“Your Trails Suck”! What? My mouth fell open in unbelief. Here are about a dozen of our “Young Lions” leading worship at the Sunday service in our National Training Center, wearing their new shirts. Sou and I looked at each other with wide eyes of unbelief! The kids had no idea what the saying emblazoned on their shirts meant, but they liked the color! I’m thinking there are at least a dozen “Facebookers” out in the congregation of about 400, “I’m Toast!” Trying to figure out what to do?? I thought, “Could I delay the service and find different shirts?” …  

Honestly, FCOP has critics who think we “suck!” Are you Surprised?  Our reply is similar to what Nehemiah said when his detractors were trying to coax him out of building the wall around Jerusalem. “We’re doing a good work and we can’t come down”, (Neh. 6:3 sic). We’ve found ourselves doing the same thing. None of us at FCOP mean to sound arrogant or self-aggrandizing, but we just can’t allow ourselves to be distracted by so many meetings. We get invitations every few days for meetings and events, often several at the same time. I know people think we are self-centered, …  

Do you know what else, “Sucks”? Trying to grow rice without control of the water! Sometimes, I feel like I’m beating a dead horse! What spiritual good can come out of developing a rice farm? It’s just that every Cambodian eats rice at least twice daily, with 70% of the population involved with raising, milling, transporting or selling rice. It is the mainstay of the economy.  When I asked God how to build a church in Cambodia 18 years ago, He told me that people were triune; they had social, spiritual, and economic needs. Then He added, that if I …  

Rice is the economic key. It is the answer to sustaining the ministry to the orphaned and separated children. Not only raising rice to feed them, but to lift the entire economy. Last year FCOP raised almost half of our annual support in Cambodia, but to secure the work, we need to develop a rice farm that can serve as a model for development and provide for our kids. This needs to be done and I need some help! There is plenty of water to raise three crops per year in Cambodia. It’s just that it usually arrives from August through …  

Floods Suck! Floods in Cambodia don’t even make the local news, unless floods cause total devastation. Almost every October we deal with the aftermath of the damage they cause. Floods destroy paint, floor tile, roads, anything that gets caught on ground level, and are incubators for disease. We faced our problems with all of these maladies this past month. I know I’ve said this before, but please pray for us! I realize that we all face difficulties, so we pray for you every day!  

Hey! Let’s end this on a positive note! This did not “Suck!” It was great! October first the S.E. Asia Foursquare Church leaders met in Kula Lumpur, Malaysia.  The lessons were still rolling around in our delegates heads when the “Bi-annual” (that’s once every two years) meeting of the Eastern Council of Foursquare Churches began. In the past, we have often taken more than 100 representatives to these meetings. This year it was in Perth, Australia. With visa problems and cost, only four people were able to attend. Mak Sou and Naret (our National Administrator) and Tim and Dhana Wimberly …  

It’s been a very busy, and expensive month (I guess you could say, “that sucks!”), but in reality, it was very rewarding! There is absolutely no doubt in my mind we could not do this without you! In fact, if you have read this “Overview” this far you definitely deserve a free 16-month calendar and our annual “Overview”! Please answer my email below with your mailing address and we will send you one. We may temporarily allow our focus to drift to the things that “Suck!” (They’re of the Devil, and he definitely, “Sucks!”) But, God is always bigger than our …  

Doctor Lina is one of the happiest persons you’d ever want to meet. As the staff physician with FCOP, he serves as our “C.E.O.”  that’s “Chief Entertainment Officer”. He’s always got an infectious smile on his face, and loves to lead children in games, but most of all he loves to fish. You would never know the horror all that joy has washed away. Lina was a happy 6 years old in the Provincial Capitol of Khampong Thom, his father was a doctor and his mother a nurse. His mother had eight brothers and sisters and life was good.  That …