Dear
Friends and Family,
It’s
4:00am, ten days before the end of the month, but if I don’t
get this out NOW, you won’t hear from me for another month.
Sorry, another long update. I hate long updates! Honest, I’m
not offended if you just delete it, but some of you really
like to know what’s going on. If so, read on. Check out the
pictures on:
www.missionreports.com/aug_04update
Did you
ever ride on a yoyo? Well, that’s been the political
situation here for the past year, but it reached its peak
last week. Last Thursday we wondered if we needed to dust
off our evacuation plan. I went for my “run” that morning at
6:00 am and was passed by truck loads of riot police, sirens
screaming, headed toward the embassies and the Prime
Minister’s house. Then at 9:00 am the woman who sells jewels
at the market called Sou (Sou is a good friend as she has
taken many visitors down there through the years, for
Cambodian gem bargains) and said, “All the big government
officials wives were down there buying out the store”. At
about 10:00 am the electric power all over the Phnom Penh
area went dead. We heard that the foreign embassies were
closing and that staff were leaving town. Rumors, threats,
and curses were flying around faster than the speed of
light. That night there were three armed robberies on our
block, one right in front of our house. Our guard listened
to it happen, but couldn’t intervene, as he had no gun, and
the thief did. If he had tried to open the gate there would
be no way of surprise, and our double layer of razor wire on
the wall, see picture, made it as impossible to get out as
it is to get in. So, the neighbor got robbed. What was going
on?
Well,
here’s the deal in a nutshell. I won’t try to explain it in
detail, as I don’t understand it myself, but we have not had
a government in a year. The Prime Minister’s party, though
winning the election, could not put together a two-thirds
majority for a coalition. So, ”Mexican standoff” for
twelve months. Finally the Royal Party, which finished third
in the election, caved in and decided to join the PM. This
left the third party, Sam Rainsy, the party that finished
second, betrayed, bitter, and dangling in the wind, his
followers deserting him like rats off a sinking ship.
Problem. The key political leader from the Royal Party
had left the country (he didn’t want to be blamed for the
defection) so, the king had to sign the agreement. Another
problem. The king is in North Korea threatening to abdicate.
So, the “vice-king” gets to sign. Problem, he’s in the Prime
Minister’s party, so are the vice-vice-king and the
vice-vice-vice king. Problem, one of the big guys, in the
PM’s party, figures he can become PM in the midst of the
Chaos, he controls the police. Problem. The PM controls the
army. Solution? Get the potential signers all out of
town on a trumped up medical pretext. Take the trouble
maker, and hold him under house arrest, forced to stay, visa
revoked. Then, force the vice-vice-vice-king, from the royal
party, to sign the new government into existence. It
worked. By 3:00pm the lights were back on, and today we have
a government again. I’m not sure it’s a big improvement, as
in typical Cambodian fashion, to get agreement, everyone
gets a job. We now have two ministers for every ministry in
the government, none of them getting paid, and all wanting
to become richer. Guess where that goes? We scrambled all
last week to get church permits as this week the price of
every government “permit” doubles. There are twice as many
pigs at the trough, all trying to get fatter. Ah politics,
it’s almost as messed up as religion!
People ask
me if I ever get discouraged. Is the Pope a Catholic?? Every
morning when I come down at 5:30am to check my email, I
offer a prayer, “Lord, let there be some good news here
today!” We’ve got 2500 kids and widows in church homes
all looking to us for help, along with 1000 baby churches,
and ten new church/homes with orphans waiting, and no money
to open. No guaranteed help from anyone, no major
multi-national organization backing us, just a lot of good
people and faithful partners doing what they can. Faith
looks a lot like foolishness to the casual observer, and
especially to the timidly religious. Not a month goes by
that I am not told how foolish we are. Several of the well
meaning advisers have been predicting, probably praying for,
our demise for five years. I remember, as a kid seeing a
movie about a B-29 flying in the eye of a hurricane. I guess
that’s they way I feel. As long as I’m in the eye, it’s
calm. That eye has got to be the will of God. I am way too
far out on the limb, and far too stupid to have gotten here
all by myself. So, I just keep flying along. What if God
doesn’t show up? We get ripped to shreds! To me,
that’s where the peace is, the eye of the storm. My biggest
fear? Me!!! That I’ll somehow start thinking this is about
me, taking credit for it, giving in to pride, falling into
sin, letting flesh take over and think that I am gifted
enough to do this on my own. If this plane ever goes down,
don’t look for the “black box”, just pick one of the
foregoing reasons and that will be the cause.
