Our Outreach

Christmas and more

2012-01-04T01:18:00.000-08:00

This is what missions is all about! Raising up Cambodians to reach out to other Cambodians. 8 weeks back I challenged our youth to share their testimonies during our Christmas event. I told them that I could get up on that stage like I have before and share about what God has done in my life but if they would take a step of faith and share themselves their impact would be far greater than mine because the people who are coming to the Christmas event are your people. 5 of our youth stood up and boldly shared what God has done in their lives. Praise God!During the Christmas event we played lots of games. This particular game you had to pass a piece of paper around the circle not using your hands.Each of the ministry leaders needed to prepare a game for the Christmas event. My game was a race to see who could finish their baby bottle first. hahaThis picture was taken just as they found out what they had to do.....:)I cannot express how proud I was of our youth this year. 8 weeks prior to Christmas we started preparing a drama & song to show during the Christmas event. They all worked so hard and made Christmas so beautiful. So everyone who helped with preparing the Christmas event got a "I love Cambodia" T-shirt.
After games, sermons, testimonies, songs and more games who had dinner together.No, she is not smelling her armpit. My wife & I decided to give mom & dad their gift during the Christmas event. Each person that came up on stage to receive a gift had to earn it by doing something embarrassing. I told dad he had to kiss mom infront of everyone (very difficult for timid Cambodians) So this is mom wiping of the slobber. ;)
This is the night before the Christmas event. Virgina (who was a major help in preparing and organizing the drama!) and I got pizza, pop and cake for all the youth who worked so hard to prepare the drama.This was YWAM UofN's Christmas party. We drew names out of a hat that related to Jesus' birth and then had to act them out without speaking. Can you guess who I was?This will be the last picture of our Introduction class....because they next pics you see will be level 1!!! Please do continue to be praying for our students, especially that their hearts are open to Jesus and their minds rapidly comprehend English.

A look back

2011-11-20T21:56:00.000-08:00

This is Sunday morning youth group. Some of these pictures have been included in newsletters, however I wanted to have them also in a central location, so that they can be viewed easily.A recent picture of my gorgeous wife. We're only 2 months out from meeting our baby boy Caleb!!Our new ministry partner!!! Rachael is looking to come back and start doing ministry with us in March. Please be praying for her, this is a big step to take.A few weeks ago my brother in law led a youth concert in whihc we combined the youth of 2 churches to worship God together. One of the biggest problems we have in Cambodia is there is no church unity. So to see 2 different Christian churches from 2 different denominations come together was wonderful.A Picture of our introduction to English class with the short term missions team we had back in September.I was trying to imitate the monkey, but I think I offended him....yea, I wonder the same thing, why did she marry you? (another picture of the zoo trip)Back in September my wife and I arranged a giant venturewith many of the youth to go play at the zoo. We had a great time.The cutest thing ever, begging otters.......A fellowship time we hosted at our house with some of the students.A typical Sunday service. Please if anyone fill led, we have run out of Bibles in the Cambodian language and need to purchase more. One full Bible (Old & New Testament) is $5, just under the average daily salary for a Cambodian....far too expensive.This is my wife's sunday evening bible study. Please be praying for our newer Christians, all of their families are Buddhist and their families are not accepting of this new relationship with Jesus their children have found.Back in September we had VES (Vacation English School). The students had summer vacation so we had English full time. We used many tools to try and teach them; dance, art, bible studies, games, small group conversation and many more. It was a great sucess and I think I will run it every year.Our youth learning to praise God through dance.My wife and I made baptism certificates for each person who got baptized. Somthing to hang and remind them of their relationship with Jesus in their parent's house which is full of Buddhist idols.All of our members at a baptism ceremony a few months back.One of the baptisms we had a few months back. There is not much greater than getting the honor of baptizing someone.

The youth who got baptized last time. Be praying for the next batch as we will soon be having another baptismal ceremony.Our finished outdoor baptismal. If we tried this in Oregon, not many people would get baptized... :)Preparing, cleaning and painting the baptismal for all the use it's going to get :)

Khemi New Year and more

2011-05-02T19:34:00.000-07:00

These two pictures are of my wife and I translating for the medical mission's team

It was so amazing to have the Holy Spirit working through me.

