October Newsletter

Hey everybody. Here is a link to the October newsletter. Enjoy!

http://www.thechurchofmercy.org/uploads/3/0/6/2/3062824/thehalesupdateoct2010.pdf

Bill

A conference, a round of golf, and a sermon

Calloway Gardens Golf Course

Last week I went to a F.I.R.E. conference in Atlanta, GA. It was a good time of fellowship and instruction. I met lots of good folks and left thankful for all the good churches throughout the South. If you have never heard of the group before here is a link to the website:

http://firefellowship.org/index.shtml

After the conference, a few of us played at a really nice golf course called Calloway Gardens. It was a fun time and great Christian fellowship. Also, the dean of my seminary was at the conference. He wrote up a review of the coference which you might be interested to read:

http://blog.rbseminary.org/2010/09/report-on-southeast-regional-f-i-r-e-conference/

Finally, I was blessed to preach at our home church last Sunday. The people were very gracious and gave me much liberty to speak. Here is the link to that sermon titled "Worry:"

http://www.sermonaudio.com/playpopup.asp?SID=926101259175

God bless you all,

Bill

Back from the North

Living Word Bible Church

We have been blessed to visit many places in the last three weeks. First we were near Akron, Ohio visiting my 87 year old grandparents as well as my great aunt, aunt & uncle, and two cousins. It took us over 20 hours of driving to get there. We had a great time and it was so good to see them.

From there we drove to Lapeer, Michigan which was about 5 hours away. We spoke about Cambodia in a church called Thornville Baptist Church. The church building was very old and had beautiful stained glass windows from the mid 1800's. We spoke in the Sunday school hour and I had the chance to preach during the worship hour. I enjoyed it a great deal and we were encouraged by their faith and their kindness.

After visiting a city in north Michigan for fun (Mackinaw City), we drove on to visit a church in Morris, Illinois called Living Word Bible Church. Pastor Timothy Greene is a fellow seminary student of mine at Reformed Baptist Seminary. And there we also spoke in the Sunday school hour about the ministry in Cambodia and after I again had the chance to preach. Their church building was also quite old (mid 1800's too) and we enjoyed much freedom and encouragement to speak of Cambodia and the Word.

We then made the trip back to Texas from Illinois, which was a little bit shorter but not much. We made it in about 17 hours.

In both churches, I preached from the same passage of scripture. 1 Corinthians 15:1-58. Living Word Bible Church recorded the message and posted it on their website. Here is the link:

http://www.livingwordbible.org/Sermons/BillHale_12Sept2010_1Corinth15.mp3

I recommend you all go and listen to this important message from God's word. And may you be as blessed and encouraged as I was while studying and preaching it.

Take Care

Bill

Our Plane Landed - Into Busyness

As most of you know our plane did bring us safely to Dallas. It was a great flight and the kids did great. Since our arrival we have been going to and fro often. Here are some of the places we have been.

Houston, TX for 10 days

Lake Charles, LA for 3 days

Tyler, TX 3 days

Greenville, TX 3 days

Lewisville, TX 10 days

Houston, TX 2 days

Sugar Land, TX 4 days

Bastrop, TX 1 day

Greenville, SC 7 days

We have spent some good time visiting with family, friends, and churches. In the near future, God willing, we will be traveling to Ohio, Michigan, New York, Georgia, North Carolina, and Alabama. Please pray for us as we travel and present the Cambodia ministry to new churches.

Also, here is a link to the recent newsletter from Cambodia. The Lord is working among the Cambodian people, to the praise of His glorious grace.

http://www.firstbaptistparker.org/Documents/ChhengNewsletterAug2010.pdf

The Lord reigns

Bill

Leaving on a Jet Plane

Katherine & Isaac (ages two and a half & six months)

We are all set to leave for Texas tomorrow evening. Things have been pretty busy here in preparation for being gone on furlough but the Lord has been our help. Vanak and Sopheak, who are newly weds, will stay in our home while we are gone and they will be a huge help. We leave Phnom Penh at 11:00 PM tomorrow evening (11:00 am Dallas time) and arrive at DFW airport at 9:45 AM on the 10th. Please pray for all our traveling.

We have been receiving invitations from various folks and churches around the country to come and present the Cambodian mission work, which is something we are eager to do. Please pray for the Lord to establish the work of our hands.

Hope to see you all shortly, God willing!

The Lord reigns,

Bill, Jennifer, Katherine, & Isaac

PATC Graduates

A couple weeks ago we had the graduation ceremony for the 2010 senior class. They were presented with certificates for their completion of the TEEac Bible program as well as English and Computer training. Most of them want to work in evangelism, some full-time and some part-time. Please pray for these seven students as they go out into the harvest fields.

