of the packages they found in our guest bedroom.

After the game, we located all of the packages, and they were used as an illustration for Tiffany’s message about entering the Christmas season. Each package contained a character from our Nativity set, and as we talked about them, one by one the students came to carefully place their character in our manger scene.

It was a great night of fun, and as we shared a treat together, Tiffany and Zanda paused to take this picture together.

It was interesting to see how our Khmer students placed all of the characters closely encircling the Baby Jesus in the manger. We often have then traveling toward the stable, but our students placed them in a tight circle, all adoring their Messiah.

Isaiah 9:6 (NIV)
For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

God’s blessings to you all,
Tim and Tiffany Gallant

Preaching and Sharing in Khmer (November 27 and December 18)

2007-12-29T08:07:00.000-08:00

We have been studying the Khmer language for a little over one year, and we have found it to be a very difficult yet rewarding process. To move slowly to a place were you can converse with our students and the local people, asking and answering questions has been a huge achievement, but we have also set several other goals for ourselves. Tim set a goal to preach an entire message in Khmer before Christmas, and in this picture, you are seeing him sharing at chapel, preaching in Khmer about receiving wisdom from the Holy Spirit.

Tiffany’s goal was to share a story with the students during her time of preaching at chapel. Tiffany worked to prepare this special reading of the story Red Boots for Christmas, a story that tells of God’s special gift to the whole world. The students enjoyed both hearing this special Christmas story and listening to their teacher tell the story in Khmer.

Thanksgiving (November 25)

2007-12-29T08:06:00.000-08:00

The day after water festival, we had our Thanksgiving meal with some of our friends here in Phnom Penh. We spent days preparing the foods, selecting all of our favorite holiday dishes, save for the Tom Turkey whose price was nearly $60 in the store and a pumpkin pie which we were unable to make because there was evidently not a single can of pumpkin remaining in the entire city of Phnom Penh. It was a great night of feasting and fellowshipping together, well worth all of the effort. In this picture, you are seeing three of our friends, Rolitess, who serves as an English teacher in the School of Hope in Kratie, and Mamel and Jairah the wife and daughter of our mission director, going through the buffet line.

Water Festival in Phnom Penh (November 24)

2007-12-29T08:03:00.000-08:00

The Water Festival took place the week after we returned from the marriage conference. The population of Phnom Penh soared to nearly 4 million people who came from all over the country to view the boat races, which are the central attraction of the three-day festival. Here you are seeing Tim and some of the students walking together shortly after arriving at the festival grounds which take over the entire riverfront section of town.

Along with the boat races, there are many vendors who put on shows and contests for the people’s enjoyment. Here you are seeing a large crowd of people sitting atop the Vietnamese-Cambodian friendship monument, watching one of these contests.

After walking many kilometers, we decided to sit for a while and enjoy a snack together. As we waited for our food, we snapped this picture of Tiffany and two of our students, Som On and Pholla.

It is always great to share these special moments with our students. Here you are seeing Tim posing with Nol and Malachi.

Pastors and Wives Retreat (November 17-19)

2007-12-29T07:54:00.000-08:00

We were privileged to be a part of the Wesleyan Pastors and Wives Retreat of 2007. Over fifteen couples attended this two-day seminar in the beautiful town of Kampong Saom, and it was well worth the months of planning and preparation. In the picture above, you are seeing the pastors and the missionaries gathering together for a group picture at the close of the conference.

We were the speakers for the opening meeting, and we focused on sharing some of the lessons about marriage that God has taught us over our six years of married life. Here, you are seeing Tiffany sharing at the beginning of the seminar.

We talked about marriage as a gift, about communication, about treasuring each other and caring for needs. We both felt that it was a great blessing from God to be able to prepare this message and share it as a team to the pastors gathered there in the conference room.

We talked, we laughed, we shared stories, and we had a great time of discussion during the seminar as certain pastors stood up to ask questions about how we handled certain situations in our own marriage. It was humorous to us to see that the Khmer and American marriages share the same struggles such as husbands driving too fast. Here you are seeing Tim and Kimsua, who did a great job as our translator, sharing during the seminar.

After we finished sharing, Tiffany went to work with the children. She and several WBI students worked to share lessons and crafts with the kids, keeping them entertained and happy while their parents enjoyed the conference. When entering the small room shown here in the picture, one could always expect a warm rush of humid air and the sounds of 10-15 children playing and talking together.

It was great to see the pastors and the wives sharing their hearts with one another. Here you are seeing Pastor Nit Banyon listening to his wife read the letter that she had written to him during one of the conference’s activities.

For the final session, the pastors and their wives reaffirmed their vows to one another, promising once again to keep God at the center of their marriages while remaining true to their roles of godly husbands and wives.

The Visit of Tim’s Parents (November 5-14)

2007-12-29T07:34:00.000-08:00

Dear Friends and Family,

During the first week of November, we had some very special guests here in Phnom Penh. Tim's parents braved the long and arduous plane ride here to Cambodia, and we had a great time during the ten days that we were able to spend with them.

The four of us went to many of the cultural and historical spots in Phnom Penh. Here you are seeing us at Chung Eik, the Killing Fields where they buried the victims of the torture school at Toul Sleng. It is always such a hard place to visit, but it was nice to be able to show my parents the history of the people and the country to which we have been called.

On one of the first nights of my parents' visit, we had all of the students and pastors over to our house for a fellowship and a time for them to be introduced to my parents. Here you are seeing Dad meeting and greeting some of our students, much to their delight.

This is us at Wat Phnom, the central temple here in Phnom Penh. We are climbing the steps to this ancient temple. It was a perfect day, great weather with a nice breeze. However, five minutes before this picture was taken, these same smiling faces did not look so cheerful. We had an encounter with one of the monkeys that resides at the temple when he suddenly charged Tiffany and stole one of our mangos that she was holding.

I am sure that this picture is one of the highlights of the trip for Dad. Here you are seeing him feeding Sambo, the elephant at the temple. Dad simply took a hand of bananas (a hand here meaning a bunch of 6-8 bananas), and gave them to the elephant. Sambo obligingly ate them in one quick "chomp", and that was it. Dad said afterwards that he had never had a chance to feed an elephant before, "that was pretty neat."

