Dear Friends and Family,
3:00am February 9, 2006, Phnom
Penh, Cambodia
How’d you like to be called
“Pastor Tubby”? I meant to your
face? Political correctness is
not a Cambodian concept. Pastor
Mop (Tubby) is proof of that.
His real name is Rattanna, but
everyone calls him Mop, “Tubby”.
Now, don’t be offended for him,
he kind of likes the name. Why?
Well, being tubby is not looked
down on in Cambodia; in fact, in
the Cambodian tradition, being
fat is a sign of health,
blessing, and prosperity. I
realize that this assumption is
factually wrong, but that is the
way they think after being
starved under the Khmer Rouge,
and due to the fact that the
average Cambodian suffers from a
caloric deficit. Just like being
a “Nasty woman” is almost
considered a complement by most
Cambodian females. Go figure?
Anyway, I want to talk about
Mop, because he is one ‘pumped
up’ pastor. Mop is a product of
our orphan care system, which is
producing a crop of pastors that
are doing exceptionally well.
I’d like to brag on him a bit.
He was 17 years old when he came
to us in 1999, but he’d been
raised by the local pastor from
the age of 15. He was assisting
in the church from the day he
arrived; we put him through our
pastoral training for two years
starting in 2002. He began as
Senior Pastor in a strong Muslim
area of Cambodia in 2004. His
church has grown steadily to
over 100, and he has been
responsible for starting four
more churches of more than 25
members each. But, here’s his
newest sermon topic, “Jesus
Christ is living in my country
and raising the dead!” Mop got a
call on January 21st
from a member from one of the
most remote, new home groups,
that he’s started. A member’s
daughter had died, and they
needed a funeral. This place is
hard to get to. You’ve got to
cross the Tonlé Sap River,
navigate part of the Great Lake,
and do some driving over very
unfriendly roads. Mop took his
assistant and was direct because
bodies do not store well in
Cambodia, but not in a panic, as
the girl was dead. Only, when he
got there, the girl was still
breathing. “I thought you told
me she was dead?” questioned
Mop.
“We’ve taken her to the best
children’s hospital three times.
They say she has advanced
Leukemia. There is no hope, and
we have no more money. She
cannot live long!” sobbed the
distraught mother. “I know how
long it takes to get here, and I
don’t have money to embalm her
body. I want a Christian
funeral.”
Mop responded, “I have a great
doctor and all He costs you is
your faith!”
“Where can I find this doctor?”
asked the woman.
“He is in Cambodia and we can
access Him right now. You know
Him. He is Jesus,” explained
Mop. Mop, his assistant, and a
few visiting church members
began to pray. After they prayed
for some time to no avail, Mop
decided to transport the girl 20
kilometers to the district
hospital.
The doctor was not pleased, as
he was familiar with the girl.
“There is nothing we can do for
this girl! She is nearly dead.
There is no way to treat the
white blood. All we can do is
continual transfusions and we
have only one unit of blood and
you have no money. Let her die,”
Pleaded the doctor.
“No, I can’t do that!” said
Pastor Mop. “I will buy the
blood”. The doctor insisted Mop
was throwing his money away, but
Mop forked over more than half
his monthly salary, $24.00, for
the blood. They no sooner began
the transfusion than the girl
died.
“Now you see!” scolded the
doctor. “You’ve lost your money
and the girl is dead!” Mop
insisted that the doctor allow
them to pray. The doctor was
disgusted with these Christians,
but he agreed to allow them to
pray, if they would be quick
about in and then remove the
body. He began other duties.
After several minutes of prayer
the girl opened her eyes, looked
at her mother and said “Mama,
I’m hungry.” She walked out of
the doctor’s office and is in
perfect health today, February
9, 2006. “Oh, your God has big
power!” exclaimed the very
impressed doctor.
I know this update is hopelessly
late, but you’re just going to
have to excuse me. See, I’ve
been gone since January 18th,
except for 2 nights and a day,
and I leave for Bangkok in four
hours, so this is a “quickie”!
My problem is that I’ve been a
bad boy. I had that surgery on
Dec. 26th to remove
the bone fragment from a broken
pelvic bone which occurred 9
years ago. Well, I didn’t stay
immobile long enough and broke
the stitches. Thinking it might
heal anyway, and being in
Cambodia, I decided to brass it
out.
“Stupid!?” Yes, in retrospect, I
admit it. Anyway, for two years
I have been putting off going to
Norway to visit a number of
churches there that have sent
medical teams, and support, so
six months ago I promised I’d
go. “You went to Norway in
January? Now, I know you’re
nuts!” Like I said, I’m not the
brightest bulb in the
chandelier. Anyway, it gets
worse. The day I am to leave for
Norway I develop an infection.
