Eleven years ago…

…if someone told us we would have a mango tree outside our house window and palm trees in the neighborhood park, we thought they would have been crazy.

…if someone told us our neighborhood streets would flood multiple times a year, we thought they would have been crazy.

…if someone told Ashley that John and Luke would be driving a motorcycle everyday to work and school, I thought they would have been crazy.

…if someone told John his office would transfer from a 1,000 person call center to a hammock between two palm trees, he would have thought you were crazy.

…if someone told Ashley she would be serving as the principal of an international school in Cambodia, she would have thought you were crazy.

…if someone would have told us we would have visited 6 different Asian countries, we thought you would have been crazy.

When the Lord opened doors for us to come serve in Cambodia, we never could have imagined we would still be here in 2024. The Lord has been gracious and surrounded us with people who have walked alongside us on this journey. Luke is now in 9th grade is 6’1″ tall. This year, he has participated on the volleyball, basketball and swim team and is currently the assistant coach for the middle school volleyball team. John is serving at Hope International School as the Compliance Coordinator leading the Child Safety Team and Cambridge/IB exam process. Ashley is serving as the Early Years and Elementary Principal at Logos International School.

During these last 10 years, we have had several sad/frustrating/unexpected moments as well… saying “goodbye” to other global workers in Cambodia, countless stomach viruses, John’s minor moto accidents, minor surgeries at the hospital in Thailand, Luke being diagnosed with Osgood Schlatter syndrome, extreme covid quarantines and lockdowns… just to name a few.

The Lord has been with us every step of the way. As we prepare to come to the States for the summer months, we know He has us in His hands and will continue to be with us, comforting us, guiding us, providing for us and always loving us. See you soon Texas!

The countdown clock says, “13 more days until departure”. We are heading back to the States this summer for some rest, relaxation and a time to reconnect with friends and family. Two years ago, when we went back for a visit, COVID was swinging into full force and things were starting to shut down. During that time in Texas, we didn’t get a chance to do our “normal” activities so this summer is filled with even more anticipation. Some things we aren’t looking forward to are higher gas and food prices, but everything will be wonderful! See you soon Texas!

As we usher in 2022, our family is ready to get back to a more normal “routine”. Starting in January 2022, Luke will be allowed to attend school in-person full time. John will be going to his office at Hope full time after staying home with Luke in the mornings to help him stay focused for at-home, online learning. Ashley will be going back to classroom full of students after having half the class in-person every other week and then switching for the other half the next week. Things will start to feel more “normal”.

As our family ushers in a new year, we are thankful. Thankful for good health, especially after all three of us had COVID in November. We are thankful for family and friends in the US who are faithful to love, pray and support us financially. We are thankful for our Cambodia community of friends who have grown to feel more like family than just friends. We are also thankful for the Lord, El Roy, the God who sees me. The three of us constantly feel the presence of the Lord in our lives as we go throughout our day. He provision, His peace and His guidance have been steadfast this year.

We are looking forward to what 2022 brings! Happy New Year!

~The Phifers

In a world that is constantly changing, sometimes you just have to “go with the flow”. COVID has definitely changed our little world and the country we live in. Luke and I haven’t been in school full-time since March 2020 and have been learning/teaching online since the beginning of this 2021-2022 school year. John started a new position at an international Christian school near our house.

What we have been reminded of through this time…

John and I were able to get vaccinated with a vaccine from the US a couple of weeks ago, which was a huge praise and took a lot of patience. The Lord gives peace.

The government was requiring a two week mandatory hotel quarantine and $2,000 deposit when coming into the country. This past week, the government lifted the two week quarantine to just a one week hotel quarantine. The Lord is just.

Luke is learning online from teachers in Cambodia, one who was in Scotland and one who is still in Canada and Luke is thriving! The Lord gives endurance and perseverance.

Last week, the government started requiring people to show their vaccination cards when entering businesses (this includes grocery stores) and has encouraged unvaccinated and sick people to stay home. The Lord knows the future.

