Dear Friends and Family,
Forty years ago this month, August 4th, 1968, to be precise, I stepped off the plane in Laos , was transported to our office to meet the staff, and was struck breathless! She was the most beautiful woman I’d ever laid eyes on! http://www.missionreports.com/most_beautiful_girl I was a goner. Totally, disgustingly, ‘ga ga’, in love (still am). It took me another year and a half before I convinced her to marry me. But, I am living proof that the ‘frog’ can marry a princess, the only problem is that the “fairy tail” solution of the frog turning into a handsome prince upon the first kiss, never materialized. After thousands of kisses; still a frog! Or, maybe a monkey? Now, Jesus said, “It is impossible that no offenses should come” (Lk 17:1). It wasn’t until after we were married that Sou (my princess) told me that, the girls in the office used to laugh at the lanky foreigner with ‘monkey arms’. “Who’d marry him?” they’d ask each other. Well, the ‘frog’ beguiled the princess, and on Jan. 17, 1970, she married him on the front porch of her sister’s house in Vientiane , Laos . Now, the frog got his revenge, by dragging the ‘princess off to ‘tropical Minnesota ’ to be a ‘pig farmer’s’ wife for the next ten years. She could have been offended, but offenses are always a choice, and she chose to love me despite my sleeve length. “Monkey arms!” Hmm?
A few days back, I was confirming a reservation I’d made for a team at a local hotel, and it was a different clerk. She didn’t recognize me, and couldn’t find the reservation. She turned her head and called to her supervisor in the back office. At the same time, my cell phone went off. I backed around the corner in order to hear better, and as I was invisible to the supervisor when she emerged from the rear office, she examined my receipt and said, “Sure, the ‘old monkey’ was in here a few days ago and reserved the rooms.” About that time she looked up, gasping as she saw me. She turned about three shades of crimson, and didn’t know whether to cry, apologize, or laugh. So, she did all three, in that order, as her initial embarrassment was erased by my laughter. “You see”, I explained to her, “Its ok! There’s no question that I am old, and I have to admit I do rather resemble a monkey.” I could have been offended, but I’d rather be her friend. Besides, we need teams, and teams need good places to stay.
Speaking of Teams: Burt Reed of ICM, Peter, and I spent the first days of July four-wheeling through the Cambodian countryside visiting 46 of our newer homes. See last month’s Update at: www.missionreports.com/cambodia Josh, Michelle, and Emily have been busy! The youth from Union Church in Hong Kong showed us how to work, when they renovated one of our church/homes http://www.missionreports.com/our_kcheay_hk_july08 Those young people really got the job done! Our big medical mission for 2008 starts in about three days at Prek Bey. It needed a face lift, and Desert Springs Church gave it one: http://www.missionreports.com/prek_bey_construction Perk Bey is swarming with activity, as we prepare to receive 10,000+ patients next week. Emily is now with a team from New Life Center in Bakersfield , CA visiting several church/homes in the northeast. (More next month).
Whew! The elections are over. PTL! The entire government has been paralyzed for the past three months as most officials were out “Campaigning”. The Prime Minister’s party won a decisive victory. It’s really not that surprising when you consider that you declare your party when you register and records are kept. “Free and fair?” I guess, unless you want your “pot holes’ filled. One of our church/homes happens to be located on one of the worst roads in Cambodia . It resembles the surface of the moon. Finally, the government was responding with bull dozers and graders, repairing the road, just before the election. They were only a few hundred meters from the church on election day. Problem! The district voted for the opposition party. Bad choice! The next day all the road repair equipment disappeared. Well, boys, only five more years and you’ll get another chance. Happy driving!
You may have been following the scuffle that Cambodia has had with Thailand over an ancient temple on the Cambodian side of the border. (The Thai dispute that.) For about three weeks Thai soldiers occupied the temple, and Cambodian troops surrounded them, weapons at “ready”. The whole thing was settled yesterday, (I hope) as both parties decided to send the soldiers home. Nobody died. For those that would like a deeper, though prejudiced, perspective: http://www.missionreports.com/preah_vihear
Twelve containers of supplies arrived in July. With most of our officials on “election recess” it was a minor disaster. Naret, our ‘legal liaison’ managed to avoid a nervous breakdown, Bob and Christal scurried to keep inventories straight and plan deliveries, and our bank account squeaked over the finish line on empty, but we made it! Thank you for all these donations! You who give need to know that without these supplies, and the earnings from the Cambodian Church micro-enterprises, we could never make it. Like everywhere else in the world, food and energy prices are up several fold but we’re still supporting whole homes with the same $1500 per month that we did nine years ago. How? By what is done to supplement the needs. Food Donations from Feed my Starving Children through Children’s Hunger Fund http://www.missionreports.com/rice_meal and Gleanings for the Hungry http://www.missionreports.com/soupmix_energybars Donations of old tractors for our profit center known as the “Tractor Factory” http://www.missionreports.com/tractors_new_arrival And, donations of army bunks and hospital beds from Swiss Warm Blankets: http://www.missionreports.com/beds “Anything worth doing is neither easy nor unopposed”, but this was well worth your efforts! Thanks for all the time, money, and personal sacrifice that went into these gifts. They are truly appreciated, and as I write this they are being distributed to ‘separated children’ and widows at the 105 Church/homes we operate in Cambodia . May blessings be heaped upon you!
Though we won’t formally dedicate it until February, the Myron Wentz Medical Center is operational. You need to see this! http://www.missionreports.com/wentz_clinic_july08 A big “Thank you!” to Children’s Hunger fund, Dr. Wentz, the Foursquare Foundation, Medical Teams International, as well as Swiss Warm Blankets for making this a reality. It’s in the business of saving lives and building the church.
Kris Warner’s been busy training English teachers and medical translators; He says it best, so I’ll swipe this from his own email: “As for the earlier part of the month, we wrapped up our Teacher Training Conference, spiced with some afternoons and evenings of unloading containers. We had twelve containers come in with everything from granola bars to high-tech hospital beds. By the way, the hospital beds, which can literally fold you into every letter of the alphabet at the push of a button, were a huge blessing to our new medical clinic. And, YES, they do weigh 800,000 pounds along with being rather awkward to unload from a container in a rain storm. The longer a container stays with us the more we have to pay so when they come in, it's all hands on deck whether it's hot, humid, and rainy OR rainy, hot, and humid.”
“Our training conference finished with a reflective and fun day in Phnom Penh . We went to Toul Sleng, the genocide museum, which was as you would expect incredibly heavy, but the kids/students had never been there and had voted for this to be one of our visits during the day. Our adventures also included a great dinner, a quiet stroll through the park near Independence Monument followed by a wild dash through the pouring rain to get back to our car. I think only in Cambodia do people view being soaked to the bone as a perfect capper to a day with a museum, a delicious meals, and a monument. So, I guess that's why we could let it end. Dripping wet, we piled back into the van, dried cameras and cell phones as much as possible, and then drove to the night market. It was a very good day! On Sunday, we followed up with our graduation ceremony complete with certificates, a song and dance performance by three of the students.” Pictures? http://picasaweb.google.com/kw.redefinethemargin/July08
Be blessed and may you be, “Slow to find offense”!
Pa Thom (Me, Ted)
And those still do’in all the work,
The Cambodian FCOP Team,
Ma Sou,
Emily Plater
Josh and Michelle Ferguson
Kris Warner
Bob and Christal Hollandsworth