After touring Phnom Penh for several days, we traveled up to Siem Reap, the town that is near the ancient temples for which Cambodia is so famous . Here you are seeing Tiffany and I posing for a picture at the Cultural Village, enjoying a beautiful Khmer sunset.

Being able to spend time with my parents and sharing the Khmer culture that we have experienced and worked in for the past year was a special pleasure for us. It was like by answering their many questions, and leading them to experience new sights, sounds, tastes, and smells we were experiencing them all over again for the first time.

We had to include this picture of Mom as she took one of her many pictures of "something new" here in Cambodia.

Here you are seeing Dad and I taking a short break as we walked around the Cultural Village.
After the five hour drive to Siem Riep and then constantly moving from one area to another in the village, we were all pretty tired by the end of the day.

The next day, we all went to see the temples of Angkor. These temples were built around the turn of the millennium, when the Khmer Empire ruled all of South-East Asia. Here you are seeing Tim and his parents posing for a picture in the main temple of Angkor Wat.

In this picture, you see Tiffany posing for a picture in one of the internal windows at Angkor Wat. I have to say a huge "thank you" to Tiffany for taking so many of the pictures that you are seeing on this blog update. As I had fun talking to my parents, I would often forget to take pictures, so Tiffany took it upon herself to photo document my parents' visit. She is definitely a good wife.

We also had to include this picture. With the taking of countless numbers of pictures comes a certain amount of camera trouble. Here you are seeing Tim helping his mom with her camera as Dad does a good job as acting supervisor to the task.

The temples of Angkor is the largest temple complex in the entire world. Here you are seeing us at the temple of Ta Phrom, made famous by the huge trees that have grown in and among the ruins of the temple. These great trees are a mystery to see as it does not seem possible that such hulking trees could have just grown up in the middle of this temple complex.

A fun experience that we had as we traveled from temple to temple was finding a small troupe of monkeys who were waiting for the tourists to come and feed them some bananas. Here you are seeing Tiffany feeding a small guy who was perched atop a bicycle.

This great picture was taken at the temple of Angkor Thom. It was great to experience these temples and the history of Cambodia with my parents, and I am sure that it will be a memory that we will all long treasure.

When we arrived back in Phnom Penh, we decided to have a nice dinner at our house. We cooked a special dish, broiled lamb chops with thyme and served it with several side dishes and bruschetta as an appetizer. We are lucky to have access to certain ingredients that are difficult to find in the United States, and we had a great time sharing them with my parents.

Sitting down to a special meal together as we celebrated a very early Christmas together was great fun. It was nice to see Mom and Dad enjoying the food that we had prepared and it was a pleasure to eat, talk and enjoy a quiet evening together at home.

As I said before, we celebrated an early Christmas with my parents. We feel very lucky to have had this great opportunity to share a Christmas with family, even if it took place in the middle of November. Here you are seeing some of the spoils of the evening, lovingly sent by our family and friends back in the United States.

On our last evening in Phnom Penh before Mom and Dad went back to the United States, we took a walk around one of the parks at the center of the city. Here you are seeing Independence Monument, lit up for the night's activities. Special evenings like these are made exceptional by great scenery and the lively culture of downtown Phnom Penh.

Walking around together that evening was nearly perfect, despite the fact that we had to say goodbye the next day. We enjoyed the city, a great Italian restaurant, and an evening spent in memories of the trip and great conversation. We will eagerly await the next time that Mom and Dad can return so that we can make new memories together here in Cambodia.

Church Dedication in Kampong Chnang (November 4)

2007-12-29T07:21:00.000-08:00

Dear Friends and Family

Traveling here in Cambodia is always a very interesting and memorable experience. For example, when we traveled to a church dedication recently, we had several memorable moments that we want to share with you.

an encounter with a chicken who, unlike his famous predecessor in the joke, unfortunately was not able to not cross the road…in front of our car.

the experience of leaving at 3:30 in the morning, and still almost being late because we got lost in the countryside several times

the great fun of "off-roading" for many hours in our 1992 Toyota Camry (as can be seen in the picture above)

the nervous excitement that can only come from crossing bridges that make even the stoutest Khmer person's heart grow weak, causing them to make the decision to get out and walk as I drove the car across the weak and wobbly bridge.

Though all of these encounters were very trying, when we arrived at Pastor Sideth's church, the long hours in the car were well worth the effort. For those of you who remember, Pastor Sideth was the pastor who was in the nearly fatal moto accident last year. As you can see now, he is fully recovered, cutting the commemorative ribbon, and celebrating the opening of his new church in the Kampong Ch'nang province of Cambodia.

Here you are seeing Pastor Sideth's daughter and another dancer performing the Harvest Dance to commemorate the opening of the church. We have come to appreciate the grace and control of the apsara dancers as they move throughout the dance and its intricate hand gestures and body contortions.

Finally, we have to comment about the food. All Khmer celebrations such as weddings, graduations, and Christmas parties have elaborate foods. This church dedication had two dishes, and served some of the sweetest coconut milk we have tasted thus far.

It was a great opportunity to attend and participate in this memorable celebration. Pastor Sideth is reaching into the community where he already serves as a doctor, ministering to the people's physical needs while also sharing the healing message of Jesus Christ. Continue to pray for him and his family as they continue to minister.

God bless you all, and thank you again for you interest.
In Christ,
Tim and Tiffany Gallant

October Celebrations

2007-10-22T08:16:00.000-07:00

Our mission director, Jun Rafael, turned 45 this year, and we had a great celebration at his house. With the Filipino team as emcees, we took turns roasting Jun and expressing our thanks for all that he means to our lives.

Here you are seeing Pastor Vande singing a song in Tagalog, the main language of the Philipines. He had learned this song during his two years of studying in the Philippines, and it was a blessing for Pastor Jun to hear it sung by one of his disciples here in Cambodia and by a product of the ministry to which he has dedicated so much of his life.

The Filipino team did a skit where they imagined Jun after another 45 years. Pastor Kenji played Mamel and Pastor Glenn played Jun in this hilarious skit that prompted Jun to comment that he did not wish to become 90 if that is how he would have to act.

Of course, because it was a Filipino birthday, we had great, Filipino food. Here you are seeing one of our students, Som On, cleaning up the soup bone after everyone was finished eating.

