Rachael Thompson

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Prayer Letter/Ministry Update

April 21, 2009

Dear Friends and Family,

Hello, I hope you are doing well. Is it spring yet where you live? Here rainy season has just begun. Everything is looking greener and bushier, and it is not so dusty. With all the new plants coming up, it looks like a whole different country than it was just two weeks ago.

Thank you so much for your prayers and your support this past month. I know this has been a difficult month for many people because of the economy. Some of you might already know that has also been a difficult month for the Christian and Missionary Alliance, the denomination in which I serve. In spite of the generous and sacrificial giving of many of you and many of your churches, there has been an overall shortfall in giving to the Great Commission Fund, which supports the missionaries of the C&MA, including myself. Because of the shortfall, thirty missionaries were brought home from their ministries. Would you pray with me that the Lord will supply all the needs of his people, both in America, and overseas? Thank you so much for your support and your prayers.

Thank you for praying for Sara, the tiny baby my teammates tried to help. They were able to get her to the hospital in the capital city, and the surgeons there did their best for her, but she passed away. She had been sick for four months, and the doctors said she died of liver failure because she had malaria. She did not seem unhappy though, the last time my teammates saw her, she smiled at them. Thank you that you prayed for her. Even though she was such a tiny baby, it seemed to me that she knew she was loved. Please pray for her parents, that they would experience God's comfort and know his love for them and for their child. We trust the Lord for this.

Thank you for praying for my house helper! She no longer works for me, and I never did find out what her name was, but she did help me get through the worst of the dusty dry season, when the house was the hardest to keep clean. She stopped coming a couple weeks ago, I am not sure why, but I think maybe my house is too far from town for her. Today, my landlord surprised me by offering to find another helper for me. He has offered to bring a helper he trusts from his hometown, who can live downstairs with his family and their helper, and can help in both houses. This is a real answer to prayer for me, since part of the problem of finding a helper has been that the house is not in town. Please pray for this new helper, and for a good adjustment for us all to this new arrangement.

Some of you know that I am praying for a car. Right now I go everywhere on foot or by bicycle, or I hire a motorcycle driver to take me places. I get to the villages by going along with my teammates. I am willing to keep working this way but I think I should at least try to get a car. If I had a car I could probably go to the village more often than I am able to do now. I am praying that if the Lord would like me to get a car, that he will provide around $30,000.00. This is the amount it would cost to purchase a reliable 4-wheel drive vehicle that won't break very often and can get through the muddy roads around here. So far I have about $2,500.00 in my vehicle fund with the Christian and Missionary Alliance. Please join me in prayer about this need. I do not like to mention it at all, when the Great Commission Fund is so low, but the Lord has enough for me.

Thank you for praying for me for language study. I was able to go with my teammates to the village for Easter Sunday and last week for a wedding. Both were special times to be with the J people, to celebrate with them. The Easter service was simple, but it seemed to me like a lot of visitors came from the village and heard the story of Jesus. After the service we all stayed for cookies and juice, which were enjoyed by all. The wedding I saw was at another village, in the little chapel there. The whole front wall of the chapel was lifted up on hinges so that all the wedding guests could be accommodated! It seemed like the whole village came out to see what was going on, sitting back a bit in little groups, some smoking tobacco rolled up in leaves, some carrying their babies in slings around their shoulders. On the way home from the wedding, my teammates brought a lady who needed to go to the city to see the doctor about her feet. Please pray she will be able to receive the treatment she needs to get well.

That is all my news for now. In May I plan to make a short visit to the capital city to run some errands, then I may have some friends coming back with me to visit me at my house for a few days. I look forward to that! I hope all of you are doing well. Please take care and may God bless you where you live.

Joyfully,
Rachael Thompson

March 24, 2008

Dear Friends and Family,
Hello, or as the J people say, 'Tot ak mun?'. I hope you are doing well. Most of you are probably still having winter weather, bless your hearts. Here in the land of eternal summer it is, well, summer-like. The year-round summer-like weather has subtle changes though: Right now it is the beginning of the hot dry season, which comes after the slightly cool dry season and is usually followed by the hot rainy season. Since it is dry right now, people around here are clearing and burning the dried up bushes and grass from their fields, in preparation for planting their next crops. Without underbrush, the countryside looks so different and is much easier to walk through. Also, it is the season when the cashew orchards are ready for harvest, so there is a cashew tree aroma in the air, and if this were America I think there would be a Yankee Candle made called "Cashew Tree Aroma" . Maybe there is one! Wouldn't that be something.
This Sunday I got to go with my teammates to visit some of the J villages. We stayed for two nights and saw one village church service, and a village Bible school the other two days. I got to sit in on a day and a half of the Bible school, and heard a great deal of the J language. Thank you for praying for this. As we sat in the church, every once in a while there was a loud 'bang' on the tin roof, which turned out to be cashews falling from the trees around the church! I sat with a small group of mostly single ladies, and enjoyed their company. The rest of the group were pastors from the J churches in the area. There were about 30 people in all. I heard that there would have been more, but because it is harvest time for the cashews, some of the pastors were at home harvesting their crop. Please continue to pray for these pastors, as they seek to serve the Lord and also provide for their families. They are hard-working people, and they love the Lord. It is a challenge to me to see their faith and hard work.
The week before this I also got to go to the village! That time we stayed with the pastor's family in the village where we usually go. My teammates brought some medicine to sell to the villagers, who don't get to town very often and are usually overcharged for medicines which are sometimes out-of-date. Some of the people who came to buy Tylenol or vitamins were really sick though. One baby girl was sick with bloody diarrhea and was dehydrated. She was under a year old, so my teammate, Mr. Kes, brought her and her mother back to town with us. On the way in the car I was afraid she was going to die because she was shaking once in a while. Mr. Kes called a doctor in the capital city and the doctor said she needed medical help. After a couple days of getting rehydrated with IVs here where we live, she and her mother made the long trip to the capital city, where she is now being treated for what may be Typhoid. I was so encouraged that she survived this far. Please pray for her recovery, her name is Sara.
Thank you for praying for someone to help me with my housework, and to watch the house for me when I need to travel. This month a young lady started working for me part-time, three mornings a week. She is able to do all the laundry (by hand) and all the sweeping and mopping in only one hour! This same work takes me all morning! I don't understand how she does so much so quickly, but I just thank the Lord for her help. She is not yet a believer, so please pray for her. I do not know her name yet! She works so quickly that I rarely even see her! I don't think she knows my name either. People don't use names so much here, but still I feel a bit guilty, hopefully soon I will know her name. :)
Thank you for praying for me to make some friends here where I live. In the last months I have met several of the singles who live and work in this area, and have enjoyed getting together with them for meals, hikes, and seeing them at the weekly missionary prayer meetings. Sadly, they are all here part-time, so soon I will say good-bye and have no friends again:( Please pray I will make more friends :)
Thank you who have been praying for my Grandmother who had a heart-attack last month. She has recovered enough to walk again with a walker and was able to go home! Though her heart is weakened, it sounds like her recovery is beyond what the doctors had expected. We praise the Lord to see our Grammie standing and in her own home again.
Thank you to all of you who pray for me and read these letters, and give to my support through the Great Commission Fund of the Christian and Missionary Alliance. Your prayers are opening the way for me to learn the J language despite my restrictions, and to continue to live in this area in peace and with joy. Thank you so much for all you do, and for your kind thoughts and prayers. May God bless you.
Joyfully,
Rachael Thompson

