Holistic Health – Page 5 – FCOP International

November 30, 2021

The Big Chill

I received a special notice from both the Cambodian Department of Meteorology and the weather service I subscribe to for the rice farm that a severe cold spell is expected in Cambodia from mid December through mid January. In some rural areas, temperatures are expected to hit the high 40’s F and that’s only about 9 degrees C! FCOP staff went into emergency mode and purchased three truckloads full of jackets and hooded sweatshirts so that every one of the children and staff at our 106 Church Refuge Centers have warm clothing. We are still packing bags as I write …

November 1, 2021

Restoring Health

September and October were very hard months as many of our kids and staff were attacked with various illnesses. We’re thankful for the medical clinic at our FCOP Training Center that allows us to provide proper medical care through having our own pharmacy, doctor, and nurse. Over a span of six weeks, we treated multiple cases of Dengue Fever and other diseases. We even transported several kids from Kampong Thom province to the clinic so that we could care for them. At one point, we had 12 patients receiving around the clock care which kept Dr. Lina, Khemrin, and Shanon …

September 27, 2021

Love, Life and Death in Cambodia!

At 11:30pm on Sat, August, 3rd, our phone started ringing. It was district supervisor Savang from Siem Reap province calling to ask for urgent prayer for her sister Pastor Savee from Phadau Penh in Kampong Speu province. Pastor Savee is seriously overweight and had been taken by ambulance to the Russian Friendship Hospital in Phnom Penh with a severe case of COVID-19 delta variant. The doctors examined her and told her family there was nothing they could do. Her lungs were completely shot and she should go home to die. The hospital agreed to let her sleep on a cot …

September 27, 2021

9/11/2001 Saved My Life

I will hit 75 in a couple of weeks having spent 23 years in Cambodia, surviving 2 direct assassination attempts, betrayal from two national leaders, and this past week, God exposed a plot by two active district supervisors and our past Cambodian Foursquare president to kill Paul Mok and steal our rice land. Two of our faithful district supervisors were martyred in the past six years; one directly across from the mosque attended by those that attempted to kill me 20 years ago. A few days before 9/11/01, I was notified by a colonel in the Ministry of Foreign …

September 27, 2021

Healthiest Sick Looking Guy I’ve Ever Seen

In 1988, I was pastoring a small congregation in Woodstock, Illinois. Our church had started to grow, but we had a serious problem and only local talent that volunteered to lead worship. The guy that led it was an airline pilot so he was gone half the time. We were inconsistent in the quality of our worship and we all knew it.There was a group that we brought in from time to time called, “The Song Writers”. They fought to survive by trying to exist on small offerings from mostly rural churches, but it was ‘slow death’! They went on …

September 27, 2021

Preach the Word! In Season and Out of Season

Every child in Sunday School grows up hearing the story from Acts 16 about Paul and Silas praising God while in a prison cell. Well, some of our Cambodian pastors had a similar experience. Pastor Savang and other leaders from Siem Reap province were rounded up and placed in a COVID quarantine center filled with several hundred other people suspected of having the virus due to an elder in their church testing positive. Rather than spending her days complaining about the conditions in which she found herself, Savang began to pray. The Holy Spirit led her to pray for those …

July 30, 2021

Good Fruit

In these pictures, former FCOP administrative worker, Chomrong, is helping meet the needs of some local children in the small rural village where he lives. Chomrong worked for FCOP’s administrative office for over 10 years, in which time he married, learned valuable trade skills and is now starting to plow a path of being his own business owner. This is one of thousands of examples of how FCOP’s work the last 21 years has always looked towards sustainability models and practices to be situated for the future, as best as possible. This is why, from almost day one, church services …

July 30, 2021

Roots

At least two serious attempts have been made to write a book about the FCOP Ministry in Cambodia. The first was in 2008 and for some reason stopped at about 120 pages. The author came to me one day and simply said, “You need to write this book”. Mary Ann Lind is her name and she did a good job of capturing the first three years. I’ve never shared any of this before, except for the end story, and edited it down to the bare essence of about two pages to answer a central question. “Why have you been so …

July 30, 2021

Current Challenges

Along with every nation in the world, Cambodia continues to battle against the effects of COVID-19; from shuttered businesses to nation wide lockdowns, mask mandates and no travel zones. During this difficult time, FCOP isn’t only meeting spiritual needs but also the physical by ensuring the health and safety of those in our care. As I write this, two of our refuge centers have been directly affected by COVID-19. Because of contact tracing results, both the Siem Reap and Tumnup refuge centers have been put under 14-day quarantine. We have found that the biggest enemy is and always has been …

June 30, 2021

Paul Mok’s Comeback Story

No sooner had I sent out the update last month than on the night of May 31st our rice farm manager, Paul Mok, suffered a stroke. His blood pressure spiked to 230. He was given medication to lower the pressure to 165 and transported to a Phnom Penh hospital for treatment. Paul has had a miraculous recovery and returned to the farm on June 10th. He continues to improve but has so much “catch up” work to do it is hard to talk with him. He says his walking, “Is about normal except that I feel a little ‘drunk’ when …

March 31, 2021

Church Improvements

As Cambodia continues to deal with the effects of it’s first major outbreak of COVID-19, dubbed the “February 20th Incident”, churches (along with many other institutions) are prohibited from meeting. So, as activities are significantly restricted, some of our staff with extra time took it upon themselves to make improvements at our Phnom Penh church refuge center. When FCOP purchased the land nearly 22 years ago for our church refuge center in the capital of Cambodia, we did it in an area where the prices were dirt cheap and we could get the size of land we had a vision …

March 31, 2021

Manna Pack

Feed My Starving Children has come through again as FCOP received a much needed delivery of Manna Pack. As the price of rice continues to be too expensive to purchase at the Cambodian market for all of the children and staff in our care, we are grateful to those who continue to send much needed resources. The process of getting it imported into Cambodia and delivered out to the different provinces has a number of added steps during this COVID-19 time, but it’s worth the work. Without fail, many of our staff and children, when recounting their past before and …