The next celebration that we want to share with you is the dedication ceremony of Esher Eirene Fernandez. She was born on July 21st, and we have been blessed by her addition to our ministry team here in Cambodia.

During the ceremony, Esher was dedicated to the Lord, and we joined in prayer for her life and for her walk with the Master. Here you are seeing Pastor Fitz giving a blessing to Greg, Resie and Esher.

After the ceremony, we were invited to a party on the Saydot court where we sang songs together, and then feasted on the great cooking of Pastor Fitz. He and the rest of the team had spent the day butchering two goats and then preparing several delicious Filipino dishes. The food was excellent as was the great company of Khmer, Filipino, Japanese, and American friends and co-workers.

Here you are seeing a picture of us with our new guest teacher, Mam Grace. She had previously taught in the Philippines for many years, being sent out by Immanuel General Mission from Japan. She is a great blessing to have here in Cambodia, and is a great teacher for our students.

The final celebration that we want to tell you about is the birthday of Jairah, the daughter of Jun and Mamel. She turned eight this year, and we celebrated her birthday with a party. Here you are seeing Jun and Pastor Keith from Kampong Cham lifting Jairah up for a photo opportunity after she blew out her candles.

Mam Grace prayed a special prayer of dedication over Jairah during the party. We all lifted Jairah to the Lord, and prayed that God's special blessing would be upon all areas of her life, her schooling, her relationships, and most importantly her desire to continue her walk with the Lord.

2007 Youth Conferences

2007-10-01T07:26:00.000-07:00

Our Youth Conference in Kampong Cham was attended by over forty young people from the Kampong Cham area. The conference was again held on the grounds of a local orphanage managed by the district superintendent’s brother. The youth attended seminars, played games, fellowshipped together, and grew closer to each other and to God.

The leaders of the convention were a team from the Philippines. These five pastors, three of which are shown here, were sent out from the Filipino Conference of the Wesleyan Church, and they did a great job of relating scriptural truths and lessons to the lives of these young men and women. Pictured above, Pastor Fitz speaks about the armor of God and how it can protect us from the attacks of Satan.

Though the Filipino pastors were the leaders of the seminars, the true leaders are pictured above; the pastors who brought their young people to the convention. The youth programs run by these pastors in Kampong Cham are very strong, discipling and mentoring the young men and women of the church, and it is a true testament to their calling and their service.

Pictured here is our national youth leader, Pastor Titus of the Kratie church. Through his excitement, dedication, and planning, these conventions were a great success. He says that he feels a true calling to serve God through youth ministry, and it is apparent through the way that he interacts with the youth and allows God to use him as a true servant.

Another benefit of these youth conferences is that we are able to promote the Wesleyan Bible Institute, explaining our purpose and meeting with young people who are feeling God’s calling upon their lives to serve as pastors. Here you are seeing the WBI President, Rev. Greg Fernandez, giving encouragement to those young people, and answering their questions about studying at the WBI.

Application of scriptural knowledge is always very difficult, particularly here in Cambodia, and we were encouraged to see the way that the Filipino team had the youth reflecting on what they had learned at the convention. Here you are seeing the youth making posters that showed character traits and life principles that they wanted to exemplify in their lives.

Hallelujah!!! Worship times with these youth were always so full of excitement and energy. They loved to sing songs of worship to God, raising their hands, doing the motions, dancing, and shouting together. Those experienced in youth conventions in the United States will be happy to know that the undeniable vitality of youth is the same in Cambodia as it is in the US.

The talent night is one of the most anticipated nights of the convention. Here you are seeing some of the participants in the Kampong Cham talent night. They young people sang with great enthusiasm and heart, and we are proud to report that one of our Bible School students, Theavey (bottom-right), was the overall winner.

One of the great things about the convention was the time that we were able to spend with the youth after the seminars. Here you are seeing Tiffany with two young admirers after the last night of the convention.

We left Kampong Cham on a Wednesday morning, and we began our second youth convention that evening. For this convention in Phnom Penh, we had nearly 100 young people from all over the country. The picture above is from the first night of the convention, and the energy in the room as they sang and worshipped God was incredible.

Here you are seeing Pastor Joel, the leader of the team from the Philippines and the Filipino Missions Director, praying at one of the sessions. These five men are a great blessing to our hearts, not only because they are constantly joking and having fun, but because their hearts for serving the Lord shine through in all that they do.

The talent competition in Phnom Penh had a great number contestants, many categories, and the competitive level was very high. These youth were not only competing to win personally, but they were competing as representatives of their respective churches. The categories included solo performers, choirs, and group and personal displays of talent, so therefore our range of competitors was very large including singers, traditional dancers, break dancers, contortionists, gymnasts, and many more. It was a great event, and the smiles and cheers of the youth showed just how much fun they were having.

One of the great aspects of the conference is that the youth get to know each other. Here you are seeing young people from several different churches, and though their provinces are separated by many kilometers, their shared relationship with Jesus Christ gave them a basis for building relationships and having fun together.

The final night, as it is with all youth conferences, is the dedication night. Here you are seeing our mission director, Jun Rafael, encouraging the young people to let Jesus Christ be their true strength and that He indeed can be trusted to satisfy their souls and their every longing.

Seeing these young people yielding their lives to Christ, rededicating themselves to His purposes, made all of the work and planning worthwhile. After six days of hard work, many kilometers traveled, and countless hours of planning, the youth conferences came to a close. However, we look forward to seeing these youth next year, and many more like them, for they truly are the future of the church here in Cambodia, and it is a blessing to see how God is preparing them to step forward and take charge of His church.

June and July Update

2007-09-07T09:05:00.000-07:00

In the month of June, we held our annual pastors convention and national church conference. This was the time to meet together to talk about the plans for the future, remedy the mistakes of the past, and encourage each other in the faith. Here you are seeing Tim giving an opening message to the pastors about trusting God in the midst of the storm, citing a story from the history of the Cambodian church about a pastor during the time of the Khmer Rouge.

Worship times are always very special moments here in Cambodia, fusing us together as our voices praise our God in Heaven. This picture was taken as we all sang the song "In Jesus Christ, We Are One Family."

