The Newest Little Stoltenow
From Global Lutheran Outreach missionaries Joe and Viya Stoltenow (Serving in Cambodia):
We’re pregnant!!! I mean… Viya is, obviously. We are incredibly excited to announce that we will be having a baby girl in May and we couldn’t be more thankful to God for this precious gift! It has always been Viya’s dream to have a baby girl and to be able to do her hair and pick out her clothes and bows(of which we have already bought many haha). Raymond isn’t quite sure about all of this just yet but he has already given his baby sister some kisses and even sings to mommies belly sometimes. We can’t wait to meet our baby girl and for Raymond and her to grow up together as siblings.
Our trip to the US has been amazing and even though we haven’t done much, we’ve still loved the time we’ve had with my parents. Christmas was so much fun and Viya and I loved to see Ray’s face light up as he opened his presents.
In other news, we have had to extend our trip to the US by another month as we are working on getting Raymond’s Social Security Card(turns out those are important).
Ray of Hope Update
One of the biggest questions we get asked while in the US is “Who’s running Ray of Hope while you’re here?”, and it’s one
of my favorite answers to give as it ultimately leads into our main objective as missionaries. While Viya, Ray, and I are visiting the US, Ray of Hope is run by Viya’s younger sister Vimol.
We are working with and training Vimol to eventually take over as Ministry Director of Ray of Hope and believe me, she was born for it. Everyday she shows the kids the love of Jesus Christ with her words and actions and if you ever got to meet her in person you’d know that Christ is truly at the center of everything she does. We are incredibly proud of her and the hard work she has done for this ministry and the street kids.
We are also working on hiring new staff at Ray of Hope. With our students being in so many different grade levels we want to have more teachers at our center so that each student gets more individual tutoring. It will also help to give Vimol some additional leadership experience by having some non-family staff to supervise. As of right now the kids are back in school full time, but as new Covid cases in Cambodia are continuing to be more and more sporadic we are prepared to have zoom classes recommence at anytime. But for now the kids are happy to be back in school and off their computers.
Student Spotlight
Bong Bproh (Khmer for “Big Brother)
This newsletter we are very excited to introduce you to Bong Bproh, or “Big Brother”. Bong is eleven years old and is currently in the seventh grade. He has been a student with us for the last three years and actually transferred to Ray of Hope from our friends at Crossing Cambodia, a similar Christian street kids ministry here in Battambang. Bong was already in Crossing Cambodia’s program but they were already at capacity after enrolling new students all summer. So we enrolled his sister and since we both use the same school Crossing Cambodia and Ray of Hope came to the agreement that we would take Bong so as to keep the siblings together.
Bong’s parents are currently working/living in Thailand so Bong lives with his grandmother in the same village as Joe and Viya. His grandmother is nearing seventy years old and isn’t able to support herself on her own. Fortunately her children are able to send small amounts of money to her and she is able to get by with food but the real saving grace is that one of our neighbors has an extra house in our village that they let them stay in rent free.
He is polite, gentle, and he loves to learn about Jesus and the Bible. His favorite Bible story is Noah’s Ark and he recently played the part of King Herod’s guard in our annual Christmas pageant, along with preforming in some song and dance routines. Bong is a great student and a better kid. And I know we say this about every student but we truly can’t wait to see what God has in store for him.
To learn more about Joe and Viya Stoltenow’s, click here to read their latest newsletter!
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