Thank you, friends, for your many prayers for our transition back to Cambodia. The flights were largely uneventful, and we hardly felt the effects of jet lag. Our longer-than-expected time in Phnom Penh was a strange mix of crazy-busy (the usual Phnom Penh tasks of visas, drivers licenses, vaccinations, etc.) and boredom (trying to keep everyone entertained in an inner-city hotel for 2 weeks). The reason for the 2-week stay was that we ended up needing to replace our vehicle.

Cambodian car hunting

While in the past, I’ve found car buying in Phnom Penh to be a rather simple, even enjoyable, experience, this time was a bit different since our parameters were so narrow. In a city of 2.3 million, we were looking for the one car (that may well not be an exaggeration at all) that (1) would seat our family, (2) could be insured for a foreigner, and (3) wouldn’t break the bank. Praise the Lord for leading us to that needle in the haystack. We love our new ride and hope it gives us as many reliable KMs as its predecessor did.

the Needle

Now we’re in a hotel in Stung Treng province, ready to start the house hunt in earnest first thing Monday morning. And again, with our parameters, it feels like the odds are stacked against us in such a small town. Please pray that the Lord would provide a house well suited to the needs and purposes of our family and gospel ministry. The past 1-month+ of living out of suitcases has heightened our love and gratitude for Home. Please pray also for wholeness in heart and body. Hotel fever has struck and the kids, not to mention their parents, are quite antsy. We’ve also had a string of flu-like bugs making their rounds among us.

We have set the Lord before us always: because He is at our right hand, we shall not be shaken.

our first meal of bai sach chruk, a family favorite for breakfast

Dear friends,

Since I last updated you, the Lord has done for us all that I asked you to pray for. We have been based out of Nashville since August, continuing to enjoy profitable times with partner churches, reporting on our first term in Cambodia, as well as preaching and teaching in a variety of other settings. Our school-aged kids have thoroughly enjoyed this fall semester at Jonathan Edwards Classical Academy in Nashville, integrating well with their friends and teachers there  and growing in their love of truth, beauty and goodness. And our time with the brothers and sisters at Reformed Baptist in Nashville has also been a boon to our spirits. Any leftover time I’ve tried to give to language study, working both to chip away at the rust that has quickly accumulated on my Khmer and to make some baby steps with my Laotian. Bonnie Ruth is now busily preparing for our return to Cambodia, buying up 4 years’ worth of school curriculum. We are all eagerly looking forward to spending the holidays with family and then taking off for Cambodia on January 6.

I’ve already shared with many of you how this year has been filled with both rebuke and encouragement from the Spirit in the discipline of prayer.  Your responses evidence that this work is not confined to me. So thank you for your increased commitment to minister the gospel on your knees. As you labor with us in this way, let these two paragraphs direct your petitions in the coming weeks.

Prayer for Laotian churches

First, please look long term and plead for Christ to call out Laotian men, women and children from Stung Treng and Ratanakiri provinces. Our prayer is that He would plant His church in 5 different towns in these two provinces. We perceive that Laotians are very religious people (if their numerous god houses and shrines mean anything), but we also know that they have completely neglected the one God who gives them abundant rice, rain from heaven, row upon row of beautiful fruits and vegetables, and plenty of fresh air. Pray that they will fear the wrath of this neglected God, and that He will mercifully raise up workers to proclaim His forgiveness to them.

Prayer for good housing

Second, please look a bit more short range and pray for our upcoming transition from the U.S. to a new home in Cambodia. We arrive January 7 and have a lot do in that first month or so — it’s now time to follow through with our original plan to live in Stung Treng province (the heart of the Laotian population), which means yet another move. One of the most important steps in this process will be housing. If you’re interested in the details of how we’re praying about this, here you go:

• A house that’s well-built and won’t drain lots of time and money for repairs
• A good relationship with a good landlord
• A good location where neighbors are free to come and go
• A good mix of Khmer and Laotian neighbors
• A good yard where kids, both Farmers and neighbors, can play
• A good room for our kids’ schooling
• A good private room for Brooke, our dear friend and resident “educational assistant”

Thank you, dear brothers and sisters. Please keep in touch.