February 8, 2009

Dear Friends and Family,
Hello from Cambodia, I hope you are doing well. Thank you for your faithful prayers and support for me this last month. I have been doing well here. Last time I wrote the weather was cold and the trees near my house were turning colors and losing their leaves. Only a little over a month later, it has begun to be hot sometimes, and is dusty, and those same trees have new leaves already! That was surprising to me.
My most recent news is that my dear grandmother, Betty Mitchell, is in the hospital after a serious heart attack. My mother was able to go to her, and my aunts and uncle are with her as well. I hear that she is awake and stable, but her heart is damaged. Please pray for her for the Lord to make her well, and that she would be able to go home where things are more comfortable. I hear she was able to get up yesterday.
Last month was the Chinese/Vietnamese New Year, and since I live so close to the border of Vietnam, I saw all kinds of special holiday foods and decorations at the market. It was quite festive around here! My landlord and his family brought me a plate of New Years goodies, and I returned the plate with a children's story book for their son, about the resurrection of Jesus. Please pray my daily life will be a witness to them and for the Lord to help me to speak to them too. I have shared the gospel with the landlord briefly in a conversation we had once, and today I saw his wife's sister at church. Anyway, please pray for the family.
Thank you for praying for a way for me to keep learning the J language now that my former language helper has gone home. Last month my teammate Bounoeuy Kes helped find a new tutor for me, a young high school student who studies in this town. This young man now comes twice a week to help me learn to read the J Bible. The J Bible is written in Vietnamese script, so I need help to learn the correct way to pronounce the letters. This is going well, I am encouraged with being able to understand the J Bible and begin to pronouce the words better. Please keep praying for me to learn how to speak the J language though, I still struggle to understand what people say in J when they are talking normally.
Since my last letter I was able to go twice to the village with my teammates for a day each time. This was good to hear the language and get to know people in the village, and to spend the time with my teammates. I know it is not very much time to have spent in the village, but I sense in my heart and from talking to my teammates that I should not try to go to the village alone or too often for various reasons. Would you pray with me for the Lord to fill my life with the work he has for me to do, in spite of my present restrictions? And would you pray for the J believers to grow strong in their faith despite their restrictions?
Would you pray too, for someone who could help me with my housework and who could watch the house for me when I need to travel for ministry or for rest? Right now I am doing the housework myself, but I need to leave home sometimes for meetings, or to go to the village for a few days, and then it would be nice to leave the house and the cat in someone's care.
Thank you so much for your prayers and support for me here. I pray the Lord will bless and guide you in your life, whatever your circumstances, and show you what to do when you are perplexed.
Joyfully perplexed,
Rachael Thompson

January 1, 2009

Dear Friends and Family,
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! I hope your holidays were great! Here in Banlung there has been no snow, except maybe in my refrigerator, but there has been cool weather at night and the leaves of the rubber trees near my house are turning colors. Also, some unknown creature, (perhaps a mouse?) tried to eat the fake apple in my Thanksgiving ornament! Whatever it was must have been disappointed!

Thank you for you prayers for me this month for language study and that my language helper and I would be able to communicate better. Soon after I had written the last prayer letter, my language helper let me know that she wanted to go home and work her family's farm again. I was glad she told me, because I thought she seemed homesick. So she has now gone home, which is a good thing, but now I need your prayers for some other way to learn the J. language.

For now I am doing the best I can using the J. New Testament, and the recordings the helper made while the helper was here. I am glad to tell you that before she left, she taught me enough so that I can now read the New Testament, though I know I don't pronounce all the words right. Also, I have heard that two people from Yale or Oxford are planning to come visit my teammates and I in the coming months, in order to research the J. language. I hope they can help me with my studies too!

