Dear
Friends and Family,
Why am
I late? Well, more than 2300 patients were treated
today, 9000 since the clinic opened last Tuesday, and we
expect more than 12,000 in total by the time we finish
this Tuesday. The provincial governor came to open the
clinic with a dedication ceremony, and as providence
would have it, one of the first patients happened to be
a relative of his with acute appendicitis. There is a
lot of dengue fever, malaria, malnutrition and scabies
being treated along many minor surgeries and emergencies
like a burn victim. The youngest patient was a few days
old, his mother dying in childbirth, the child was
suffering from severe dysentery, and the father
abandoned him. He’s been given the name “Moses”, because
he came in a basket and is now our youngest orphan.
Thirty seven medical, dental, and eye stations are
operating simultaneously, all receiving pre-triaged
patients at this special medical clinic in Odomeanchy
Province operating out of our church/orphan home and the
adjoining school. The support staff numbers over 200,
they do everything from triage to clean bathrooms,
entertain the waiting crowd, counsel patients on
medicine usage, cook food , wash clothing, drive the
ambulance, staff a large pharmacy, run a diagnostic lab,
and minister the Gospel. Pictures? Wait for next month.
In fact I am the sole staff member in the Phnom Penh
office, with the exception of security guards, at this
time.
Busted! I can’t be there, and I can’t stand it! I
tripped on a piece of steel a couple of weeks ago and
bruised my recently operated upon carcass. Rough,
bouncing, roads are the last thing I need now, and there
are about 120 kilometers of them between the clinic site
and Siem Reap, the last stop for good roads. It is
really a blessing as Ly Heng and I spent three days
trying to extract 2000 pounds of necessary medications
and equipment which was confiscated at the airport. I
won’t go into the gory details but “Frustrating” is far
too benign a term. In a way, the whole adventure is a
miracle. If the tickets had not been pre-paid I’d have
cancelled it two weeks ago. Some of you may have heard
about the new “law”.
This is what the local paper
said:
http://www.missionreports.com/cd%5Fjuly07 The
press puts the blame on the Mormons, and Jehovah’s
Witnesses. Personally, I feel it was at least partially
a response to the unwise hyperbolae associated with TV
advertising, an attempt to rent the National Olympic
Stadium for a “Crusade”, and claims on the internet, by
a prominent American T.V. evangelist that brought this
down. BTW, her crusade got cancelled. Remember, three
months ago I said, “All I can do is pray she really does
hear from God, and stays home!” I may have been ranting,
but be careful what you wish/pray/rant for! Honest, I’m
not sure I even prayed about it that much, and really,
for truly, sincerely, I had nothing at all to do with
the subsequent events. Nonetheless, I did receive a hate
prophecy predicting my death and damnation if I don’t
repent. Phony name, phony email address, the cowards.
Tell me something I don’t know. I’m always repenting for
something, I’ll let Jesus handle the damnation problem,
and as that true prophet, John Wayne, once said
“Everybody gets dead someday.”
We keep stumbling into blessing. I’ll tell you why in a
moment. But really God had to see this coming and set us
up. About five months ago Pastor Peter, our national
church president, pulled me aside at church and pointed
at the kids playing in the street. “Pa (that’s what I’m
called here), we need playgrounds, the children in
Cambodia have no place to go.” The lights went on in my
head. Two-thirds of the people in Cambodia are under 21.
How in the world did I think we were going to reach
Cambodia for Christ without the kids? I started talking
up the idea and Emily Plater, on staff as our children’s
liaison submitted a request for a grant with the
Foursquare Foundation. We received $250,000 in matching
funds. We still need some matching money as one donor
dropped out but we expect to build $500,000 worth of
playgrounds in 25 locations in our church homes around
Cambodia. Construction on the first three has started.
Craig Muller, Founder and director of Warm Blankets
Orphan care, our chief matching partner, wrote this to
one of his donors a couple of weeks ago.