God bless,

Bill

Bill Preaching in Khmer

I have finally reached the point where I can preach in Khmer.  I’m not saying I am fluent but if I can prepare before hand I am able to speak pretty well.  We went to the Sre Trang Church of Mercy on Thursday and I preached a message on Galatians 2:16 titled, “saved by Faith.”  This is one of the biggest obstacles to overcome while working with the Khmers.  They believe a person is justified by their good works.

We had a good meeting and I was encouraged to see some growth in the church.  There were probably 60 people or more and they listened well and had reverent attitudes.  Thank you for praying for them. Pastor Ngan asked that we continue to pray God would give them wisdom to do the work of the Lord.

If you have time and want to hear a french dude speaking Khmer with a Texas twang go here:

http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=5131060233

 

The Lord reigns,

Bill

The Khmer 1689 Revision is Done!!!

In addition to teaching in the PATC Center, part of my work here in Cambodia is working to translate good Christian books into Khmer. The Khmer church is in great need of these books and currently have very little access to them. The process is difficult and costly. Each book takes about 6 months to translate and edit (two people – myself and my fellow worker Akpirin). The cost for the translation is about $1000 per book plus about $1600 to print 1000 copies. By God’s grace we have just revised and reprinted the 1689 Baptist Confession. Here is a link to see the book in PDF format:

http://www.thechurchofmercy.org/uploads/3/0/6/2/3062824/1689lbc_khmer.pdf

Several Christian classics are already in Khmer in abridged form including:

Abraham Booth - Reign of Grace
Jeremiah Burroughs - The Mystery of Divine Contentment
John Flavel - Mystery of Providence
John Calvin - Institutes of the Christian Religion(first three books)

We are currently about 50% finished with The Death of Death in the Death of Christ by John Owen. After this we want to start on Martin Luther's Bondage of the Will. We are currently raising funds for these two works. Please consider partnering with us to help complete these exciting projects. Pray the Lord will bless the work of our hands and use these books for his glory


Grace and peace,
Bill

http://www.thechurchofmercy.org/

A'run Soo-ah S'day (Good Morning in Khmer)

In September last year I started a Masters Degree in Theological Studies (Systematic Theology)at Reformed Baptist Seminary. (http://www.rbseminary.org/) The last few months I have been taking a course on Apologetics (via distance learning). It has been good for me. Being here in Cambodia has been a great blessing to me but sometimes I have felt dry spiritually. I was teaching, teaching, teaching but my learning was lagging behind. Thanks be to God for this learning opportunity! Please pray for me as I study. I hope to finish in about two years, God willing.

Also, a few months ago I submitted an article to the RB Seminary's blog. They posted the article but I forgot to post a link to the article on this blog. So if you have time, follow the link and spend a couple of minutes being reminded of God's great love for sinners! I would welcome any feedback you might have.


http://blog.rbseminary.org/2009/08/gods-great-unconditional-love/


Peace,
Bill

March Newsletter

 

 

Hello to all.  We are glad to report that things are going well here.  Please take a few minutes to read our March newsletter.  And may God bless you as you read.

http://www.thechurchofmercy.org/uploads/3/0/6/2/3062824/the_halesupdatemar2010.pdf

 

Bill

Hello From the Regions Beyond

Those of you who only get updates about our lives through this blog probably are wondering, "what happened? Did they make it back ok?"  Yes, we made it back safely to Cambodia.  It was a long trip but we made it safely.  Upon our arrival we met up with some dear friends from our home church; the Pate family.  Kris and Julie, Anna, David, Thomas, and Daniel.  They stayed with us for about three weeks.  They came in from Texas to help us by substitute teaching some of our classes. Julie also helped out in our home while Jennifer and I adjusted to the new addition to our family.  Kris and I worked on some computer lab stuff and he proved to be a skilled and tireless worker.  And their kids helped to make sure Katherine never had a dull moment! They were such a blessing!  Here is a link to their blog site which describes their trip.

http://joylogblog.blogspot.com

Life has returned to a more normal routine the past few weeks.  I have been working with Daniel, my Translation Teammate, to finish translating some reformed literature.  These are the books we have been working on:

1689 Confession (95% done) - 3rd edition - added proof texts, revised wording, added study questions (Public Domain)
Life by His Death - John Owen (35%) done - A book about what Christ accomplished on the cross (With Permission)
Christian Beliefs - Wayne Grudem (15% done) - Twenty Basics Every Christian Should Know (With Permission)

Please pray for these important books to be translated accurately.  Pray God would supply the printing costs.


God bless,
Bill