According
to the Ministry of Social Concerns we have become the
largest provider of full time orphan care in Cambodia. That
is not exactly a title I was aspiring to. We have inspired
others to action. The Buddhists are now being encouraged to
play, “Catch-up”. From a recent speech delivered about AIDS
orphans in Cambodia, it appears there are way more than we
can handle. Save the Children Australia is estimating
105,000 AIDS orphans by the end of next year. AIDS is just
one of many causes of orphaned and separated children in
Cambodia. Fortunately, many children are able to be placed
in the extended family and we constantly work to place our
children back into the care of loving relatives.
Unfortunately, there are a few that can not find help. They
are the ones we serve. We are the ‘port of last resort’ for
most of the kids we have in our care. I think that is why
they are so grateful. (See the article in the above
web
site.)
So what’s
happening? We just keep planting churches. People still
fail, and sin breaks our heart, but somehow God always gives
us a new leader, another pastor, a new breakthrough. I am
amazed at how He can keep the church on course despite our
human imperfections. We had a District Supervisor, whom we
wanted to fire last month for filling an orphan home with
his poor relatives, repent, and go out and start a dozen
churches, and then God goes and works several miracles
through his hands. I’d have voted for a lightning bolt to
the head. The thing is, we had that foot washing last month,
and it changed his heart, and now it has spread to the
districts. It seems as though when people get outside of
themselves and get over their personal agendas, pride and
hurts, and put the church first, it ushers in a new era of
fruitfulness. I really can’t figure it out. I just
know this. We are all basically crud, and it is only by the
grace of God we get anything of substance accomplished. Here
is just one of the miracle stories from this guy I wanted to
zap, wonderful man of God that I am. I present it in his
words, because I certainly deserve no credit for it. I have
a picture of the lady being baptized in a muddy irrigation
ditch (see above
web
site).
“Grandma Ben, an elderly
woman of sixty-eight, who lives in the Jepiey
village of Prey Veng
Province, was taken ill with a heavy sickness (tuberculosis)
for three years which resulted in paralysis. She endured
repeated attacks of coughing up blood. She sold all she
owned, including her cow, house, and farm, in order that she
might purchase medication to restore to health, but it did
not help. After parting with all she had, there was nothing
left to pursue her healing. She was practically abandoned by
her family because of the helplessness of her situation,
leaving her to await her fate. One day she heard news that
her neighbor had been healed from his disease due to the
prayers of our Foursquare church members. She was hopeful
when she heard this report, and requested prayer on her
behalf. If she was healed, she promised to give her heart to
Jesus.
When we originally began to
pray for her, we were worried, she was repeatedly coughing
up blood to such an extent that she was very faint. Although
this made us anxious, we did not cease praying. Following
our time of prayer, she went to sleep and had a strong
dream. She observed an old man who told her that she was
perfectly fine and proceeded to remove a knife from her
chest. In the morning she shared with us how she was feeling
much better, and she requested that we would pray together
to invite Jesus into her heart. We continued to pray for her
for two weeks until she ceased coughing up blood completely.
She has been fully healed and can walk normally now. As a
result of her healing, many others in her village began
seeking our prayer in response to their sicknesses. Many
people who were burdened with similar illnesses, swelling,
numbness, and bleeding discharge have since been healed
through our prayer. They were baptized on
June 27th, 2004.
Twelve individuals received Jesus in their heart on that
day.”
FINALLY!!!
