Although we are happy to have made it through 2022, we have ended up on a joyful note with school uniforms and a new facility being dedicated in Siem Reap. The fact is inflation has really put a strain on the sustainability of feeding 3,000 mouths three times per day and all that goes with it. If you have some year end giving in your budget, FCOP would sure be a great place for it.   

Seven large diesel pumps were running night and day, consuming $1,000USD of fuel every day. We must build the reservoir, but until we do, we are dependent upon the rivers. Unfortunately, the Chinese dams are blocking water flow. What started as a wet spring turned into a dry summer and our rice was thirsty. We built three more large 16″ pumps. Rains around Cambodia were very spotty this year, with some localities experiencing flooding and others drought. Thanks to the generosity of so many, we were able to feed our rice! We have the fertilizer.  

No one knows the value of a road until they are broken. When I was a young “volunteer” in rural Laos in1968, my mandate was “Teach them how to grow two crops of rice instead of one”. I soon learned that growing the rice was the easy part. What to do with it after you’d grown it was the real problem. You can only eat so much rice.  Roads are step one. Step two, “Market Access” is more difficult. Rice is consumed all over the world. That’s why free trade is so important! I’m ready for step two.  

Since 1998, our goal and mission has remained the same; to establish and expand the Kingdom of God in Cambodia. All throughout the country, FCOP churches are seeing signs, wonders and miracles, the oppressed set free, and lives forever changed.  The Cambodian Foursquare Church has seen entire regions, where great percentages of the population have come to know Christ, through the demonstration of God’s power in signs wonders and miracles. FCOP pastors are often walking on foot through jungles, ferrying motorcycles over flooded rivers and washed out roads, and even sleeping in open fields just to share the Gospel with …  

Bob and Christal Hollandsworth have served faithfully with FCOP for 15 years. They went back to the US in February 2020 and just returned this November. They never intended to stay away that long but got stuck in the Covid-19 lockdowns. They returned just in time for the first container we’ve imported from the US in over two years arrived. We were sent 8,250 gallons of good quality exterior paint. This is a gift easily worth $100,000 US dollars. We have an assortment of colors that run through yellow, blue, pink, gray, brown and green. Bob and Christal arrived in …  

We have received more rain in November than we did in either June, July or August, and those are supposed to be ‘Rainy Season’ months. November is traditionally the first ‘Dry Season’ month, but it has been wet. Unusual weather has been a pattern all over the world! FCOP lost most of our first crop to drought, then the replanting (second crop) was lost to excessive rains in September and October. In total FCOP harvested only about 20% of our crops. Finances have been extremely tight. So, we could not buy our usual, very expensive, foundation seed. Instead, Paul Mok went through …  

Pa Thom, Theodore Craig Olbrich, turned 76 on October 10th. Theodore was not his mother’s choice for his name but, it was God’s. His mother always told him it was a mistake; however, his first gift was a “Teddy Bear” and that meant that he was named after President Theodore Roosevelt, of the “Rough Riders” fame. Pa Thom hates big celebrations in his honor and so he swore the two guys in the office who knew about his birthday into strict secrecy.  Pa Thom had a plan. Theodore means, “Gift of God”; Craig means, “Rock”. When Theodore’s get an idea in their heads, it is …  

With 3,000 mouths to be fed three times per day, you can’t just take a few weeks off when the funds run short. FCOP often sees the brochures of those ministries that claim they feed children. That’s easy! Show up when they have some food, sponsor a meal, take some pictures, and claim bragging rights. The problem is, it works great as a fundraiser, and most donors don’t think about the difference between a ministry like that and feeding 3,000 people, 3 times per day, 365 days per year. One thing all Cambodian’s agree on is that a meal means …