For the Cambodian New Year we had a big "Pot luck" lunch. My wife made spaghetti and the Cambodians loved it.

The short-term medical mission's team attended the pot luck.

Mmm, Fooood.

My wife and her brother leading worship on Sunday. Hillsong in Khemi sounds sooo cool.

These are the students who regularly attend youth group on Saturday.

During the Cambodian New Year the Cambodians love to play games. One of those games you can see in this picture. You have a bowl of flour with candies in it. then two people need to blow all the flour out before they can have the candies. In the end both people end up covered in flour.

These two pictures are of another game. In this game the students make a circle to contain two people in. then both people are blind folded and one tries to catch the other. The person running has a spoon and a bowl and he hits it as he is running away. Notice in the picture how the students are looking outside of the circle.....they did not contain me and I ran straight into the wall...ouch!

A lot of Cambodian New Year games involve pain...I am not sure why. This is like "evil duck duck goose". The goose chases the duck hitting him with a towl until the duck sits down.

One Sunday my wife and I invited all our conversation level students over to our house for food and games. They really liked playing Sequence (Thanks Jon & Christina!).

New pics, September 16th

2010-09-16T07:35:00.000-07:00

This is our Introduction class. This is our largest class. On an average night now we have about 30 students in this class. Our other two classes run at about 10, so altogether we have about 50 students.

This is a more recent picture. Because the Introduction class was getting so big we moved them upstairs to the church sanctuary. In the forefront of the picture you can see "sri-leak" in yellow. She is my most difficult student becuase she is just a little too playful.

This is "sri-jew" The girl I wrote about in the newsletter.

Becuase of a wonderful donation from my Grandma we were able to get Chairs, tables and a water pump to stop our class from flooding. My Khemi Dad was so overjoyed to be blessed with all of these things.

This is the water pump we got. We were able to use it the first day we got it and it worked like a charm. Some of our neighbors got mad however, since the water was not all going to the church property but being sent back out to the street it ended up in other peoples property.... water runs downhill.... :)

My wife joined a Pastor's wives conference and also translated for the other lady in the picture who was teaching at the conferance. Channy worked so hard to fully understand what she was going to translate. She did a truly wondeful job and I was very proud of her.

This is just a picture of my wife "showing off" her beauty... I am such a lucky man!

This is a picture of my sermon a few weeks ago. The handsome man on my right is Yuka, my bestfriend. He was translating for me. Eventhough I have learned so much Khemi I am still not to the point to be able to preach for 30min in Khemi. This sermon was really special for me, because Yuka has now gone into missions full time and lives in another town so I don't get to see him. this was like a last chance to spend time with a close friend.

My wife plays the keyboard every sunday at church. Her brother who you cant really see in the picture plays the guitar.

My wife and her two sisters eating barbecued frogs and snails....gross. I always tell her no kissing after she eats snail, but the snail always wins out. :)

I thought you might like to see a picture of a khemi "spirit house" This is a place where Cambodians sacrifice food and fake money to their ancestors so the ancestors will not curse them. This particular spirit house is just outside the door to my house. It belongs to the landlord who lives above me.

This is a picture at the foot of the alter.

Extreme Makeover gone Cambodia

2010-07-29T18:05:00.000-07:00

So after cleaning all the mud off the floor and walls we got to painting. the little Girl behind me is sri-mow, she is our niece. The three of us did all the painting (Channy, Sri-Mow and me)

My lovely wife did the corners while I hit the big areas.

That old dry erase board was so coverd in old dried marker and dirt, I probably spent over a half hour rubbing it down with alchool. I praying that I can still wright on it.

So my Khemi father, Channy and I all chipped in to get some temporary desks until enough money comes in to get some real student desks.

This is the before picture that I showed you earlier.... this picture does not do justice to the stench or the enormous amount of mosquitoes flying around.

And this would be the after. Sorry I wish I knew how to upload a bus infront of the picture that would drive away but I don't :). We still need to decorate it to make it look like a classroom but we have made some serious progress. Please let me know any ideas for decorating you have. We want the students to feel like they are walking into America when they walk into the class. So one thing we are going to do is put up a big American flag above the white board and write Welcome to America. We are also thinking pictures of family, friends and American landmarks. Again please do email me if you have any suggestions.