Through this ever-changing season, the Lord has given us peace, has been just, has given endurance and perseverance and He knows the future. This is an ever-changing journey we are on and we know who is along side of us!

~Ashley

We were able to get out of the city this week and head up northwest to Siem Reap. Thanks to some generous donors back in the States, we were able to rent a small two-bedroom house with a small pool for the week. We met up with another Phnom Penh family a few times for some mini-golf, swimming, wakeboarding and ziplining. The road up to Siem Reap was paved and the traffic wasn’t too bad with only one check point on the way up. We are thankful for this week to be able to relax and be refreshed during these hot summer months.

Here is a picture of Luke at the ziplining course on a skybridge in Siem Reap!

Thank you for your continued prayers. Prayers for safety and time playing together.

With love,

the Phifer Trio

I don’t know if you have heard “through the grapevine”, but Cambodia had another community outbreak at the end of February so some things are shut down again. All schools in the country are back to studying online, entertainment venues are shut down, masks are required everywhere and some cities are shut down from people traveling in and out.  John and Luke are back to working/learning from home. Ashley is able to teach all students on Zoom from the classroom. 

Things are different right now, but honestly we can’t complain. Traffic is significantly reduced because people are staying home, malls/restaurants are empty, food delivery is still working like normal and no shortages in supplies. We haven’t experienced any of that stuff here like last year in the States. Our area of town hasn’t no reported cases. We are thankful for that! 

Please continue to pray for our family as John and Luke are home working and learning. Pray for Ashley as she teaches all classes online. Pray for Cambodia as many people are fearful and many people are without income for their family because places and businesses are shut down.

We are trusting in God’s faithfulness and leaning on His understanding for the future.

A few years ago our pastor from our home church came to Cambodia. One of the questions he asked us was what would be one thing that would cause us leave Cambodia. At the time, our answer was traffic. Of all the things that we could have answered, that was one of the daily hassles our Western minds couldn’t fully grasp. I have talked about traffic here on this blog before and one of our close friends previously described it like a river. The water flows down the path and if a rock gets in the way you just go around. It doesn’t matter if going around the rock is on the side walk or the wrong side of the street into oncoming traffic. The water also flows at a variety of speeds between a person walking on the street to a large cement truck barreling down the same road at 40mph. I say barreling down the road at 40mph because the normal speed limit on a majority of the streets I drive on daily is 40kph (25mph). Stop lights and street signs are also optional depending on how important you think you are that day or what type of vehicle you are driving. Part of that discussion also centered around things that we could find easily or things that were hard to find. It’s still very common for me to visit 2-3 grocery stores to find all the things on my list.

If you asked me this question 2 years ago, I would have said power cuts. The country was grappling with a loss of water to the hydro-electric dams on the Mekong river. A certain country decided to decrease that supply dramatically and the down stream countries had to deal with the consequences. For us, that meant daily 4-8 hour power cuts that lasted for several months.

If you were to ask me that question today, I am not sure how I would answer. The traffic hasn’t changed, but we have become used to it. The availability of random products hasn’t changed, but again, our family has worked around that. The power cuts still happen, but on a dramatically decreased scale. We still lose power 1-3 times per week, but now it ranges from 5 minutes to 2 hours.

Many things have made it easier to live in Cambodia. We have a 23 year old truck, but a wonderful mechanic that keeps it running. Our home is connected via fiber optic so we have fast internet at a reasonable price. Our cell phone coverage isn’t amazing, but it’s only $5 a month (take that AT&T). Large modern malls have opened with a wide variety of brands from all over the world. Western food choices have become abundant. I can get a Krispy-Kreme donut then a Starbucks coffee, grab a Burger King Whopper or Carl’s Jr. burger and finish it with a Dairy Queen Blizzard or Cold Stone Creamery ice cream all in one place ( I don’t recommend doing that all at the same time, but at least you can if you wanted to). We even heard a rumor about Papa John’s coming to Cambodia soon.