Yesterday I went with my teammates the Kesses to a J. village to celebrate Christmas with the church there. Even though it was New Year's Eve Day, they chose that day for their Christmas program! That is how the churches here in Cambodia celebrate, they just choose any day in the month of December for their celebration. An encouraging thing about this service was that the village chief attended. At the end, he gave a short speech saying that he wants all the different religious peoples in the village to get along and that they are all ok.

The reason I found this encouraging is because there have been times when the Christians were mistreated in this village. I hope and trust that the Christians at this time have found favor with the chief, and that myself and my teammates will be allowed to continue our presence there. My teammates and I are hoping one day to be allowed to go and live in that village.

In my last newsletter I wrote all about my adventures trying to renew my Cambodian Driver's License. I have good news! The license is now renewed! I can now drive! Now I just need a vehicle! If you would be interested in helping me to purchase a reliable 4-wheel drive vehicle for traveling to the J. villages, this can be done by writing a check to your local CMA church, or to the Christian and Missionary Alliance, with the words "Vehicle Special Rachael Thompson" in the Memo line.

I would ask however, that this would not take the place of your giving to support your own pastor and your giving to the Great Commission Fund, which supports myself, my teammates, and the US ministry of the Christian and Missionary Alliance.

Thank you so much for your faithful prayers and support for me here in Cambodia. I pray for you to have a blessed New Year!
Joyfully,
Rachael Thompson

November 22, 2008
Dear Family and Friends,
Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you will have a happy holiday! Here in Cambodia we have just come out of three big holidays in a row: The King's birthday, a holiday called 'Katun' and a holiday called 'Water Festival.' But I'm getting ready for Thanksgiving in my house, I have found my plastic orange maple leaf ornament with little plastic pinecones and have placed it beside my brown and orange Thai cookbook to match! I put some dried red peppers around it to add the the effect. To make up for this, the Lord is making the surrounding countryside very beautiful and inspiring of much thanks: all around my house are great bushes of big golden flowers that look almost like sunflowers. They grow there by themselves and only bloom at this time of year.
Thank you so much for your prayers for me this past month. I really meant to write this prayer letter to you sooner but during Water Festival my internet connection stopped working, and none of the internet shops in town had internet either. Just yesterday a technician came all the way from the capital city (an all day trip) and fixed the internet for me and probably a lot of others! So I'm very very thankful to be connected again with my family and with all of you who pray for me. I'm thankful to the Lord that I always have 24 hour access to Him!
Thank you for praying for my language helper and I to continue to grow in our ability to communicate with one another. One way this prayer is being answered is that when the internet was not working, I really had no one to talk to besides my language helper for most of the day, and as a result we talked together more. We really still need your prayers however, that we would keep learning how to communicate together and live together and be very patient with one another.
As for learning the J language, I think I am beginning to understand more what I hear and especially what I read, mostly in the J Bible. The Bible is easy for me to study, because I can compare it to my English Bible and pick out certain words and phrases. When I go to the village, then I hear people speaking the language and am able to understand some now, though I can't respond much yet.
Thank you for praying for me as I seek to understand and use this language. Please pray that I would have a teachable attitude. I do want to learn but sometimes I resist being taught. I think I read somewhere that the problem with a living sacrifice is that it keeps trying to crawl off the altar! That's how I feel right now--I need to be a listener and a learner, but sometimes I get off track.
Thanks you for praying that I could keep going to the villages! I was able to go last week with my teammates, the Kesses. Here are some pictures from that time:


J Kids


This is me in front of a rack of gourds of drinking water, which the J call 'good water'.

OUT-TAKES (very long stories that are not part of the prayer letter because they are too long)
Now most of you are probably very busy and don't have the time to read on, but if you do have the time and the inclination, I'll tell you about my adventures losing (and finding) my wallet, and being lost in the trans-Cambodian bus route this last month.