A Picture of "Pah" preaching on his first Sunday back.

First Church leadership meeting. All in Khemi, so I had to really focus to keep up with what everyone was saying

The fish from the Mekong river get get bigger every year. (my nephew Isaac)

So just two days after painting the classroom it started to rain hard. I can't remember if i mentioned this already or not but when it rains hard the church parking lot floods. Then when it is full the classrooms will all flood. So I went out and started to hurl water into the chruch baptismal (to the left of me) the only place big enough to store that much water.

after hurling that water for more than an hour I wanted to see if me pecks got any bigger....nope

Some kids playing soccer next to where our cell group (church in a house) meets.

I just had to put this picture in because my wife was looking especially gorgeous that day. My wife went with some other missionaries to a province near the city to visit a church.

This is the street where we go for cell group (church in a house). I cant wait to see it in September because the entire area floods during the rainy season (thus the houses on stilts). about 8ft water. people have to use small boats to get to and from there houses.

This is the (church in a house) or cell group as we call it. We meet in this house every Wednesday. This is a poorer part of town, most of the houses are made of miscellaneous pieces of metal and some wood.

Cell group. this is inside the house of the picture above.

My wife rock'n out, leading worship on the guitar. I wish you could hear "How great is our God" or "Mighty to save" sung in Khemi. I tell the Cambodians the reason I am learning Khemi is so when I go to heavan I will be able to sing also; because in heavan they don't sing in English they sing in Khemi :)

Cell groups and more

2010-07-14T20:13:00.000-07:00

This is my Khemi father's cell group. Notice even the little baby is taken in by what he has to say. "Pah" is so excited to be the lead Pastor at "the Good News church" again. Elderly people don't like to make the trip to church on Sundays so Pah brings church to their home.

Another picture of the same group.

These are some pics of my father, wife(the one taking the pics) and I cleaning up my soon to be English Classrooms.

.............. Yea thats mud on the floor. when it rains hard the rooms flood.

This is the before picture. when we are done we will give you the after... like extreme home (err classroom) makeover. :)

These are some pics of my wife's birthday party. we had about 30 friends and family over to celebrate.....we are still working on the "kissing in public part"

Channy and I were so blessed. One of the Missionaries here made Channy a real birthday cake.

In Cambodian culture on your birthday before you cut the cake you bring your parents up and tell them how thankful you are for them. Its a really wonderful tradition, one i think we should adopt in America.

Another thing in Cambodian culture...The girls like to get all dolled up. Channy got another blessing becuase her sister is currently learning how to "doll up" :)

This is My lovely wife opening the gift i got for her (a necklace). She was so surprised because i lead her to believe that she was just getting pants for her birthday. You can see the size of the gift in the lower picture. I had put my own pants in the gift so it would weigh it down. hehe

These are some pics from the celebration dinner for "pah" becoming the new pastor of the "Good News Chruch."

This was taken at a pastor's conference. "pah" was given an award for his dedication and 6 years of service as "the leader of the pastors" (sorry not sure of the old title)

This is a picture of us all dolled up at a wedding. I'm not sure whose wedding, in Cambodia they have so many. I like to go though, you know to show off my beautiful wife and make the bride to be jealous that is not the most gorgeous women there. :)

Wedding Pics

2010-01-29T17:41:00.000-08:00

Jeff & the lovely Channy Rasmussen

this is one of the ceremonies were family and friends bless you with money just after you were married

Instead of doing the candle ceremony we did a mixing of sand. something that won' t melt. Thanks Jon and Christina for the idea :)

These are the cakes that my mom brought all the way from the states!! she is truly amazing!

This is also the money blessing ceremony. its actually "jawng die" which means knotting hands

Me and my beautiful bride just after the wedding

This is the two families that were joined

The pastor after marrying us actually forgot to say "now you may kiss the bride" I of course quickly reminded him. :)

This is a pic of the fruit carrying ceremony. This is a Khemi tradition where the guy and his friends carry a lot of fruit over to the brides fathers house. traditional you are suppose to walk from your house to theirs but now that everyone lives so far apart that is not done.

