I’m a father?

On August 7th Lin took not one but two pregnancy tests and passed both of them. She’d been not feeling very well for a while, but I figured that’s just how woman are. Now whenever she sees or smells me she wants to vomit (not that she dislikes me, it’s just morning sickness). When we went to the hospital they said she was 5 weeks pregnant. Now it’s been 8 weeks and she is starting to show. I’m not yet as excited as I should be, and that’s mainly just because it seems so far away, I’m in the moment. It’ll be sure to hit me later.

This is how Lin sleeps most nights.

The Camp

We’ve been watching Jesus movies with the camp every night.

We’re still at the refugee camp that our team has set up. There’s 60 families or so here and most of them are believers, so we have lots of time to pour into them and encourage them. It’s been great, we’re teaching and learning every day, and we cook and eat together. I’m getting better at preaching and teaching and reading in Khmer (not that I ever was very good at those things in English).

Lin helps organize and buy food for cooking at the camp every day and she thrives doing it. Many of the unbelievers here have given their lives to Jesus. Our camp is a testimony to all the organizations and people that come to provide aid. People from all over have pitched in to help in various ways and it’s really encouraging to see Cambodia and even the world come together to help those displaced by war.

Sreyown donated a pig to help feed the camp for 9 days. Pictured: Lin, Thanak

There are some things I probably shouldn’t say here for security reasons and so I won’t say those; though for the most part we are really safe.

My cousin (Thanak’s mom) came to the camp with a group from her church in the capital to help evangelize. They were on fire and lots of people got saved. They took every opportunity.

Projects

For the past few years I’ve had zero appetite for playing video games, so instead I’ve been using my free-time for various projects:

• Setting up Khmer bible radios which only cost $3.75 a unit because I buy all the parts direct from China. Everybody loves listening to them and the quality is really good for the price. If something’s broken all I have to do is replace the battery or the memory card or the radio and keep the rest going.
• Khmer, Lao, Chitonga, and Silozi dictionary web apps. There’s a shortage of good resources, and what’s out there is pretty much unusable. My new system reworks all the data I’ve accumulated and makes it fast and accessible and offline. I’ll do an official release once I’m satisfied with it.
• Khmer typesetting for bibles and tracts and book translations.

Pray

• Pray for Lin as she’s suffering morning sickness everyday, constantly puking. (But she’s been doing much better the last couple days.)
• Pray for the people at the camp that we grow in unity and continue to shine in every situation.
• Pray that the war would end and it would be safe to go back to our homes soon.
• Pray that our team would grow and have the proper resources and favor to manage being a registered NGO.

A usual lot at the camp.

Praise

• Lin is pregnant!
• We’ve worked hard and are on our way to having a Cambodian marriage license (very hard to get for foreigners).
• Many people have been getting saved and are walking in new life!

Love you all,

Tommy and Lin