The Lost Wallet:
It all started because I needed to go to the village for language study, and I didn't have any transportation. My teammates, the Kesses, were gone to Malaysia to visit their children, so I couldn't go with them to the village. But Mr. Kes told me I could use their 4-wheel drive vehicle while they were away. I chose a day and two young ladies volunteered to brave the slippery mud roads with me. They worked hard to prepare food to take for the day, and I packed a bag and went hunting for my Cambodian Driver's License, only to find it had expired two months before! Oh dear. I was too nervous to make the drive without my papers in order, since there is a police stop along the way. So I cancelled the trip, much to everyone's disappointment.
I emailed the mission office in the capital city to ask them if they could help me renew my license so that someday, should the need arise, I will be able to drive to the village. The office told me they would need me to bring in my old license in order to get it renewed, so I planned to make a trip to the capital city. In preparation for the trip to the capital city I again packed my bag. Being prone to forgetfullness, I decided to put all my important papers into my wallet ahead of time, so that I wouldn't be able to forget to take them on the long trip.
Then I went into Banlung town to run some last-minute errands before my big trip. I had just come out of the Banlung market and my hands were full of bags. I shifted my wallet into my right hand, thinking it would be safer there, with all those important papers. As I walked down the busy road, past shops, moto taxis, and various food venders, I didn't notice that....I had somehow lost my grip on my wallet, and it had fallen out of my hand!
By the time I realized my wallet was missing, it was too late. I went back and forth along the road, asking all the sellers and moto drivers if they had seen my wallet, but no one had. Oh dear! Finally I decided to go home. Along the way I prayed for the return of my lost wallet!
At the house I told my language helper all about what had happened. Right away she told me that her friend had lost her purse once, but had gotten it back when she put an announcement in at the local radio station in town. Some people from the C&MA church here in Banlung offered to take me to this radio station. But since it was lunchtime, and also raining and very muddy on the road to my house, they couldn't make the trip to my house; so I decided to brave the mud and go to them.
My language helper asked, 'You're going in the rain? At lunchtime? On foot?' It seemed necessary, so I went. The rain was only drizzling, but the road was very slippery, and my green flip flops were not much help in holding onto the road. Soon they had picked up so much caked mud that I had to drag my feet because my flip flops were heavy! Then I got to a place that was mostly just oozing mud, and my shoes stuck to it with every step! There were people watching me from their houses on both sides of the road as I lurched along!
Just when I thought the embarrassment might be nearing an end, along came a tourist. She saw me lurching along, and bounded up to me in her nice clean hiking boots that didn't stick to the road at all. 'Do you speak English?' she asked, ' Do you know where the National Park Headquarters is?' Actually I was going that way, so I invited her to join me. Eventually we reached a paved road and soon we had found the place she was going, so we said good-bye and I continued on.
When I reached the house of the people who were able to help me, I spent about five minutes just washing my feet and flip flops! Feeling much better without the mud I went inside and told everyone the whole story of my lost wallet. They couldn't believe I had dropped it with all those important papers in it! One of them gave me a ride to the radio station, only to find there was no one there because...it was too close to lunchtime. 'Come back at 2pm' said the guard. My friend took my most of the way home but let me off at the mud, since it was really slippery and hard to drive on.
Back into the battle of the mud and the flip flops. I had nearly reached home went I slipped and did a rather wild dance to keep from falling--right in front of a snack shop where some people were sitting! Oh the humiliation, but they didn't laugh or make fun of me, and I am almost sure I heard one of them saying, 'look at that foreigner, she's looking for her lost wallet, isn't it terrible!'
As I gingerly crept along, trying not to fall, along came a woman with a herd of cows. She saw me struggling along and she also did not make fun of me. She just said, 'take off your shoes and walk without them.' I tried it and found it was able to walk the rest of the way home without slipping. I had some lunch and some coffee and prayed with my language helper for my lost wallet. Then I set out again to the radio station.
By this time it had stopped raining and the mud was drying up. I wore my hiking shoes this time, and made much more dignified progress into town. Arriving at the radio station, I was met by a young man who took my announcement. He felt so badly that I had lost my wallet and all my important papers that he only charged me half the price to make the announcement, and was very kind and polite to me. I left the radio station feeling hopeful and prayed again for the return of my wallet.
I had nearly reached home when there, coming down the road in front of me, was the tourist I had met that morning, along with a Cambodian tour guide. At first she did not recognize me, because I had changed my shoes probably, but then when she saw it was me, she said hello and started to talk to me. Her tour guide said he recognized me too, though I didn't remember ever meeting him. I said good-bye to them and went into the house. By this time it was maybe 5pm, and I had spent all that day looking for my wallet.
I was just settling down and getting ready for dinner when I heard the dogs barking in the yard, and someone talking to my language helper at the gate. A moment later she called me to come down, someone had brought me my wallet! I came running down the stairs and there at the front gate was that tour guide I had just met with the tourist! He had my wallet in his hand! 'Someone brought this wallet to the tour guide center, thinking it must belong to a tourist,' he explained. I looked inside, and there were my Cambodian Driver's License and my California License too, only the money was missing. "Thank you so much!" I said, "I have been looking for this all day today!" 'Try not to lose your wallet anymore!' said the tour guide, 'I might not be there next time to help you.' "OK," I said, but I know Someone Else is looking out for me whether or not there are kind-hearted tour guides about.

Ok, anyone still there? If so, maybe get a snack or some coffee for this next long drawn-out story about getting lost in the bus system on the way to the capital city to renew my license.

