Sunday, December 12, 2010
Friday, December 10, 2010
The Final Day
To say this was a productive trip would be an understatement. In terms of our medical clinics we have seen well over 2000 people. In terms of the prayer teams hundreds of decisions for Christ have been made.
But this trip also established relationships between us - the participants - and the people of Cambodia in general as well as new friendships with our fellow team members, and the staff of Transform Asia.
I have not provided a lot of discussion about our crew of interpreters and the TA drama team, but they have brought an incredible level of service to this trip. Without their help we Americans would not have been able to accomplish much at all.
This is the first medical missions team that has been accompanied by the TA drama team. These kids, all of whom are from the TA church in Battambang are an incredible bunch. They love the Lord. They are mature in their faith. They come from a diverse background of Cambodian culture. Some of them are from families that are poorer than poor, and one of them is the son of the Mayor of Battambang. They were trained last year in the production of the “7 Miracles of Christ” by a drama ministry team from Castro Valley - Neighborhood Church. They work hard and do a wonderful job. Their sound system is archaic and was probably discarded by some church in the states a long time ago, but it works - well sort of - and gets the job done. They have a simple set and bright colorful costumes. But most important, these young people have hearts that are large. They have adopted us as their family and have poured love into us at an unimaginable level. Cyndy has gotten to know some of them even though most of these kids do not speak a word of English.
As we head home Today I do not look forward to the long flights but I again return with a new sense of the awesome nature of our God and a renewed passion to bring the message of Christ to these folks. Unlike many nations, Cambodia has been one of those countries impacted the least in the latter 20th century by Christianity. War, adverse politics and a number of factors have contributed to this. But now the country is open to hearing the message of Christ. While we come to provide health care, at the end of the day, each of us knows that health care is temporary and the salvation message of Christ is eternal. There are certainly challenges in both providing health care and the message of Christ. I look forward to contributing to meeting those challenges and overcoming obstacles in the future when we return.
To say this was a productive trip would be an understatement. In terms of our medical clinics we have seen well over 2000 people. In terms of the prayer teams hundreds of decisions for Christ have been made.
But this trip also established relationships between us - the participants - and the people of Cambodia in general as well as new friendships with our fellow team members, and the staff of Transform Asia.
I have not provided a lot of discussion about our crew of interpreters and the TA drama team, but they have brought an incredible level of service to this trip. Without their help we Americans would not have been able to accomplish much at all.
This is the first medical missions team that has been accompanied by the TA drama team. These kids, all of whom are from the TA church in Battambang are an incredible bunch. They love the Lord. They are mature in their faith. They come from a diverse background of Cambodian culture. Some of them are from families that are poorer than poor, and one of them is the son of the Mayor of Battambang. They were trained last year in the production of the “7 Miracles of Christ” by a drama ministry team from Castro Valley - Neighborhood Church. They work hard and do a wonderful job. Their sound system is archaic and was probably discarded by some church in the states a long time ago, but it works - well sort of - and gets the job done. They have a simple set and bright colorful costumes. But most important, these young people have hearts that are large. They have adopted us as their family and have poured love into us at an unimaginable level. Cyndy has gotten to know some of them even though most of these kids do not speak a word of English.
Nita on the Left and Ruann on the right. Nita is a Cambodian Soap Opera star as well as part of the drama team.
Drama girls, Dr. George and Dr. Nelson give me the Royal Treatment!
I also have to give kudos to our crew of interpreters. These young men, all college age, come from a number of academic backgrounds. Several dental students, a law student, an IT student and several business majors. They are the future of this country and their time with us as enhanced their passion to help build their nation. But most importantly, almost all of them love them the Lord. They have come with a knowledge and understanding of the promise of God that few of their age possess in any culture. They too have loved on us and made our trip special as a result. 
My Interpreter Sotir
Spider anyone?
Seha one of our interpreters does dishes at the feeding center
Together the drama kids and the interpreters have been an integral part of the operation of this trip. They have pitched in at every medical clinic. Not just interpreting for us but assisting in caring for the sick, holding fussy babies, calming peoples fears and allowing to serve the large numbers of folks in each clinic.