“I won’t take up a lot of your time, but I just had to
let you know that the playground strategy has taken on a
whole new meaning.
To
most anyone else but you, this would probably sound
corny, but there is a
MIRACLE in
the making. This month, the Cambodian government passed
a law that no non-Buddhist religion can proselytize or
attempt to change any Cambodian’s religion unless the
person is on church owned property of their own free
will. They have already arrested a few Later-day
saints. Any way … you get the picture. The playgrounds
draw villagers by the hundreds each week to Church Homes
and we can give them the Gospel message. All of a
sudden, this might be the most powerful discipleship
tool God has given us. (Outside of the Bible of course)
I believe the day that I first returned your call and
you told me that you and Margo were praying for me as
the phone rang, was God’s way to prepare for just this
time.
The pastors in Cambodia have put together a training
class to teach orphans to present the Gospel on the
playgrounds. Next week, 110 orphans from many provinces
are being transported to the training center in Phnom
Penh to spend a few days training on how to do
“playground evangelism. “ What’s really funny is that
none of them has ever seen a playground. I love this
ministry. We get to see God working from Florida to Asia
all in one fell swoop. It is so encouraging when God
uses us like this, isn’t it? Sometimes I feel like
“Forrest Thanks for responding to His call and Gump”
Ministries. praying “….
We held the training. Take a look:
http://www.missionreports.com/cmconference%5Fjul07
Hey! Did I tell you why we’re blessed? No, I just told
you I would. God is prejudiced! He has a special place
for orphans and widows. It was the discovery that this
was the proper place for the “Church” to focus that led
us to the success we have seen as a movement in
Cambodia. I can’t explain how it works but here are a
couple of examples. Early this year a group of dairymen
visited our work in Cambodia. They were so impressed
they started giving to the work and have become major
donors. While they were here they were all losing money.
They gave anyway. All of a sudden the price of milk has
almost tripled. In April a group pf bond traders from
Chicago visited. They were not doing well as they said
they needed a volatile market to really prosper. They
gave anyway. Guess what we’ve seen? Hey, I know you’re
probably mad because you had to pay $4.00 a gallon for
milk at the local “gas and Twinkies”, or your pension
fund just took a dive due to market volatility. Now you
know who to blame. Hey! Do I really think it works like
that? Yup, so now you know how universe turns, right?
We had visits from two great teams: Light house
Christian Fellowship, Thousand Oaks, CA and Hope Chapel,
Santa Rosa, CA. They actually overlapped and our
support people split up to put them to very fruitful
labor. I can’t tell you how much we depend upon and are
thankful for teams like these!
http://www.missionreports.com/hope%5Fchapel%5Fjul07
http://www.missionreports.com/light_house_borey_bo
It
has been a medical month as well. We had a very
effective smaller team from water of Life Church, which
my daughter Hannah attends while at Life pacific
college.
http://www.missionreports.com/kumru%5Fmedical%5Fjun07
Great work guys!
Last
month I forgot to load the pictures of Pastor (Major)
Peter’s trip to ‘Prayer Mountain’ in Korea. Here they
are:
http://www.missionreports.com/meo%5Fprogram%5Fkorea
And
finally, the first orphan I ever sponsored, Sinphanya
Thammavongsa, January of 1970 is part of our team. Yes!
January 1970! He is now working as Office Administrator
for Warm Blankets Orphan Care Int. The rest of the
story? Well, his father was killed in the war (which
makes him an official orphan) even though his mother is
alive. You see I married her 37 years ago and adopted my
son Tony. His nickname in Laos was “Tow Tow” which
means “Little Dog” The closest we could come in English
is Tony, so, when I adopted him he became Anthony
Sinphanya Olbrich. Welcome aboard son!
Have
a great month, we are!
Still mov’in kind’a slow,
Pa Thom (Me, Ted)
Still do’in all the work,
Cambodian Staff
Ma Sou,
Anna Blake,
Jamie Gonzalez,
Emily Plater
Tabea Schaller
Josh Ferguson