The Lost Missionary:
Still rejoicing over the return of my wallet, I set out to by a bus ticket to make the journey to the capital city in order to renew my expired Cambodian Driver's License. Who should I find at the bus ticket counter but...that same tour guide. 'You again!' Yes, me. I am going to the capital city. I would like to buy a ticket. 'The ticket seller came over then and began to write me a ticket for the bus. 'Which seat would you like?' he asked. 'I don't know, it doesn't matter to me.' I said. 'Here,' he said, 'I'll sell you a ticket for the better bus, that first bus isn't as nice.' "Ok," I said, and paid the fare. "Be here a little before 6am and I'll take you to the bus stop,' said the ticket seller.
The next morning I was up and on my way to the ticket stand. In my backpack was some very valuable artwork I had agreed to carry to the city for a children's story that the mission publishing house wanted to publish. The artist is a young man who lives and works in Banlung. Arriving at the bus in plenty of time, thanks to the help of the ticket seller, I found my seat on the bus and settled in for a long day's ride, hoping to arrive at the capital city by 7pm that night.
We had only been on the road for one hour when there was a rattling noise and the bus driver pulled over to the side of the road. All the passengers got out to look around. We were way out in the countryside, far from any place to buy drinking water or food. A little stream flowed by beside the road, and all kinds of wildflowers were growing in the bushes of grass all around. I saw some bright, lemon colored flowers way up in the middle of the bushes, hanging down with droopy heads. The bus driver hadn't come out of the engine yet, so I walked over to look up at the flowers and saw that inside they were a dark red color! So pretty.
The bus driver found the problem after awhile, the cap of something important had come falling off as we were driving along, and all the fluid, perhaps it was the oil? I'm not sure, had gone running out. There were no repair shops nearby, so one of the driver's assistants caught a ride on a passing motorcycle and went all the way to the next town to find a mechanic. Meanwhile, along came the other bus, the one I almost took. It stopped and the driver asked if any of us passengers wanted to ride on that bus instead, but we all figured the mechanic would be able to fix the bus, and so none of us went.
About an hour later the driver's assistant returned with a mechanic and a large toolbox. They fixed the leak enough for the bus to be able to drive slowly to the next big town. But when we got there, the bus could really go no further without being ruined, and so all of us passengers were stranded there. By then it was past lunchtime, and most of the taxis and minivans, and other buses going to the capital had long since gone through. I wondered what I would do if no one came. But I saw that the bus driver and his assistant were calling on their cell phones trying to find rides for everyone to take us on our way, so I waited and watched them.
As I was watching, in drove a dusty, crowded little bus, with things piled even on the rooftop, and I believe people sitting on some of those things! Out of the little bus came a young driver wearing a muslim cap on his head. His assistant was an energetic young woman who immediately began sorting out all us passengers. Surely not, I thought to myself, for the bus was too full already, and I wondered if the driver would let me on the bus, since I'm obviously American. Just as I thought it really could not work out, the driver's assistant told me to get on the bus and go with them! So I picked up my bag and started towards the little bus. Behind me I could hear the other bus driver saying, 'you don't have to go on that one--' but the assistant said, 'go on' so....I got on the bus.
But there were no seats left! The driver's assistant asked me, 'can you sit there?' I looked to where she pointed and there was a pillow on top of the place where the motor sits between the driver seat and the front passenger seat. 'Yes,' I said and climbed up onto the pillow, but I didn't have any place to put my feet. 'Ben P'nen!' The driver's assistant told me, smiling, but I didn't understand what that meant, and reasoned she must want me to sit facing the back of the bus. So I pulled my feet up on the pillow and perched there facing the whole bus of passengers. 'Or you could sit like that too, it's ok.' said the driver's assistant. Oh dear, I thought, what could she have meant? I racked my brain for the possible meaning of 'Ben P'nen.'
After awhile the man sitting nearest the driver spoke up, 'Where are you from? Where are you going?' he asked. Then, 'So what is it you do here?' "I work with a Christian group," I answered. 'Oh.' and no more questions. It was nearing sundown, and we were only halfway to the capital city. What will we do? I wondered as we drove along. One of the ladies sitting facing me asked, 'Where will you stay tonight, at a hotel?' "No," I answered, I'm staying at my friend's house in the capital city tonight." 'You should stay overnight in the next town,' said the lady, 'it's getting pretty late.' But I figured I should stay on the bus until it reached the city.
The bus driver's assistant spoke up, 'You can stay at my house tonight,' she offered, 'would you like to stay at my house?' But I still thought the bus would keep going on that night, so I said something like, 'Thank you, but I need to go to the city.'
We came to a rest stop and everyone got out to buy snacks and water. when I came back and climbed onto the pillow my feet were tired of sitting scrunched up. The bus driver's assistant said, 'Ben P'nen' to me again! What does it mean? I wondered 'Ben P'nen,' she said again, then she explained, 'cross your feet!' Oh! it means sit cross-legged! So I sat cross-legged and everyone smiled. 'I didn't understand,' I said, and she answered, 'Just ask me, anytime you don't understand, and I'll tell you!'
We were getting close to the next town when up ahead we saw a long line of cars, minivans, taxis, and motorcycles, all at a standstill. The bus stopped and everyone got out. Up ahead there had been an accident, and there was only enough room in the road for small cars and motorcycles to get through. 'We'll have to try the back way' said the driver's assistant, and we all got back into the bus.
We back-tracked and took a little country road running parralel to the main one, but then we came to a deep mudhole. The bus stopped and everyone got out. 'What should we do,' the driver and the assistant asked eachother. ' If we get stuck, we won't get to the next town by nightfall, and we'll have to drive in the dark because the headlights are broken! Let's try it, I think we can get through, and if not, we'll hire the village tractor to pull us out.'
So the drivers backed up and drove as fast as he could into the mudhole, but halfway through it, the tires got too stuck, and the bus as stuck in the mud. Now the driver had to go into the mud and try to dig the tires out using borrowed farm tools from the villagers. The men on the bus came to help push as the driver made an attempt to get out but they couldn't move the bus. It was a half an hour before the tractor came and he charged the bus driver around $20.00 to pull him out. By the time we got out of the mudhole it was sundown.
