Dear Friends and Family,
The good news is the rats are dying of cancer! All types of cancer. (See underlined portion of first article) http://www.missionreports.com/cambodian_news Good riddance! The bad news is that the bad news was abundant this month. I’m not sure about two legged rats, but anyway, Japanese scientists have determined that Phnom Penh is six times more polluted than Bangkok . Great! I guess I might as well take up smoking, as I’m getting about two packs a day just through living here. And then (“Oh joy!”) Cambodia has been ranked as the fourth least stable country in the world. That puts ‘Bodia’ just above Zimbabwe , Chad , and Congo (See second article, page 2 above). Now, like a fly born in a vinegar jar, I thought it was pretty sweet over here until these guys pulled the cork on my jug. Anyway, I’ve just determined to ignore their pessimistic outlook, despite our 20% plus unemployment. I still think they’re nuts!
Then, we started planting about 300 acres of rice in Balang (the location of our rice mill). Yes! We are finished with record-early rice planting, but not without a few challenges. There are quite a few scrub trees and bamboo groves in various spots around our fields. The local farmers told us that they haven’t been cleared due to land mines. Well, they’re in the way! So, I decided we should take them on, and asked Dr. Chayya, he’s an old mine clearing hand, to go ahead and have our field hands dig, very carefully, into the one nearest our rice mill, while I inhaled the refreshing breezes in Phnom Penh. The very first dig unearthed a cache of unexploded ordinance (UXO’s) sufficient to start a small war. There are more under the top layer. http://www.missionreports.com/weapons_cache So, why worry? We may well get blown up before we die of cancer. Just as long as the rats go first! Right? Everything is a matter of priorities. I hate rats!
We had a great fish harvest this month! A famous saying goes, “Feed a man a fish and you give him a meal, teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime”. The trouble is that this is simply not true. The fact is that when you teach a man to fish he eats until the river is fished out. Sometimes that doesn’t take too long in Cambodia . But, when you teach him to raise fish?? Ah ha! He not only eats for a life time, but makes a good living to boot. Many of our church/homes have fish ponds, and this is harvest time. Cambodians pickle the fish in order to store them. They are packed in salt and spices and last for years without refrigeration. The smell? Well, let’s just say it’s an acquired taste! Our pond at the training center yielded more than five tons of fish, and provided a great recreational time for the kids during Cambodian New Year. We have a group of girls about 10 years old. They perform on the children’s dance team and it brings tears to your eyes to observe their angelic composure, but when fishing? You’d never believe they are the same kids. Take a look! http://www.missionreports.com/catch_fish
Gotta drag out the old ‘soap box’ AGAIN! Grooooooan! Up we go! “The old mission’s debate on “Dependency” has emerged once more. To me it’s like preaching “protectionism” in regard to foreign trade. No one likes to see jobs lost, but the answer is not in banning imports. Likewise, few missionaries want to see free rice given out to entice locals to come to church, or pastors purchased by other organizations for larger salaries but, the answer is not in banning all aid given in the name of Christ. Before World War Two, Indonesia and Lebanon both had larger and more influential Christian representation in their populations than at the present time. As economic and social woes plagued these countries the church failed meet the need; Muslim nations moved in with economic and social support and today both countries are majority Muslim. I honestly feel the only fruitful path forward is through holistic ministry. People have material, social and spiritual needs. My honest opinion is that any ministry that ignores this fact, and concentrates only on the “Spiritual’, is headed for fruitless frustration. Caring for orphans, widows and the poor is not a Christian option (Jas 1:27). We have brought in several containers of food aid this month. http://www.missionreports.com/muscle_milk_apr09 ‘Food for work Programs’ are a successful way to build infrastructure, help the impoverished help themselves, and teach a trade, but it takes rice. http://www.missionreports.com/rice_apr09 We can sit and cry about dependency, but in my mind, it is more an excuse to do nothing than a valid argument against the abuses, and there certainly are abuses. But, micro-enterprises do need a helping hand to get a kick-start. Our rice production, and the self-sustaining “tractor factory” are examples: http://www.missionreports.com/new_arrival_apr09 Sure, we could ignore the calls for help, or just run around with $100 bills dripping out of our pockets, recklessly corrupting a fruitful church, like a lot of well intentioned foreigners. Both extremes are wrong. Let’s not throw the baby out with the bathwater! Even the most fervent humanist will not object to the church assisting poor nations become less dependent on fossil fuels. http://www.missionreports.com/solar_system_trapang . Orphans and separated children, widows, the sick, hungry, and displaced have always been a focus of the church (Gal 2:10 & Jas 2:14-26). Unless we want to write off the world to Islam we had better stay focused on doing missions right instead of pulling our heads in like a frightened turtle, and doing nothing! We feed kids, build church buildings (which are paid back by the congregations), assist the poor in finding a means to provide a living, and make no apologies!” http://www.missionreports.com/bicycle_food/index.html . Ok! Enough of this Ted! Quit Pontificating! Do you want to lose all your readers? Bone head!