This is everyone in the two families

these are our three flower girls

Our first dance. the song was a wonderful country tune sung by one of the pastors

We did a foot washing, which is also a khemi tradition. but in khemi tradition the girl is the only one who washes the feet. we of course added in that i would wash her feet as well.

The garter belt ceremony!! this was such a shocker to the cambodians they had never seen anything like this before.

near the end of the night.... we were both very exhausted from all the ceremonies from morning until late night.

This is the beging of the fruit carrying ceremony that i mentioned earlier

If you have noticed Channy has had like 6 different dresses throughout the day. this is also a Khemi tradition. i didnt really like this one though. it seemed like she was constantly changing and didn't get to enjoy the parties.

The grooms men and brides maids

This is my bride coming down the aisle. from an American perspective the wedding would have seemed very disorganized and cluttered. but for a Cambodian it was beautiful.

Our trip to Mundul Kiri

2009-10-21T20:14:00.000-07:00

Sorry there are going to be a lot of pictures of elephants. i truly find elephants amazing.......sit girl

......good girl, now lay down.

So channy and I got the wonderful oppurtunity to go up to a northern province called Mundul Kiri. Its a province in the jungle! The jungle was so amazing and beautiful. Channy school where i taught for awhile was taking their staff for a retreat and since i helped them out for like 6 months the offered for me to come also. so Channy and i got to go for free! it was a awesome gift, i was very thankful.

So this picture was taken at one of the villages in the jungle. the people here were very interesting. they could not speak khemi but they could understand it. there are two main ways these people support their village. one is elephant riding and the other is selling bee honey.

What a beautiful girl! yea yea the girl on the left is pretty cute also......haha just playing.

2009-10-17T23:57:00.000-07:00

When we went to Mundul Kiri the roads were very muddy. we not only found ourselves stuck many times but other people as well. this picture is a guy who tried to drive his "moto" through about a foot and a half deep mud. so we had to stop to get him out and when we stopped we also got stuck.

That a girl now roll over....

After are car would get stuck the rest of us had to head out on foot. naturally they trusted the x-football player to hold the baby on the un-easy terrain.....(brushes his shoulder)

This would be my lovely finance and me standing next to one of the huts were the tribal Cambodian people live

This particular hill we were stuck for about 45min. some of the Cambodians would get on the sides and behind the truck and try to rock it. i of course was to smart to stand next to a truck on slick mud on a hill.......

2009-06-30T04:05:00.000-07:00

These are some pictures of the waterfalls we went to. they are not as grand as our multnomah :) falls but they are far more beautiful.

While we were at the beach to save money we made our own meals but for one night i took Channy out for a date. this would be a picture of that.

These are some pictures of the beach and waterfall that the family and I went to. the picture right above is the family i will be marrying into soon :) Channy's mom and dad on the left and her two sisters on the right with my lovely niece at the bottom. the only one missing from the family picture is their only son kim sua.

On our four hour trip when we wanted to eat lunch we did not stop at a fast food resturant, rather we pulled over and pulled out the food. as you can see men in america our very much like men in Cambodia....checking the car even while eating their lunch.

Apartment pics 3

2009-03-27T03:14:00.000-07:00

The top picture is of course my room. the next picture is the bathroom. The third picture you notice the toilet is missing its tank. the tank is actually the red barrel next to the toilet. the fourth picture is my washing machine (wash clothes the old school way) the last picture is my dryer (it's so hot in Cambodia that don't need a dryer).

Apartment pics 1

2009-03-27T03:09:00.000-07:00

The top picture is my living room. the next 3 are my kitchen area. the last one is outside how the apartments look.

Apartment pics

2009-03-27T02:47:00.000-07:00

Next we have some lovely pictures of my new apartment. I really like it's location 20min outside the busy city. The apartment that is mine is the house that is directly ahead. I have 2 doors to lock for safety. I have a fairly nice view of the surrounding area. The picture of the big tank is my water tank. the city has not yet brought running water out here so i have a gravity fed system that works okay. the bottom picture is the stinky trash field i have directly behind my house. (Cambodians just kinda throw their trash where they please)

Pizza Dinner after moving

2009-03-27T02:40:00.000-07:00

This is Channy and my favorite picture of us. the next picture has Channy's brother Kim Sua and 1 of Channy's sisters Channa. After helping me to move all my stuff i took all the bible students out for some pizza. we had a wonderful time laughing and having fun.

