Dear Friends and Family,
What is going on?? I gotta check this out. (Five minutes later). Ok, I sat down to write this ‘Update’ and the biggest fur fight I’ve heard in years just broke out. We now have about 9 dogs (rat and crook patrol, plenty of both here) policing our headquarters complex. Spud, the boss, took offense at the work habits of the 7 ‘new dogs’, and talked Bucko, the enforcer, into helping him apply some discipline. It took two staff members with 4 foot boards to break it up. Actually, Spud seems to be able to sniff out spirits, about week before Christmas, a relative of one of our staff members (human), who had attended technical school, knew a young man who’d graduated as an electrician and couldn’t find a job. We always can use an electrician, so we asked him to come try us out for a few days. Spud did not like him, every time he came by Spud would growl. I’d yell at Spud and couldn’t understand his lack of hospitality. One morning during staff devotions the young man decided to give his life to Christ. I’d assumed he was a Christian. I was wrong, he was wearing a new “Spirit string” (A chord with rolled lead or brass scrolls of incantations against spiritual entities worn around the waist). He gave his life to Christ, cut the string off. I took it outside and burned it. Spud quit growling at him. Now they are buddies.
Mak Sou turned 60 on December 21st! Now, even though she looks 40, I’ve got her birth certificate. It was an event she’d chosen to ignore, but we arranged for a cake, and at the end of morning staff devotions she got “busted”. A fine time was had by all! http://www.missionreports.com/mak%5Fsou%5Fbirthday
Happy New Year! “All’s well that ends well” Shakespeare got it right for 2007. Though the price of rice has doubled from a year ago, our harvest was good, and the fish ponds were productive beyond any expectations. http://www.missionreports.com/harvest%5Ffishing The best news of all was what happened during our Christmas celebrations. It made all the months of torment that preceded them worthwhile. We printed up 50,000 Christmas tracts, got another 10,000 from Steve and Judy Billington, (Home of English) our only Church/Home sponsors from Cambodia. http://www.missionreports.com/activity%5Fdec07 There were over 5000 in attendance at the Cham Chao Church alone, and when Pastor Peter gave a call for those who wanted to have a “Birth of Christ” in their hearts, I estimate close to 1000 stood to pray. http://www.missionreports.com/christmas%5Fdec2007 Stories of overwhelming responses continue to pour in from every province. Somehow, all the negative stuff we went through this year pales in comparison.
Second place! A recently published study put Cambodia as the second most corrupt nation in the world. We got beat out of the “Gold” by some African country. Oh well, there’s always next year! I had a guy call me from the States and congratulate me for my integrity. Integrity! What integrity? We pay bribes. For the first time in 9 years we actually received an official invoice with a line item for “Bribes”. You wouldn’t believe the hoops we jump through to get a container of imported food cleared for the orphans, or what we go through to get a church permit. Or the juggling we do to keep food on the tables for 3500 orphans and widows. The self righteous can be quick to condemn us, but there is one Judge I fear, and He looks at one thing: ‘How many apples are in the basket?’ (My interpretation of Matt: 7:16). We could be squeaky clean, sit around pontificating about the evils of corruption, while orphans starve, and get nothing accomplished, or we can be, “…wise as serpents and harmless as doves” (Matt 10:16). I’ll take the apples. Thank God for partners like Warm Blankets Orphan Care International, International Cooperating Ministries, The Foursquare Foundation, Kids for the Kingdom, Children of Promise, Gleanings for the Hungry, Children’s Hunger Fund, and dozens of other organizations and churches who help us get the job done! http://www.missionreports.com/fmsc%5Fdonor
Hey! You can disagree, we make mistakes all the time, but before you throw too many rocks, remember Teddy Roosevelt’s quote, its not scripture, it just should have been: "It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumphs of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat."
2007 is gone. Good! 2007 was a grimy year! I just found out this past month that a lot of the turmoil within our ranks last year was due to the fact that rumor had it that I was dying. (The only thing faster than the speed of light is a Cambodian rumor) Now, after five surgeries in 18 months, I can’t understand where that nasty assumption came from? The good news is: “I ain’t dead yet!” and the bad news is: “I ain’t dead yet”, just depends upon your perspective. The simple truth is I’ll get dead when God wants me that way, not one second sooner. For all those disappointed souls, cheer up! It’ll happen someday. Seems like some pastors panicked at the prospect, thinking that F.C.O.P. wouldn’t be able to support the orphans, and scrambled looking for other sources of supply. They forgot one thing, God is the Father to the fatherless, (Psalm 68:5) and He is capable. Have a little faith! Although it was a tuff year, it was very fruitful, we opened our 100th church home, saw tens of thousands come to Christ, started almost 200 new church groups, completed much of the construction on a dormitory for 400 factory worker evangelists, and a new medical clinic, and somehow managed to train a couple thousand church leaders along the way http://www.missionreports.com/training%5Fprovinces One of our many micro-enterprises got a major boost in December http://www.missionreports.com/new_tractors_dec07 . Maybe, 2007 wasn’t so bad after all?
Wishing you a blessed, joyous, prosperous, healthy and fruitful 2008!
The Cambodian FCOP Team,
Pa Thom (Me, Ted)
Still do’in all the work,
The Cambodian Staff
Ma Sou,
Emily Plater
Josh Ferguson
Kris Warner
