FOURSQUARE CHURCH
FOURSQUARE CHILDREN OF PROMISE
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CAMBODIA
FOURSQUARE CHURCH FOURSQUARE CHILDREN OF PROMISE
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FCOP Update -- January 2005Merry Christmas Friends and Family!
For pictures: Well, it happened, AGAIN! We received fire from heaven, for the third time that I know of, in Cambodia during the past 30 years. When I heard about it, I was naturally excited to see the power of God still being manifested in such a spectacular way, but a little jealous that I was busy building a rice storage bin. However, I immediately rejoiced that the event involved another “Barrang” (which means ‘Frenchman’, which means all white skinned foreigners, including moi (me) in Cambodia. Clear?). As I know, had I been the featured attraction, my credibility would have been completely shot with another, “Whopper” of such proportions. I assume most of you recall the account of the fire that fell on Toule Dam Na in January of 2000? (If not, click here) As it turns out, that was the second such event involving Foursquare Cambodia, even though the first occurred 24 years before our arrival. Pastor Peter Unchhayvara, President of the Cambodian Foursquare Church, recalls his first encounter with this miraculous power of God, in Phnom Penh, occurring early in 1975, just before the tragic arrival of Pol Pot, and the beginning of the four year reign of terror under the Khmer Rouge. “I was playing soccer with my friends on a Sunday afternoon, at the school field, about three blocks from my home; all of a sudden my friends started pointing towards my house and yelling, ‘Peter! Look! Your house is on fire!’ I started running home as fast as I could, when a fire truck passed me with the siren screaming. When I got home both the fire department, and the neighbor who had called in the fire, were surprised to find that there was no fire at all. The smoke was coming from a Spirit filled prayer meeting being led by my parents.” So, this is number three. Here is what happened. There was a lot going on in early December, I flew in from the States on December 1st, meeting a construction team led by the Blake (Anna our team leaders’) family so, she left with them immediately for Poipet. I was home two nights, and felt compelled by the drought devastated rice harvest, to leave for rice bin construction. Problem! Rene and Kristi Charest, from Valley Christian Center, were arriving the day I decided to leave. Rene, being a successful building contractor, businessman, and leader of the central California men’s groups for Foursquare, was coming to “Scout the land” for possible district level support of the work in Cambodia, and I was anxious that both he and Kristi to have a positive experience. I remember praying, “God, please give our guests a true and revealing time with us”, and I was frustrated by the pressure I felt to get some rice purchased. (It’s already up to $400 per ton in Phnom Penh) Sou was tied up with our daughter Hannah, who was experiencing some health problems (doing better, thank you!), and still in school as well. I was leaving, Anna was gone, Ryan Taggart, newly arrived staff member, was in need of some orientation himself. Rene and Kristi were arriving, and in five days Greg Dable, of Kids for the Kingdom and Jim Lowan, of Teen Challenge, were coming for visits. What to do? Thank God for faithful, well trained, staff! Ly Heng, one of first, and oldest orphan boys, delivered of three evil spirits, fluent English speaker, and now chief of our “data uptake” (website maintenance) staff was tapped to lead the Charests’ on a trip to Rattanakirri (Northeast Cambodia), and Vichea, our legal counsel, American trained lawyer, would meet both Greg Dable, and Jim Lowan. I instructed Ly Heng to make sure they visited the site of our newest Church Home in the area to check on the final stages of construction. This is his account: “Pastor Mot, District Supervisor for Rattanakirri, (man pictured in military uniform) met us and showed us around the province. We visited the orphans at his church, and the Crater Lake, on the first day. On the second day, we traveled by truck and boat to the newest churches. It was December 6th, and we were traveling to some of the tribal areas, each of the two locations spoke different languages, both more closely related to Lao than Cambodian, there are twelve different languages spoken in that region. The second church we visited was just finishing construction on their new building, in the area known as Phnom Kok Lak and the church (Dam Na Thamei). The women smoke pipes, and when no foreigners are around, don’t wear clothing above the waist. Rene and Kristi attracted a lot of attention so, a small crowd of fifteen or twenty villagers followed them to the church, but stopped at the edge of the church property, more than 100 meters from the building, not being believers in the “New God”. About a dozen local church members and few nearby pastors gathered in the new church building to greet them. It was about 3:00 pm. The Charists’ had spent about 15 minutes inspecting the new building and then entered into prayer for from five to ten minutes, some were praying in their natural language and some were praying in the Spirit (tongues). The number of people standing at the gate began to grow as neighbors were curious about the “Barrangs” (Rene and Kristi) and wanted to see them, but some other excitement was causing people to rush to the scene. As the prayer was ongoing, the people in the village saw a whirlwind of fire over the church building, and were running to get a closer look. The group had grown to more than 30 villagers. Afraid of the ‘Power’ behind the fire they would not enter the property. The people praying were unaware of the reason for the excitement. When the prayer concluded the fire disappeared, and as the church members emerged from the building, the people in the crowd called out to the local pastor, Sorn (Pictured with mustache), “Where did the fire come from? Why was the fire swirling while you were praying?” The pastor was surprised, but the whole group insisted that they all saw it, so he acknowledged that it was written in the Bible, and taught them out of Acts, Chapter 2. The people all acknowledged that this God had, “Big power!” and the church grew in number that day.” That one a little too ‘spiritual’ for you? Can’t say I blame you for being skeptical, so let me give you a glimpse of the ‘carnal’ side of missions’ work in Cambodia. I gotta be nuts to put this in writing! I had about 10 guys helping me build the rice storage bin. Every night I’d go in to the nearest town of consequence, Bantemeanchy, 55 potholed kilometers away, and buy supplies. Since there was no market, no well, no bathroom, and only a scum covered ditch full of water in front of the rice mill property, I bought the daily needs, which always included about 20 liters of water. On day three, for some unbeknownst, but stupid, reason I forgot the water, on the SAME DAY that the fire fell. At about 10:00am we had consumed the six liters that were available at the local store (6’ x 10’ bamboo shack along the dusty road with a total inventory of about 30 items) along with three cans of warm Coke, and two cans of coconut juice. The Cambodian’s said, “Not to worry! We have the ditch.” They found some kind of dried leaves, and began to boil up a batch of “Tea??” But, I saw what the little girl did in that ditch, that morning, and I was not about to drink it, boiled or not! Peter wasn’t too crazy about the idea either. I made a last trip to the store. “Do you have anything else to drink”, I asked? The little old lady spat out a chaw of beetle nut, and with grunt, pointed out a half case of warm, dust covered, “Jade” beer. Dehydration is bad news. I was desperate, so was Peter, but 98 degree, six month old, ‘weird’, beer was too much for Peter. He said, “This tastes like horse piss!” (Hey! I told you this was the carnal side, right? Besides, it’s a Biblical term check out 2 Kings 18:27). Peter went back for some ‘ditch tea’. Not me. I had five cans that day. I haven’t had so much to drink since I was a backslidden pig farmer. And, I don’t know if it is just weak beer, or I consumed so many calories that the alcohol didn’t affect me, or God protected me from becoming the “Drunken Missionary” but, I was sober as a judge. Honest! Hick! But, I don’t care if I never see another can of Jade Beer as long as I live. There you have it. Both sides of the pendulum. Am I a saint or a devil? Life goes on in Cambodia. So, how do we get the Cambodian Church financially independent? Gospel lift! Yohan, the building contractor, is the biggest giver to the Cambodian Church. When we met him he was a welder, making a dollar per day, working for a crooked contractor who took off with the last payment of a two-thirds finished building. As I was inspecting the mess at hand, scratching my head trying to figure out what to do, he volunteered, “I can finish it!” He did, and so I asked, “Do want to build another?” He’s now built over 20 of our church buildings, including our Training Center, is an elder in the church, and a strong teacher in the benefit of the tithe. We’ve got another bunch of formerly unemployed, under the direction of Paul Mok, mechanic and elder, making fenders for antique tractors. The first container full is about to leave for America. Another group of church women are weaving cloth making, “Doll faced hand towels”. They can’t keep up with demand. Our first orphan boy just graduated from “Automotive Computer Analysis School” and we are hoping he will teach many more. We are awaiting a professionally developed business plan for the, “Orphans Theatrical and Restaurant Arts Training Center”, I believe it has the potential to make the homes self supporting. Pray it becomes a reality in 2005. Christmas is the biggest day in the Cambodian Church year. Every church saves for months for a big celebration and feast, then schedule them on almost every day imaginable, so they can all go to each other’s event. More parties that way! They have not gotten into the habit of giving gifts to each other, and thus Christmas is not commercialized, which is kind of refreshing, and a whole lot cheaper! Robbie Booth and Warm Blankets have teamed up to provide a gift for each orphan and care giver. Thanks to all of you who gave for this! The gifts will be much appreciated, for many it will be the first they have ever received. Good stuff and bad stuff. Normal. We dedicated a couple of new Church/homes this month. We received news today of a pastor who’s six month old baby, pictured with mom above, died in her sleep, with no apparent symptoms of any disease. We finished our first, week long, training session for District Supervisors. We’ve seen an important church leader’s marriage restored this month, had great visits form our major partner at Kid’s for the Kingdom, Greg Dable, and a potential new partner in working with the “Glue Sniffing Street Kids” in Teen Challenge. Which brings me to my major point, “Thank you!” To each an every one of you who have made this mission so successful. On behalf of Sou, Hannah, our Cambodian staff, Anna Blake, Ryan Taggart, and myself, “Have a Very Merry Christmas and a most blessed and happy New Year!" Ted Olbrich, Cambodia
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