The National leaders of all the SE Asian Foursquare Churches met in Phnom Penh at the end of July. They came to encourage and be encouraged. Some of them, really all of them, face huge obstacles and opposition. It was a powerful time where prophecies came forth and spiritual bondages were broken. They (We) all needed this! It was funded by the Global Council and it was money well spent.  

I know of no other religion in the world that is as closely linked to music as is the Christian faith. We can do classical hymns or modern dance and it always thrills the visitors. Music in Cambodia is so highly valued that I am a bit mystified as to why it isn’t practiced more in other faiths. It has been such a draw for non-believers in Christ that some other religions tried to adapt music into their religious practice. It didn’t work! It does make you wonder if true music does come from God? It seems to be the case …  

It made me cry. Sure, it was “Father’s Day” and hundreds of my kids were saying “Thank You” but that just made me happy. What got to me was seeing one of our kids, who is the top student in her high school class, the class president, and also president of the student council, dancing on Sundayplaying the part of Eve singing to her husband, Adam, played by Mattai. Mattai is a 27 year old down syndrome young man who has been in our care for 18 years. They were doing a musical skit portraying the naming of the animals and …  

It’s got to be the most quoted “unquote” in the Bible: “God helps those who help themselves.” The only problem with it is that it is not in the Bible, but there is some validity to the words. It’s not that God needs our help, He just wants us to exercise our faith and take action, which is often a lot of hard work. It is like that with almost everything we do here. We want to see Cambodia come to Christ, but the work of training, meeting the social, economic and spiritual needs of those you are trying to …  

Our rice farm has put our faith through some tortuous times after two straight crop failures, a lot of farmers were afraid to plant until the rains came. Now, it is too wet. We are blessed with one of the best looking crops in Cambodia. Unfortunately, because our rice is so lush and green, all the pests love it. The fortunate rain we’ve received has led to a fungal disease called “rice blast”. We either treat it or lose a crop, so we treat it. The rats saw the best crop around so they moved in for lunch, we poisoned …  

Construction began on the Kakaoh church home in 1999, making it one of the first church homes built in Cambodia and the first one we built in the Kampong Thom Province. We’ve painted and repaired it at least four times but it was looking a little shabby. So, a group of youth volunteers from the Southwest District of US Foursquare churches, and our old friend and board member, Bonita Booth joined in and made it look like new, including a new roof. Great blessings on you all!  

Cambodians love music! Once a church group introduces instrumental worship it will expand rapidly. We took the training to Rattanakirri province this month and 25 churches will soon have instrumental music. We have instruments for only 13 at this time, and need to raise $750.00 to equip the rest of them.  

Dr. Mike Callan, Professor of Orthodontics, at the University of Iowa, and private practitioner in Clinton, Iowa has made 19 trips to Cambodia. He and his teams of dentists have seen every church home in Cambodia at least once and many twice. He usually travels under Medical Teams International but is a faithful member of the Clinton, Iowa Foursquare Church. He has usually been accompanied by Gary Houzenga, who also hails from Clinton. Dr. Mike serves on our FCOP Int’l Board of Directors and this visit treated children and staff  from 12 church homes, along with church and community members …