As we head home Today I do not look forward to the long flights but I again return with a new sense of the awesome nature of our God and a renewed passion to bring the message of Christ to these folks. Unlike many nations, Cambodia has been one of those countries impacted the least in the latter 20th century by Christianity. War, adverse politics and a number of factors have contributed to this. But now the country is open to hearing the message of Christ. While we come to provide health care, at the end of the day, each of us knows that health care is temporary and the salvation message of Christ is eternal. There are certainly challenges in both providing health care and the message of Christ. I look forward to contributing to meeting those challenges and overcoming obstacles in the future when we return.
Thursday, December 9, 2010
December 9 2010
December 9 2010
Our visit to the feeding center is a joy and a sadness at the same time. It is joyful because there is a spirit of little children who despite having nothing in life, no place to live, no parents, no regular supply of food, nothing but the clothes on their back, and yet can still be happy and enthusiastic in their interaction with us. Transform Asia pours love and the message of Jesus into these kids as much as they can. That is all they can do for these kids who range in age from three to 9 or 10. Their best efforts for these kids are limited in direct proportion to the amount of money that can be raised to keep these kids fed. I encourage anyone reading this blog to go to www.transformasia.us and investigate what it takes to sponsor a child.
The experience is also sad. It is sad when you realize that these children are orphans because they have been abandoned by parents who see no other alternative to the struggles in their life. Many of their mothers were raped by young men. Many of them never knew their father. Their fathers, believing that things would be better somewhere else, or in an attempt to begin a new life have left for the big city or to Thailand in hopes of finding work. Mothers, some of whom are barely more than children themselves leave them behind for some of the same reasons. Some of the mothers have been kidnapped and forced into slavery and prostitution.
It is not uncommon to see a young mother who is still a teenager herself with two and sometimes three children in tow. Can any of us imagine even in the best of circumstances what it would be like for our 15 year old daughter or sister to have two children? Add to that the lack of a future due to abject poverty, no education, no prospects for improvement and no community services in place to assist her and it becomes easy to see why so many of their kids get left behind.
Last year when I was hear there were several hundred kids in the program. The kids got their meals sitting on a dirt floor of the farm equipment shed. In between tractors and farm machines, the kids ate and never even knew how bad it was. The kitchen at that time was a set up that quite frankly was far worse than the kitchen we set up for In Roads during our In Tents trips to Mexico. In the last year since then, TA has built a large building in which to cook, feed the kids, give the kids a safe place to be and sleep as well as build better bathrooms and bathing facilities.
Today we arrive just before its time to eat and we serve the 300 kids gathered a meal of rice - of course - and soup made from a small amount of meat and veggies. They are ravenous. They are also patient and well mannered. Each circle of 10 kids wait until their food arrives, one child in each group leads them in a prayer of thanks for their food and then they dig in. After the meal we spend some time with the kids playing, taking pictures and just watching them be kids. Every type you could imagine is there, from the shy hide behind the chair kids to the outgoing I want to be in every picture kids. Sam does his version of chick a boom and two of our interpreters teach the kids a song and dance routine that they love to learn. We are invited to stay for - can you believe it - Karaoke, but we pass as we need to move on to our next destination for the day.
Each of the team members I am sure takes a personal moment as we leave to lift these kids and the staff of TA who spend all of their time in this center which is out in the middle of no where amongst the endless rice paddies in prayer and we thank our God that he has given them a heart to serve in this way. Sorry about the run on sentences but is late and I am just too tired to get all grammatical right now.
Tomorrow we will be driving 6 hours back to the capital. We will then part ways with the drama team, the interpreters and our medical missions team. There has been 36 of on this trip counting each of these groups and a better group of adults and young people have never served together.
Our visit to the feeding center is a joy and a sadness at the same time. It is joyful because there is a spirit of little children who despite having nothing in life, no place to live, no parents, no regular supply of food, nothing but the clothes on their back, and yet can still be happy and enthusiastic in their interaction with us. Transform Asia pours love and the message of Jesus into these kids as much as they can. That is all they can do for these kids who range in age from three to 9 or 10. Their best efforts for these kids are limited in direct proportion to the amount of money that can be raised to keep these kids fed. I encourage anyone reading this blog to go to www.transformasia.us and investigate what it takes to sponsor a child.
