Dear Friends and Family,
Allow me to begin with an apology. A Christian printer in Cambodia made up 5000, full color, 18 month calendars in order for each of you to receive one. The Minister of Culture has to approve each picture before we can export them, and he’s out on the political campaign trail, thus they sit on a pallet awaiting his return. Someday soon I hope he shows up for work and we can get them shipped. Until then here is a preview: http://www.missionreports.com/calendar2008
“Giv’er hell; tin bends!” coached my Uncle Ray (‘Unk’) from the passenger’s side of his shinny new black ‘56 Chevy pick-up truck. I had stopped, as my ten year old eyes, peering over the dash through the spokes of the steering wheel, saw a large creosote corner post poised to scrape the side of his truck. I was about to back up and reposition my approach when ‘Unk’ stopped me with his command. I’d cut the turn wide as I was pulling two empty hay-racks to the field where the baling crew was sitting idle for lack of wagons. I was looking at the post, and ‘Unk’ was looking at the black thunderheads forming in the west. You didn’t argue with ‘Unk’. I obediently let up on the clutch and cringed as I heard the “screeeeeeeeeeech” that creased the entire side of that new truck. It was one of my first driving experiences, and ‘Unk” never said a word. He drove that truck for another ten years, and never did fix that bent tin. Every time he’d drive up I’d recall that day. You see, ‘Unk’ was looking at his twenty-five acres of alfalfa, and thinking of his dairy herd that depended on it, I was worried about the shinny tin. We got most of that hay baled before the storms hit; that which we failed to harvest was turned into green manure by a week of rain. It was a very minor disaster, but it taught me a major lesson that has shaped me ever since, “The harvest is more important than shinny tin!”
Asia has had a full plate of disaster this May. Over 100,000 killed in two different countries of the region by a cyclone, and then an earthquake. (Every one of you knows exactly what I am talking about, but I am not going to mention names, places and specifics, as I was told by a well informed friend, that at least one of these countries spends about 50% of its military budget monitoring emails. This country also wants the particular ethnic group that was ravaged by the cyclone to die, they have actively been trying to exterminate them for years, which explains the foot dragging aid response.) Cambodia is no stranger to disaster, losing at least two million in genocide thirty years ago. How do we, as Christians, respond to such tragedies? Certainly, we pray and do what we can, but how? Quite frankly, there is a lot of very well meaning, but unwise stuff going on. Truly, often those making the most noise are doing the least good. If we ever needed to heed the advice of our Lord to be: “Wise as serpents and harmless as doves.” (Matt 10:16), it is at times like this. We westerners, accustomed to rule of law, functional governance, and equal justice, tend to view the world through these rose colored glasses. Unfortunately, what we take for granted gets people killed. Our world, this particular part of the world, does not function under our rules.
I recently was invited to a meeting regarding planning an appropriate aid response. A couple of people were present who had just returned from the cyclone ravaged region. One of these men reported seeing the relief material flown in by USAID having donation stickers (USAID Hairy Hand Shake) peeled off and replaced, or covered, by stickers more politically beneficial to the powers that be. He also reported that in short order most of the material was for sale at the local markets; sounds like Cambodia . A large Medical NGO pulled out of their work here due to the fact that most of their donated medicines wound up on the market. They were being sold at prices about half what legitimate drugs would bring, and so importers stopped bringing in the legal stuff. The problem was, if you needed the drugs, the “Black market” became the only market. One attendee raised a very insightful question: “If we buy these goods are we not supporting the ‘black market’? Painfully, the answer is, “Yes, no doubt about it!” I was asked, “Does that bother you?” I flippantly answered, “Only if your conscience bothers you, and I don’t have one.” I was lying; of course it bothers me! But, right now, the harvest is more important than shinny tin! This ‘black market’ activity was reported by the observer in the cyclone ravaged region. His advice? “Don’t go to the expense and hassle of trying to get stuff across the border; buy it there for less money. The people need it now” The reality is that, even though NGO’s, and governments, may quit in frustration over the corruption, they do manage to supply the needed materials at discounted prices, and through normal processes, (‘Black Market’) it gets distributed to people who need it. You see, though I hate it, even corruption is not all it’s cracked up to be.
There are a number of nations (one participant referred to them as “Cowboy Countries”) in this region where governments do not care for their people. Now, that is hard to believe, but it is absolutely true. They need a ‘heart transplant’, and Christ is known as the ‘Great Physician’. Please hear my heart. The church has no business in politics and government! It has every responsibility to encourage personal involvement in these areas, to educate and encourage their people to be responsible, take jobs in the police, military, and political arenas, and get involved in supporting good governance. Do you see the difference? One tract leads to the Crusades, Spanish Inquisition, and Salem witch burnings, the other to revival. What to do? Rahab lied to the soldiers while the spies hid under her flax stack (Josh 2:6). David took the holy bread for his hungry troops (1Sam 21:6). A true, Christ led conscience, is a Spirit led conscience, and He is not a legalist. We can pontificate about supporting corruption, do nothing, and let people die, or bend the tin for the sake of the harvest. I’ve been bending tin since I was ten years old.
That’s not much news about Cambodia . The cyclone rains that clobbered other countries soaked us. We thought we’d lost about 40 acres of rice to drowning. We didn’t have the money for all the ditching we need to do, and rice can only be under water for about a week. Ours was under for at least that long and looked dead, but we were blessed with a resurrection, and now have one of the best looking rice crops in the region.
We made a big deal about “Mother’s Day”. One of the biggest criticisms of the Christian faith is that we teach followers not to respect our parents. It comes from a misunderstanding of Jesus teaching form Luke 14:26 where He speaks of “Hating” family members. Pastor Peter prepared a great teaching that was widely distributed. It was a great day for the church. http://www.missionreports.com/mothersday
Churches continue to be planted, construction slogs on despite record rains, pastors are coming for regular training, new church/homes are being opened, teams continue to visit, and food aid distributed, playgrounds are erected; lots of good stuff that couldn’t happen without you! http://www.missionreports.com/activities_may08 Don’t ever think we take you for granted. I wish you could all experience one of the Friday night prayer meetings where the orphans of Cambodia pray for you. All these activities continue despite a May that was decimated by holidays and political activity. Getting anything out of a government office was painfully slow if not impossible. Rice prices are still high, diesel is painful, but you know all about that. Josh Ferguson is back with his new bride, Michelle, leading teams for his honeymoon. Emily Plater is on leave visiting her family. Tabea Shaller has returned to Switzerland after successfully setting up our eye care clinic, Bob and Christal Hollandsworth are back from visiting her ailing father, and Sou and I returned to Cambodia on June 1st after a 10 day visit for Missionary meetings and the annual International Foursquare Convention. It was wonderful to see so many of you! For more about us, see: www.missionreports.com/cambodia
May you have a great June! We will!
Be blessed!
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
