Hello dear friends and family,

This year we’re doing a lot of traveling. In the last two years of being in Cambodia we’ve only made short trips to Thailand and Vietnam, but no visits home. This year we’re visiting Switzerland and the USA. Benjamin is currently attending preschool four mornings a week, and we purposefully decided to keep him in preschool one more year, because it’s easy to take him in and out. That won’t be the case once he starts at the international school in January, 2026. We fly to the USA on June 11th and will be there until July 9th. It’s been four years since our last visit, and I’m really looking forward to being “home” with family and close friends. Even though we love the work that we’re doing here in Cambodia, we do miss our families and we’re grateful for airplanes that can take us quickly around the world to visit them. For anyone in the USA that wants to connect with us, we’ll be sharing briefly at Eugene Faith Center on June 29th during the 10 am service. We’ll also be sharing in more detail on July 6th at Canyon Creek Bible Fellowship at 11am in Colton Oregon (21302 OR-211, Colton, OR 97017).

In the last month we’ve been busy with administrative tasks for the non-profit that we direct (Warm Blankets Switzerland), as well as the ongoing responsibilities of the Clean Water Project. We were able to install a new water tank and a rain water collection system for a rural church where many children come to study and play each week. We installed a filter for them last year, but when Lukas went to do some maintenance on it in March he discovered a disturbing black substance on the filter. We decided to send a water sample to a laboratory in Phnom Penh, because our home office laboratory is still developing so we can’t test for all harmful elements (yet). The test results came back a few days later and Lukas’ suspicions were confirmed, high levels of Manganese. Manganese is good for you in small amounts, but will cause long term damage if too much of it is consumed. Since it’s difficult to filter it out of the water, we suggested a switch to rain water for drinking and cooking. The pastor was happy to make the change, and grateful for the support we could offer him.

My Thursday evening English class is such a fun group of teenagers. I’m truly enjoying them. I teach a conversational English class for teens at New Life Church here in Kampot. In addition to their free lunch and tutoring program for elementary age children, the church also offers free evening English classes for both children and young adults.

Lukas and I are encouraged by the authentic, simple and impactful programs that New Life Church offers our community, and are excited to find more ways to support them in the future.

Well, that’s it for this month. Thanks for taking the time to read and pray and be a part of what we’re doing over here.