Thanksgiving Miracle
Geezers do dream. Acts 2:17b is true!
We have much to be thankful for! I learned a big lesson this month; about trusting God. It was truly miraculous and humbling!
I feel a little like the starving tiger that got so focused on the flea in his fur that he didn’t even see the water buffalo calf walk by, so he went on being hungry. Make no mistake; our focus is on building the Kingdom of God in Cambodia! But, this work of caring for the orphans, widows and separated children of Cambodia has got to become less dependent upon the rest of the world. Our main focus is really on building the Kingdom of God one soul at a time, so I can understand if you’ve been a little confused by my obsession with the rice crop in the past few updates. It’s just that the 3000 kids and widows depend upon that crop for food, and I feel a little responsible for the two crops that died of drought. I am anxiously awaiting the harvest of our third crop & it looks encouraging. Bottom line is that I really needed to remember that these are God’s kids, and He does provide for His family. I’ve learned my lesson. AGAIN! Allow me to explain:
We are broke virtually at the end of every month, so I am used to this. November though, was hard on my faith. We were greatly blessed late October with a sizable gift from gift from Foursquare, which paid off much of our debt, but I was still about $100,000 short of being rid of short-term obligations, and there were still huge needs to take care of with uncompleted rice farm projects, and intermediate debt.
Normally, we are supposed to pay our staff, and the basic home support, at the beginning of each month. It generally requires about $85,000 US. On Tue, the 5th of November, Sou and I had $1.50 US to our name. My vehicle was out of fuel, and I couldn’t buy gas, none of the orphan support or staff salaries had been paid, and we were out of rice! It was a low day. It was time for my “Update” to be sent, and I did not want to be negative, or sound faithless, I didn’t know what to say. Sou and I got on our knees and prayed in the Spirit for about an hour (we honestly did not know what to pray for in the natural).
Now, the night of Nov. 5th in the US is morning Nov. 6th in Cambodia. Sonny Weimer, our FCOPI Board President (Old Guy) had a dream and sent me an email. I want you to read it:
Teddy, (Nobody calls me “Teddy” and lives, except Sonny & Bill Norton)
Do you remember when I told you about the dreams I’ve been having for two years? We have great battles, but are always winning at the end of the day. On the morning of the 5th of November it was like the same dream, but all of the sudden, supernaturally, I was raised up out of the gutter and put on a road that was endless and totally clear. I don’t realize what will happen, but I know a great breakthrough is coming. To the glory of Jesus we are on that road!
Bless You and Sou!
Sonny
Then I received this email on Nov. 7th from a couple, whom I’d met and talked with but didn’t know well. They wish to remain anonymous. It is compressed and edited a bit for brevity.
Dear Ted & Sou
We had hoped to give this larger gift with the most recent Union Church special offering regarding the rice crop failure this past September. However, the resources just were not available to us at that time.
Those funds have recently become available to us, and on Tuesday, a few hours before you sent out the most recent newsletter, we transferred an amount of $415,000 US through Union Church.
I had actually written you on Tuesday night a similar email before heading to bed, but just as I was ready to hit “send”, the email was completely lost, not even saved in the draft mode. I was not able to spend the time yesterday to re-write you and say all that I wanted to say, thereby sending it today, Nov7th. Perhaps there was a reason for the message failing to go out on Tuesday, I don’t know.
The intention of the gift was to make great strides in building of the reservoirs and finishing the cement-drying platform (or runway!), and possibly adding acreage to the rice farm. That is still our desire for much of the funds to be used for that purpose. However, we realize there are many needs put upon FCOPI by outside groups such as the UN and the government in providing various services to the orphans. Some of that may be high priority to keep on functioning, so we would not want to tie the hands of FCOPI to just say all the funds MUST be used for the rice farm…
God truly is good!