After Pastors Convention, we were blessed to have a youth team come from Brookings Wesleyan Church in South Dakota. These young people were a great encouragement to our hearts, and we hope that they come back in the near future. We want to say thank you to all of the youth and their leaders for being a blessing to us and the ministry here in Cambodia.

One afternoon, after returning from Boeng Krum, we planted mango trees on the new lot. These trees will grow large in the years to come, providing cooling shade and delicious fruit for the future students at the Bible School, who will greatly appreciate them. Here you are seeing Pastor Arun and Lyle from Brookings carefully planting one of the trees.

The main focus of the youth team was to minister to the children at the various churches around Cambodia. Here you are seeing Tiffany and some of the members of the team preparing balloon animals gifts for the children at the end of one of the Backyard Bible Schools.

Several weeks after the youth team departed to go to the United States, we were very fortunate to have another team from Brookings. This team focused on preparing medical/hygiene clinics. One of the first clinics that they did was in Salamet, which is a small church on the other side of the river. Here you can see us, and our car, crossing the river on a very small ferry. Though it may look rather rickety, and they did suggest that we ride outside of our car in case our car happened to fall into the water, it was a very pleasurable way to cross the river.

One of the great things about traveling to different churches is that we get to see our students living and working in the ministry. Here, Tiffany and Srey pose at the medical clinic in Salamet.

The focus of the clinic was to educate the people in proper hygiene and diet. This message of good health was coupled with testimonies of God’s goodness and times of teaching and stories for the children. In this picture, you are seeing Leak and Colleen teaching at Ramole.

Seeing the children at each of these clinics is always a very moving time. These young children are hearing about the Gospel of Jesus Christ, seeing it lived out in the lives of the pastors in their community and in the lives of the guests that have come to bring medicines and love. This is the entire Gospel, and we feel so privileged to be involved with the whole Kingdom of God.

The final message given to the children was the salvation message, acted out by members of the team. Here you are seeing Tyler, Mary Jean and Chaney, telling the story of God’s plan of salvation for each of us.

One of the most popular events during these medical clinics was the bubbles. A little soap, a little glycerin, water and numerous tools for making bubbles provided a fun experience for the kids.

The story behind this picture is really quite amusing. After each clinic, the team passed out wordless bracelets to the children. The boy on the right went to Tiffany to accept a bracelet, much to the dismay of the other boy who obviously thought that these foreigners had something up their sleeves. After the first boy received his bracelet, the other boy did his best to get him to take it off and throw it away, absolutely refusing to accept one himself.

The clinic focused on proper hygiene, good nutrition, and the dispersal of simple, yet very necessary medicines. Here you are seeing Pastor Jun, our mission director, giving some further instruction to one of the men who received these medicines.

This is a picture of the medical team from Brookings. To the team, thank you so much, you were a great blessing to us. (pictured here in the front row: Phil, Tim, Tiffany, Mary. Second row, Sylvia, Mary Jean, our translator Leak, National Superintendent Rev. Kimsan, Colleen, Tyler, Pastor Sopear and Pastor Menghong who is the District Leader in Kampong Cham.

A highlight of this year, and an event that has been long in the making, was the marriage of Pastors Arun and Charea. Many of you might know this fine couple, and it was a blessing to be able to share in this blessed day with them. Here you are seeing Charea present a garland of flowers to her soon to be husband at the beginning of the ceremony.

The entire wedding was a blessed affair with many pastors and guests coming from all over Cambodian and many visitors from the United States as well. Here you are seeing Arun and Charea exiting the church amidst as shower of palm seeds.

After the wedding, we were able to take the team to Angkor Wat. It was a perfect day to tour the many temples, with perfect skies and less than oppressive heat. Here you are seeing the main temple of Angkor with its reflection in a nearby pond.

Here is a picture of us posing in one of the window alcoves at Angkor Wat.

The Brooking Medical Team at the entrance to the temple.

When we returned from Siem Riep, we were able to go visit Greg and Resie and their new family member. We received a text during the wedding telling us that Resie had gone into labor and delivered their daughter Esher Eirine. The entire family is doing well, and we are blessed to have a new member of our ministry team here in Cambodia.

As we were preparing for Graduation, we did some work on the school that included a new coat of paint on the exterior walls. Here you are seeing Tim and Pastor Arun, recently returned from Siem Riep with his new wife, posing outside of the school, covered in dust and paint.

We were proud to conduct the graduation ceremony for the second graduating class of the Wesleyan Bible Institute. Here, you are seeing SoPhol and Som On, two of our present students, holding the Cambodian flag to honor the country of Cambodia at the beginning of the ceremony.

These pastors have completed three years of study at the school and then one year of pastoral ministry around the country. It was a proud day for these graduates and their families who were also in attendance.

Here you are seeing Pastor Greg, the president of the school, and Pastor Jun, the mission director, presenting Chaney with her diploma and stole.

It was an honor to share this day with our new pastors and their smiles showed their pride and their love of the life to which God has called them, that is to bring His love and His healing message to the people of Cambodia.

God's Blesssings in the Midst of a Fire

2007-07-27T07:01:00.000-07:00

We were called by Kimsua at 9:00 in the morning, just as we were starting Khmer class. He told us that the community around his house was on fire, and that he needed help. Immediately we left, drove to his house, finding it only by walking so close to the burning buildings that the heat nearly overwhelmed us, and finally learning that Kimsua’s house was miraculously saved from the fire. Twenty-one houses in his community were consumed by the fire, but God spared Kimsua and his family. Though now covered with the blue tarps, some of these houses can be seen in the picture above.

When we were at Kimsua’s house, we met some of the people who had lost everything to the fire. Visions of people picking through their burnt belongings caused us to want to help these people in any way that we were able. Several gracious people from the United States read our email update about the fire and immediately sent money to aid these people who had lost their homes. In talking to Kimsua, we thought that donations of clothing would be the best way to help these people, so we went out and bought several large “bales” of clothing that we took back to the Bible School to sort out into bags that we could then give out the people.

Once again, our students showed their true dedication to serving the Lord in any way possible. Shortly after bringing the clothes back to the school, the students spread out mats and began sorting the clothes by sex and age. The sheer amount of clothing that we were able to buy, two large bales each weighing close to 150 lbs., made the task quite challenging, but the students rose to the occasion with smiles on their faces and we turned it into a great time of fun, fellowship, and service.