Moving pics 3

2009-03-27T02:34:00.000-07:00

so while the guys were helping to move out of the house the girls were cleaning the trail behind us. we all finished at the same time. the total moving process only took a couple hours.

Moving pics 2

2009-03-27T02:28:00.000-07:00

The couch was most difficult to move because we had to take it out from the 2nd story of my apartment. while we were lowering the couch the rope got caught on sam-on's leg and he got very scared at the thought of going down with the couch. the next picture you can kind of see him trying to get away from the rope.

Moving Pics

2009-03-27T02:10:00.000-07:00

There were a few items that were rather difficult to get out of my house and one of them would be my bed. We had to take it out of the upstairs loft window. I was truly blessed in this moving process as i had much help.

Brithday pics

2009-03-27T02:06:00.000-07:00

These are a couple pics of my birthday Channy really made the day special
she bought a cake and surprised me with it.

outreach to kids

2009-01-08T04:57:00.000-08:00

These are the pictures from the "Kids group". The Ministry
that Josh and Jenny organized. The picture with the kids in
the church was when they were accepting Christ.

Apartment Pics

2008-12-09T05:42:00.001-08:00

This is the place i am looking at renting. the second story is what i am looking at. It's a very lovely place right across the street from Keat's house. I will get pics of the inside later. It has one bathroom, one bedroom, a kitchen and a living room.

Moped and Elephant Pics

2008-12-09T05:36:00.000-08:00

These are a couple of pictures of my Moped

This is the giant elephant i got to ride

Preaching, teaching and learing

2008-12-09T05:23:00.000-08:00

Katie sharing her testimony in front of about 200 students

Only in Cambodia is the dog also a part of the worship team

These are my morning Khmer teachers. Channy and Channa and the picture below is where they teach me. It is called Kingdom Creations (owned by Christians)

2008-04-18T19:07:00.000-07:00

I'm going to talk about this more in my next update but these are pics of about 2 acres of houses that burned down and where the people are living now. its an extremely sad story of the corruption in cambodia. the next pic is of the internet phone booth where i make my calls.

2008-04-18T18:59:00.000-07:00

so i buy a net and a basketball to shoot some hoops. then a couple weeks later i find these huge mounds of dirt blocking my hoop. doesnt anyone know how hard that makes it to play. next is a pic of the computer classroom. i dont know who but someone put a game on one of those computers...hehe. next is a pic of a really handsome man. i saw him and i hope he didnt mind but i had to take his picture. the next two pics were taken at the royal palace during the khemi new year last weekend.

2008-04-18T18:47:00.000-07:00

a couple pics of my room... yes living in a mud hut is so tough...and we have a pic of my kitchen. the pic of the stacked food is the only way to keep the ants away from my food. first you take a bucket and then put water in it and then something in the water, then stack. since ants can't swim my food stays safe. the other pic is of the gate. this gate goes all the way around the property and its huge. almost all houses in cambodia have some kind of big gate around them. many people hate christians and would like nothing more then to steal from them. every once in a while someone is outside when they are mad they will throw a big rock at the gate because they know they wont get in trouble.

2008-04-18T18:39:00.000-07:00

these are some pics that were taken at a the waterpark. the one of the guys back is a bad pic because it is hard to take a pic with one and and push someone in the pool with the other hand....hehe. the one with the two girls, they are maria and kim and they do the house work. maria makes dinner for me and i must say it is amazing.

2008-04-18T18:34:00.000-07:00

these are pics of a game we were playing. "khemi uno" when someone lost they had to do a silly khemi dance and then wear the crown. there is also a picture of some of the construction that is going on right now. pastor keat is adding a 3rd and 4th floor to his school and church.

2008-02-28T18:44:00.000-08:00

so the picture of me on the deer was taken at the beach
during debrief week. the pic with me and the guy holding
the sign was taken right when i arrived into Cambodia
he was there to pick up a mr jeff, and we both thought
that was me until he gave me a key to where i was
staying. then we found out he was there for a different
missionary white man named jeff. what are the odds?
the next 2 are pics of my surprise birthday party
that Sally through for me.

