Today was a day filled with adventure and God moving in unforeseen ways.

The day started off with training the teams in two groups. The more advanced members were at one church and the beginners were at another.  It had been raining pretty heavily all morning and we were worried about flooding at the church where the advanced team was practicing.  Sure enough, the water kept rising up the stairs to the church and Greg told us we had about fifteen minutes before water started coming in.  So we decided to pack up everything at the church and carry it all through the water to the bus and go to the other church.  As we got on the bus, Makara said "Hello everyone... are you happy?" And was answered with a resounding YES and an outbreak of If You're Happy and You Know It (a favorite of the group it seems).  It was amazing to see not a single person discouraged or frustrated by the situation.  How refreshing to see people who are filled with true joy from the Lord and do not complain when things get difficult or don't go as planned!

Training continued for both groups as the rain continued through the morning.  We went to the busy market for lunch where we saw an assortment of meats from all parts of animals and a variety of fruits and vegetables. We found a little place to eat where we had some delicious Khmai food!

In the afternoon Jon and Helen worked with the worship team, practicing for the worship service on the beach on Sunday.  The rest of the 60 or so of us boarded two buses with a local Cambodian pastor to visit those whom their church has been reaching out to in the villages.  In the first of our two stops we visited a women who requested that our group come to her house to pray for her.

She had accepted Jesus Christ as her savior a couple months ago; however evil spirits in the area were making their presence known to her. For this reason she wanted us to pray for her and her two non-christian relatives living with her. After we got as far as the buses could take us we got out and started a five minute walk around puddles and piles of dirt to the house. When we arrived at the house we were greeted by some very welcoming people and a fantastic view of very green rice fields with a mountain range in the background. The eldest women who asked us to pray for her explained the reason why we were there for everyone. After she was done explaining, Dave stepped in and started explaining the gospel to the two women. After talking about what it means to trust Jesus Christ, Dave asked them if they wanted to accept Jesus Christ as her Lord and Savior and they said excitedly said "Yes". That is when Dave noticed a red string around the wrist of one of the ladies. Dave asked the women what is was and she explained that it is meant to keep evil spirits away. In reply Dave told the women that with Jesus you do not need the red band anymore since Jesus has power of evil spirits/demons. The women replied by taking it off. While all this was occurring many kids from the area noticed the unusually large amount of people. Many of our Khmai team members went over to the group and taught them about Jesus and sang songs with them. It was awesome to see them take advantage of the situation like that. After wrapping up everything with prayer for the three ladies and the new faith of the two we departed back to the buses.

After riding in the buses for about thirty minutes we came to the road that would bring us to the village we were to preform at. However the road seemed to be impossible for the two buses to pass on. The two drivers, along with some of the team, got of the buses to test how deep the holes were with sticks and stones. They determined we might be able to get through, so of course we tried and succeeded in passing on the roads! We were greeted at the end of the road by a railroad-side village and a fantastic view over the ocean on a small cliff (not that steep don't worry).

  With the heavens looking like that wanted to rain all over the place we prayed that God would hold the rain until the performance was finished. Then we started the performance and everything went fantastically. We let the Khmai people lead just about the whole thing and they did a great job! Both kids and adults were having so much fun and listening very intently! They laughed, smiled, cried and sang along during the whole performance. God really brought happiness and joy to their week this day. Afterward, many of us gathered around two women, close friends, to pray for healing. One who was previously seriously sick and healed by prayer. The other being partially paralyzed. Though not healed at that time, you could see the thankfulness on the two friend's faces. We said our goodbyes to the people living at the village as they waved to us goodbye. Got on the buses and not three minutes later it started to rain.

Please continue to pray for our safety and for the hearts and minds of everyone to be open. Both team members and audience, we don't want anyone missing something from God. By: Jonathan Eastburn and Joshua Rahn

Guess what we did today?... Left for the beach! Much packing was done in preparation for this trip though. We spent hours putting together all the equipment to leave here for 3 teams. The ride to the beach took approximately 5 hours which was long but fun because of the people we were with. As soon as we arrived at the church that the students are staying at we began to train the new people and the experienced puppeteers. I was helping with the advanced students working on arm rods and choreography. The beginners worked at another location because there was not enough room for all of us in the one-room church.  While sitting on the bus, waiting for the bus driver to return to take some of us to the new location, Mr. Dave and Bethany began their training on the bus! The rest of us were inside with a metal roof when all of a sudden it torrentially down poured. HARD! It was so loud that the kids could hardly hear us giving instructions. After only 5 minutes God miraculously flipped the switch and the rain stopped in an instant. It was amazing. We all thanked God for ending the rain. What a great gift. :)

We had the advanced puppeteers come up with their own choreography to different songs after we showed them one that we had just come up with. They still need work but that is what we are here for!  Work must come before play, right?

