The Hourngs in Cambodia!

👉 Get your FREE  Passion Week Devotional   Passion Week is the most important time of the year for us as Christians—a time to remember Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross and celebrate His resurrection. It’s the heart of our faith! While in the Philippines (and many Christian nations), that week is a big holiday filled with prayer and reflection, here in Cambodia—a Buddhist country—it’s just an ordinary week. But as a local church, we intentionally set aside this time to focus on Jesus. Even though life goes on as usual (work, school, Khmer New Year travels), we can still make this week special by slowing down, opening our hearts to God, and remembering what Jesus did for us. This year, Passion Week falls during  Khmer New Year (April 13-20) —a time when most Cambodians travel to visit family. Our family will also be in  Kampong Cham , Vandy’s hometown. But even in the middle of celebrations, we want to keep our hearts fixed on Jesus. For me, Passion Week has always been ...

👉 Get your  FREE Devotional ( 7-day prayer journal for the Passion week ) As the new week unfolds, our family eagerly anticipates two significant celebrations: Khmer New Year and the Passion Week . It’s a rare moment when these two events align, and this year, we are especially mindful of how we can embrace both. As followers of Christ, we hold the death and resurrection of Jesus at the center of our faith. Yet, as a family living in Cambodia, we also seek to honor and connect with our loved ones who celebrate Khmer New Year, a time deeply embedded in their cultural and religious traditions. This year, as we travel to my husband's hometown in Kampong Cham province, our hearts are drawn to Colossians 3:12: “Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.” These words serve as a guiding light for us, especially as we step into an environment where Buddhist traditions run deep. How do we celebr...

Faith and Autism This verse encapsulates the journey of trusting God beyond what is visible, predictable, or easily understood. As a pastor’s wife and a mother to our 11-year-old son David, who is on the autism spectrum, this scripture has been a guiding light through countless uncertainties and challenges. Today, I want to share three reflections on this verse, drawing from our experiences in ministry, motherhood, and mission work in Cambodia. Reflection 1: Faith Anchors Us in the Uncertainty of Parenting Raising David has been an extraordinary journey of faith. His autism diagnosis came with a whirlwind of emotions: fear, doubt, and a deep desire to understand his unique needs. I vividly remember the day we finally visited the developmental pediatrician in the Philippines. The diagnosis clarified many of David’s struggles, but it also marked the beginning of a path we could not fully foresee. Back in Cambodia, finding reliable specialists for therapy was nearly impossible. For a time...

I want to share some thoughts that resounding in my mind lately. Confession time ready?! 💪  Tent Making My husband and I have always been praying to increase our income so we could help and support our ministries. It's been a conscious effort for us to share our mission heart to our friends and families, but we never fund raise. To be honest, there's always hesitation on us to ask anybody for help especially on financial support.  We strongly believe that this supplication is really God's part not ours. God is our sole provider. I have always been vocal to how God has provided for us through my teaching job in the university and through my husband's part time translating skills. God has proven His faithfulness in attending our needs and even rewarded us with some wants sometimes. 👍  Journey as a University Lecturer Please don't get me wrong when I mentioned about "fund raising" 😀 we do acknowledge this is also one of God's vessels to provide His wo...

It's been raining in the city this week.   For no reason, I just felt an energy low today - that is even right after I read my morning devotion 😔 I am unsure where is this coming from but in my prayer today, I ask God to renew my thoughts and awaken my spirit to see Him even with whatever emotions I may have today. Do you also feel this way sometimes? feeling down without any reasons haha! My energy was so high last week as we start the new semester at the university and then suddenly at week 2, I felt like a melting candle. I might have given much energy last week huh?! 😰😳  Anyways, these are the moments that I do really need much soaking time in reading and reflecting in the mornings. I am wearing many of hats as a woman, wife, mother, sister, lecturer, and so on. I wasn't able to sleep much last night, my mind was thinking a lot and widely awake. I think of many lists to do and plans to achieve this half-way year to go! I felt like I need to do more. Until I stumbled at ...

Young Couples We love praying for our young couples at church.  Aside from ministering to the youth at our dormitories, we have always had that burden to help out young married couples.  We have four young couples at church! Three of them are from our Dorm men. After they graduated from the university, they eventually got married and decided to start a family here in the city. We are happy that they have stayed in the church and continued the fellowship with us. Three young mommies' have temporary went back to the countryside to rear their young babies (with the help of their parents & relatives). We pray that they will continue to seek God's guidance and help as they navigate this new season despite away in the city. We miss them a lot! We used to have a regular discipleship with them (online meet up by and couple fellowships at home). They didn't have any babies then 😅😁😀 they had all the time for meeting us! We totally understand that once babies arrived, a lot of ...

Praise be to God 💕🙏👍 His love endures forever 🥰 As part of the body of Christ, we are rejoicing for our sister Sokun Thy - she has humbly accepted Christ as her personal Savior last Sunday 💕 we are so blessed at her own faith declaration thru her shared testimony at church worship.  Thank God for this fruit of intentional Pray,Care,and Share!  It’s truly an answered prayer for our family especially for my husband 🙏 💕 we have been praying for decades to have this moment. And it is now happening 💕 it’s all by God’s grace 🙏💕 until the whole household experience God’s transforming love 💕  Pastor Greg B. Fernandez Jr. preached a very timely sermon on Matthew 6:33 surrendered life - putting God first! * With a kingdom-minded perspective, we ought to be considering the timeless qualities that will last rather than the temporal ones. God or money can be a person's first priority, but not both. Jesus also advises people to resist worry over their everyday necessities....

Household of faith 😍🙏 We made the decision to welcome my sister-in-law Kunthy and her teenage son Pich to live with us here in the city (Phnom Penh) a year ago.  We have been praying for Vandy's entire family to accept Christ as their Savior for many years now and we also realize that this might be our chance.  Perhaps living with us would mean a great opportunity to share the gospel to them. We praise God for the wonderful progress these past few months.  As a family, we made a conscious effort to show my sister in-law and Pich how much we care for them. not just in words, but above all in deeds. Dad, David and I prayed each night (before we go to bed) that they will soon come to truly accept Christ as Lord and that the things we do at home (prayer before meals, bible study, bible reading, attending worship at church) will become a way of life for them so that they can enjoy and encounter Christ.  We hope to show them that we have a spiritual father and ...

Our lives can be made more comfortable by material belongings, such as the newest phones, larger homes, or cars. It's simple to assume that possessing more will also increase our happiness. However, the reality is that nothing we may purchase will stay forever. There is a time limit on everything we gather on this planet. Houses collapse, cars break down, and new phones age rapidly. We truly have no control over the affairs of this world in the long term. When Jesus invites us to focus on storing treasures in heaven, where things do not fade or vanish, He is essentially inviting us to a different way of living. He calls us to concentrate on heavenly things that will endure forever rather than accumulating material possessions.  Everything we own was actually given to us by God's grace, we are just the managers of these.  ** The passage advises not to store treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy and thieves steal, but in heaven, where treasures are safe and secure. ...