We’ve been in the US since early April and Cambodia seems a world away, both geographically and temporally. As I’ve shared with many of you already, moving a young family of nine around the world for nine months was not exactly my idea of “furlough” (noun. Military. a vacation or leave of absence granted to an enlisted person)! But what if our brief visits with you could somehow lead to more focused, knowledgeable, and Spirt-led prayers for the gospel’s advance in Cambodia? I’m definitely up for that and have been begging God to bring it to pass. Perhaps our biggest take-away from these years in Cambodia has been that if Christ does not build His House there among the Laotians, all our best and most diligent efforts are in vain. This has been a painful and humiliating lesson, but we see in Scripture that it’s exactly where God likes to position His servants, leading them to call out to Him to accomplish His work in the power of His Spirit. So once again I urge you, brothers and sisters, to pray that God would call out Laotian men, women, and children in northeastern Cambodia to be part of His church; that in Stung Treng, Siem Pang, Sesan, Veun Sai, and Lumphat, there would be Laotians meeting week after week, listening to the Scriptures in Laotian, praising the triune God with Laotian hymns, and exhorting one another in their heart language of Laotian.

Enriched in every way
So that’s why we came back–because we need an army of pray-ers to work with us. But so much more has happened in our visits with you. You’ve lavished attention on us, praying with us and for us, exhorting and comforting us, and feting us like kings, thoroughly giving the lie to that old line that missionaries are a forgotten and neglected race. (Actually, you’ve proven this already throughout our past 4 years in Cambodia.) Thank you, dear friends, for your ministry with, and now to, us.

This one thing you lack …
But even your most kingly treatment has lacked one thing, something you just couldn’t provide: a home. Moving from castle to castle, from feast to feast, has filled our hearts and bellies; but we are longing to be in one place for more than a few nights at a time. And in God’s kind provision, this is what’s next for us. On Wednesday we arrived in Nashville, TN and quickly moved into what will be our home for the next 4-5 months.

Opportunities ahead
During these months, I will continue visiting those partner churches that we haven’t yet seen. We’re also very thankful to be a part of Reformed Baptist Church here in Nashville, enjoying their fellowship for more than just one week at a time! And finally, we’re all eagerly looking forward to the opportunity our school-aged children will have to attend a “real” school (I guess Bonnie Ruth doesn’t count as a “real” teacher) here in Nashville. We do covet your prayers for us during this time—that our meetings with partner churches would continue to be profitable for the gospel. We’re also praying for a continued smooth transition for our kids. Thus far, this American life has felt to them like one 4-month long vacation–how’s that for the much-dreaded reverse culture shock?! But we expect that will be changing soon as school starts next week. Please pray for their success—spiritual, social, and academic—in this new venture.

Dear Partners,

Here is a summary of our activities over the past month. Please read, be encouraged, and return to prayer for us and the people of Cambodia.

Telling the gospel story
The whole Bible in 2 characters: Adam and Jesus. The whole Bible in 5 characters: Adam, Abraham, Moses, David, and Jesus. The whole Bible in 20 characters/events: [I’ll let you come up with your own list].
These are some of the things we considered together over the course of five weeks with the folks at Labansiek Church here in Ratanakiri Province, and the Spirit was there to help us all. He helped me as a teacher to speak clearly and understandably, even if not beautifully. He helped the brothers and sisters who listened to understand better the nature of the gospel, the wisdom and power of God, and the beauty of the church where they meet Him. Thank you for praying for us. Though I thoroughly enjoy my weekly private teaching opportunities here, prior to this series, public speaking in Khmer has always been less than enjoyable for me. But for the first time, I began to experience in Khmer some of the joy I have known before in leading brothers and sisters to understand the meaning of Scripture. This was yet another milestone and a great encouragement for me as I prepare for a hiatus from Khmer ministry.

Watching the gospel transform lives
Last Sunday, three members of Labansiek Church shared impromptu testimonies, all three of which are direct answers to some of our most repeated prayers and clear evidences of the gospel’s transforming power.
The first was Om Poan (pictured at right), an elderly lady who testified to God’s grace in leading her to humble herself before her children, confessing her sins against them. In a culture where status, including age, is highly valued, and humility before those of lower status or age is practically unheard of, if not scorned, this was an obvious product of the Spirit’s work.

Then, Leang told us about her recent opportunity to share the gospel with a group of teachers at the school where she works, thanking God that unlike past opportunities where she had succumbed to fear and remained silent, she was bold to speak the truth in love. Among a people who, by their native culture, are typically not bold to assert the truth, particularly when that assertion places them in the extreme, countercultural minority, this is another manifestation of the Spirit’s work. Leang’s testimony is just one of many recent manifestations of earnest efforts on the part of these Christians to evangelize their communities, including corporate prayer about evangelism and church planting in Veun Sai (a town with a heavy Laotian population just north of us). This is another answer to years of prayer, by you, us, and many who came here before us, that the Lord would raise up Cambodian evangelists to propagate the news of Christ’s reign throughout the country. Please keep praying for your brothers and sisters here: that they would not grow weary in what, right now, appears to be a labor with very little fruit; that they would not be paralyzed with fear and indecision in the face of a momentous task; and most importantly, that the Spirit would give them conversions.