The next hour and a half we drove in the dark with no headlights through villages, past busses, cars, pedestrians, cattle and other traffic along the road. A teenage girl sitting accross from me pulled out a tiny flashlight from her purse and gave it to the bus driver to shine through the window to see the road better! Everyone laughed but it actually did help a bit, at least warning oncoming traffic that something was coming. Whenever someone couldn't see us the driver would yell out the window, 'Move over, I'm a bus!' and we would nervously laugh at that too.
As we came to a gas station, the driver's assistant called out, 'Do you have any diesel?' But the station had closed and the people answered, 'No, no diesel.' The driver's assistant didn't believe her though, and said they were hard-hearted. After that we went along slowly, looking for any little place that might sell us some fuel. We stopped at several roadside stands selling fuel from little pumps attached to barrels! After two stops like this, we had enough fuel to go on.
Going a little further, we saw a little white car stopped on the side of the rode. The bus driver pulled over to it, and the teen-ager who had given up her flashlight, got out and got into the white car. 'She's the car's daughter' someone said, and I wondered, what does that mean? I still wonder too. But whatever it meant, the little white car pulled out in front of us and lit the road with it's headlights for us all the way to the next big town.
As we were coming to the town, the bus driver spoke up. 'I'm not going any further with that foreigner,' he said. 'Don't say that,' said his assistant, 'we can't leave people stranded.' After a moment he said again, 'If she wasn't on the bus, I would go further, but if she goes with us, I'm not going to go.' Oh dear, I thought, does he mean me? I was the only foreigner on the bus, so probably... 'You make me want to believe,' said the driver's assistant. Believe what? I thought. The bus driver answered, 'Oh, so now you have two cottons?" What? two cottons? What does that mean? I wondered.
Now the assistant turned to us passengers and said, 'how many are going to the capital city?' I raised my hand, along with several others. 'The rest of you passengers can find a hotel in town, but you who are going to the capital can sleep at my house for the night.' she said. Then the bus stopped and all the ones who were stopping there got out, leaving only about eight of us who were going to the capital. We followed the little white car all the way to the home of the driver's assistant.
Her family seemed surprised to see all of us, and asked the assistant why she brought us with her. 'I couldn't just leave them stranded,' she said, to which they answered, 'you can't just bring poeple home like this!' But having said that, they went into the kitchen and found us all something to eat, even though it was now near 11 o'clock at night. The family gave us all pillows and straw mats, and gave us ladies our own corner near the family and the t.v. set, and I fell fast asleep, feeling like Goldilocks invading the house of the bears.
In the morning I went downstairs to see what would happen next and how I would get to Phnom Penh. When I got to the foot of the stairs though, I couldn't find my shoes! Oh no! I went barefoot into the yard looking around, and then the driver's assistant saw me and said, 'I have your shoes for you!' and brought them, and here she must have washed them, because they were very clean, and I know they had not been that way the night before.
I noticed the assistant asking the other passengers for money for their meal and lodging, but when I went to pay also, she wouldn't take any money from me. 'You don't have to pay,' she said, 'you are taken care of already.' I wondered if maybe the first bus driver had given her extra money to take me, or if maybe she was just being kind.
The bus driver came and the assistant told us to get into the bus, and they would drive us to the bus stop where another bus would take us on to the capital city. When we got to the bus stop, all the other passengers gave money to the new bus driver, but when I went to pay, the driver's assistant who had been so kind to me told me ' you don't have to pay, you are taken care of.' And she paid the new driver some money. I thanked her and she and the young Muslim driver drove away, leaving us at the bus stop. It was about 6 in the morning.
We were all getting hungry and there were some food sellers nearby. One of the other passengers called me to join the rest of them for some breakfast there. We ordered some breakfast which had just been cooked and was very good. Before I could pay for my food someone else paid for it, one of the passengers I didn't even know. Now I really thought all this was uncommonly kind, the way strangers were helping me all along the way. I felt it was all very strange and wondered what was happening.
Soon the new bus came and everyone got on. More and more people joined us along the way until we were quite full of people in our bus. No one seemed to mind it though, and the passengers talked and chatted along the way. Sitting near me was an older man who had come all the way from Banlung and spent the night at the same house as me. I heard him talking to one of the young men who had also been with us for the whole trip, he was saying, 'That poor bus driver, he had to lay down right in the mud under the bus and try to dig us out. He got completely covered, soaked to the skin with that mud. Do you know, he was very angry with that bus. And he was weeping too, I saw him wiping tears away.'
Then the younger man spoke up, 'I wouldn't have cried,' he said, ' I'd cry if my parents died, but not over a bus.' I thought about the bus driver then. I hadn't known he had been so upset. Soon we came to the capital city, and I said good-bye to the other passengers and found a motorcycle taxi to take me to my friend's house. After some rest and a good visit with my friend in the city, and of course after taking my expired license to the mission office, and delivering the artwork for the children's book, I set out to make the long trip home to Banlung again.
Mercifully, the trip home was without insident, except that that bus driver's assistant made a big X with a permanent marker on my new backpack when I gave it to him to stow away. Even though we made good time, we didn't arrive until after dark, and since my teammates were still gone, I was a little worried about how I would get home. I prayed for help, and stepped out of the bus, and who should I see, but...that same tour guide! He said, 'Oh, I know her, she lives on the road out of town.' and he tried to find a motor taxi for me, but no one wanted to take me. So then he borrowed one of the motor taxi's motorbikes and said, 'I'll take you.' ! So I got home safely after everything, and now I think we are all tired of all these adventures, and ready to go back to the world we know about and understand. But I'm very thankful for the Lord's help all along the way, and thankful for those who pray for my safekeeping. If anyone is still reading this, you deserve an award! May God bless and keep you.
Joyfully,
Rachael Thompson
Dear Family and Friends,