After training, we all packed on the bus and went to the beach!!! Everyone was so excited! Mr. and Mrs. Drebes said that this will be the best trip/vacation that some of these kids will ever have. The water was so warm and much clearer than New Jersey beaches. WE all had a blast in the water although the current was really strong so all the Americans were heavy duty lifeguards, but we could handle that. I can not tell you how much joy and happiness were on all the students faces. As we were jumping over the waves hand in hand everyone was shouting "Jump Up and Down, HEY!!" (which is one of our songs in the presentations). Our team left after the beach to debrief our trip so far over a delicious dinner.

All of us are not only being blessed by the Khmer youth but are also being challenged in our own faith. We are so thrilled to see them improve and to truly know that this ministry will continue to grow. I am so incredibly thankful to be here again! I love, love, love, the Khmer people and am blessed to see their fire for God! May we have that same passion for Him.

By Amanda Wilson :)

Please pray for God to continue to hold off the rain so that we are able to train and do performances outside. And for not only the students to be changed when they go home but for us to be transformed also.

Day 6

Day #6 - We woke up today at around 6:30. We quickly got breakfast and left to the dorm to get on the buses for the first of two performances today. Both performances were at churches, the first was around an hour away. The performance went splendidly and the Khmer students did really well. However we felt they could take on more responsibility. Dave had been doing most of the transitions with one of the students translating for him. So for the second performance we had various students take over much of what our team had been doing, to the point that no English was spoken throughout the show. Over the coming weekend, we hope to train some of the teams that have more experience in advanced skills.

It is wonderful to see people that had never done something like this be able to use puppets and the other skills we taught them to share the love of God with others. It’s also amazing to see the older students step up and help train and lead the newer teams. At the beginning of the trip I feared that after we left the puppet teams would slowly but surely fade. But now I have seen their love for God and their passion for serving Him, and I believe that not only will this ministry continue, but also grow significantly.  By Alex Milliken

Greg and friend napping between performances

Today we had the privilege of traveling to a girls home where they protect girls who are at risk for being sold into sex trafficking. We left the dorm early this morning and arrived at the home in time to do a morning program for the children. Lots of children from the local village were also there. There were probably over 100 kids and youth ready and waiting for us when we arrived! They were a very receptive audience and we felt like they were really hearing our message - the good news of God’s love for each of them! After a very well done performance by the youth from the dorm, the pastor/leader of the home stood up and expressed how he had wanted to start a church there for the local village and how after being at our program and seeing the enthusiasm the local children and young adults had for Christ, he was going to start holding church services at the home for the local village people! It was very exciting news for the community! 

They had prepared lunch for us - some local Khami food. Rice, pork, duck, duck eggs and more! It was quite a feast! After lunch we split the kids into three different groups - one group worked on puppet training, one group worked on singing and worship music and another group went out into the field for group games! Later on, Dave gave the local people some plants and seeds to plant which will hopefully help them provide food and financial support for their village. They even helped them get started on some planting! 

We loaded up the bus and returned to the dorm where we dropped off the kids and our team headed back to our apartment. The Gabriel’s made some delicious chili for us and joined us for dinner. 

Everyone is tired but encouraged at the work that is being done here and the ways we are seeing God move in the people we come in contact with. I believe I speak for all of us when I say it is amazing to see the heart for God that these youth have. The teams we are working with are on fire for God and it is so refreshing. One of my favorite moments today was when we had some down time this afternoon, to fill their time, a very large group of young people got out their guitars and worship books and just sang together, praising God’s name with all of their hearts. That’s not something you see every day amongst young people but praise God they are shining bright and unashamed in their country to bring glory to God’s name! 

Pray for hearts to be continually changed and renewed as we do two performances tomorrow. Pray for God to open doors and stir up a passion in the hearts of those with whom we are able to share the Gospel.   by Helen Eastburn

Day 4

Today was absolutely a great day, although tiring.  We left the apartment before 6:00 a.m. to travel to the dorm to catch the bus to travel to Srey Neang's village.  She is a young woman who accepted Christ and then stood up to her family and village when they wanted her to marry a non believer and worship in the Buddhist temple.  Her grandfather is the chief of the village.  Greg and Jane went out to the village to talk to her parents and the end result was an invitation to bring the puppet teams out to give a presentation.  We arrived late due to the bus being an hour late to pick us up.  Approximately 150 people were all sitting there waiting for us when we arrived.  I was just sitting next to Jane watching the videos she took from the performance.  The joy on the people's faces was amazing.  I was telling Jane I loved this performance because it was inter-generational from the very young to the very old.  They all seemed to love it.  After the presentation, we passed out snacks and finger puppets to the kids (and some of the adults because they all wanted them too).  While we were doing this, several of the team members prayed with several of the women of the village who had health problems.  We then started to pass out shoes and hats to the women and men of the village.  I looked over at the other side of the tent and there was one of the students sharing the gospel with a group of approximately 10 women.  Praise the Lord.   They did tell the student that they did believe in Jesus but they had no one to teach them.  The students did bring several Bibles to give out.  The Chief's wife kept coming over to me, grabbing my hands, bowing, and holding my hand. 