After the clothes were sorted, we distributed the articles into bags that we could give out to individuals. We formed long assembly lines to distribute the clothes…two pants, two shirts, one dress, two dress shirts, a pair of shorts… (this bag would have been for one of the ladies of course) and we continued this until we used all of the clothing. All in all, we filled almost 150 bags for women, because the community is primarily made up of garment factory workers, 100 bags for children, and over 50 bags for men. Here you are seeing two of our students, Theavy and Zanda, filling the bags.

Here you are seeing Tiffany sorting the clothes. It was a very long day for both of us, and it actually took place on our anniversary. Later in the day, we talked about our lives here in Cambodia, and whether we should have scheduled this day of distributing the gifts to the fire victims on a different day. We both decided that our lives here have different priorities now. We can no longer think of our days and our weeks as belonging only to ourselves. There is a huge temptation to do so, but we always know that God will provide us with the time to rest and time for our marriage. He is always faithful, and we were thankful for this opportunity to share His blessings with others.

When we arrived at the community, we again met with the village leader, a man elected to head up any community activities or projects. In some cases, corruption causes big problems in such aid activities with the leader taking his cut of the money that is supposed to go to the people. However, this leader truly had a heart to see the people of his community helped in their time of need, even refusing an offering of a bag of rice. He instead told us to give it to the people. Here you are seeing Tim greeting the crowd of people, telling them who we were, and why we were helping them.

For those who do not know him, Pastor Kimsua is at the center of this picture. Because it was his community and because he had been involved with the project from its inception, he was the one to hand out the rice and the clothes to each head of the house. Forty-one families were affected by the fire, and we were able to give clothes and a five kilogram bag of rice to each family. It was a blessed day to be sharing with these people, and it not only gave us the opportunity to be a blessing to the people, it also forged us all together in this project and caused us to have greater unity as a group of pastors, students, and teachers here in the Wesleyan Church of Cambodia.

After this long day which began by meeting with the village chief at 8:00, finding clothes to buy, negotiating the price, arranging for transportation of the clothes back to the school, hours of sorting and filling bags, traveling back to the community, and handing out these goods, we finally finished at around 4:30. We were all tired, worn out, but happy in the way that we were able to help. Here you are seeing Ime, the wife of Pastor Kimsua and their daughter Hannah as we finished the distribution of the clothing and rice. We want to take the time to thank all of you who prayed for the people in this community, and those who donated the money to support this project of helping them. Your support and prayers make things happen here in Cambodia… never forget that.

Please remember to continue to pray for the people in this community. Many seeds have been planted since the fire a little over three weeks ago. God has allowed this tragedy to open the lines of communication and relationships between Pastor Kimsua and the members of the community. We know that God is going to use this event, which first brought such sorrow, to bring people to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.

June Update

2007-06-17T22:32:00.000-07:00

The team of ladies from Indiana Wesleyan University was involved in a variety of ministry experiences around the country of Cambodia. Here you are seeing them leading a children’s story at the church in Kratie. In Kratie, they also had the opportunity to teach several English classes at the Language School run by Pastors Vande and Titus. They focused on English idioms, a very difficult subject, and endeavored to explain to the Cambodians what it really means when we say that it is “raining cats and dogs”!

At every church, school, and meeting that the team attended, someone was called on to give their testimony. Here you are seeing Noel give her testimony at the Good News Church in Phnom Penh with translation given by Pastor Kim Sua. Sharing the great works of God in our lives is always such a blessing as we remember what God has done in our lives, and it is a blessing to the hearers as they are encouraged that Jehovah is faithful.

We know that God blesses us with talents and passions in order that we might shine more brightly for Him and so that we may pass the blessing on to others. Two of the team members, Erin and Elizabeth, who in fact are cousins, have a passion for ballet. They shared this talent with the students by performing for them, and then by teaching them a short routine that the students then performed in front of the church.

It was such a blessing to see the Bible School students practicing and performing their routine. They had a such a passion to learn this new skill, which in fact if much different in form and style than their own cultural dancing. The beauty of form and movement and the heart with which they performed was a great testimony of their desire to worship God with every aspect of their lives.

Another area in which the team from IWU ministered to our students was by teaching them many different skits and vignettes with which they would be able to explain different Biblical principles and teach about the Christian life. In this picture you are seeing Som On and Pholla performing a skit where they taught about the importance of having Jesus in every aspect of your life.

There were also many light moments of fellowship and fun between the team and the Bible School staff and students. The team brought several suitcases of clothing to distribute to the students. It was fun to see the students and the staff excited about these new clothes, especially our two resident jokesters, Rotha and Leak, who got of a kick out of these matching shirts.

During our time of fellowship, we also had a chance to play different games together. The game of Uno if very popular among the students, and they always enjoy playing it when they have an opportunity. But in looking at this picture, it does not seem to be a favorite of Noel’s, which appears to be very amusing to Leak.

We also had a time of worship together, and we sang some of the songs that the team had taught to the students. Seeing sights like in this picture of Karen and Zanda singing together, praising God in the harmony of the Body of Christ, help us all understand the worth and value that is found in short term ministry trips, both in terms of education and encouragement.

The team’s leader, Whitney, also celebrated her 21st birthday with us in Cambodia. It was great fun to have the students, the staff, the missionaries, and the team all share together in this special celebration.

While the team was in Cambodia, they had an opportunity to experience the joys of a Khmer wedding. Chantol and Sonicol, two of our former Bible School students, were married and we attended their wedding in Phnom Penh. Here you are seeing all of the ladies posing for a picture after the ceremony.

The men also got together for a picture after the ceremony, but as you can see, we are neither as colorful or a picturesque as the former picture.

Also, because we were already dressed for the occasion, we decided to take a new picture of the missionary team here in Cambodia. The Fernandezes (Greg, Resie, and their daughter Aleeyah) and the Gallants (Tim and Tiffany) are the missionaries serving God here in the country of Cambodia.

Tim was also very privileged to take place in the baptismal service of one of the team members from IWU. Karen’s family in the United States and Jun Rafael have a very close relationship as it was Karen’s father that led Jun to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. So, when Karen was in Cambodia, we held a baptismal service at the Bible School, where after the baptism, Tim led the assembly in prayer for Karen and the public dedication of her life to Jesus Christ.