Finally, Liy publicly praised God for her recent growth in the knowledge of Scripture and God’s character and exhorted us all to press on to know the Lord and to lead our children in this knowledge. This is just one more countercultural product of the Spirit: among a people where books and reading are primarily valued only as a means for greater financial gain, God is raising up men and woman who love to read and study Scripture, “only” for eternal gain; in a culture where parents don’t often invest themselves deliberately in the lives of their children for anything other than material well-being, God is raising up fathers and mothers who are striving to pass their recently received heritage on to the next generation.

Humility for pride; courage for fear; diligence for neglect. These are some of the ways that the gospel is slowly transforming a culture.

Telling the gospel story some more (to those who’ve never heard)
One of our most urgent desires in our final weeks here in Ratanakiri was to give the good news to our two closest neighbors one more time. And over the course of the last month, we’ve had opportunities rang-ing from brief and concise, to lengthy and detailed with various family mem-bers. One particular opportunity has given us unexpected joy and hope. Heng, our neighbor’s 13-year old nephew (see picture above; Heng is on the far left, along with his cousin, aunt and great aunt), has been living with them for the past school year. He is in 2nd grade but is exceptionally bright and has become one of our kids’ favorite playmates. About a month ago, I began sharing the gospel with Heng–he’s an easy target since he spends nearly every waking hour at our house–and he has responded with an unusual eagerness and understanding, even initiating conversations with me about the gospel, asking me to tell him more, and listening for up to 40 minutes at a time! So together, we’ve gone from the true God who made everything good, to man who messed it all up, to the Son of God and man who made everything right again. Please pray for Heng. Humanly speaking, his future is not particularly bright. The gospel will change that if Heng will embrace it.

Preparing to move around the world
I’m writing this while taking a short break from a whirlwind of furniture, boxes, and swirling red dust as we pack all our stuff for storage and for moving to the US for a furlough. Hot season is breathing down our necks, which makes for sluggish days and sweaty nights. So while many of you are still slogging your way through the powdery white stuff, we’re surrounded by several inches of the finest red powder. The other day, I lifted Salem into her seat at the table and popped her on the rear end, sending a cloud of red dust wafting over our dinner. Bonnie Ruth and I have been thinking lately about returning to life in the US and some of the accompanying changes: it’s back to bathtime before we go to church rather that after returning home (which makes so much more sense here); it’s back to carpet instead of hardwood or concrete (which suddenly strikes us as far more sanitary); it’s back to using forks instead of spoons (which also seems to make better sense in most cases); it’s back to back to closed-toe shoes and laces, instead of year-round flip-flops which come off the moment you enter a house; it’s back to appointments for everything rather than random, unannounced drop-ins. Thank you for praying for our success as we try to make a smooth transition—geographically, culturally, linguistically—from our side of the world to yours (most of you). We look forward to seeing you soon.

• We have shared the gospel previously with our two closest neighbors, the Pat and Kan families, but we are praying for more opportunities to meaningfully engage them about their alienation from their Creator. Both neighbors are very cordial and always willing to talk/listen, but neither has shown any signs of readiness to embrace the good news. Please pray for good opportunities for conversation, that we would seize the opportunities when they arise (they seem to come at the most inconvenient times!), and that the Spirit would open their eyes to their ruined state and the beauty of Christ. We feel a particular urgency about this since our next term in Cambodia will most likely be in a completely different province.

• Finally, I’ve begun chipping away at Lao language study and am thoroughly enjoying it. Please pray all the same things I’ve been asking you to pray for our Khmer study over the past 4 years!

We continue to drown in God’s river of blessings as we welcome Henry Martyn Farmer into our family. Henry was born November 22, 3:05 pm in Phnom Penh. He was 8 lbs. 4 oz. and 21.5 in. long. Both he and Bonnie Ruth continue to enjoy excellent health. After 3 good but long weeks in Phnom Penh, we’re now glad to be back safe and sound in our home in Ratanakiri. Thank you to those who prayed for health and safety through Bonnie Ruth’s pregnancy and delivery. Our God has fulfilled our every desire. He is good. May the light of His countenance ever shine upon Henry and upon us all.