God has taken us on an amazing journey in our work with AFM. When we look back at some of the things we once thought were pitfalls or a waste of time, we are starting to see how He was leading all along.

Several years ago, we wrote about how God led us from working on the Maninka Project in Guinea, West Africa, to working on the Great River Project, and finally to the Pnong Project. We have been through many transitions in our five years with AFM. Because of the many changes and working on a project where learning two languages was required, we have been doing language and culture acquisition for some time. Earlier this year, I became disheartened with this. Discouragement set in as I realized how long we have been working here with no visible results.

It was providential that my parents came to visit us in June. We had some time off with them and had time to talk about what was going on. My dad encouraged us to identify a tangible area of work here related to our ministry that we could set goals for. I immediately thought of starting an Adventist school.

I have been forming this idea since October of last year when we did a Vacation Bible School program at the Khmer church. Only a few children attended, and I noticed that on Sabbaths only a few children attended Sabbath School. It became apparent that it wasn’t because there was no interest, but because Sabbath was a regular school day. Since then, we have done some VBS programs on Sundays that had much higher turnout.

It seems the only real solution is to provide an education alternative for children that doesn’t require Sabbath attendance. Daniel and I discussed the idea of a school many times, but we always pushed it aside knowing it would be a lot of work and would seemingly take away time from our ministry to the Pnong.

After I shared the idea with my dad, he said it seemed like a logical place to start. If we can reach children, we can reach their families, and children are often easier to influence than adults. That spark began building a dream in our minds. The Lord has confirmed that He is leading in this new vision.

In July and August, we talked with the local Cambodian Mission and other Adventist school leaders and created a business plan. We looked for land and shared our vision with a small number of people. Everyone we spoke with was positive about the idea.

We soon realized that land prices in our area are very high. It was going to take a lot of money to buy even a small section of land. Our dream was to have enough land for a school, dormitory, church, industries and agriculture. As the prices got higher and higher, we begin to modify our dream to fit what we found. But God had other plans.

When we began searching for land, some friends of ours were out of town on vacation. When they returned, we told them we had been looking for land but hadn’t found anything reasonably priced. The best we had found was about 7.5 acres for $140,000.

The husband invited us to come and see a piece of land near them. We got in the truck and drove out to it. It was about 12.5 acres for $60,000. The land was in an area we had looked at before and liked but had thought it was too far from town. As he showed us the land, he told us the town was quickly expanding that direction. A brand new major road was being built not far away, and the government was moving the market to the edge of town only a short distance away. We were immediately struck by how the property suited our needs. The land was beautiful, located on a hill with a gorgeous view. A creek flowed along the back property line. The land next to this piece was also for sale. He told us it was another 7 acres selling for $45,000. So the Lord had presented us with nearly three times the land for a smaller price than the $140,000 we had been contemplating. We came home praising God.

Our friend told us we would need to make a decision soon because other people were interested in the land. We prayed a lot about it. Shortly thereafter, a few donors committed to providing the $105,000 purchase price, and AFM authorized us to make a down payment. AFM president, Conrad Vine, and the Cambodia Mission president, Deane Jackson, came to look at the land and gave their final approval to purchase it and move forward with the school project. There are still many unknowns before us, but we know the Lord is blessing as we step out in faith. We are certain that this school and the branch primary school we want to open in a neighboring Pnong village will reach many for Christ.

The exciting thing is that not only has God blessed in the development of the school plans, at the same time He has opened up Kaak’s heart to want to start studying the Bible. I am now studying with her weekly. She told me, “I want to learn everything there is to know about Chief God.”

My heart is no longer discouraged. Looking back over everything, I see a beautiful picture that God is revealing in His time. We spent a long time learning Khmer, and I used to wonder if it was a waste of time. Now I see that if we hadn’t spent that time, it would be very difficult for us to move forward with the school project. Those language skills will be necessary. God’s plans are so much bigger than ours. He can see the future and how it all will work together. We praise Him for His great works!

As we put together a budget and finalize plans for the Pnong school project, we invite your prayers. Stay tuned for future developments! We also invite you to attend one of our speaking engagements (see below) and consider helping us raise the funding we need to return to ministry among the Pnong.

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