Hello there! I hope you are doing well. I'm doing well here in Banlung, staying healthy and getting to know more people here. Language study, cooking and sewing keep me busy these days, along with trips to the village.

The weather up here is strange and wonderful: sometimes it rains for days and nothing dries at all, and it is nice and cool all the time, until we begin to miss the sun; then it will be so clear and bright and hot for a few days, and everything gets dry again, and there are lightning storms at night, and clouds of mist in the morning. Yesterday I was sitting out on the porch early in the morning, and I could see the mist floating right past my feet!

Thank you for praying for my language helper! She is doing well and is helping me more and more. She lives here at my house with me, and watches the house and takes care of the cat when I go to the village. I enjoy her company and am thankful for her help.

Please pray for us as we learn to communicate with each other. My first language is English and hers is the J language, but neither one of us knows much of each other's language yet, so to communicate we mostly use the Cambodian national language which is Khmer!

This can at times be amusing and other times frustrating: one of us will ask a question in Khmer, and the other won't completely understand, so then our communication is blocked and it's rather like the tower of Babel when the people couldn't do anything together because they couldn't understand each other.

Sometimes we recover quickly and try again with better success, but I confess there are other times when I give up talking altogether. One time this last month we had so many misunderstandings that both of us were quite worn out with talking, and didn't hardly speak for days.

Then my landlord's housekeeper, who is from Laos and is also not a native speaker of Khmer, came to visit us one afternoon, so we all tried talking together. We got along alright for awhile as long as we didn't stray into anything abstract. But then of course one of us got to talking about something that happened somewhere else, and soon none of us was sure what the other was saying.

"What?" we all asked, then we started to laugh at how funny we were to all talk Khmer so poorly and confuse each other. I laughed so hard that I cried, and I noticed my helper had to go blow her nose, so I think I wasn't the only one. Thank the Lord, this month we seem to be doing better with talking and with understanding each other. Please, pray I will continue to grow in my ability to both understand and communicate. I appreciate your prayers.

Please also continue to pray for my helper that she would continue to grow in her faith and that she would find good friends here in Banlung. I am encouraged for her that there is a youth group that is beginning at the C&MA church here, and she and the other young people there seem to enjoy that time together. My hope is that this group will be a support for her as she is away from home.

Please also pray for me as I get to know more people here in Banlung. I enjoy a Saturday night worship time with all the different missionaries who live in this town. This group is a support and encouragement for us all I think.

Thank you so much for praying that I would be able to go to the village. I've been able to keep going with no trouble so far, Praise the Lord. However, this week when I was there, a man came by and saw me sitting there, and started asking some pointed questions to the lady who my teammates and I stay with. Please pray this man will not cause this lady and her family any problems because of me. This man has brought a lot of trouble to this lady's family in the past year.

On a more encouraging note, while with my teammates at the village this week, I got to observe a men's seminar at the church which included a Bible memory verse contest. The speaker for the seminar was a Cambodian pastor, and he spoke encouraging the men to memorize Bible verses so that God's word will be hidden in their hearts. Then over a dozen of the men took turns reciting the verses they had been memorizing. It took a couple hours for them all to finish! Here is a picture of the men who recited verses:


I was encouraged by all this. First I was encouraged to see a Cambodian pastor doing the good work of ecouraging the men. This shows the Cambodian church is getting stronger and more mature! That is the result I as a missionary am hoping and praying and working towards: that the Church in Cambodia will be strengthened and will grow mature.

Also I was encouraged by the J men who were reciting the Scripture for two hours. This can only do them good and help them to know God's word, and to put that word into their hearts. Please continue praying for the J believers and churches to be strengthened and to know and obey God's word.

Thank you for your prayers, encouragement and support! I appreciate your partnership with me in my efforts to learn to speak the J language and to work to strengthen God's church in this corner of the world.

Blessings to you!
Rachael Thompson

AUGUST 2008

Dear Family and Friends,
Hi there! I hope you are all doing well. Thank you for your prayers this past month, here is what has been happening:

For about ten days I thought I had lost my one and only language informant to homesickness. She went home for a visit and didn't return! I studied using recordings we had made, and wondered what I would do. And prayed. Then one day she reappeared and has continued on here since then. I am thankful for her help for as long as she is willing to stay. Please pray for her, she is a young Christian girl from one of the villages two hours east of here. Please pray she would continue in her faith while here with me in the "big city" of Banlung. Please also pray for her as she's sometimes lonely being so far from her home.

Thanks for praying that I would be given permission to visit the villages. It turns out that I already have permission according to this country's constitution, so I may not have to ask for special permission after all. With that in mind, I went this week with my teammates to the villages for a few days of language study. What a difference from listening to a tape recorder! I pray I will be able to continue to go to the villages like this for language study and eventually for work with the church leaders there.

Here is how our trip went:

The first day we went to a little village where my teammate Bounoeuy teaches a class called "The Shepherd and his Work" . There were maybe 15 pastors there who travel each week to take this course. While Bounoey taught, his wife Chanthan and I listened and helped cook a meal for lunch.

Outside the church is a long table for church dinners etc... Near the table is a little thatch hut on stilts--the church kitchen, and nearby on the ground were two open fires: the church stoves. Four of the church people, Chanthan and myself, made an innovative new dish that could be called: Zucchini/Fish Extraordinaire. I learned the word used for slicing vegetables, and heard a lot of other words I don't understand yet. During our time of meal preparation, Bounoeuy and the pastors worked through a lesson on the basics of sermon preparation. Most of the pastors have not had any Bible school training.

That night we drove to another village to sleep at a pastor's house. The house is a little wooden house on stilts, with an open air kitchen below. I slept on a mat under a mosquito net and spent the days cooking and learning new words in the language with Chanthan and the pastor's wife. Chanthan knows how to make lots of Cambodian food, so we ate well.

Here are some of the things we made together:

One day we steamed bamboo shoots, something like spinach, and baby corn, and made a dip for them out of steamed, pounded, de-boned fish, lime juice, fish sauce, and baby eggplants! Then we made a soup from boiled, shredded pork and the flower of a banana tree! Another day we made a yellow soup with pounded turmeric roots, garlic, salt, and lemongrass for the spices, and with a can of tuna fish, a zucchini, and new pumpkin leaves and flowers in it! Let me tell you, I was the one who pounded the turmeric etc... and it kind of sprays all over when you pound it, so I was a little golden that day. But it was all worth it because the soup tasted so good. Maybe it doesn't sound good but it was!

In between all the cooking, I listened to people speaking the language, and the pastor's wife taught me how to say things like: I'm sitting on a mat, a hammock, a pillow, I pumped water, the water leaked a lot, the chicken is eating rice, the dog is laying there, we made pumpkin soup, she has pumpkin sap on her hand, etc... Meanwhile, Bounoeuy was teaching another class for seventeen other pastors who come every week to take the course on "The Shepherd and his Work".

