A Lot of Cambodia in a Couple of Pictures
One Photo, Many Stories
One photo from my almost-daily neighborhood walks captures a lot of Cambodia: a tower crane building a high-rise in the distance, a tuk-tuk driver waiting for app-based passengers, and a farmer quietly plowing his field with a pair of oxen. Modern growth, new technology, and traditional life all share the same landscape.
What’s in this Newsletter:
Our calling to be “connective tissue” in the Body of Christ, linking churches, cultures, and ministries to work together for the Gospel.
How your prayers, investments, encouragement, and representation (PIER) help connect Cambodian ministries with international partners.
Teaching and equipping Cambodian pastors and future church leaders in apologetics, evangelism, and Christology.
Prayer requests for Darryl and Kayo’s ministries, Benjamin’s final year of high school, and a grieving missionary family.
An approaching financial need and opportunities to partner through prayer, recurring monthly support, and connecting us with new senders.
One Often Overlooked Aspect of Our Calling: Serving as Connective Tissue in Christ’s Body
“He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry… speaking the truth in love… the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.” (Ephesians 4:11–12, 15–16)
There is more than meets the eye in another picture: Kayo and I are with extremely poor Cambodians who live and work at Phnom Penh’s garbage dump. Behind us is a banner for Bethel Mission Organization, a local ministry started by our Cambodian friends Sirvuth and Sinuon, who attend our international church with their children. They evangelize and train people living in graveyards, construction sites, and the city dump.
A church in Tokyo heard that dump workers needed protective boots. Many work around broken glass and dangerous substances while wearing flip-flops. But this connection did not happen in isolation. Without you—our senders in the USA and Japan—Praying, Investing, Encouraging, and Representing (PIER) our family over the decades, we could not have connected Bethel with the Tokyo church and helped arrange boots to be shipped from China.
Ligaments, Tendons, and Cartilage
“If one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; or if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it.” (1 Corinthians 12:26)
I know how much small, often invisible parts matter to the whole body. Painful shoulder tendonitis sidelined me for a week in August. When Guillain-Barré Syndrome affected the nerves in my legs in late 2024, it took more than a year to walk without a limp and regain near-normal strength. It reminds me of the old story “For Want of a Nail”: one small failure can change the outcome of an entire battle.
Kayo and I often serve as ligaments and tendons connecting different cultures—the USA and Japan, more than 35 nationalities in Cambodia, and Cambodians—as well as Christians from denominations with different views on secondary doctrines. Sometimes we help different parts of Christ’s Body work together indirectly; at other times, we act like cartilage, cushioning differences and preventing “spiritual arthritis.” This month I will teach Christian Apologetics and Evangelism at a seminary run by Korean Presbyterian missionaries, and a two-week Christology module at a Bible school founded by US Assembly of God missionaries. I have taught apologetics and evangelism at both schools for about 15 years. Because I am not officially part of either denomination, I can serve both and receive ministry from both, even where they differ on secondary matters. In Cambodia, where Christianity is small but growing, unnecessary divisions are a luxury we cannot afford.
Our goal is to equip Cambodian pastors who will equip the saints in their churches to be Christ’s ambassadors in places we cannot go and to people we cannot reach ourselves.
Rejoicing When the Gospel Is Preached
Paul rejoiced that Christ was preached even when some preachers had imperfect motives (Philippians 1:15–18). I believe we can also rejoice when Christians who differ from us on secondary doctrines faithfully share the Gospel. Our senders are diverse ethnically and denominationally, yet God has “knit the body together” for His purposes.
You are our Great Commission partners in Cambodia and beyond. You may not realize how essential your prayers, investments, encouragement, and representation are—some of their fruit will only be visible in heaven. Paul wrote: “Not that I desire your gifts; what I desire is that more be credited to your account” (Philippians 4:17, NIV).
Honestly, every faithful missionary I have known wishes they could do the work without raising funds or sending updates. But God has not made us independently wealthy. He has given us the privilege of depending on Him and partnering with you, so that more may be credited to your account. Earthly retirement matters so we invest in and monitor our 401ks and IRA, but so does laying up treasures in heaven, which operates on the same principle. I once read a saying about death and heavenly rewards: “You can’t take it (earthly wealth with you) but you can sent it ahead (to heaven).”
Great Commission Partners: Missionaries and Investors
Missionaries are kind of like entrepreneurs: a vision needs resources to become reality. Senders provide essential investment (all the PIER aspects), and both sides need honest two-way communication to partner effectively.
Prayer Requests
Please pray for Darryl:
· Strength, health, wisdom, and balance amid a growing ministry schedule.
· Teaching Christian Apologetics and Evangelism at Cambodia Presbyterian Theological Institute, Christology at Cambodia Bible Institute, and Bible/English to the staff at Precious Women Organization.
· A funeral sermon for the 33-year-old younger brother of close friends, a missionary family from Fiji. Pray especially for Kayo as she comforts his sisters and mother; their husband and father died in Cambodia four years ago, and now they have lost a son and brother here as well. The beginning of their story feels like Ruth, but by God’s grace, grief need not be the final chapter.
· Translators and proofreaders preparing Answers to Life’s Most Important Questions in Cambodian and Spanish, and Mandarin-Chinese versions of resources and videos previously available only in Cambodian. Pray for time and reliable internet to post resources and rebuild www.internationalfishers.com.
· Strengthening the foundations of the international church men’s ministry, including mutual encouragement and financial stewardship, and continued discipleship of a new believer from India.
· Care for multi-ethnic home-group leaders, the welcoming team, and personal evangelism and apologetics after the international church services.
Please pray for Kayo:
· Her active ministry among international women through Biblical training, spiritual counseling, and practical care across cultural, language, and educational barriers—equipping women to be salt and light in their families and daily networks in Cambodia and their home countries.
· Her mentoring and care for Lida, founder of Precious Women Organization, her service on its board, and staff devotions that help keep the organization spiritually grounded as it trains and reaches women at risk, including women working in nightclubs or involved in prostitution.
Please pray for Benjamin:
· His final year of high school, university and scholarship applications, and transition into adulthood—and for Kayo and me as we prepare for our next chapter as “empty-nest” missionaries.
An Upcoming Financial Need: An Invitation to Fervently Pray, Cheerfully Invest, and Represent with Wisdom
We are approaching a significant financial need within the next several months, despite our efforts to steward carefully the provision God has given us. Several factors have combined: the cost of living in Cambodia—especially groceries and gasoline—has risen by 30% or more; because Cambodia uses the US dollar as its base currency, the value of donations from Japan has fallen by about 35% against our expenses; families in both the USA and Japan are facing higher living costs; and some long-time supporters have understandably needed to reduce or stop giving.
Please respond as God guides and provides, cheerfully and without pressure. I am learning to apply the lesson that I teach to the men’s group that it is better to face problems early instead of waiting until they become major crisis that requires us to take drastic action. Sometimes missionaries wait too long and get too desperate so we can be tempted like Moses to “strike the rock” when God just wants us to “speak to the rock” for water or other needs such as finances. Please:
1. Pray: Our help comes from the Lord. He often provides through His people, but He is not limited to ordinary means or sources.
2. Invest: We especially need smaller, recurring monthly etc. donations (Great Commission Investments) even more than large one-time donations at this point. Please give only as God guides and provides.
3. Represent: Could God use you to connect us with new senders we might not otherwise meet? Because we have spent so little time visiting the USA and Japan, building relationships with potential new partners is difficult without your help.
Thank you for standing with us through prayer, investment, encouragement, and representation. We are grateful to serve together as partners in the Great Commission.
With Christ’s love and in His hands,
Darryl and Kayo
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