Last year when I was hear there were several hundred kids in the program. The kids got their meals sitting on a dirt floor of the farm equipment shed. In between tractors and farm machines, the kids ate and never even knew how bad it was. The kitchen at that time was a set up that quite frankly was far worse than the kitchen we set up for In Roads during our In Tents trips to Mexico. In the last year since then, TA has built a large building in which to cook, feed the kids, give the kids a safe place to be and sleep as well as build better bathrooms and bathing facilities.
Today we arrive just before its time to eat and we serve the 300 kids gathered a meal of rice - of course - and soup made from a small amount of meat and veggies. They are ravenous. They are also patient and well mannered. Each circle of 10 kids wait until their food arrives, one child in each group leads them in a prayer of thanks for their food and then they dig in. After the meal we spend some time with the kids playing, taking pictures and just watching them be kids. Every type you could imagine is there, from the shy hide behind the chair kids to the outgoing I want to be in every picture kids. Sam does his version of chick a boom and two of our interpreters teach the kids a song and dance routine that they love to learn. We are invited to stay for - can you believe it - Karaoke, but we pass as we need to move on to our next destination for the day.
Each of the team members I am sure takes a personal moment as we leave to lift these kids and the staff of TA who spend all of their time in this center which is out in the middle of no where amongst the endless rice paddies in prayer and we thank our God that he has given them a heart to serve in this way. Sorry about the run on sentences but is late and I am just too tired to get all grammatical right now.
Tomorrow we will be driving 6 hours back to the capital. We will then part ways with the drama team, the interpreters and our medical missions team. There has been 36 of on this trip counting each of these groups and a better group of adults and young people have never served together.
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
December 8 2010
December 8 2010
This is our last day of Clinic. We start out the day in the border town of Poipet. This town is the Sodom of Southeast Asia. It is a border town of casinos, brothels and tourists. It is a busy border crossing where large trucks filled with all sorts of goods are being shipped into Cambodia from Thailand. Cambodia and Thailand do not have the best of relations and there is a great deal of enmity between these two nations for many reasons dating back for centuries.
We start the day with an excellent devotional from Dr. George. He speaks about devotion to God as not being just intention to be Godly or going about the doingness of Christianity. Based on Titus 2:11 George shares the beingness of devotion and the three elements of fear of God, Love for God and desire for God. It is a moving start of the day..
After breakfast we head off to our Poipet clinic location. This is in a small village outside of the main city of poipet that is located right on the border. It is a village that was settled for military purposes as a means of denying the Thai army easy access into Cambodia. As such it is run by an army General who is a friend of Transform Asia. We meet the general and his staff. We are instantly aware that the general has lost both of his legs to a landmine. Landmines are still prevalent in this area. Millions of landmines were buried in the 70s and 80s and remain in many fields today. While some fields have been cleared, all have not been cleared. Even today farmers and children are maimed and killed on a daily basis. It is bad enough when an innocent farmer is maimed in this way, but when a child is maimed as a result of wandering into the wrong field, it is a human tragedy. Where once Princess Diana led the cause toward cleaning up the mine fields, this issue has become a non headline over the last few years.
The general tells us that there are 3200 folks in the village at this time. Many of them work in the fields and some cross in to Thailand each day to work there. He is very happy that we are here and asks us a lot of questions about Jesus. He asks us why we do what we do and expect nothing in return. Pastor Setan explains to him that Christ only asks us to love him and his people and that we demonstrate that love by serving the people of his village. He comment ts on how strange it is that we expect nothing for our efforts and our love. Leading some folks to Christ in this culture is a slow step by step process and the general is no exception. Pastor Setan believes that he will eventually make a commitment to Christ.
Clinic today is a real challenge for me. One of my early cases is an 11 month old child who weighs no more than 8 pounds! She is feverish, mal nourished, plagued by parasites and non responsive to stimuli. As I assess this infant my soul weeps. All I can do is check neurological status and advise the mom on how important it is that she use the pediatric electrolytes and vitamins that we give her for her baby. She is obviously distraught over her child’s future and is looking for some sign of hope. I tell her that the only hope I can give is the Hope of Christ. I carry the infant over to Pastor Ron in the prayer station. She is like a rag doll in my arms. Pastor Ron immediately sees the tremendous need for this child and mother and begins a pleading prayer to God that this child be spared. I have many of other patients so I am not able to spend more time with this infant who by no fault of her own will likely not see me next year when I return to this village. I am plagued for the rest of the day over this child and pray all day that she be spared and her health restored.