Self medicator that I am, I
decided to continue practicing
medicine without a license, and
pulled some Cipro off the
pharmacy shelf, and left for
Norway. Well, I’m glad I went,
because it looks like we were
able to get several homes
sponsored but, much as I loved
Norway, (It’s so cold you don’t
get colds there) I was in pain
most of the time, and very happy
to get to Bangkok.
I said, “Sew me back up doc!”
He was angry, “I can’t sew you
up until I deal with this
infection. I need to clean it
out!”
“We’ll clean it out then!” I
snapped back. (My wound is in a
rather delicate spot.)
“Without any anesthetic?” asked
the surprised doctor. I nodded
the affirmative. Actually, I
think he enjoyed punishing me. I
have to admit it made my eyes
water. “Now I need to put you on
a new course of antibiotics and
admit you for a few days”,
continued the doc.
“Doc! No! I have to go to
America. I’ve got five meetings
scheduled, and a clinic for the
orphans riding on this! Show me
what to do. I’ll behave. I
promise!” Against his better
judgment he proceeded to give me
instructions on wound care, a
regime of antibiotics, and off I
went. The trip was successful
with a couple more church/homes
sponsored’, and the clinic deal
all but confirmed. So, today I
go back to Bangkok, as promised,
to get sewn up. I hope! After
living in Cambodia, two weeks in
Norway, a day in Bangkok,
another in Phnom Penh, 6 days in
the US, back in Phnom Penh
yesterday, and off to Bangkok
this morning, I am a
chronological mess. That’s why
you get Updates written at
3:00am.
It’s just good that the
Cambodian church does well
without me. Our national
convention is in ten days and we
expect over 2000 pastors and
cell leaders. Our challenge is,
we always exceed expectations,
and where we will put everyone
is a real question. New churches
are starting daily, and even
though we are trying to combine
churches to put gifted pastors
over the people rather than
church planters, the church
planters just go somewhere else
and start another more.
http://www.foursquareorphans.org/jan_update06
We’ve bought up all the Bibles
we can find in Phnom Penh and
continue with our construction
projects.
By the way, Spud, our dog, and
chief of security, is actually
getting fat. He’s been skinny
all his life, maybe we’ll call
him “Mop”. It seems killing rats
has given him a new purpose in
life, and since our ‘rat
invasion’ last month he’s
personally knocked off at least
a dozen. Three yesterday, and
he’s looking for one in our
pharmacy right now.
We have continued with our
Foursquare Foundation grants in
training all pastors, with 63
groups all over the country, and
our program of saturation
evangelism is the theme of this
year’s convention, “Behold the
harvest is ripe and ready for
harvest”, as we encourage
pastors to engage every believer
in reaching out to non Christian
people. We have been blessed
with some financial help for the
convention, and our food
production and the shipments of
aid really have helped us. A
team from the Central San
Joaquin District of Foursquare
churches was here and did some
much needed work up in the
Rattanakiri district, and really
blessed us in so many ways. They
are a fun bunch, and had a great
time, except for their leader,
who thinks he is Steve McQueen
in the “Great Escape”
when it comes to motorcycles, he
messed up his pelvic, hip
socket, seems to be about as
bright as I am? Just kidding
Rene!! Honest! I know you will
behave. I am glad to report that
he is doing well. Thanks guys!
http://www.foursquareorphans.org/music_jan06
By the way, just take a second
and pray for two staff women in
Rattankiri who will die of
breast cancer unless God
intervenes. Thanks!
There was a great team from
Northwest Medical Missions here
at the beginning of the month.
They were fantastically
efficient and did the most
thorough job of dental care to
date. They saw a lot of kids and
staff whom had never been to a
dentist. One of the worst cases
was our pastor from Steng Some
Roun. He was in the chair for
hours, but for the first time in
his memory, his health is good
and he feels great.
http://www.foursquareorphans.org/dental_2006
We are busy transforming our
four, forty foot, shipping
containers into cold storage
units, as we have received so
many great food items and
medications, from our American
partners which have limited
shelf life in this heat. One
unit will be used for
medications. The tractor factory
was in overdrive producing a
shipment of re-manufactured
antique tractors and several
tons of parts for shipment to
the States. They are in the
water. The rice mill storage is
filled to capacity with new crop
rice, now if I could just figure
out how to pay for it??? All to
say, life here is hectic, and
desperate, which is to say,
“Normal”.
We love you guys. Pray for us.
We really do pray and bless God
for each of you!
Thanks and Blessings!