My wife has a job she loves. My son has friends all around him that he can play with daily. I have a job that is flexible so that I can help my family when needed and help Ya with her jewelry business on the side. We have family, friends, supporters and an A-Team (hyphenated?) that pray for us continually and support us financially. Cambodia has largely been spared the wrath of COVID and beyond schools and churches having restrictions, everything is open as normal.

All of that to say, our perspective has changed over the years and we are happy to be in Cambodia serving the Lord.

If you want to be part of what God is doing through us here in Cambodia, make sure to follow this blog and if you want to donate, you can do that by clicking here.

Hello blog readers, John here.

The Phifer family just finished a traditional Thanksgiving dinner with friends at our house last weekend. Cambodia doesn’t celebrate Thanksgiving so most expats worked on Thursday and then celebrated with dinner that night or over the weekend. We chose the latter as it would give us time to cook a 21lb bird. The story behind the turkey is we ordered from a company that supplies restaurants. When the order was placed, we simply asked for a turkey. We have previously received smaller turkeys, but I guess this year, they decided to go big. The upside is I was able to eat leftovers for a week and we were also able to share with friends.

This will be the first year in quite a while where we don’t have family in town for either Thanksgiving or Christmas. The main reason for this is obviously Covid. In the case of our host country an incoming traveler must present a $2,000 deposit upon arrival, have 3 negative Covid tests over 15 days and then spend 14 days in a quarantine hotel without leaving. I cannot recommend anyone come here based on those restrictions. Therefore this year we will have Christmas via Zoom (or other video platform) with family back in Texas.

I was sitting with a friend just the other night and we were talking about my past work before moving to Cambodia. At the time I joked my office was in a cubicle kept at a wonderful 72degrees. I then moved to Cambodia and worked at the Wake Park with Alf and my office was a hammock between 2 palm trees. My office most days now is my kitchen table with Luke doing daily home school learning. It’s crazy how things have changed over the years.

Ashley and I are very thankful for your prayer and support over the past 6 1/2 years. We couldn’t have done this without you. As we finish 2020, keep us in mind if you plan to make any year end donations. You can find all the information to donate here.

Well, that was a smooth trip!  We arrived in Phnom Penh late on Friday night, July 10th, after 28 hours of travel.  We had a few hiccups along the way but the best part of the trip was the long flight from Los Angeles to Incheon.  The plane was nearly empty and we each had a row to ourselves for sleeping.  Cambodia accepted all of our documents (thanks to Fran at Open Arms Clinic for helping with the tests) and we were taken to a hotel near the river for 2 nights.  Everyone on the plane tested negative and we were released early Sunday morning (thanks to Philip from Logos for his truck to get us home with our 15 bags) to finish our 14 day quarantine at home.  The expats around us have been more than willing to grab items from the store and help us transition back to life in Cambodia.  We go for our 3rd and hopefully final Covid test on July 23rd.

It took us a couple of days to unpack everything.  The truck started right up after I reconnected the battery, but my moto needed a mechanic to get it going.  Luckily, he had it back to me within 24 hours and so we can be mobile upon exiting quarantine.  Logos is awaiting results from the Ministry of Education for if they are able to open for school in early August with some significant adjustments to the classrooms.

Yesterday, we had a visit from the governor of Phnom Penh Thmei and vice governor of Sen Sok with a few other people to check our temperatures. They also asked if we have any questions about our quarantine. This is the first visit we have heard of, so we were quite surprised when they called and showed up at our house. They were very friendly and the vice governor of Sen Sok spoke great English.

Be in prayer for us to finish quarantine and get a negative test result next week.  We have seen positive reports of a quick return of the deposit paid upon arrival,  but still be in prayer for this process.  Pray for Logos to get approval from the Ministry of Education to open to students in early August.

~John