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News from the Portela family, serving in Cambodia.
PORTELAS IN CAMBODIA

CƱm riǝp suǝ! (Hello!)

As he nears the end of Level 1 in Khmer, David has begun to question whether it is possible to fit any more Khmer vocabulary into his brain. It feels like for every new word he learns, he forgets two old ones! Nevertheless, the daily interaction with the teachers and other students provides a unique opportunity to practice his developing skills in a relatively safe environment, where his mispronunciations and mistakes garner laughs rather than angry looks.

Teaching about the early Church

This semester David is leading the ICA Youth through a 12-week DVD series about Church history. In January they started by discussing the Church at the time of Christ and the Apostles. The challenge has been to get students to imagine what it must have been like to be devoted to this completely unknown faith and to share that faith with others who had never heard of Christ (or even of Yahweh, in many cases). The response has been wonderful, with several students looking forward to the next lessons.

Hope International School is moving…

As we alluded to in our previous newsletters, Hope School is indeed moving all the way across town at the end of February. We’ve both been busy packing up classrooms and offices and getting rid of a lot of unnecessary clutter along the way—a specialty of ours now that we’ve moved across the globe several times. The new campus has much nicer facilities for both students and staff. Construction is still ongoing, particularly in the primary school. Lucas and Elena will continue to go to Hope South until August, when Hope North’s primary school should be ready to receive them.

…and so are we (moving, that is)!

In what we hope will be the last of our house moves (in this country at least), we will be transporting our family to the far North of Phnom Penh (we currently live in the far South). We praise God for allowing us to quickly find a house that is (slightly) cheaper than our current place and meets our needs as a family. We’ve chosen to put most of these savings towards increasing the salaries of the ladies who help us at home (so that we can be at work). Taara’s parents, Eldon and Ruth, are coming to visit this month and will be a big help to us as well!

Health challenges

As we mentioned in our last newsletter, one of our biggest challenges so far has been keeping our family healthy. We had a relatively disease-free January, but just last weekend David got struck again by a stomach virus, putting him out of commission for a couple of days. Just as he started to recover, Lucas and Leila came down with sudden sore throats and high fevers. We praise God for the easy and cheap access we have to medication here in Phnom Penh, but we hope (and we’ve been told) that it gets easier once your body adapts to the local gremlins.

Adaptation, Take 2

Moving across town will mean a whole new adaptation. Lucas and Elena will have to get used to going to school on the bus (which Lucas is very excited about). Taara’s commute will be about the same, while David’s will be much longer on some days and much shorter on others. The next few weeks will be spent finding new places to buy the basics and settling into our new neighbourhood. While we welcome the adventure and novelty, after this time we’re ready to be settled for a few years.

Thank you so much for your prayer and support. We have been tremendously encouraged by your emails and by your partnership, both financially and in prayer.

David, Taara, Lucas, Elena, Lisa and Leila

Prayer Requests:


Health for our family. It’s been rough!
A smooth moving experience.

Health for the Gambles during their visit with us.

Specific Needs:


$800/mo to meet current living and ministry expenses.
Moving costs - countertop stove, washing machine, living room furniture and more (which were provided in our current house).

Contribute:


By check (US$ only):
(Designate Portela Fund Code #53)
World Outreach Ministries
P.O. Box B
Marietta, GA  30061

 


Online:
Choose "Portela, David & Taara" from the list on the World Outreach Missionary Support page. USA & International Cards accepted.
 
Copyright © 2015 David and Taara Portela.


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