February 26, 2010

I wanted to catch you up on the rash of visitors at CBI and with us lately. It’s been great. Here are some of those:

In late December and early January, there was a group of about 12 people from two churches in Georgia (they help support the Phnom Penh congregation), 3 from South Africa and one man from Thailand. The group lead a seminar here for the church. One of the ladies taught a ladies’ track at CBI. I made a couple of late night trips to the airport to help pick up this group. Also, the last night they were here, we hosted the group at our house (so they could shower and eat before they late.) The South Africans and Glom, the Thai man, spent the night with us before flying out the next day.
At the end of January, Sophea, one of our graduates who preaches at the TNT church, was in to visit and meet. I asked him to tell the students about the realities of his work and what he does each day. He is one of their own who is out doing the work. They asked him several questions.

Early in February, a group of six Americans who are teaching in China made their way here. They were traveling through and looked us up. They went to chapel with us and I had them tell what they were doing in China and what the church is like there. We invited them to spend the night with us. I think they really appreciated our house after a night with no hot water in the cheap hotel they were in.

In mid-February, Ben and Natalie Walker stopped in on their way home. They stayed with the Welches, went to church with us at the PIP congregation and Ben taught at chapel. Then, I asked him to talk to our students about his work with Sunset, the Sunset schools in other countries, etc…

A few days later, Bill and Marie-Claire McDonough brought over a group of six or so from France (American Missionaires and some of their students). They came in the evening, sang with our students and talked some about their work.

Right now, Loren and Penny Hollingsworth (Ronda’s parents) are with us as Loren teaches at the school. Because they are here, a Thai preacher, named Oudong, has come to visit them. He got here Wednesday and leaves Saturday. He has visited with our students as he has been able.

A group from Stockton, CA has also been here with the Welches. They all worked on the Ship of Life, but also came to church and to chapel at CBI.

Why tell you all this? When I see the variety of people who have been here and the countries they work in, it is amazing. As much as possible, we asked them to tell our students about their work and situations. It has really been a blessing to the students, a reminder that they are not the only ones in the world and a true broadening of their view of the church. Rejoice with us in this!!!!!

November 11, 2009

My friend, Dale Lundy, put together pictures of our current student body along with some class pictures. See it here.

rich

October 20, 2009

Hi, Friends:

I wanted to catch you up on our new school year and other things happening here.

First, we returned 10 students and added 7 new students. Here is a little info on our current student body:

1. Chheav - great student with a good h eart, graduates in Dec.
2. Sovann - good student, been here one year.
3. Try ("Tree") - good student, graduates in June of 2010.
4. Pisey (Pe-say) - girl student, been here one year
5. Neoun - great student, former Budhist monk, about 30 years old, been here one year
6. Sokna - girl student, Try's sister, started in April
7. Nika - girl student, started in January, just married Chanty, a recent graduate
8. SereyVuth or Vuth - great student, been here almost a year. We started a church in his home village.. It is really doing well.
9. Soklee or Lee - good student, most improved
10. Sokgoon - new student, former keyboardist in a denominational church
11. Penh - started in April, seems to be doing okay
12. Peap - new student, not a Christian yet
13. Dawlahn - new girl student
14. SereyWaht or Waht - new student, Vuth's brother, not a Christian yet
15. Phen Soan or Soan - just started last week, not a Christian yet
16. Pahla - new student
17. Waynat (second "a" is long) - new student
18. Sopak – started in October

** We also have 3 part time students – they usually can come only in the mornings.

Next, after several months of trying circumstances, including 3 months without working electricity on the second floor, we moved out of our former school location to another place. The new location is bigger, better and, of course cost more. But, with the added number of students, it was the right thing to do. We moved on August 29th.

As for the classes:

1.. Tawn taught Historical Christian Evidences from the books that were translated into Khmer. It has been much easier for the students to have a study guide in their own language.

2.. Dennis taught “The Teachings of Jesus” from Matthew. (The students had to memorize the entire Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5-7.)

3.. Greg Fleming (from Midland, Tx) taught Philippians for two weeks and 1st, 2nd & 3rd John for two weeks.

4.. In the mornings, Dale Lundy taught “The Life of Christ” from Mark.

It is really nice to have mature, Christian men to teach and have an influence on our students. You may have noticed also, that I've not been teaching so far this fall. I needed to be ready in case some of the teachers could not come, but mainly I have been preparing for upcoming classes and studying Khmer. I hope to teach John in the Khmer language in February!

