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CAMBODIA
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Update -- February 2007Dear Friends and Family, Zap! It’s gone. What happened to January? Harvey Minderbinder, of “Catch 22” fame, would only be happy when he was miserable, because that made time seem to move slower, and thus give him a longer life. Now, you could say that Harvey was “nuts”, but If his theory is true, we must be the happiest people on earth. With more than 3000 pastors coming for our convention in two weeks, twenty ongoing building projects, rice harvest, four large visiting teams in January (2-Construction, 1-Dental, 1-Familiarization), record numbers of leaders attending our pastoral training, time has been flying. It’s enough to drive one crazy, speaking of which, some things are almost too weird to write about. But, since it’s true, I’ll risk my credibility, and tell you. I am sure some of you doubt the power of the spirit realm, thus you may deem me as “nuts” as Harvey , but then, this is a story about a family of crazy people, so, I’m in good company. http://www.missionreports.com/around_cambodia_jan07 Surei Vait was about 20 years old when her family got into a bitter dispute with a neighbor in their village. The neighbor went to a powerful ‘spirit doctor’ who through incantations and sacrifice enticed spirits of insanity into Surei Vait, her older sister, and her mother. Within weeks all three stopped speaking and lived is a semi conscious state. Neighbors and family members took them to the Buddhist temple for help. The monks began to chant over them, but Seri Vait had a strange reaction. She ripped off her clothes and began to slap them with her hands. The monks got her out of the temple, but she persisted in this behavior for years. Every time she saw the orange clad monks, off came the clothes, and she’d follow them, slapping at them. Naturally, was a bit embarrassing, so, giving up on the chanting, and believing she was possessed by an evil spirit, they took her to another spirit doctor. The doctor decided to burn the spirit out of her. Over several years, and multiple treatments, he would burn her on the shoulder with incense and a red hot piece of steel. Her entire shoulder is scarred from this treatment. http://www.missionreports.com/free_from_demon_possession One day, after twelve years of insanity for Surei Vait, Pastor Sem Tolle was out evangelizing near her home in Siem Reap Province . He was explaining about the power of God when the people challenged him with Surei Vait’s case. “If your God is so strong help Surei Vait”, they taunted. Pastor Sen Tolle did not want to risk being attacked in public by a naked crazy woman, so, he brought her into the divisional Church/Home in Siem Reap, pastored by District Supervisor Sam Sovan. Now, Sam Sovan is not is not your typical gentle pastor. When she gets hold of a devil, she’s about like my dog Spud with a rat; she doesn’t stop until she digs it out and shakes the life out of it. Pastor Sam Sovan had Surei Vait stay in the Church/Home. Every evening during devotions she would have her sit in the center of a circle formed by the staff and 39 orphans who live in the home. They prayed for her every day for nearly one month before she was totally free. She was so overjoyed she asked to stay on as a staff member. She is an ardent believer, and perfectly normal. She took Pastor Sam Sovan to pray for her mother. Her mother was instantly delivered. Then, she then took all the orphans and Pastor Sam Sovan with her to pray for her older sister. Her sister was also set free. The entire family, along with many villagers, has come to Christ. She changed her name to Elisabeth, as she wanted a Christian name for her “New life”, and now serves in the Siem Reap Church/Home as a caregiver. Even the Buddhist Monks are happy. And several former Muslim families have joined the church. The Buddhists actually came to our defense last month. We have struggled to get permission for a Church/Home for more than a year in one location. The local government director was dead set against a church in his district. Due to the high number of H.I.V. produced orphans, and the inability of the poverty stricken economy to absorb them, the Buddhists actually petitioned to allow us into the district. We got our permit, and the Church/Home is being rapidly built. We have construction going on virtually everywhere. In addition to 14 Church/Homes being built all over the country, we have a Medical Clinic, Tractor factory, Garment Factory Worker’s Dorm, New Office Facilities, and 14 more bathrooms for the convention all in active progress. http://www.missionreports.com/homes_construction_feb07/index.htm Not all our illnesses end in miracles. In fact we face a lot of frustrating tragedies. I’d appreciate it if every medical professional who looks at this site could study the following website and email me any ideas or suggestions. We are suspicious that he was in an area sprayed with “Yellow Rain”, an unknown chemical sprayed by communist forces in the 70’s and early 80’s on ‘stubborn’ hill tribes. http://www.missionreports.com/sick_boy We have a couple of other mystery cases that require your prayers: http://www.missionreports.com/hospital A real encouragement to our medical efforts was the arrival of Tobea Schaller, a Swiss optician, who will not only be conducting eye clinics around the country, but may be leading many of our medical teams as well. We’ve had some very productive teams here this month. The first was a large group of young people from Teen Missions Australia. http://www.missionreports.com/teen_mission_2007 Then came an ambitious team of dental professionals from Northwest Medical Missions. They were courageous enough to venture to Rattanakiri Province were practically none of the people have seen dentists. They kept eight chairs going continually for eight long days. Hundreds of orphans and village people came to the clinic set up at the district headquarters church, and not only got their teeth repaired, but many received Christ as well. http://www.missionreports.com/nw_dental_jan07 . A fun group for me, Pa, was the farmers, ranchers and businessmen from California . They did a familiarization tour of Cambodia , which was as much a men’s retreat as it was a mission trip, and in eight days saw most of the country. They left as an enthusiastic group of ambassadors for the work here. http://www.missionreports.com/cal_mission_jan07 The Blake family is busily building a security fence at a new home in Posat Province . I’m going to shut up and get back to work, February promises to be one of our busiest months ever, thus the shortest, but then who, except for crazy Harvey , wants to live forever on this earth? With more than 3000 pastors expected at the Training Center , which was originally designed for 400, it, like all of us here in Cambodia , is in continual metamorphosis. Our convention theme is: “Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit…” (Zec 4:6) We definitely need Him to show up! Have a great month! Blessings upon you all! Ted and Sou Olbrich , (Pa Thom and Ma Thom) Anna Blake, Jamie Gonzalez, Emily Plater, Tobea Schaller
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