On one of the team’s final nights in Cambodia, we went out on the town with the students from the Bible School. Here you are seeing several of the team posing with two of our students, Theavey and So Phol, at the restaurant where we had a dinner of meatballs, corn on the cob, and of course the Cambodian delicacy of….well I will let you see it in the next picture.

Duck eggs are a great treat for our students, though in this picture it does not look very appetizing. These eggs, which contain a fertilized duck embryo, are eaten with a pepper sauce and a great amount of zeal or trepidation, depending upon your appetite for strange and exotic foods.

Here you are seeing Karen and Erin sharing one of these eggs, which when translated into English from the Khmer language would be Duck Egg Child. The look on Karen’s face is a fairly normal response to eating these eggs, a look of uncertainty at the taste and texture of this new food. However the look on Erin’s face is also fairly typical of someone watching another person eat these eggs for the first time, a mild look of amusement and hilarity.

Tiffany also enjoyed these eggs with our students, showing that the Lord does in fact give us the grace to do things as missionaries that we would not normally do in the United States.

Tim is fast becoming a great fan of these eggs, which is very surprising when you consider that he does not eat boiled chicken eggs; strange to think that he would make a distinction between the two.

On our final night with the team, we took them out to one of our favorite places here in Cambodia, the Bong Karen gelato stand on street 240. We had a great time with these girls as they stayed at our house, ate with us, and generally enjoyed life together. We want to thank them for being such an encouragement to us and for being great examples of God’s love to everyone they met, including us.

After the team left for the United States, we were privileged to be invited out to Pastor Arun’s church for a day of fishing and for a feast of roast pig. The beauty of the countryside near the Mekong River is always breathtaking as the green land seems to stretch on forever.

We have both had experience in fishing in the United States, but when we found ourselves fishing in the river, we were woefully ignorant of their fishing practices, so we had to learn very quickly. Using a net to encircle a huge portion of the river and then the arduous task of drawing it all in was very difficult, but within a few minutes we were all working together and we caught an entire bucket of fish in a little over two hours. Here you are seeing Tim work with several other people in holding the net so the fish could not escape.

When we arrived at the church, we were treated to this view of our lunch. The pork was delicious and we were very thankful to Arun and the other church leaders who sponsored this great time of food and fellowship.

Another Cambodian delicacy is the intestines, though Tim does not rate this up with the duck eggs as one of the great elements of Cambodian cuisine. They are a bit on the rubbery side, and the only flavor comes from the sauce in which you dip your particular piece of the innards. However, the Cambodian men and women went after this food with great gusto and enjoyment. Perhaps next time Tim will be gracious enough to allow them to have his share as well, simply to be kind and allow them to enjoy this food and not for any of the other reasons that may seem so obvious to all of you.

During all of the excitement here on the field, Tiffany and I have continued to focus on our main duties here in Cambodia. We have continued learning the Khmer language at our school, and we have continued to teach English at the Bible School. The students are all progressing well in their knowledge of the English Language.

One way that we know that our students are progressing is the way that they were able to communicate with the ladies from IWU when they were here in Cambodia. Most of the students were able to hold conversations with the team, talking about their homes, what it is like to study at the Bible School, the ways and customs of Cambodia. These are great opportunities for the students, and they took great advantage of the times they had to practice their English with the team.

We were able to host a member of one of our supporting churches who came to Cambodia to host several soccer seminars around the country. Bob Lemon traveled quite extensively throughout Cambodia, teaching about how to set up soccer ministries in churches, and how they could be used to build relationships. In this picture, you are seeing him preach at one of our cell groups, giving the message that God has a Dream for the world; the whole world coming to a knowledge of His love. We had a great time hosting Bob at our house, even though we experienced a great amount of difficulties with our power which resulted in one very stifling night without air conditioning or fans. But we all persevered, and we know that this will just be something that we can talk about when we go to share at his church when we are home on furlough.

In June, we hosted a medical team from Redfield, South Dakota. Mike and Cindy Sanger led the team made up of their family members and other people from the Redfield area. They came to hold medical clinics at some of our Wesleyan Churches around Kampong Cham, ministering to the bodies of these people who cannot afford medical attention while they also minister to their spirits through sharing and programs for the children. Here you are seeing Dr. Dennis Sula, who is a doctor at the Redfield Hospital, examine a patient in the village of Timien.

Here you are seeing Cindy prepare the pharmacy to meet the needs of the people who came to the clinic seeking medical care. Many people and organizations donated medicines and vitamins for the clinic, and Cindy was in charge of packaging those medicines and preparing the instructions. It was a blessing to work with Cindy as it was not only a great ministry experience, but it was also a great learning experience to gain a simple understanding of many differing types of medications and their uses.

Mike and Cindy both were in charge of the initial meeting with the patients, where they took a simple history and determined their symptoms. Here you are seeing Mike working with Voechnea to help diagnose the illnesses of one of the people who came to the clinic

The rest of the team had the responsibility of hosting a backyard Bible Camp for the children in the area. While their parents waited to be treated, Sally, Amy, Michelle, and Rachel shared Bible stories, games and crafts with the children. Here you are seeing Sally telling the story of Cain and Abel to the children in T’boung Kh’mum.

Simply treating illnesses would be reason enough to travel around the world, but this team truly followed the example of Christ by loving the people who came, treating their illnesses, and ministering to their spirits and hearts as well. Here you are seeing Michelle play with an infant who came with his mother to the clinic. We can never forget that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is about more than just seeing people come to know Jesus Christ as their Savior. It is about seeing the welfare of the world as a priority, about doing something to push back and fight the principalities of this world that cause so much of the pain and suffering. God’s work for us is more than just about evangelism; it is about redeeming the world back to they way that God intended it…good!

One of the most popular parts of the clinics was when Mike would take a break from diagnosing patients, and perform his magic tricks. Here you are seeing Mike perform a trick that Mike related back to the Biblical Principle of the Atonement and what it will be like when we get to heaven. As I said before, these tricks were very popular, gathering in this case nearly a hundred people to hear about the Gospel of Christ and to see Mike perform with the skills with which he has been blessed by God.