Last week, we had another Evangelism Week. The students and Tawn went to one village on Monday, to Sothea’s village on Tuesday, to Vuth’s village on Wednesday and to another village on Thursday. Plans for Friday fell through, so they enjoyed the time off.

Now, Dale will be teaching “The Cross of Christ” in the morning and afternoons for nine days.

Of our graduates, Sothea is still working with the church in the new location. Khim is working with Partners in Progress’ (PIP) Nutrition Program and helping lead at the church that meets at the PIP House. Vesna is continuing his vocational training and is helping lead at the church at the PIP House. Chanty is doing vocational training. Sophea is preaching for the church at TNT.

Rich

August 30, 2009

Well, we moved everything over to the new school location today. We spent several hours cleaning up and the students are going back this evening to make sure everything is good in the old location.

Now, we have the job of finding out the best way to use our new facility. It is such a blessing to have more room. And, the landlord was working and had several others working, to put up rails on the stairs, finish doors, etc...

I am attaching a picture of the students and some of the staff on the outside stairs at the school. We are all hot and sweaty from the morning's work.

Rich

P.S. We and the Welches bought pizza for this special occasion. I think it was the first time most of our students had ever had pizza.

June 18, 2009

CBI 2008-2009 Overview:

1. Graduation - June 12, 2009– Veasna, Sophea, Chanty & Saleem (Pakistani man)

2. Student Timeline:
August added Sovann, Soklee, Rohn, Pisey, Rinna
Sept – Rinna told to come home by her parents. Pisey and Rohn both baptized into
Christ
Oct/Nov added SereyVudt & Neun. Lee baptized into Christ.
Nov-Dec – Neon baptized into Christ in Nov, Vudt was baptized in December
January – First Graduation. Sothea and Khim
January added Nikah
March – Rohn left school. He wants to come back in July.
April – Added Sokna and Penh
Ended the year with 13 students.

3. Churches started:
Takeo
Vudt’s village
Krang Dong –Rohn’s home village
Kram Krop – this is a denominational group who asked us to come out and teach them.

4. Evangelism Weeks – August, September, November, December, February, April. We
have one planned for early July and for September and October.

5. First Graduates –
a. Sothea is working with the church at KSP and the new church at Krang Dong
b. Khim started vocational training, stopped to work with the Nutrition truck sponsored
by Partners in Progress (PIP). He currently works with the church at PIP.

6. June Graduates plans –
a. Veasna is enrolled in vocational training
b. Sophea hopes to work with a church and raise pigs to support help himself
c. Chanty is working on the Ship of Life for two months, teaching and evangelizing, then
will enroll in vocational training.

7. Ship of Life – Chanty and Try are working on the Ship to evangelize

8. Publisher – met Monday to receive the last chapters of the book to read over and
approve. Hope to have the Historical Christian Evidences study guide in bookstores by
the end of June.

9. Visiting teachers –
a. August –December – Lanny Partain, Mark Hooper (from Mission Resource Network), Loren Hollingsworth (former missionary to Thailand for 35 years). George was due to come but had to cancel due to health issues.
In addition, I taught 3 classes and Dennis taught one week.
b. January-June – Scott Keele (from Broken Arrow) and Dave Brockway (from Broken Arrow). We had 4 teachers who had to cancel for various reasons, including Herman Alexander, Ken Fox, Paul Shero and Bo Shero.
I taught 2 short classes and 2 regular classes. Dennis and Tawn both taught 2 regular classes. (A short class is all day for a week or two. A regular class is 3 hours for about 4 weeks)

10. Miscellaneous:
a. We are still dealing the fallout from the TNT orphanage work. We are trying to help the church and people there.
b. Many good things continue to happen at the church that meets at the Partners in Progress house.
c. Ron Downey, who replaced George Carman, is visiting here for a week. He got to be part of the recent graduation.

April 3, 2009

Here's a little more info on what's happening here. Feel free to share with others. (Some of this comes from the last update, but I have added much, changed, etc..)

This past month, I have been teaching 1 & 2 Timothy and Titus for about 3 hours every day. I gave the students 36 memory verses. Today, we had our final exam; which had about 100 questions, with over 150 answers. Tawn has been teaching Old Testament History in the afternoon.

