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Nathan and Betsy

R u s s e l l
Prayer Requests
We leave for Cambodia again on
August 17 to help pioneer DTS Equip
in Battambang. Please pray for a
school filled with leaders from
We’re home from Cambodia…for Southeast Asia, for a safe and fruitful
two months already! Life has settled back into an time there, and for someone to rent
exciting routine. Before we talk about that, let’s take a look back at our our house while we’re gone.
winter Discipleship Training School and our outreach to Cambodia!
For more pictures and regular updates, check out our blog at Please pray for our current DTS Equip
www.betsyandnathan.blogspot.com. that we’re staffing in Montana. We’re
glad to be home for the summer, and
This was our second trip to Battambang, Cambodia, and this time we excited for what God will do in the
took ten students along with us (last time we were the students, now hearts of these 18 leaders in our
we’re the leaders!). It was an incredible trip, and so many lives were school.
changed, including our own and our students. We were privileged to
We’re praying for more monthly
individually disciple and mentor ten students before our trip – Nathan
financial supporters. If you or anyone
met with four young men and Betsy met with four young women
else is interested in partnering with us
weekly. (Our co-leader, Becca, met with the other two young women.)
financially, please let us know. All
We were able to continue those discipling relationships during our
financial gifts are tax-deductible and
outreach, and saw God work incredible breakthroughs in almost every are applied completely to our life and
single student during our time in Cambodia. work with YWAM.

What a gift it was for us to return to Cambodia! From the moment we

arrived we saw old friends and quickly made new friends. We carried
on in ministries we had worked with previously, including teaching
health and English classes, discipling our friends So and the pastors at
the FourSquare church, and working with street kids at Kalyan’s
house. But there were so many new ministries as well! We created an
agriculture team that helped the church and the YWAM Battambang
base both create sustainable farming that will supplement both income
and their meals. Many of our students did ‘street evangelism’ during
the morning hours, where they simply walked and met people and
shared about Jesus. As a result, several students were invited to share
about Christ in the Ministry of Commerce office – a government office!
It was incredible.
 THE LOREM IPSUMS
We could share for hours about all that happened on
this trip, but we’ll share just a few quick highlights.
One personal highlight for both of us was watching
our students grow in their faith, releasing past hurts
and shame, and sharing Jesus with everyone they
met. Before we left on outreach, we prayed as a team
and asked God specifically for several things: a
revival in the church, opportunities to serve and share
our faith, and for healings and freedom for people,
and we saw Him provide all of these things! We saw
a woman physically healed in her back, a dry well
was filled up with water, eight young people became
Christians, and the church in Battambang is in the
beginning stages of growth and revival! What an
amazing God we serve!
How can we sum up two months in Cambodia?
Well, we can’t, really. It was an incredible time for
us to see God move in a nation hungry for truth and
love. We found ourselves pouring into ten young
people and cheering for every successful outreach
moment for them, from trying a new food to praying
with people to accept Jesus, and everything in
between. We suspect it was something like parenting
10 children between the ages of 18 and 26. We loved
leading together, serving together, and discipling
young people together.
What are we up to now? Just when we thought we
had calmed down from staffing the winter school, our
next assignment began: staffing DTS Equip, a six-
week training program for leaders and DTS staff.
We’re midway through with 18 participants, and it’s
been a great experience. It’s a very different from
staffing a DTS – the participants in Equip are already
DTS staff or leaders within YWAM, and it’s a time of
learning and sharing together how to effectively
disciple students. We’re privileged to be on this
leadership crew and are so excited to be teaching and
sharing in this class. And in just a few weeks, we’re
headed back to Cambodia! We’re going with our
friends Jeremy and Molly West to help pioneer and
plant DTS Equip in Battambang, Cambodia!
SPRING 2012
When we were first there as students in 2008, we
knew we’d be returning, but we didn’t know it
would be this often! As we’ve prayed, we’ve felt
for a long time that Battambang is a training hub
for Southeast Asia, and planting the DTS Equip
there confirms that sense. There will be staff and
leaders coming from all over Southeast Asia for
this school, and they’ll be returning to their home
countries to minister and disciple more effectively.
We’re so blessed to be a part of this planting and
pioneering process! We’ll be teaching more in the
Cambodia DTS Equip, and are excited to be
teaching to a broader audience about leadership
and discipleship.
Please pray for us in these next weeks and
months. We’ll be staffing and teaching in the
DTS Equip here in Montana until August 6, when
Nathan’s family will come out to visit. We’ll be
leaving for Cambodia from Denver on August 17,
and will be there until October 16. From there,
we’ll be spending a week in Taipei, Taiwan,
teaching for a week with Jeremy and Molly West.
We’re praying that we’ll be able to begin teaching
more within YWAM, and shadowing Jeremy and
Molly will be a great learning opportunity for us.
We’re still looking for and praying for someone to
stay in our home while we’re gone for three
months to help us with our rent, so please join us
in that prayer!
There’s so much more to share, but please look at
our blog to get the latest updates and photos!
www.betsyandnathan.blogspot.com
We remember you with the words of Philemon 7:
“Your love has given me great joy and
encouragement, because you, brothers, have
refreshed the hearts of the saints.” Please let us
know how we can continue to pray for and
encourage you! With love,
Nathan and Betsy Russell