Hey! We have spiritual grandchildren on the teaching circuit! Four of our orphans, who have entered ministry, have risen to the top and are training other pastors. I couldn’t be happier for them, or more proud of the produce from our system of church/homes. They have been traveling with Peter, our President, and Long Khit, our General Supervisor, from province to province. The purpose is to follow-up on the teaching at this year’s annual meeting on the power of ‘Spirit Filled’ ministry. The results have been, well what did you expect? Powerful! http://www.missionreports.com/teaching_around_cambodia_apr09 Not to be outclassed, the women have taken on a mandate to see the local church rise above being dependent on the district leadership for the demonstration of Spiritual power. Again, the results? Powerful! http://www.missionreports.com/women_ministry_pursat
Demonstrating servant leadership, bringing significance into the lives of orphans who feel they are at the bottom of the “food chain”, doing a good deed in the name of Jesus, and creating ambassadors for the work of God in Cambodia are the primary reasons we bring in teams for short term work assignments. It’s not the free labor that is the benefit. When you are a discarded orphan, feeling the rejection of your society because you are considered cursed; a visit from people from thousands of miles away gives you a great boost of self esteem. Pastors who have a leadership model that says, “Leaders don’t serve, and servants don’t lead” (All Cambodians start there) see “rich” foreigners working their fingers raw to help them. They grasp the picture, “I can do that!” And skeptical “watchers”, observing those “Christians”, see the love of Christ being demonstrated in a practical way and think, “I’d like to be in a group like that!” Its ‘win-win’ all around. Joyce and George Butron brought a group of students from the Christian School in Singapore and painted two church/homes in a week. http://www.missionreports.com/singapore_youth_team It so inspired our District Supervisors that they set out to paint four more.
Cambodian New Year takes a good week out of the calendar, and I’ve owed Benjamin Mondal in Bangladesh a visit for years. He described some pressing needs he had at the Bar-One meeting in Bangkok , (sponsored by FMI) and I didn’t know what to do. I’ve been gone so much, and I had some teaching I really needed to unleash on the Cambodian church. I asked Bob and Christal Hollandsworth to go for me. They went, and it was a very busy 10 days! http://www.missionreports.com/bangladesh_visiting/index.html Thanks guys! Pray for Bangladesh .
We’d been so encouraged by the Bar-One Ministries meetings in Bangkok I asked Beth Barone (founder) to come see Cambodia . She came on a one day whirlwind visit. It was a big success because it resulted in Cambodia becoming a hub for Bar-One. We plan on training our pastors, but beginning with the children. A big obstacle to Christianity in Cambodia is the Buddhist belief in performance based judgment; “Your next life will be determined by performance in this life”. When Christians have presented a law based, “Thou shalt not (add your favorite sin)”, concept of “Jesus came to save you from your sins” theology, it has often been seen as simply another performance based alternative religion. Beth has opened a new window on the mission of Christ, the simple fact that God loves us so much He refuses to let us perish and wants us reunited with Him, and each other. This teaching allows us to see Christ as the humble servant who came to restore fellowship and bring us out of the deceptions of a selfish, prideful, and rebellious world. The teaching is so compelling to Cambodians, who feel entrapped by a performance level that they feel incapable of achieving, that Jesus is eagerly received as a Savior. He is not only seen as Redeemer and Friend, but the One who empowers us with His Spirit to break out of the deceptions of a corrupted world. Sounds good huh?
We’re still optimistic despite the rats!
Have a blessed May!
Pa Thom (Me, Ted)
And those still do’in all the work,
The Cambodian FCOP Team,
Ma Sou,
Josh and Michelle Ferguson
Kris Warner
Bob and Christal Hollandsworth
