New Year at Balang

I just returned from a New Year/Christmas celebration in Balang, Cambodia. That is where we have our rice farm, rice mill, and a church orphan home. Balang has been a rather difficult place for the church to thrive. It should be no surprise to us when we look at all the hurt, corruption, and abuse of Christian principles that have taken place in the past ten years in that location.We had a time of prayer and repentance earlier this year and about 50 people showed up, mostly local farmers who had been involved in buying stolen seed and fertilizer. It was a good start. God put it in my heart to celebrate our harvest, bleak and difficult as it was, with the people of Balang for "Auld Lang Syne". As it turned out, we were not done with harvest until December and our rice milling did not begin until just before Christmas. New Years Day was the time.[nggallery id=1028]God gave me Isaiah 54:1-4 as a promise. The local pastor and our District Supervisor for that area set up the program. It was scheduled to begin at 9:00am. They told us to expect 500 people (that's about the entire population of the town). At 9:00am I looked around and there were maybe 50 people there.I thought, "What a bust! I've been here for 14 years and never overestimated a crowd. What happened?" At that moment our auto-volt control for the generator quit and it burned up the power supply for the keyboard. The computer on the keyboard stored all of our music, dance and drama material for the program. I looked at Sou and we clasped hands and started to pray. She said, "This might be God?" I just looked back wide eyed, hoping she was right! Fortunately, the guitars and PA system were still working so, we told the musicians, "Start singing and keep it up until we get this fixed!"It is a 1 & 1/2 hour round trip to the District Capital, Bantemeanchy. That was the closest place I knew of that sold keyboards. Off the guys went in a cloud of dust, when Sou remembered that we had a keyboard at one of our churches in town. Sure enough we couldn't buy a power supply, but, thanks to cell phones, they brought the one from the church. Thank God! It worked! The program started at 10:43am with more than 700 people in attendance. It is the only time I have ever seen an alter call  given where 100% of the people present responded. I've seen thousands born again in services, but never before everyone! Balang is alive and well!