2008-02-28T18:35:00.000-08:00

so the pic of the big green fruit is something that i really

enjoy in cambodia its called jack fruit. when you peel

it its yellow inside. the outside texture is prickly and rough

but the inside is like the texture of rubber. the fruit is very sweet

it tastes kind of like a sweet banana. the other pics are just me

having some fun with the camera. its what the scenery looks

like here.

2008-02-28T18:20:00.000-08:00

these pictures where taken at a english camp

that we helped out at just before leaving cambodia.

i was teaching the kids important star trek signs as

you can see. of course i only teach things that are

absolutely necessary to learn for communication.

2008-02-01T17:18:00.001-08:00

crossing the traffic lanes in southeast asia is very scary its like a evil game of frogger

2008-02-01T17:14:00.000-08:00

lets see we have a wodnerful pic of my

class back in cambodia. the pic of the

chairs at the beach is where we stayed

on vaction, that was my view. the other

pic is of my teamates in bangkok.

and the pic of the house is where you

get your food at. its about 30 feet

from the water. they literally serve

you in those chairs all of your food.

2008-02-01T17:13:00.000-08:00

so lets see we have a pic of inside my class.

the next pic is of me and pastor Keat.

the next pic was taken after class one night

with a bunch of my students. hah the next one

is when we where going to a public pool and

this was the sign to get in to the pool.

the fallowing pic is the students at the pool

where they charge more if your skin is white.

ironically i told them "c'nom khemi" which means

i am khemi. but he still wouldnt let me swim

for the cheaper price.

3000r =.75c

2008-02-01T17:11:00.000-08:00

the top pic is of sokna one of my students

as you can she is studying very hard for my class.

the circle of people is of us playing a local game.

its the same as hackey sack but you use this

thing that looks like a dart with a spring on the tip.

its pretty fun and the cambodians are very good at it.

next is a pic of mack, he is so funny. he is on staff

at the school he teaches the beginner class. next is

a pic of me and one of the students from my class

just having some fun. finally this is a pic

of Sally on the swing and "wewe" who teach the

elementry kids at the school. Sally is also pastor

Keats wife.

2008-02-01T17:02:00.000-08:00

the top pic is of a tuk tuk driver. we really

liked him because he did not support the

child sex tourism. a lot of drivers will take

the tourist to places to have sex with children

but this guy refuses to do it! which means

that he loses income for the sake

of his morals. this is exactly what

we want for cambodia. that is cambodians them

selves standing up for what they believe in. next is

with kelsy and patrick we where cleaning trash on

this boardwalk and these two kids just clinged to

them like white on rice. here is another pic of Sally

and the beautiful kids. next is a picture of the three

girls taking a break from playing uno to take a pic.

ah hah finally this pic is that dog i was telling you

about a few weeks ago, the one who wouldnt let

me sleep you know that one i wanted to eat...yes i still

harbor hard feeling for this animal. :)

2008-01-06T00:00:00.000-08:00

yes i fed a monkey! and the other pic was taken today after the wedding we went to.

2008-01-05T23:57:00.000-08:00

the three pic's of the buildings are where we are staying now. they are very beautiful. the next two pic's where taken at a temple. i went crazy when i saw that elephant because i want to ride one so bad. you can't see in the pic very well but there are some people riding this one. i didn't ride it because i am going to wait until later to ride one.

2008-01-05T23:53:00.000-08:00

the pic with the guy in the bed is the room we are

staying in now. its amazing! and the other strange pic is of

a water osmosis system, that's where

we get are drinking water.

2008-01-05T23:49:00.000-08:00

the top picture is of a tok tok

that is one of the means of transpertation.

the next one is of are translator se-young

the fallowing 2 where taken at the river

on one of are days of we went down there.

the last one is a pic of me at the foot washing.

2008-01-05T23:40:00.000-08:00

the top pic is when we fasted

and gave our meal to the orphans.

the one with luke, he is holding 2 types of

fruit we like, green oranges and dragon eyes.

the last one is a pic of a kid who i got

really close to. he really like to be held.

it was hard knowing that this kid who

i called junior baby never gets held

or loved on.

2008-01-05T23:34:00.000-08:00

the picture with the animals in it

is where we washed are clothes.

the other is a pic of dinner being made.