The Hourngs in Cambodia!

Dorm Ministry & PPC Updates This month has been full. Full of hope. Full of service. Full of joy. But also full of concern. I wanted to write this newsletter with only good updates. I wanted to simply share victories in ministry, growth in our dorm, and answered prayers in our small business. But life does not always come in neat and clean reports. Sometimes we serve God while carrying a burden quietly in our hearts. And I believe many of you understand that. When the Body Feels Weak but the Spirit Must Stay Strong For the past weeks, my husband Vandy has been experiencing recurring abdominal pain. It is not new. Two years ago he underwent colonoscopy and endoscopy procedures because the pain became too much to ignore. We were afraid then. We did not know what the doctors would find. By God’s grace, the results came back negative. No serious findings. We were relieved. Vandy is the healthiest person in our family. He eats carefully. He exercises daily. Since the pandemic, we have ...

Last night, during our prayer before bed, our little family of three ended up laughing more than we expected. We were supposed to pray and sleep early. But as we sat together, stories started flowing. Stories about our childhood. Stories about hardship. Stories about scars. David laughed the hardest. He could not believe how different our lives were when we were his age. He and his cousin Pich live in a generation filled with technology, comfort, and convenience. We grew up in a very different world. We told him how we never said we were bored. There was always something to do. If we did not have toys, we made our own games. We created fun out of nothing. We climbed trees. We ran barefoot. We worked. My husband shared how, as the only boy among three sisters, he had responsibilities early in life. His job was to fill five large clay jars with water for cooking and washing. He fetched water from the Mekong River in front of their house. Every day. At eight years old, he learned how to...

Years ago, during the height of the Covid pandemic, we made a long trip that I will never forget. My mother in law insisted that we visit Vandy’s relatives in Mondulkiri . She was worried. She said we did not know what would happen next. What if sickness spread more. What if she would never see them again. As a mother and grandmother, her heart was heavy. Mondulkiri is at least eight hours away from Phnom Penh. It was a long drive from Vandy’s hometown. Roads stretched far. Mountains rolled in the distance. But we went. We went to honor Mayey , which means grandma in Khmer. We went because love sometimes looks like obedience. That trip became more than a family visit. It became a lesson about endurance. When we arrived, they welcomed us with joy. For them, it was amazing that foreigners like me and David came to their home. They were fascinated that we spoke English. It was their first time hosting someone from another country. They prepared their best for us. Wild meat dried like jerk...

Yesterday was an interesting day for us at church. As many of you know, Cambodia does not traditionally celebrate Valentines Day . It only became common when foreigners came and when the internet became widely used. In our culture here, it was never part of Khmer tradition . It was something influenced by outsiders. I have a previous post about this here 👉 Hearts Day in Cambodia So I was surprised when some of my Khmer colleagues told me that Christians were the ones who brought Valentines to Cambodia. I gently explained that not all foreigners who come to Cambodia are followers of Christ. And the love that Christians speak about is not romantic love centered on couples. The love we preach is the love of Christ for everyone. It is pure. It is sacrificial. It is unconditional. Because of that, our family does not really celebrate Valentines Day. Years ago, Cambodia even discouraged young people from celebrating it because it became associated with immorality. Some young women felt pres...

Our Ading Jireh! “A week ago, we met with Jireh.” Even as I write those words, I smile. It was her second time visiting Cambodia. This time, she came to attend dear sister Ygernie’s wedding. But for us, her visit meant more than just an event. It meant connection. It meant laughter. It meant remembering who we are and how God has been faithful through the years. I call her “ading,” an Ilokano word for younger sister. I first met her in a Youth Congress in Baguio, months before I flew to Cambodia in 2007 as a single missionary. I did not know then that God was quietly weaving friendships that would sustain us years later in the mission field. Little did I know, she was also Vandy’s classmate at Wesleyan Bible College in Rosales, Pangasinan. What a small world. What a faithful God. We clicked right away. There was something simple and warm about her. We spent just a few days together back then, but the bond felt real and special. It was not loud or dramatic. It was quiet and steady. The...