It was a good time at the village, and I miss it, now that I'm home again. Thank you so much for your prayers that I could go. Please keep praying that I'll be able to continue going and learning the language. I'm trusting the Lord to provide all that I need to learn this language, in whatever ways he sees fit.

Please pray for the pastors who come each week to study. They travel long distances over unpaved, slippery roads, leaving their families behind. Please pray they would grow and be equipped for their work as shepherds of all the little churches in their remote villages. And please remember my teammates, Bounoeuy and Chanthan Kes in your prayers as well, for the Lord's blessing and care as they train the pastors and continue to study the language.

Blessings to all of you there! I hope you are doing well.

Joyfully,
Rachael Thompson

JUNE/JULY 2008
Dear Family and Friends,
Hello from Banlung, Cambodia! I hope you are doing well there where you live. Thank you so much for praying for me and for supporting me and many others serving Christ around the world! Your efforts make such a difference in my life and in the lives of all the missionaries you lift up. May the Lord richly bless each one of you, and answer your prayers, and let you see the difference you make as you serve Him in this way. I think it must be getting harder for you there economically, and I want you to know that I'm humbled by the sacrifices you have made in giving to the Lord for his work there in your churches and around the world. May he bless you and faithfully provide for all your needs and give you great joy.

PRAY FOR J LANGUAGE STUDY!
In the month of June I was blessed with lots of time to study the J language. Thank you for your prayers for my language helper and I as I began to learn, we were able to fill an entire notebook with language drills and made a good beginning. I can now say things like 'Hello, How are you doing? What is your name, ' etc... Please keep praying for me to be able to hear the new sounds, and to say them again, and to understand what they mean! Thank you.

PRAY FOR PERMISSION TO VISIT THE J VILLAGES
This month I hope to go meet the government official who I hope will give permission for me to visit the J villages where the J people live. Please pray for this meeting, that the Lord will prepare this man's heart and that my teammates and I would find favor with him so that we could go to the villages as often as we need to. These villages are maybe 2 hours out of town, some even farther. In order to go there to learn the J language and to eventually work, I will need to ask this man for permission every time I plan to make a trip. I trust the Lord intends to open the way for me, so please pray that he will. Thank you!

PRAISE FOR BEING ABLE TO UNPACK AND SETTLE INTO MY NEW HOME
After a long period of moving from house to house this past year, I praise the Lord for being able to really unpack and settle into this place, where I hope to stay for the next three years, Lord willing. My house is becoming more and more comfortable and home-like, and I enjoy the quiet and the garden at this house. The market in town is full of food so that I am able to find the things I need and even more. I especially enjoy seeing different tribespeople in town and at the market, where they go to sell their farm produce. Not usually any J people, but the languages are a little similar so sometimes I can understand a few words they say.

Thanks for your prayers! God bless you.
Joyfully,
Rachael Thompson

May 21, 2008
Dear Friends and Family,
Hello from my new home, the town of Ban Lung in northeastern
Cambodia! Thank you for praying for my move here! I had planned to
make
the move from Phnom Penh to here on May 1, but then I received news that
a large bridge was broken, and no one could come or go. I waited four
more days, and finally heard that the bridge was fixed. But then the
driver of the truck I had rented to move all my belongings told me the
trip would take so long we would have to sleep on the road! I decided
to
go anyway since I was so tired of waiting around, and sure enough, it
did
take nearly 18 hours to get to Ban Lung. Thankfully, a short-term
visitor was able to go with me for moral support! We left Phnom Penh
around 1pm and arrived in Ban Lung at 5:45am the next day.
We went straight to the home of the Kes family, my teammates, who
opened their home to me since I had not yet been able to find a house to
rent in Ban Lung. That same morning they took me to look at a house
they
had seen that was for rent, and we were able to rent it. Thank you for
praying for me to find this house, I had looked a few weeks before and
had not found anything within the mission's budget and with an indoor
bathroom--thankfully this house has both!
Aside from making this move, I've been taking some vacation time
and
spending time with friends. I was able to spend some time with both the
young lady from the motorcycle shop and Soeun from the Bible school and
to say good-bye. I am confident that they both have made Christian
friends there in Phnom Penh, and are receiving Christian support and
discipleship.
Before I left Phnom Penh my class at the Cell Church was completed
and the students took their final exams. I am encouraged that the
students were able to understand the lessons and that my fellow teacher
Bopha turned out to be such a good teacher. She is now continuing to
teach the next class in this discipleship series, and several of the
same
students are continuing on with her. I hope to use this same
discipleship series here in my new assignment and am thankful for the
chance I had to become familiar with the lessons during my year in Phnom
Penh.
Now begins a new kind of life and work for me as I begin to learn
the J language, which is different from the language spoken by most
Cambodians. I will greatly appreciate your prayers for this! I
especially need to hear the J language spoken as much as possible.
However, this may be a challenge since most J speakers do not live in
Ban
Lung! I would go live in the village if I could, but it is not
permitted
for foreigners to live in the tribal villages in this part of Cambodia.
It is permitted though, for me to make short visits to the villages if I
first request permission from the authorities. Please pray that
permission would be given for me to make these visits to the villages.
I
will need to specifically ask each time I want to go, so this is an
ongoing prayer request. Thankfully, my teammates the Kesses have found
a
tutor to help us here where we live, so there is one person I can listen
to.
Thank you so much for your prayers, letters, and support. I have
really sensed your prayers as I made this move. May God bless each of
you and care for all your needs.
Joyfully,
Rachael Thompson

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