In this picture, you are seeing one of our pastors Makara, working with a woman after she has been in to see the doctor. He is explaining a Gospel tract to the woman, patiently going over the Gospel with her, and explaining all of her questions. It was a blessing to see our pastors work alongside of the medical team from the United States, focusing together on the Kingdom of God.

The final picture that we want to share with you was taken at one of the medical clinics. These young boys and girls are praying together after the presentation by the youth workers, and it was wonderful to see their knowledge of the Bible Stories and the Gospel message. This is a tribute to the pastors of our churches for instructing their children in the Bible, but also a tribute to the medical team who traveled around the world to bring the Gospel with them, not only in stories or in medicines, but in their lives, in their love, and in the way that they are showing God’s love and care for the Cambodian people. One of our pastors in Kampong Cham said it best… “ I can tell you love Cambodia by the way you care for our people”…and that’s the Gospel truth.

April Update

2007-05-02T06:06:00.000-07:00

Friday fellowships at our house are always a highlight of each month, and this fellowship was not an exception. We had all of the students and the staff over to teach them a few more examples of the origami that they could use when they teach children. Here you are seeing one of the lighter moments of the night as Tiffany and some of the students tried on the hats that they had just made.

Here you are seeing Tiffany help one of our students Srey Lis with her origami. Being involved in these students’ lives and sharing evenings like this night make being here in Cambodia, serving God, a special privilege.

We celebrated Aleeyah Fernandez’s second birthday at the end of the month of February. We celebrated it in the real Filipino style of a big meal with many special foods and treats. Here you are seeing Resie and Aleeyah pose with one of those special foods, hot dogs topped with marshmallows.

It was great to meet all together to celebrate this special day. There were people from the United States, the Philippines, and Cambodia all joined together in unity during the special evening of fun and fellowship.

The students continued to conduct their children’s ministry projects. Here you are seeing two young girls praying following the story performed by our students. One of the most rewarding aspects of these projects is seeing young people being impacted by our students in such a powerful way.

A special prayer request for the ministry here in Cambodia is for the children. Many children here in Cambodia do not attend school, and if they do come to church, they come alone. Here you are seeing children walking away from the story time with out students, very alone, on the busy street outside of the Bible School. Pray especially for these children to feel the special touch of Jesus Christ on their young hearts so that they know that they are not alone.

We were blessed to attend the wedding of one of our pastors in T’boung Khmum. We were happy to share in this great day with our friend So Pea and his new wife Channa, and we were honored that they wanted a special picture taken with us.

One of the aspects of the ministry that I had not counted on was being asked to give blessings at the weddings of our pastors and students. Here you are seeing my friend Leak and I giving the blessing to the bride and groom.

On one other Friday Fellowship that we conducted, we went to a rally in the center of town. The rally was conducted by a local anti-trafficking organization and its purpose was to raise awareness of the human rights violations that are taking place all over Cambodia. It was a powerful night, and out students eyes were opened to the realities of this terrible practice.

Traveling in Phnom Penh is always full of adventures. Here you are seeing the student piling into the Tuk Tuk, a covered cart pulled by a moto, after the rally.

Tim spoke at the first Wednesday Night prayer meeting at the Bible School, and he gave his testimony. The message was centered around the proverb written on the board, “Every Christian has a past, and every sinner has a future.” The idea behind the message was to encourage the students to share their testimony with other people to give the realities of their salvation and to give hope to those who have not accepted Jesus as their Savior.

This past weekend was another fellowship at the Gallant house, and we began the night with a special time of praise and worship. Tiffany then gave a very inspiring message about fellowship and we had a time of giving praises and prayer requests. It was great to see the students opening up and giving honest prayer requests to each other, asking for help in living the type of life that they know that God is asking them to live.

Gallant January-February Pictures

2007-02-22T03:56:00.000-08:00

Before Greg and Resie left for a short time in the Philippines to attend a discipleship seminar and for Resie to present her thesis to the women’s convention, we celebrated Resie’s birthday with our students and some of the National church leaders. As always, we served spaghetti and cake, and we had a great time of fellowship together.

In looking at the amount of smoke that appears in this picture, you might think that Resie, though she looks quite young, is well advanced in years. This is a misconception as she is only 28, but I have to admit that the picture does make it seem that should have called the fire department.

Wednesday nights are always a time for fasting and a prayer service at the WBI. Here you are seeing Vicheak and Pholla reading together from the Bible at the start of one of those services. Thus far in the prayer meetings, the students have been guided through the purposes of prayer and of fasting.

Tim led these services in the months of January and February, and the focus was fasting, and how to properly fast that we might please the Lord. Here, Tim is telling a narrative of a fictitious Hebrew youth named Ahban, who had just attended the Day of Atonement celebration in Jerusalem. The purpose was to educate the students in the initial purposes and the basis for fasting in an exciting way, other than just lecturing about the many facets of this celebration.

While Greg and Resie were in the Philippines, Tiffany taught a module on Storytelling in Christian Education. Her class centered around why we teach children, how stories can best be used to share Biblical truths, and how best to incorporate the children into the Bible lesson using games, crafts, songs and the story.

After teaching the story of Noah as a group, the students were divided into four separate groups to prepare their own lessons. They chose their own stories, some from the Bible and others made up their own parable that pointed to a truth in the Bible. Here you are seeing Tiffany work with the group that did the story of Jonah. After helping them break down the story, they discussed the Biblical principle that they wanted to teach to the children.

Per Resie’s request, Tiffany also spent time showing the students how to do simple, inexpensive, yet fun crafts that they could do when they begin teaching children. Here you are seeing Zanda, Tewe, and So Phol fold their origami boxes. They learned how to make stars, animal heads, fish, and even frogs.

The first group presented their story to the children who come to the Good News church on Sunday morning. First, they all sang songs together, reviewing the one that they had learned about Noah, and teaching a new song about the life of Jonah. This song, which can be loosely translated as, “Oh Jonah, where are you?” was a big hit with the children and the students had a great time teaching.

Here you are seeing Vicheak telling the story to the students. Vicheak is very ambitious when it comes to working with children, so he decided that he would play the part of Jonah, and tell the story to them as if he were the one who had disobeyed God and spent three days in the belly of a great fish. The children really responded to Vicheak’s story, and it showed that he truly has a heart for being a pastor and working with young people.

