FCOP Update -- March 2006

Dear Friends and Family,

Motorcycle mayhem! That should be the title we apply to February 2006. After Rene Charest's broken pelvis in January, and Pastor "Tubby's" victory over the death of the young man in a motorcycle accident late that month, it seems we were being tested. It the first two weeks of February we suffered four motorcycle causalities. In addition to the instant death of our cook at the Toule Serey Church/Home, the pastor was critically injured, but is expected to recover. Tout, one of our older orphans, studying computer science at the university, was hit by drunken speeders, lay in a coma for four days, and, PTL! recovered enough to play in the worship team at the annual church convention. http://www.missionreports.com/cambodia/updates/prayer/index.htm  About the same time a young girl ran out in front of our District Supervisor in Champong Cham and the orphans prayed her back to health. Do they pay prayer warriors overtime when they get to heaven? I wonder if God has a suggestion box??

Anyway, (Multiple choice test) there's a new rule at F.C.O.P. (That's us, Foursquare Children of Promise) anyone caught riding a motorcycle without a helmet (we went out and bought 25 of them), will be: A) Horse whipped, B) Boiled in oil, C) Fired (no not fried! – see answer B), D) Made fun of, E) Yelled at. Answers: 1) A and C are correct. 2) B and D are correct. A is false and D might happen. 3) All of the above. 4) C is supposed to happen, but we revert to D and E. You guessed it! We're wimps. Answer 4 is correct. Those helmets are so stinkin' hot, they collect dust, look dumb, but they are harder than my head, and that's saying something.

One fact this does illustrate is our need for a medical/dental clinic, with 3,500 orphans, widows, and staff who have no affordable options for medical testing, emergency treatment, dental repair, or convalescent care, unless they can get to one of the few charitable hospitals, some internal ability is needed to meet this need. Fortunately it appears as though a new donor organization is interested in funding this project and Northwest Medical Missions is considering a program of long term professional and material support. I love it when a plan comes together! Unfortunately, our Medical Director, Ryan Taggart, "Ryno" has decided to return to the US in June to continue his studies as an anesthesiologist.  (Actually, he failed his sanity test – just kidding- you take it and see how you do???- make sure your speakers are turned on) http://butifnot.tripod.com/racecar.html . Really, we will miss you Ryno, you no good commie turncoat! Seriously, thanks for 18 months of faithful service!

Speaking of health, personally, I am doing better. After going to Bangkok to get re-stitched, I got re-infected, so, I went to Bangkok, AGAIN, yesterday. Somehow, I managed to acquire graham negative bacteria, so with new medication in hand, I expect to be my usual ornery self in no time. March takes me to Canada. I know I failed my sanity test. I go to Norway and Canada in the winter and Phoenix, AZ in August.

Hey! Hey! Hey! We've got the land purchased for the Garment Factory Workers Women's Dorm. Thank you to a special donor! The money was given in December, but it takes time to clear title in Cambodia. Now all we need is the $250,000 to build it. Every week between 5 and 12 of these young women come to the Lord. One group of them is saving their offerings to buy a truck to transport their co-workers to church. There are more than 150,000, 18-25 year old women working within 5 kilometers of the Training Center. They are easily won to the Lord. They have little money, no social life, and no one to care for their safety. The problem is they have to travel up to 30 kilometers to find a place to stay and are prey to the pimps. It is time for this dorm idea to happen! http://www.foursquareorphans.org/garmet_factory  May someone make my day!

The big news this month was our annual convention. There are no words adequate to describe it. Last year we were aghast that more than 1,300 showed up. We planned on 1000. The facility was designed for 400 people. I told Peter, "We have to hold it to 1500!" He agreed and put out an order that only leaders were invited, no spouse could be included. He came back and asked, "Can we include new cell group leaders?" I replied, "Well, they are probably the most important. I'd rather tell some of the more experienced pastors to stay home." The registrations poured in. Ly Heng, our Administrative Assistant, came with his head bowed, "Pa, I've got some bad news, 2,347 have registered." I exploded, "That's like trying to put 7 kilos in a 1 kilo sack! We can't do it." But, it was too late to stop. "Build more bathrooms! Buy more straw mats! Order more rice! Put up more tents!" The orders started to fly. In the end, more than 2,600 showed up. We built 16 new bathrooms, and ate more than 13,000 pounds of rice, thousands of catfish, dozens of pigs, and tons of vegetables. More than 1,200 people slept on the driveway, under vehicles, on the grass, they ate in shifts. All the food was made from scratch, from cleaning the fish, cutting up the pigs to serving the finished meal.

Some people walked for two days from the Lao border to travel for another two days in the back of a bouncing truck. But with all that said, we never had one complaint. About 30 new leaders cut off their charm belts, hundreds committed themselves 100% to the cause of Christ, more than 500 received the baptism of the Holy Spirit, and hundreds were healed of various ailments including paralysis, blind eyes, and deaf ears. The theme was "Bringing in the Harvest" and the goal was to mobilize the laity to bring their friends and neighbors to Christ. Already reports are pouring in of numerous conversions.

This year, for the first time, we had 22 International guests, from Norway, Thailand, The Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore , Vietnam, Laos , and the USA.

I could go on, but I'll stop with the pictures, lots of pictures. They tell much more than words. http://www.foursquareorphans.org/conference_2006

Have a great month! We will!