The dental van is on the road. What has it been? Two years
in the making? Check out the above website. It is equipped
with x-ray, hi and low speed drills, sterilization
equipment, water purification, self leveling hydraulic lift,
a 10KW electric generator, and air compressor, which will
run six dental chairs, air-conditioning, and all the goodies
to perform just about any dental operation, complete with
our one eyed dentist, and faithful assistant, who serves as
mechanic, driver and jack-of-all-trades. Yesterday was the
first day in operation. It wasn’t without struggle. We
burned up two air-compressor motors due to the fluctuating
output of our Chinese generator, but with the addition of a
current modulator, we are back in business. (above
web
site)
The first
big test will come in two weeks. We are preparing for a
World Team Medical Mission to Anlong Veng, the last
stronghold of the Khmer Rouge. Pol Pot died just a few
hundred yards from our church. We still can’t stroll the
back of our property due to it not being cleared of
landmines. We plan to treat between 12,000 and 15,000
patients. That is no small task. Just the bagging of
600,000 vitamin pills took 50 orphans two days. Our five ton
truck took one of four loads of supplies up to the clinic
site. They left Phnom Penh at 5:00am and arrived in Anlong
Veng at 1:00am with eight broken leaf springs and a ruined
set of rear brakes. Most of the bridges are not passable, so
the rivers are forded. Very hard on equipment! Six, of our
fleet of sixteen vehicles, are in the hospital receiving
everything from heart transplants to the re-soling of their
shoes. The team will fly into Siem Reap, and then get
bounced for the next six to eight hours on the wildest
“Indiana Jones Ride” of their lives. I sure hope they have
good backs, and well padded back-sides.
We’ve been
working up there for a month. There are about 40 people at
the site right now building, bagging, sorting, laying in
supplies, transporting beds, chairs and tents. The better
part of an acre must be roofed, as we are in the rainy
season. If the sick come and stand in the rain they get
sicker. Malaria and dengue fever are on the rampage,
probably 10% of the people will be HIV positive, along with
every other disease you can imagine from a non-existent
health care system in a tropical climate. A team came from
Santa Rosa Hope Chapel and helped with the initial
construction & LIFE Pacific University did some painting.
Thank you! Church on the Way is the sponsor of the World
Team. The coordination and planning for such a venture is a
sight to behold. It would be hard to pull this off in the
US, but when you go into an area with no potable water, no
sewer system, no electricity, no trained personnel, no
hotels, no restaurants, no mosquito control, no re-supply
capability, and plenty of problems like land mines, malaria
and other health problems, it is formidable. But, we expect
in excess of 10,000 people coming to Christ as a result, and
they will not be foxhole conversions. At least a dozen new
churches are expected. With 100 of our pastors on hand, and
another 100 translators, cooks, orphan dance troupe,
musicians, plus the local congregation of 200 or so, the
people will really see the love of Christ in action. And,
yes! Everyone receives help free of charge, and they do
not have to
receive Christ to get it!
A team
visit to FCOP Cambodia can have a big impact. We received
this report from the relative of a dentist who took a year
off to take his family on an around the world trip. They
came and volunteered two week’s time at one of our orphan
homes: “I had never seen John cry. However, after he
returned home, John couldn’t say more than a sentence or two
about Cambodia before tears would well up and he would begin
to weep. As you probably know, John and his family had
just finished months traveling to beautiful places all
around the world. In the end though, John would tell
you that his two weeks in Cambodia we far and away two of
the best weeks in his life. Every time John talked
about Cambodia, we would break down and cry too.”
The rains
are really inconsistent this year. Rice is being planted,
but it is getting late, and some areas still don’t have the
water needed to plant. When the time is right everyone gets
in on the process. Even “Ma Sou”, that’s Soumontha, the
former Lao princess, rolls up her pants and steps into the
mud. Good thing she’s not afraid of snakes, we killed two
while we were doing our stint this year. It seems that ants
like to build their huge ant hills near bamboo thickets, and
the cobras like to live in the ant hills, free food.
Unfortunately, we have a large ant hill in our paddy at the
training center. I told Peter (our national leader), “I’ll
pay for the bulldozer, but let’s get rid of that thing!’ He
smiled and replied, “Next year, we’d have to run over our
rice to get it now!” Spoken as a true farmer.
We still
need home sponsors! Come on Districts, Divisions, large
churches, blessed individuals, and prosperous businesses,
lend us a hand. PLEASE!
http://www.foursquareorphans.org
Be
blessed!
Have a
great month!
Ted & Sou,
Cambodia