The second group taught that same afternoon. We all traveled to a new church plant in Ahreysadt, where they would be having their first church meeting. This is the same place where we did the final Operation Christmas Child that you will read about later. Here you are seeing Tiffany and Tewe strike up a conversation with a lady that was also traveling to Ahreysadt by the ferry.

When we first arrived at the church, we were expecting approximately 10-15 children. However, when the students actually began the lesson, we had over 40. Here you are seeing Srey leading the children in the song “Jesus is in my Heart”.

Tewe told a story about a young boy who was seeking after the Lord though a tough time in his life. It was amazing to see how she drew the children into the story using the pictures in her book, simple repetition, asking questions, and using emphasis in her voice. She, like Vicheak, has a gift for working with children, and we know that she will be a great pastor when she graduates from the Bible school.

As the students were working with the children, Pastor Poleak and I spoke to the adults. Pastor and Piep later pointed out that this time of year is very busy for the people as they are getting ready to harvest and they are also working very hard to bring water to their fields during the dry season. The mere fact that we had 10-15 people who were willing to stop work for about thirty minutes during this time shows that God is really working in this place, and we look forward to continued ministry in this location. In this picture you are seeing Tim tell the story of the Prodigal Son, and give witness to the enduring love of our Father in heaven.

After the service, we examined the fields surrounding the house. Tiffany spent much of the afternoon with this woman, and they walked and talked together as Tiffany asked about life in the country and working in the fields.

We were very privileged to be involved with Samaritan’s Purse and Operation Christmas Child this year. We had always filled boxes in the United States, but being here on the field and actually being able to distribute them to the kids was a great privilege. We traveled for about 2 hours by Tuk Tuk, a mode of transportation that is a covered carriage pulled by a motorbike. We also had to cross the Mekong River by ferry, something that is always interesting to do.

When we arrived at the house, we were greeted by the smiles and laughter of over seventy children. It was great to see the smiles on their faces, to hear their words, and to talk with them in our broken Khmer. These are the children who benefit from your selfless giving during the holiday season. We just wanted to let you see them, for seeing their faces made us really appreciate all of you and how your giving spirits make so much difference in the world.

Tiffany was asked to present a story to the children, so she explained the salvation message using the bridge illustration. Here you are seeing a young girl being led across the bridge to God that Jesus formed when He died for our sins on the cross. It is always a blessing to see Tiffany tell this story, for her telling is simple yet it always hits home with the students and they really can begin to understand who Jesus is and who He can be in their lives if they accept Him as Savior.

This is a great picture that reminds us of the way that we pile the boxes up in front of our churches or in our foyers at home in the United States. That is always a very heartwarming sight because it is a testament to the church’s giving nature. Here you are seeing another stack of those boxes, yet they are now ready to be passed into the hands of children who probably did not receive any other gift for Christmas. Each package in those stacks makes a difference in the hearts of both the donor and the child who receives it.

To actually be passing these gifts out to the children, some like this one who needed help from his mother, was a joy that cannot be truly expressed.

Though it is not their custom to open gifts in front of other people, we encouraged them to open their packages, and it was a blessing to see their eyes light up at the different gifts of clothes and toys that were so loving placed in the boxes months ago in the United States.

Here you are seeing a small boy who made sure to thank all of the people who came to bring him his gift. What a blessing to see the joy in this boy’s heart.

The day ended with a relaxing afternoon on the farm and mango plantation of our friend Piep. He showed us the fields, the plants, served us mangos and a variety of other fruits that are grown there, and he made sure that we left with an entire bag of mangos. His heart for the children and for his family was a great testament to his faith in God, and we can see that God is moving in the hearts of the people in this place.

On a lighter note, we were able to watch the Super Bowl with our friends Amber and Lindy. Though we had to wake up at 5:00 in the morning to do so, we still ate the customary football foods such as breadsticks, pizza, Doritos, and soda. It was a great morning made even greater by the Colt’s great victory.

We also had the opportunity to have the students over to our house for a night of fellowship. We enjoyed a night of eating popcorn, drinking soda, and watching the cartoon “Over the Hedge”. It was great to see the students laughing so hard at the antics of the cartoon animals, and it was a great night of fun and fellowship together. Here you are seeing Nol, Vicheak, and Som Aon posing together before the movie began.

The Women’s Conference started several days after the Super Bowl, and we had our Area Directors Dr. Paul and Janet Turner as our guest speakers. The women came from all over the country, and it was a blessing to see them getting acquainted, sharing their struggles, and having fun together as a group of sisters in Christ.

Here you are seeing Tiffany presenting the morning devotions on the first full day of the conference. She is speaking about how God can use the women as his vessels for pouring love and care out to their families, yet they need to first focus on being a useful vessel and being filled by God’s love.

Once again, Tiffany was called upon to share craft ideas with the women, and they did a myriad of origami projects. Here you are seeing Srey, one of our WBI students, and Tawi, the young pastor whose wedding photos we showed you last month. It was fun to see all of the women working together, laughing, and enjoying a night of fun.

It was a special blessing to our hearts, especially Tiffany’s, to see her students from the Storytelling module, jump in and help the ladies when they were confused with the crafts. Tiffany had allowed these young students to have confidence in their abilities as teachers, and they enjoyed being able to help and show the women the proper way to fold the paper to make the craft.

Here you are seeing Tiffany, Resie and Janet Turner posed together after the final session of the conference. It was great to see these three ladies working and praying together for the hearts and lives of the ladies who had come to the conference. It truly was a great week, in all respects, and some of the women were already talking about next year’s conference as they were leaving.

This is a picture of Greg, Dr. Paul Turner, Janet, Tiffany, and I as we dropped the Turners off at the airport. Dr. Turner is retiring from his role as Area director, but he will continue to work with us as a consultant. Dr. Romy Carnigal, a former missionary doctor to Zambia and Nepal, will be taking the place of Dr. Turner as Area Director. We would like to thank Dr. Turner and Janet for their years of service, and their special gift of aiding and assisting missionaries in their area. It was a blessing to spend a week with them here in Cambodia as they encouraged our hearts and strengthened the ministry by sharing their wisdom.