Sick Kids

I had made an appointment for Sophal (Paul), one of the orphans, to see the doctor today. He's been running a fever since last night, coughing, and throwing up. Now another one of the boys is sick. This time it's Sovanndara (Jacob), who is pictured above. He's got red spots on his chest and his face is all swollen and red. I'm not trying to be funny, but he looks like an elephant. We called the doctor and asked them if we could bring BOTH boys in and they said no. Cindy took them both anyway. We'll see what happens.

Update: The doctor took one look at Jacob and said, "Yes, bring him back!" Cindy's persistence paid off. Jacob has had an allergic reaction to Tylenol given to him for a fever. Paul has the flu and a cold. They are both on medication now. Pray for our health and for the health of our children.

Meanwhile, Back At The Ranch...

It is a relief to be back in Cambodia after two weeks in Texas! Through the sacrifices of the Lord's people here in Cambodia, I was able to return to see my grandma again before she went home to be with the Lord. Our poor saints here in Cambodia gathered together an offering, a true sacrifice, in order that I might visit with her before she graduated on to Heaven. The Bible says that "all things work together for good," and while I was there, grandma passed away in her sleep at the age of 91. I was able to be there to help my mom and visit with her, family, and friends.

Things went well in my absence here. A young couple is joining the church. Pray for Pilot and Seila and their little boy. They are a good Christian couple and eager to serve the Lord in our church. He is praying about starting a small sewing business, sort of a mini-garment factory, and hire some of the young men and ladies in the church who are looking for work. Pray about this project. I want to try to help him do this because so many here have no jobs. It would be a blessing to the church to have more members working and able to contribute to the furtherance of the gospel. He needs to buy 20 sewing machines at $60 each. He would then hire 20 of the church members to work in the factory.

Construction has stopped on the new church building until we are able to acquire the rest of the funds needed to complete the project. We are still several thousand dollars short of being able to finish the building.

One more thing...I have changed the settings on the blog site now. I didn't know, until today, that you were required to have an account in order to post your comments. I have changed that and so feel free to send us a message. Also, to prevent spam comments, I have installed a "word verification" test on the comment page. That will cut down on spam. An actual person will have to type in the word in order to comment.

September 11 Anniversary

Today is September 11. It was 4 years ago that Islamic terrorists attacked our country. May we never forget.

My Grandma Closer to Heaven

My mom contacted me from Texas and told me that my grandma is sick and in critical condition. The doctors say that she won't last another week in this "vale of tears." This world is not our home, we're just a-passin' through. Our treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue. I am leaving in the morning from Cambodia, headed to Texas for about two weeks. Please pray for our family during this time. I was very close to my grandma. She has both Alzheimers and Parkinsons disease. She has an infection spreading through her bloodstream now and is nearing Heaven's Door.

Thanks for all your prayers. I will use my mom's computer to check email from time to time.

Hurricane Katrina And The Aftermath

The horrible sights of the situation on the ground in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama, are sad. It's sad to see old people dying in their wheelchairs and no loved ones nearby. It's sad to hear of people being murdered. It sickens me to hear of girls and women being raped and killed. When people help themselves to food and basic necessities for survival purpose, I hesitate to point a finger. But who ever needed a DVD player, 10 pairs of Nikes, a flat screen TV, and an iPod to survive?

I hope that these souls will look to God and to God's Book, the Holy Bible. I hope that there will be preachers who know the Book and will be there to show them the gospel. Instead of pointing fingers of blame and injecting politics into this, I suggest that we pray for the President, Mayor Nagin, Governor Blanco, General Honore, Governor Barbour, and all those in leadership.

People are asking a lot of questions about why it took so long to get help into these places. I'm not going to try to answer that because I don't know the answer. But I am also not going to take the bait from rabid reverends telling us that it's all about race. I don't believe that. That's race politics. America is the most generous contributor to aid projects all around the world. Most of the recipients of U.S. aid are not white people. Communications, or lack of it, is one very important factor that has made a bad situation worse. People cannot call the authorities and inform them of their whereabouts when the communication system is down. When streets are flooded, that limits mobility. I'm going to give our leaders the benefit of the doubt. Remember what the Bible says, "Every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment." (Matthew 12:36)