In addition to that, our students teach, preach and help at various churches on the weekends. When I first got here, our students went out on preaching trips to only 2 villages. Two students went (they both taught at one village and then at the 2nd village). The other students all stayed in town and worshipped at the Phnom Penh church. They rotated who went out. Now, Dennis takes a group out almost every Sunday. They don't go to the same two churches, but rotate between 4 or 5 congregations. One big advantage is that the congregations don't rely on just our students. They have to step up and teach and lead also.

New Churches:
Takeo: Another group (2 students, whom are rotated) go to Takeo each Sunday. This is a new place where we are starting a church. Two ladies were baptized there about 3 weeks ago. We have seen 4 more baptisms there since then. Because the Takeo group meet in the afternoon, the students worship at Phnom Penh in the morning and then go out in the afternoon.

Krang Dong. Sometimes, one or more students go to support and help Sothea. Remember he is one of our first graduates (in January) and is working with the church at KSP and starting a congregation at Krang Dong.

Krang Kong: Tawn frequently goes out to teach and preach. Krang Kong is a new place where a denominational group has asked us to come teach. Last week was our first week to teach there. Two ladies and one man were converted into Christ.

Khim, our other recent graduate, has been involved at the church at the Partners in Progress house, while he is doing his vocational training. He is starting a weekly group that will meet on Saturdays. He also helps on some of the preaching trips. Other students are helping and leading some at the PIP church as they can. The church here has had at least two baptisms in the past two weeks also. These come from students who improve their English by studying the bible. Ronda's sister, Julie Broyles, is directing this work. If any of you might be interested in coming to teach English using the bible, please let us know or contact her at juliebroyles1@gmail.com. Typically, teachers come to teach a month at a time. Julie is always needing more teachers.

This coming week, all our students will be going out on an Evangelism Week. We go to a different village every day and teach. Please pray for this effort. Currently, the Phnom Penh church is having a gospel meeting. Two bible teachers from Singapore are leading it. People from all three of the new congregations have come in for it. Many will sleep on the floor at the school. (The meeting is Friday night, all day Saturday and then Sunday morning).

When you put this all together, you can see that we have made some progress. I am excited about the possibilities for the future.


Rich

P.S. Sothea is using a car battery to power lights so that he can teach the bible to adults several weeknights each week. How about that?

March 16, 2009

It dawned on me that I may not have put together the big picture pieces for you in awhile. So, here are some of the things happening as far as spreading out the news.

When I first got here, our students went out on preaching trips to only 2 villages. Two students went (they both taught at one village and then at the 2nd village). The other students all stayed in town and worshipped at the Phnom Penh church. They rotated who went out.

Now, Dennis takes a group out almost every Sunday. They don't go to the same two churches, but rotate between 4 or 5 congregations. Usually two or three students go. Dennis has done a great job with this. One big advantage is that the congregations don't rely on just our students. They have to step up and teach and lead also. That was one of the suggestions Bill McDonough made about a year ago.

Another group (2 students, whom are rotated) go to Takeo each Sunday. This is a new place where we are starting a church. The two ladies who were baptized yesterday are from Takeo. Because the Takeo group meet in the afternoon, the students worship at Phnom Penh in the morning and then go out in the afternoon.

Sometimes, one or more students go to support and help Sothea. Remember he is working with the church at KSP and starting a congregation at Krang Dong. (We recently bought him a car battery so that he can power lights to teach the adults the bible at night time!)

Tawn frequently goes out to teach and preach. He went yesterday to see about a new place where a denominational group has asked us to come teach.

Khim, our other recent graduate, has been involved at the PIP church while he is doing his vocational training. He is starting a weekly group that will meet on Saturdays. He also helps on some of the preaching trips. Other students are helping and leading some at the PIP church as they can.

When you put this all together, you can see that we have made some progress. I am excited about the possibilities for the future. And, this could not have been done with out the hard work and leadership of Dennis and Tawn.

Rich

March 1, 2009

Thank you for your prayers, encouragement and other support of the students, staff and church here. There have been a lot of good things going on and the events of yesterday reminded me to let you know about them.

First, yesterday there were 14 baptisms in two different villages that our group went to. Dennis Welch has been great about taking students out to various villages on the weekend. Yesterday, Try (one of our students) preached and people responded.

Secondly, a man came to visit from another village. He is a denominational man but said that they needed someone to come over and teach at his church. We are looking in to doing that.

