News & Press – Page 10 – FCOP International

June 5, 2015

Thany’s Wedding

And, Cambodian “Elvis” That’s Thany, the head of our “Young Lions”, got married! It was a big event for us. Thany saved money for nearly two years to pull it off, and most of our staff were on hand for the big event down at the coastal town of Kampot. We wish him a long and happy marriage.

June 5, 2015

Mak and Pa Become Doctors

Through this all, Mak Sou and I became “Doctors of Divinity” in a special presentation at the graduation ceremony of Life Pacific College. Dr. Jim J. Adams presented the degrees along with Dr. Glenn Burris, Dr. Jim Scott, Dr. Remi Lawanson, and Dr. Sam Rockwell. This is a great honor and it is the first time this degree has been given to a missionary in around 40 years. We pray we prove worthy of it. Thank you to all!

June 5, 2015

Teams

The teams keep us afloat. There is no way to say this without sounding patronizing. Tim Wimberly led a team from Living Water Church and refurbished Sna Songkream Church Home. They left the place with a new lease on life. With the national operating license still being contested by powerful enemies, we need your prayers for the abandoned kids, as well as the orphans! Keep those teams coming. We had a couple of local teams repaint the small church at the Center and rebuild the Church Home at Toul Sokrom in Sway Rieng Province. The most important thing teams do …

April 30, 2015

Happy Khmer New Year

The Khmer (Cambodian) new year is on April 14th, and traditionally, it is a time of honoring your elders, confession, repentance, and cleansing, which fit very well into a Christian context as well. Some may accuse us of cultural piracy but confession is good for the soul. Even though Cambodians see it as a Cambodian holiday, we know the originator of practicing honor to elders, confession, repentance, etc. extends far beyond any culture. That’s why we’re more than happy to participate in a Christian context.

April 30, 2015

I Thought The Cows Were Talking

My name is Sandok and in 1996 my father was a Khmer Rouge Commander, and he had a herd of about 30 cows. Our area in Southern Pursat Province was experiencing drought so, my father sent me to take the cattle about 30 kilometers north to the east of the city of Pursat where there was grass. I arrived and set up camp along highway 5. A pastor was traveling to Pursat and it was late so He asked if he could stay with me since I had a fire. He shared Christ with me and I was empty because …

April 2, 2015

Two Teams Two Countries

FCOP never grows tired of teams coming to help! Sam Tolle may grow weary from the load, but we are all refreshed by the benefits! We had two great groups from Canada and Singapore in March. Life Design Church of Vancouver, Canada, came, built a fence and performed various repairs on the Church Home in Pum Prasat. Then 43 students and staff from the International Community School of Singapore constructed a new fence at the Phsa Chas Church Home. Fences are a major consideration in the ability of FCOP to obtain licensing from the Cambodian government. More than anything else, these teams …

April 2, 2015

What Happened?

What went wrong? When I was in Laos in 1968, my job was to convince Laotian rice farmers to develop irrigation cooperatives, so that they could raise two crops of rice per year instead of one. Our great motivator was “Materialism” and, it seems, we became effective evangelists, but it wasn’t always easy. “Just think! You can use that extra crop to buy a new Honda ‘90 motorbike,” we’d say, with great enthusiasm. What came back were often blank stares. “What’s wrong with you,” we’d ask. “Well, to be honest, we’d rather go fishing,” came the reply. It was total …

April 2, 2015

Rice Farm

FCOP never says “Whoa” in a pull. It’s time to plant a new rice crop in a new year. We are working hard to build fertility, plant better varieties, improve water control, and level land. It takes time and money. We don’t have enough of either, but money is in the shortest supply. We do what we can with 40-50 year old equipment. If you have some help to give we could sure use it. Thank you very much!

April 2, 2015

Tractor Fixing

When they get rebuilt by our trained mechanics and their apprentices, our 40 to 50 year old tractors and equipment work pretty well. The heavy equipment mechanics and trainees are busy preparing eight old tractors for the farmers in Cambodia as I write this. Pray we can place every one for the maximum good!

April 2, 2015

Orphan Wedding

There were weddings that we could have attended, virtually several times each week, last month. Orphans marrying orphans, and their marriages seem to last pretty well. The good thing is that they do have the FCOP family to support them. But can I support the weddings? Poor Pa and Mak Thom (Ted and Sou)! Once again, I have too much to say, but we have a lot going on. There is a spiritual war going on for the soul of Cambodia. Please pray of us often. Christ is the answer, but the devilish forces of humanism will not just roll over …

April 2, 2015

Where Can I Go for Help?

Dany’s story is all too common. In 2013 Dany was a crippled girl with two healthy siblings in a poor family in rural Steung Treng. Her father died when she was young and her mother re-married twice. As an infant she learned to walk late and was slower and weaker than other kids her age. Though she and her family did not know it, she had tuberculosis of the bones. Even though she had trouble walking normally, she desperately wanted to be like a normal kid. With a mindset of “mind over matter” she determined to climb a …

March 3, 2015

Pig Farm

The Bible tells us that Jesus, “Made Himself of no reputation…” Well, up until now I’ve been content to be a “pig farmer” who became the “Forrest Gump” of missionaries. These are my terms, and I own them honestly. I may have overstated the “pig farmer”, as what most people immediately envision, is a guy in bib overalls and hip boots, with a bucket of slop in his arms, knee deep in “you know what”. It’s not that I’ve never done that, I’ve done much worse, but the photo above is my “pig farm” in 1979, that’s 36 years ago! …