Why is it that great victories come at a great cost? December 2013 was the most productive month in FCOP International’s 15 year history. We estimate that 50,000 have come to Christ this Christmas season. Nearly 6000 people came to Christ in one day at Cham Chao on Dec 22nd, many of them in their late teens or early twenties. Hundreds of other locations had proportional harvests with hundreds and thousands being connected to God at divisional and local churches. It is a sight to see, and this is just a glimpse of Christmas 2013 (Video). But it did not come without a price.

One of the cynical tenants of ‘Conventional Wisdom’ is that: “No good deed shall go unpunished.” There is an element of truth here but most people have no idea as to where it comes from, and just see it as an amusing comment. Jesus was clear about this: “’A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you…” (Jn 15:20). We had plenty of problems in December; a long time Divisional Superintendent died after a battle with cancer, despite our prayers. We had record cold temperatures with many sick.

Although the sun is shining, for most Cambodians the weather was almost unbearable as the coldest day in Cambodia in many years was this last December.