Ministry Expanding

I went out today and took this picture of the land next door to the church. As I have mentioned, the Lord has put the burden on our hearts to enlarge our ministry to the orphans and old folks. There are hundreds of thousands of hopeless orphans all around this country. The AIDS crisis here is killing so many parents and leaving behind so many orphans. We are taking in five more orphans next Tuesday, all from the same family. The mother and father are dying from AIDS-related diseases. Furthermore, so many are dying because of AIDS, that the land is filling up with elderly widows with no one to take care of them. If you could see the hopelessness we see every single day, it would break your heart.

We want to buy this land to house dozens of orphans and widows. We are calling it "Home of New Hope Cambodia." The price for the land is $12,000. We need to raise all of this as soon as possible. It is a good price. Once the land is purchased, we will begin building the Home of New Hope. Our Cambodian brothers and sisters are excited about this. Would you pray about helping us to get this land? We are praying that God will raise up these funds faster than we could ever ask or think.

Home of New Hope

Hey there everyone! There is a piece of land behind our church that we are considering buying. There are actually two pieces of land, one is $8,000 and the other is twice as much land and it's $12,000. The $12,000 plot is a better deal. Our church folks here in Cambodia desire to start what is called an NGO. It's a "Non-Government Organization." This is a good idea. It provides us with a good footing to continue here for a long, long time. No matter what governments come or go, this NGO status gives us better long range stability here. They have chosen the name "Home of New Hope." It is the desire of our Cambodian brothers and sisters to reach out to the orphans and widows. Home of New Hope is now looking to get a piece of land on which to build.

Please band together with us in prayer about this piece of land and funds to build a Home of New Hope for orphans and widows. The orphan and widow situation here in Cambodia is so desperate. Just this morning I went to the post office to get the mail and was met by two widows on the steps of the post office. Both of them looked sick and hungry. They were certainly in need of God. What happens in many cases is that their children, due to infidelity at home, wind up dying of HIV/AIDS-related causes and leave the elderly mother with absolutely no one to care for her. There is no retirement or social security here. If you are old, someone takes care of you or you die. It is heart-breaking.

Thank you for your prayers!

Not Enough Apples

It is said that "an apple a day keeps the doctor away." Obviously, we have not been eating enough apples! Cindy, Kayla, and myself have all been sick. Kayla has an ear infection in both ears. Cindy has asthma and bronchitis. I have had fever, headaches, dizziness, and an injury added on. I have very sore ribs on the left side from an injury sustained earlier in the week.

The Blessings of Christmas

Jesus said that it is more blessed to give than to receive. One of the greatest examples of that truth in everyday life is the joy that comes to a child when we give them something for Christmas. We had a wonderful Christmas party on Christmas Eve. We invited all the Manna Feeding Center children, their parents, brothers and sisters, grandparents, and other extended family. We had over a hundred come to the party. The children had a great time and the parents seemed to enjoy it as much as the children!

The following day was Christmas. We had two services on Sunday with a combined attendance of 266. 47 people trusted the Lord Jesus Christ as Saviour: 29 adults and 18 youths. One woman in our church, HIV positive, is now suffering the affects of AIDS. She told other AIDS-affected people about the love and compassion she found at our church and invited them to church. This past Sunday she brought five visitors to church. They said, "We know we will die, but we heard that you could offer us spiritual hope." So, the Lord opened the door to tell them about the Lord Jesus.

3 Days Until Christmas

Christmas greetings from Cambodia! The weather is actually quite cool and nice here, dipping into the high 60's now for overnight lows. For Cambodia, "it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!" We did get one Christmas "surprise" today. We took the van to the garage today for repairs. The front end is all messed up: shocks need replacing, tie rods, and clutch needs work. All in all, the damage is about $500.

We are gearing up for a big Christmas service this Sunday with a Christmas play and dinner after the service. We'd appreciate your prayers for our service on Christmas morning. We are expecting over 100 people for the service, Lord willing. We're giving out Christmas presents to the orphans and also to the poorer kids around the church. This is a great blessing to us! God uses this to open the hearts of the parents to listen to the gospel.

Please do continue to pray about helping with the many needs! We are still needing monthly support for the orphanage. We still lack about five thousand dollars to finish the church building. And, we are trying to raise funds to purchase two motorcycles. This is God's work and we trust that He will touch hearts to provide for every need.

We Need Motorcycles!

We just added a new link on the right, along with our other links. The new one is called "Needs." I can't remember how many times people have said, "If I only knew about a need, I could've helped with it." Missionaries ALWAYS have needs. We seem to always need another bicycle for a young church planter to use to go here and there. Our need for motorcycles became even more urgent tonight. The only one the church has is really on its last leg. It's really old, has reached its life expectancy, and we really need to replace it. Please have a look at our Needs page. Click on the link to the right where you see the other links. Thank you and God bless you!

What An Amazing Change!

This is one of our orphans. His name is Tut. But this picture was taken a little over a year ago. This picture was taken on his first day in the orphanage. He was sick. He was hungry. He was scared. Here is his story. Tut's mother died of HIV/AIDS-related illness. We are told that she may have been a prostitute. When she died, another woman with two sons took him in off the street. Soon after, this mother died also. Now three boys were left without a mother. There wasn't a father in any of these situations. So, with no one to care for them, they headed out into the streets of Phnom Penh. We learned of their plight as they trudged down the street in front of the church. Dragging burlap bags behind them, they scavenged the sides of the street for cans and bottles. This was their way of finding something of value to sell so that they would have something to eat that day. We began to talk to them and find out where they came from. Then we went to that area and began to ask around. We finally found an aged grandmother and some neighbors who knew them. We did the necessary paperwork and brought them into our care. Pray for these boys: Sut (the oldest), Pov, and Tut (pictured in this post).

Now, here's the change! Here is Tut in a photo taken yesterday. What an amazing change! To God be the glory!