Thirdly, Sothea, one of our recent graduates, started working with the church in one village and trying to start a church in another village. Most of you know he ran into some problems with a village chief and with the police. That has been resolved.

Fourthly, the church that meets at the PIP house has agreed to provide a good chunk of Sothea's support. The church at Phnom Penh will also help, we are just trying to decide on an amount. I am encouraged that the local churches are getting involved in supporting "missionaries". The unanimous advice which I received from several missionaries was this, "Do not put these men on financial support from America!" So, we are trying to keep that from happening.

Fifthly, Khim, another recent graduate, is in vocational training right now. He has been a big help with the church at PIP. In fact, yesterday he went to a village to preach, then came back and preached in the afternoon at PIP. We will meet this week to talk about him starting a bible study group during the week.

Sixth, just a small note on leadership. The men at the PIP congregation are taking turns lining up the bible classes teachers and worship leaders. Yesterday, both of the men due to teach class and preach were not there. The man responsible to line things up knew that and had lined people up in their places. And, I knew nothing about it until we get there. So, they are communicating and taking reponsibility for the church!!!

Seventh, you may recall that we've had a number of guest teachers have to cancel this winter/spring. I'm been thrilled that Broken Arrow sent Scott Keele to teach for two weeks. And, it looks like Dave Brockway will be able to come in late May. For the fall, Herman Alexander and Greg Fleming have committed to teach. Three other men are looking into the possibility of coming.


Things are progressing. Please keep us in your prayers.

Rich Dolan

September 17, 2008

Hi, from Phnom Penh. I hope all is well with you.

I have been doing some work on the transcripts and wanted to show you some of where we are. Notice we have increased the number of guest teachers. Including myself in that mix, I believe the instruction quality has greatly increased. The spiritual maturity and experience of the teachers has had a profound impact on our students. Their horizons have been broadened exponentially.

Also, we can be proud of what is being taught. We covered an amazing amount of the books of the bible and topics about Christianity with our students. We added some classes, like the Resurrection, the Preacher and His Work, & 7 Habits of Effective Christians, while skipping over some others, like N.T. Greek, that it would have been good to do, but not as productive right now.

In addition, there have been evangelism weeks in April, May (with the Aggies for Christ group), August and one presently going on. We may have another in November or December or both, based on the incoming teacher's schedules. We were going to help Herman Alexander and John Bailey with a Medical Mission here in January, but that got postponed. We have scheduled evangelism weeks in February, March and perhaps June of next year. These trips help the church but are also valuable in getting our students some experience in teaching others.

Also, I am assigning Khim, Sothea and the Pakistani brother if he gets back, to "intern" like work with the church that meets as the Partners in Progress house. This will give them some practical experience, with the guidance of Tawn and I, in working with a church. They will be doing that from September through at least December. After that, a short vocational training time will be available to them. George Carman also had the great idea that we might have an internship like arrangement with them while they are pursuing their vocational training. I think that is a good way to further equip them.

Overall, I am excited about how we are equipping these young men to be effective in the Kingdom!!!! I wanted to share that with you.

rich

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

September 16, 2008

Friends:
Just a quick update because our students are so excited!

We are having an evangelism week this week. During those we go out to a different village every day teaching and preaching. The students came back so pumped up last night, it is amazing. They had gone back to a village where there is no church. This is the home village of Rawn, one of our new students. We've been there once before and had about 70 people came out to the bible studies!. Yesterday, (Wednesday) there were about 50-60, including children. Tawn broke them up into groups of 8-10 people and let the students teach, etc.. then brought everyone together and answered questions and taught. It was really good. Veasna is so excited that he wants to go back on Saturday. (We're busy in other places today and tomorrow.)

We had planned to go to another village today, but the church leader called and said he would be out of town. He had not invited anyone to come to the bible studies, so it was not profitable for us to go. Friday, as my language class is now on a break, I will get to go out with the students.

You may remember that we started having these evangelism weeks in April. We had anohter in May (with the Aggies for Christ group), in August and now this one. We may have another in November or December or both, based on the incoming teacher's schedules. We were going to help Herman Alexander and John Bailey with a Medical Mission here in January, but that got postponed. We have scheduled evangelism weeks in February, March and perhaps June of next year. These trips help the church but are also valuable in getting our students some experience in teaching others.

Rich