After the performance, we were taken to Srey Neang's family's home for lunch, although we brought our own lunch.  They had made sticky rice treats for us and the Chief shared his lunch with some of us.  We had chicken and rice, duck, and some delicious sauce to pour over the rice.  The students on the other hand, kept giving me this sour fruit to eat, that they dipped into a hot sauce. They all had a great time making fun of my facial expressions.   At the end, it poured rain and we had to slosh back to the bus through mud.  We had a great time laughing at each other.  On a serious note, please pray that the spiritual seeds planted today will take root and grow.    By Karen Knodel

"We love our fuzzles!"

The village chief teaches DoDo the dragon how to brush

Another puppeteer down

Day 3

Day 3 found us at a village church that we had visited last year.  Before we left last year, Pastor Tim had asked for the pastor's prayer requests and one of them was for a wife. This year we met his beautiful bride.  So, we gathered and prayed for them because they also are expecting a new little one!

Last night we performed at the Drebes's factory worker ministry.  The night before there were torrential rains that left the church like an island with water on all sides.  It was cleared enough for us to get in, but we had to walk from the main road because the bus was not able to get through the still flooded roads.  We were not able to perform outside like last year because of the mud, so we performed in a limited space inside the little church.

As we speak we are packaging up over 300 toothbrushes, toothpaste and dental floss donated by the American Dental Hygiene Association. Cindy Wilson, a team member and dental hygienist is demonstrating to children how to brush teeth correctly during our performances.

Pastor Somnang and his new bride

Jet lag and a busy schedule create very tired puppeteers

Day 1

We are now two days into our trip! Our adventures began on our way to JFK airport. About ninety minutes into our drive, we discovered that the church minibus was leaking orange fluid. A few minutes later, smoke began pouring out of the bus. We could barely see out the back window! We pulled over to the side of the road and everyone tried to figure out what was going on. Less than five minutes after we pulled over, a tow truck came over to help us. He told us that the orange liquid we noticed was transmission fluid, and the bus was, sadly, not drivable. We all pulled out our phones and started contacting car rental companies to pick us up. After about thirty minutes, we finally found a taxi service to take us to the airport. The tow truck pulled us off the nearest exit, and we waited for our transportation to JFK. At 12:30pm, we loaded eighteen bins, eighteen carry-on/personal items, and nine people into two mini-vans. It was a tight fit, but we were only half an hour from the airport. The second van pulled up at 1:00pm, and we rushed everything inside as fast as we could. After all of the bins were ready to fly, we had to wait in an enormous line to be checked by security. Thankfully, we had no troubles, and we walked up to our gate at 1:30pm--just in time to board our 2:00pm flight!!! Both of our flights went well, and we had no issues whatsoever. We arrived in Cambodia on July 31st, at 10:45pm. God allowed all of our bins under the plane to make it undamaged, and we made it back to the Drebes' apartment around 12:30am.

On Saturday, we jumped right into our training. It was awesome to see all of our old friends and to meet many new friends as well. Everything went really well, and we could definitely see progress from last year. After dinner, we returned to the dorm to see a special presentation by one of the teams we trained last year. They did an AMAZING job. We were all so impressed by what they have accomplished over the last few months. It was great to see the new ideas they've put into practice and incorporated into their unique style. Today, Sunday, we have our first performance, and we look forward to what God will do over the next couple of weeks. Thank you for your prayers!

By Bethany Matsick




Being pulled by the tow truck!



One of our mini-vans. Some of us had to sit on bins on top of seats!



Leaving South Korea from our layover.



Lunch with the Khmer students.

Khmer Puppet Teams

Wow! Over the last year, the Khmer puppet teams have grown SO much. Last summer, after just two weeks of training, the teams were left to continue the ministry completely on their own! At the end of our trip, each Khmer team was equipped with a stage, sound system, and puppets so that they could continue the ministry that we helped them to begin. Thanks to the leadership of a few dedicated high school and college students, the teams have flourished. These amazing young adults are willing to do anything it takes to bring the gospel to their country. Thirteen students recently squeezed into a seven passenger van to travel to a presentation six hours away! Through their sacrifice, thousands of Khmer children and adults have heard the incredible gospel message of God’s love for us. A video of the team's latest presentation will be posted soon.

Thanks for reading, and please keep praying!