How do you celebrate Christmas?

Gambles Newsletter                                    01/05/20                               Volume 4, Issue 18 serving Cambodia through engineering design and discipleship Pix The Christmas party at the nearly finished construction site. The new building is almost complete!   Family games over the Christmas holiday.  Saying goodbye to Moses at the airport in Phnom Penh.  Sunsets on the riverside never get old!   During morning Bible study at our office we take full advantage of the white board and sticky notes in the office - much to Chad's pleasure!   Gifts... The Season of Giving What are your favorite holiday traditions?  Cutting down the Christmas tree, making home made eggnog, Advent readings leading up to Christmas?  Our family loves these, but one of our favorite is to give gifts similar to what the magi brought to baby Jesus as told in Matthew 2:11 - Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh.  Since these are a bit hard to come by in our daily lives in Cambodia, we give gifts symbolizing these three items.  The first gift given to Jesus was gold, so we give something extravagant.  The second gift was frankincense which burned in the temple when worshiping God.  So, we give a spiritual gift that draws us closer to God.  The last gift that was given to baby Jesus was myrrh which was used medicinally.  So we give a practical gift to represent this gift.  Please enjoy these recent stories along the lines of our favorite family tradition!     Extravagant Gifts Living overseas with children in university thousands of miles away is very difficult.  This year, God again blessed us with the extravagant gift of being together as a family for Christmas.  We played games, went to a nearby tourist town for a few days and overall enjoyed quality time together.  This will likely be our last Christmas together in Cambodia because... Moses' extravagant gift this year is to return to the USA to complete his high school years.  Cambodia has been challenging for him and after much prayer and council we decided to have him spend this next season with a dear family friend and one of his best friends.  The Kent family in Roseville, CA will be hosting Moses starting this semester.     Spiritual Gift Christmas in Cambodia is a relatively new holiday.  The country is over 95% Buddhist and many people have never celebrated Christmas  until recently.  Some people don't even know what Christmas is about - - the birth of Jesus Christ!  To help people understand the amazing significance of Christmas, Chad was able to participate in a special Christmas service at a construction site he has been working at this year.  A new church is just about to be established as the building is nearly complete.  The construction crew who has been working on this building for the last 6 months was invited to stop work, enjoy a great meal and hear about the amazing gift of forgiveness that was provided through the birth and ultimate death of Jesus Christ.    Practical Gift Chad has been dealing with sciatic back and leg pain the entire year.  After various treatments failed, he received the gift of healing through a surgery in late November.  He and Shanthi were able to go to Thailand for the surgery and all went perfect.  The surgery was a great success and he was up and walking the next day.  He has been free of sciatic pain ever since!       Pray for Moses as he transitions to a new high school and living with the Kent family.   Please pray for Chad and Shanthi as they process many goodbyes with 3 of the children out of the house and one nearly so.   Pray that the church in Cambodia would continue to grow as people know more about the real meaning of Christmas. Chad will be leading a project trip to a restricted access county later this month.  Pray that God would be glorified and the team would be able to serve well.   Please pray for Miriam and her college selection process.  Applications have been submitted, now we wait and continue to pray that God would lead her as she decides which one to attend.   Previous Requests: Chad will be heading to Bangkok on the 21st of November for minor back surgery.  He has been dealing with sciatic pain all year.  Please pray that everything goes well and that he no longer has back pain! Thank you for the prayers!  They were answered 100% Nathan and Chesna are wrapping up their semesters at college.  They both will be flying to Cambodia in early December after finals.  Please pray that they would end well and that there would be no complications during their travels.  Prayers were answered, both Nathan and Chesna did great this term and arrived without incident!      សូមរអាយបានដូចមាត់ Sounds like "soum owie ban doik mo-at"    May it be as you have said This is a phrase that is used when someone flatters you; it means "Thank you, and may I live up to those words in the future"     Miriam's Massages (or was that messages?) You know that kids say the darnedest things.  Here you will get a few funny quotes from our kids. Miriam - "Hold on Dad, I misspelled your name" (How difficult is it and how long has she been misspelling it?  Maybe it was Christmas break, so she was out of the "school habit")   Miriam - "How do people not know how to roll their eyes!!  It is so natural!"  (yes, we have seen years of how natural it comes to Miriam!)  :) Moses' Corner Kick Happy New Years, this year I will be starting it off in California. As most of you know I have moved to California for school. I am very excited for this new part in my life. I have already found a soccer team, and God has already blessed me with friends and family to help me this transition. If you ever see me in the area make sure to say high. Blog Facebook Email Give Copyright © 2020 All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: Team Gamble 31 Townsend Ct Roseville, CA 95678 Add us to your address book unsubscribe    update subscription preferences

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