Happy New Year!

I’m writing this update from Vietnam. We’re making our second annual Christmas kitesurfing holiday. Last year we enjoyed it so much we decided to do it again this year. It takes about 12 hours by car to reach Phan Rang, Vietnam, but once we’re here we pretty much just live on the beach for a week+ doing a whole lot of kitesurfing, relaxing and eating Vietnamese food. For me, spending time in nature is one of the easiest ways to connect with God and to rebalance or “reset” myself for the next year. I’m feeling excited for 2026 and all that it (might) hold!

December was a very busy month for us, even with the week of vacation, it feels like we squeezed in a full month of work! 

We were invited by the Kampot Minister of Health to do hygiene training in two schools in the Phum Por village where we drilled the well and installed filters and hand washing sinks in October. This was quite an undertaking, because there are 160 children total in the two schools! We asked our Khmer friends from New Life Church to help us, which was a good idea! We were able to split into two groups and teach both schools in one morning. We were also able to give each child a small gift which included a new toothbrush, bar of soap, pencils, an eraser, sharpener, a poster to color, a snack, balloons and a booklet about good hygiene sponsored by OneHope (https://www.facebook.com/OneHopeInCambodia/) one of our newest local partners. 

Lukas made an urgent trip to the Thai boarder where there have been ongoing conflict and fighting. What started as a small boarder skirmish in the summer had escalated to an urgent situation by the middle of December with over 500,000 people displaces from their homes. Lukas partnered with YWAM Kampot to install two water filters in a public school that was converted into a refuge camp with more than 5,000 people seeking refuge. And now that the ceasefire agreement has been signed and people are slowly going home, the filters will be used in the school for the students.  

We made a quick trip to the capital city to meet our dear friends Bob and Christal Hollandsworth. They graciously agreed to bring us laboratory supplies, but since the supplies were temperature sensitive we needed to pick them up shortly after they landed. Lukas also visited a larger laboratory that does water testing and was encouraged by the quality of the work that they are doing. Since we’re still developing our laboratory in Kampot and not yet able to test for all harmful elements in drinking water, it’s great to have a more established laboratory where we can send our samples when we need to.  

Twice each year we mail out a paper newsletter in German. If you’d like to read a PDF version of the newsletter it’s on the website and you can access it by clicking on the photo or here. The rest of December was consumed with all of the end of the year administrative work that’s necessary to keep the NGO running smoothly 😁.

Just a short family updates – Benjamin got into the International School, yahoo! He’d been on the wait list for a year and school begins January 26th, so we’re relieved and excited. Big life changes are just around the corner for our little carefree adventure buddy. ❤️

Well I think that’s enough for this update, we don’t want to take up too much of your holiday! Here’s the photo link if you want to see some more photos. 

Happy New Year, and may God bless you richly in 2026!