I am happy to announce that I am now engaged to Sokha Seng! Last Saturday we became engaged the “American way,” and this Saturday we became engaged the “Cambodian way” with a Christian ceremony and celebration with friends and family afterward. Here is a link to the photos: engagement gallery

I met Sokha shortly after I arrived in Cambodia at a church plant in the city that our team works with. Over the past year and a half, she has become a close friend, and I am excited about being married to her in a few more months. After we are married, we are planning on returning to the village where I lived for the past three months.

Sokha wrote the following to introduce herself to everyone:

Unwanted by my mother, I was cared for by my grandmother and aunt since I was 5 months old. After my grandmother became paralyzed by a stroke and her house burned down in 1993, my aunt took me, my sick grandmother and my younger sister, Reaksmey, into the city. After the death of my grandmother in 1995, my aunt could not take care of me and my siblings any longer so she decided to send me and my sister to the Kingdom Kids Home of Hischild International Cambodia, a Christian organization. There my sister and I had a new family and came to know our sin and God’s love and received Him as our Savior. Through the orphanage, I was given the opportunity to pursue a bachelor’s degree in English at a private university in Phnom Pehn. Upon my graduation, I worked at the university for one year and then was called to serve with Hischild for the next four years. From there, I moved on to work as a language teacher and part-time translator at Phnom Penh Bible School before being employed as a primary school teacher at the Learning Lab, a Christian school run by Singaporean missionaries. I have now been working there for 3 years. I plan on leaving the school in mid April to prepare to enter into the next stage of my life. Reflecting on all of this, although I was unwanted by my parents, God adopted me by his grace into His family and has faithfully brought people into my life these 29 plus years to love me, care for me and shape me. For that I am very grateful to Him and my many aunties, uncles, brothers and sisters that He has given to me.