On August 6, we moved to Union Mills, North Carolina to attend a four-week “Equipping for Cross-Cultural Life and Ministry” training with Center for Intercultural Training.
If you have ever given to support our family and our ministry in Cambodia, then our time of growth and learning at CIT has been a gift afforded by you. Thank you for this gift! By no effort of our own, other than showing up with an open heart and mind, CIT has already proven to be a powerful experience of significant learning and growth - learning and growth that we believe will enhance our ministry and better our family, especially in our transition.
It has been a great experience to learn and to live in community with others who have also received this missionary call. We’ve made friends here from across the US - friends who are preparing to move to many, many corners of the world. Sophear has sang and swam, painted, performed, and played in the mud with new friends heading to England and to Ecuador. Chamnab is learning to walk with Hannah, a friend he made at WGM Orientation Camp a few weeks ago. We’re being taught by veteran missionaries who have decades of experience - from suffering to success. They’ve become vulnerable before us, investing themselves in our family and in our ministry.
We’ve talked about transitions, effective teams, mindstyles, culture and tools for cultural awareness, spiritual warfare, marriage and singleness, cross-cultural communication, worldviews, contextualization, and more. In our small groups - “Heart of the Missionary” - we’re equipping the heart and mind to be servants, dependent on the righteousness of God, stripping away our own self-righteousness.
As we live in community, we’re learning to be intentional about building relationships and practicing hospitality as we invite people into our home to share life stories. We’re practicing here and now because once we land and settle in Cambodia, hospitality will be a ministry to our neighbors.
On Friday afternoon, two of Sophear’s friends stayed with us so their parents could attend a worship service relative to their host culture.
On Saturday, we drove an hour away to Spartanburg, South Carolina to visit a Cambodian Buddhist temple. This was to fulfill a requirement for CIT. One of our classmates (Alyssa), a missionary to Thailand, met us there. Titus, Sophear, and Alyssa spent some time inside interviewing one of the monks, while I kept Chamnab out of trouble outside (pagodas are very far from “baby proof”) and toured the beautiful 6-acre property. It was a neat experience for us to see and interact with Cambodian culture here in the States!
Below is a group picture from Monday during the solar eclipse. Most everyone on campus is included - staff, facilitators, children’s teachers, children, and us (the new missionaries!) In front of me and between Titus and I (front left) are Sophear’s two teachers and Chamnab’s two teachers. We believe God was smiling on us when he gave Chamnab a Filipina teacher and a Vietnamese teacher! These four ladies have been wonderful with Sophear and Chamnab and we are so blessed that they are here investing in our children so that we can fully participate in our classes.
We’ve been here 17 days and have 10 more days. Thank you for praying for us as we learn and grow, and as we seek to be intentional in building relationships - relationships that we hope will last well beyond September 1. Thank you for praying for our new friends - Marina, the Goods, Patrick & Tressa, the Hocutts, Catie, Michael & Carrie, Drew, Ben & Lauren, Shelby, Victoria, Joel & Mallory, Launa, Azlyn, the Meyers, Joe & Ladaere, Alyssa, Seth & Kayla, Cory, Clark & Val, John & Charlene, Logan, Bill & Amy!
If you have ever given to support our family and our ministry in Cambodia, then our time of growth and learning at CIT has been a gift afforded by you. Thank you for this gift! By no effort of our own, other than showing up with an open heart and mind, CIT has already proven to be a powerful experience of significant learning and growth - learning and growth that we believe will enhance our ministry and better our family, especially in our transition.
It has been a great experience to learn and to live in community with others who have also received this missionary call. We’ve made friends here from across the US - friends who are preparing to move to many, many corners of the world. Sophear has sang and swam, painted, performed, and played in the mud with new friends heading to England and to Ecuador. Chamnab is learning to walk with Hannah, a friend he made at WGM Orientation Camp a few weeks ago. We’re being taught by veteran missionaries who have decades of experience - from suffering to success. They’ve become vulnerable before us, investing themselves in our family and in our ministry.
We’ve talked about transitions, effective teams, mindstyles, culture and tools for cultural awareness, spiritual warfare, marriage and singleness, cross-cultural communication, worldviews, contextualization, and more. In our small groups - “Heart of the Missionary” - we’re equipping the heart and mind to be servants, dependent on the righteousness of God, stripping away our own self-righteousness.
As we live in community, we’re learning to be intentional about building relationships and practicing hospitality as we invite people into our home to share life stories. We’re practicing here and now because once we land and settle in Cambodia, hospitality will be a ministry to our neighbors.
On Friday afternoon, two of Sophear’s friends stayed with us so their parents could attend a worship service relative to their host culture.
On Saturday, we drove an hour away to Spartanburg, South Carolina to visit a Cambodian Buddhist temple. This was to fulfill a requirement for CIT. One of our classmates (Alyssa), a missionary to Thailand, met us there. Titus, Sophear, and Alyssa spent some time inside interviewing one of the monks, while I kept Chamnab out of trouble outside (pagodas are very far from “baby proof”) and toured the beautiful 6-acre property. It was a neat experience for us to see and interact with Cambodian culture here in the States!
Below is a group picture from Monday during the solar eclipse. Most everyone on campus is included - staff, facilitators, children’s teachers, children, and us (the new missionaries!) In front of me and between Titus and I (front left) are Sophear’s two teachers and Chamnab’s two teachers. We believe God was smiling on us when he gave Chamnab a Filipina teacher and a Vietnamese teacher! These four ladies have been wonderful with Sophear and Chamnab and we are so blessed that they are here investing in our children so that we can fully participate in our classes.
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| Sophear's first "report card" |
To see Christ glorified in Cambodia,
Titus, Jewel, Sophear, & Chamnab
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