Dear
Friends and family,
I’ve
been shot at and hit, rocketed and missed, car wrecked,
set up for ambush, motorcycle wrecked, broken more bones
than I care to remember, run over by a tractor, plane
crashed, thrown by a bull, bit by a jackass, had a price
put on my head, kicked by a horse, gored by a cow, hit by
a boat, darn near drowned, sprayed by agent orange, run
over by pigs, spit on, cursed at by the best, been in bar
fights, survived fires, construction accidents, sprayed in
the face by anhydrous ammonia, had meningitis, malaria,
and a busted gall bladder, (maybe I should change my name
to “Lucky”?) but somehow, (that’s just the easy to
remember stuff) I’m still here. Now, after nearly 60 years
of that, this is an amazing devil cheating string of
blessing! I should’ve been dead at least a dozen times.
God has to have a reason for my being here.
I taught
our 123 trainers of leaders on the importance of “Church”.
You’ve all heard some version of, “God first, family
second, church third”, right? Well, it’s a lie! One, you
can’t separate God and His church, and two: Jesus made it
very clear that the Church was more important than
property, family and your life. Now, I’m not talking about
leaving your wife and kids to attend five services per
week. I’m talking about establishing his church in the
nations of the world. I pray a dangerous prayer, “God,
please kill me before I ever do anything to harm your
Church.” I told the pastors this and added, “I would
gladly give my life. You could shoot me, hang me, chop me
up and feed me to the pigs, if it would bring Cambodia to
Christ.” They knew I meant it and it brought the entire
group to their knees. We finished the session in prayer.
Now,
‘getting dead’ is not my highest ambition in life but, it
is certainly not my greatest fear. One poor Cambodian
woman died from a malaria treatment. She came to Christ
just a day before her death. The family couldn’t afford
the Buddhist cremation, so the church buried her. Now the
whole family is seeking Christ.
http://www.missionreports.com/chomkate_funeral Life
for many through the death of one. Kind’a like Jesus isn’t
it?
We do a
lot to promote and celebrate life. We have been known as,
“The Church that cares for children” but are now being
dubbed, “The Church that cares for people” We send out
medical teams on a frequent basis, usually with some
foreign doctors. We had a great team come from Horizons
Church near Bridgeport , WV .
http://www.missionreports.com/horizon_medical_aug06
They were literally overrun by demand when the pastor
forgot to lock the gate one morning. In excess of 1500
people were treated and some doctors were so thrilled by
the overwhelming response that they are planning a return
visit, and a nurse practitioner is considering becoming
our next medical director. Our challenge is, we can never
supply enough teams, so this month, with problems in one
of our Church/homes, our local guys went with medicines
funded by a church from Hong Kong .
http://www.missionreports.com/churchmembers_medicaltreatment
Remember my comment about the old saying, “Feed a man a
fish and you give him a meal. Teach a man to fish and you
feed him for life.”?? I said it’s not really true, because
what happens when the rivers are fished out? So, we
decided to train specific Supervisors to teach church
members to raise fish.
http://www.missionreports.com/fishseedproduction Poor
Peter, our national church president, I must have told him
at least six times that, “I don’t want these guys just
raising fish, I want them raising fish to be fishers of
men!” Finally, with a note of frustration in his voice, he
said, “Pa, I get it!” He got it so well he preached them a
40 minute sermon on that very thing when they returned
from training.
We did a
lot of investing in people this past month. One of the
Foursquare Foundation grants was to fund music training,
and although the grant expired the demand didn’t. It is
school vacation time, and many young orphan children had a
passion to learn music, advanced English, and some
computer skills for their local congregations. After
lobbying me into submission, Peter opened training for 25
children, almost 80 showed up. What to do? Pray the
Foundation has mercy and funds us another year, otherwise
send money for guitars and keyboards.
http://www.missionreports.com/music_training2006/index0002.htm
Our
budding mechanics, graduates of the Don Bosco Training
program, and some of our own trainees, needed a place to
work out of the rain to prepare for a future in the
“Tractor Factory” and keeping our ancient fleet in motion.
We didn’t have any money to build, but finally offered to
buy materials if they put up their own facility. Kids of
all ages got involved in their construction project and
did a pretty god job. Maybe they should become
contractors??
http://www.missionreports.com/garage_progress
I know
our construction teams would love their help. This month
two teams learned to work in the mud. Fences may seem like
a small matter, but with wandering water buffalos they
cannot be flimsy, and they are expensive to do right.
http://www.missionreports.com/koinonia_jul06 Koinonia
Christian Fellowship of Hanford, California did yeomen’s
work under some sloppy conditions. Then we had a home in
Battambong which had a cafeteria building that became food
for termites rather than serve orphans. It literally fell
down. Thanks to Cornerstone Church in Anaheim , CA there
is a new, termite proof, facility serving meals to the
kids.
http://www.missionreports.com/cornerstone_aug06
Ma Sou
noticed that a lot of the homes lacked a systematic method
of training young women in personal hygiene, so she put on
the first specific training program complete with some
spiritual nutrition as well. The girls were so grateful
they are begging to make it a regular feature.
http://www.missionreports.com/personal_hygiene
I went
to California to enroll Hannah in Biola U. Somehow, while
I was 36,000 feet over the Pacific, they revoked her Pell
Grant. Don’t ask me why. I can’t explain it (Something
about being overseas & not paying US income tax). Anyway,
at $30,000 per year, her tuition would have exceeded my
income by 50%. BIOLA was out. Fortunately, LIFE Pacific U.
came through at 1/3 the price, and she is a happy
freshman. I was bummed for a bit, but now believe an angel
messed up our financial aid.
Then,
once in a while, you’ve just got to have some fun. The
police outlawed kite flying in Phnom Penh several years
ago. Why? Who knows? But, they finally relented and the
kites began to flourish. The orphan kids were awed so, Ma
made a few purchases, and they really did have a fun day!
http://www.missionreports.com/kiteflying
And that
is a good place to stop. Have a great month!
Blessings!
Ted &
Sou Olbrich,
Anna
Blake (with visiting sister Autumn)
Jamie
Gonzolles
