{"id":26951,"date":"2024-08-30T09:58:34","date_gmt":"2024-08-30T15:58:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/friendsmission.com\/?p=26951"},"modified":"2024-08-30T10:00:22","modified_gmt":"2024-08-30T16:00:22","slug":"the-sward-family-august-2024-newsletter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/friendsmission.com\/en\/news\/the-sward-family-august-2024-newsletter\/","title":{"rendered":"The Sward Family | August 2024 Newsletter"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dear Friends,<\/p>\n

\"\"Autumn is quickly coming upon us!\u00a0 Our family had a full, productive, and FUN summer. After a brief, two-week summer holiday in June, the boys started their next school year. We are hoping to leave for our deputation a little earlier than usual next year and thus miss some of the hot season here \u263a.\u00a0 Zachary has started 7th grade, and Samuel is in 4th <\/sup>grade. Scott has had many teaching responsibilities and some traveling teaching roles as well. A few weeks ago, one of my sisters and her oldest daughter came to visit us for a week.\u00a0 That was definitely the highlight of the summer and such a refresher as we gear up for this next season!!<\/p>\n

A few months ago, I shared with you in pictures what it looks like when we say that \u201cScott was going to the village\u201d. Many of the expressions we use to describe our ministry assume that you can imagine what we are referring to. When we have visitors, I am reminded that pictures are worth a thousand words \u2013 they create a much stronger link between your<\/em> imagination and our <\/em>words. Scott usually devotes more time during rainy season to preparing lessons. What does this mean? Well, come along, and I\u2019ll show you!<\/p>\n

During the week, Scott tries to wake up early for personal study and prayer. By 7:30, he is in his office, ready to work. (A few days of the week, he has YWAM staff meetings, or breakfast meetings, or travels to some village or another \u2013 but on the days he is home, this is what his day looks like J)<\/p>\n

Where it all begins \u2013 the coffee pot at our kitchen window and a brilliant sunrise <\/em>over our landlord\u2019s garden.<\/em><\/p>\n

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Scott\u2019s small, crowded office (I stay out of it, or I would go crazy <\/em>\u263a<\/em> ), where all the writing happens! Behind him are two floor-to-ceiling bookcases of books, and stacked all around the office floor are more piles of books!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n
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One of the ministries that Scott has poured himself into is developing resources in the Khmer language. As a teacher, he has utilized this gift by developing materials in the Khmer language that he can make available to other Christians for free. (There are more and more existing books being translated from English into Khmer, but very often, these don\u2019t address some of the key cultural views that shape a person\u2019s heart). In the past number of years, he has written Lord of Heaven and Earth<\/em> (25 evangelization\/discipleship lessons), Wisdom is the Best Medicine<\/em> (health lessons), Rooted in God\u2019s Word<\/em> (52 lessons for house-church leaders), and<\/p>\n

Preparing for Marriage in Jesus Christ<\/em> (pre-marital lessons). He is currently working on a book for Christians regarding finances and another on Bible study methods. These books are available on a Christian resource website, where people can access and download them for free. It is encouraging to hear of people around the country using these books and seeing fruit from the lessons in people\u2019s lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
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Four completed books on the Cambodian Christian Resources website<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em>In addition to writing materials, Scott does a lot of in-person teaching, for which he spends many hours preparing \u2013 in the above-mentioned office! He is currently teaching a group of elders once a month on topics related to church leadership and discipline, once a month in our provincial short-course Bible school, and in various other weekly Bible studies in different villages. On the days Scott works in his office, we all have lunch together at noon and take a short break after lunch. Then I go back to finish school with the boys, and Scott continues to work \u2013 either in the office or out at an afternoon Bible study.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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A Bible study about an hour away from our house, a Kavet Bible study, and a Stung Treng Bible School Saturday session<\/em><\/p>\n

Thank you for joining us in another \u2018day-in-the-life\u2019! Thank you for your encouragement, your prayers, and for standing with us as we serve our King here in his kingdom of wonder.<\/p>\n

Blessings,<\/p>\n

Andrea, for the Swards<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dear Friends, Autumn is quickly coming upon us!\u00a0 Our family had a full, productive, and FUN summer. After a brief, two-week summer holiday in June, the boys started their next school year. We are hoping to leave for our deputation a little earlier than usual next year and thus miss some of the hot season […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"full","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[424,368,367,402],"class_list":{"0":"post-26951","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-news","7":"tag-424","8":"tag-cambodia","9":"tag-sward","10":"tag-the-sward-family","11":"entry","12":"has-post-thumbnail"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/friendsmission.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26951","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/friendsmission.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/friendsmission.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/friendsmission.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/friendsmission.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26951"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/friendsmission.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26951\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26963,"href":"https:\/\/friendsmission.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26951\/revisions\/26963"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/friendsmission.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26951"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/friendsmission.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26951"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/friendsmission.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26951"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}