Today I also notice a large number of teenage children who look like African Americans. I ask pastor Setan about it and he tells me that in the 90s the UN stationed troops from African nations in this area to keep the peace between Thailand and Cambodia. Apparently, these troops had a habit of seducing young Cambodian women as well as raping them. He goes on to tell me that many of the African troops carried HIV. They believed that if they were intimate with a virgin that there HIV would be cured!
By the end of clinic today we have seen about 375 patients. It is strange to say that this clinic and this past two weeks clinics were a success. I would much rather that circumstances were different and that our success would not be measured in terms of the poor and disadvantaged who we have treated, prayed for and become friends with. But, as a measure of what God can do for these people we have seen physical conditions improved and healed, we have seen people come to know Christ, we have seen Christian communities strengthened and we have seen ourselves come close to God and learn more of his love for us.
This is our last day of Clinic. We start out the day in the border town of Poipet. This town is the Sodom of Southeast Asia. It is a border town of casinos, brothels and tourists. It is a busy border crossing where large trucks filled with all sorts of goods are being shipped into Cambodia from Thailand. Cambodia and Thailand do not have the best of relations and there is a great deal of enmity between these two nations for many reasons dating back for centuries.
We start the day with an excellent devotional from Dr. George. He speaks about devotion to God as not being just intention to be Godly or going about the doingness of Christianity. Based on Titus 2:11 George shares the beingness of devotion and the three elements of fear of God, Love for God and desire for God. It is a moving start of the day..
After breakfast we head off to our Poipet clinic location. This is in a small village outside of the main city of poipet that is located right on the border. It is a village that was settled for military purposes as a means of denying the Thai army easy access into Cambodia. As such it is run by an army General who is a friend of Transform Asia. We meet the general and his staff. We are instantly aware that the general has lost both of his legs to a landmine. Landmines are still prevalent in this area. Millions of landmines were buried in the 70s and 80s and remain in many fields today. While some fields have been cleared, all have not been cleared. Even today farmers and children are maimed and killed on a daily basis. It is bad enough when an innocent farmer is maimed in this way, but when a child is maimed as a result of wandering into the wrong field, it is a human tragedy. Where once Princess Diana led the cause toward cleaning up the mine fields, this issue has become a non headline over the last few years.
The general tells us that there are 3200 folks in the village at this time. Many of them work in the fields and some cross in to Thailand each day to work there. He is very happy that we are here and asks us a lot of questions about Jesus. He asks us why we do what we do and expect nothing in return. Pastor Setan explains to him that Christ only asks us to love him and his people and that we demonstrate that love by serving the people of his village. He comment ts on how strange it is that we expect nothing for our efforts and our love. Leading some folks to Christ in this culture is a slow step by step process and the general is no exception. Pastor Setan believes that he will eventually make a commitment to Christ.
Clinic today is a real challenge for me. One of my early cases is an 11 month old child who weighs no more than 8 pounds! She is feverish, mal nourished, plagued by parasites and non responsive to stimuli. As I assess this infant my soul weeps. All I can do is check neurological status and advise the mom on how important it is that she use the pediatric electrolytes and vitamins that we give her for her baby. She is obviously distraught over her child’s future and is looking for some sign of hope. I tell her that the only hope I can give is the Hope of Christ. I carry the infant over to Pastor Ron in the prayer station. She is like a rag doll in my arms. Pastor Ron immediately sees the tremendous need for this child and mother and begins a pleading prayer to God that this child be spared. I have many of other patients so I am not able to spend more time with this infant who by no fault of her own will likely not see me next year when I return to this village. I am plagued for the rest of the day over this child and pray all day that she be spared and her health restored.
By the end of clinic today we have seen about 375 patients. It is strange to say that this clinic and this past two weeks clinics were a success. I would much rather that circumstances were different and that our success would not be measured in terms of the poor and disadvantaged who we have treated, prayed for and become friends with. But, as a measure of what God can do for these people we have seen physical conditions improved and healed, we have seen people come to know Christ, we have seen Christian communities strengthened and we have seen ourselves come close to God and learn more of his love for us.
Tomorrow we will be visiting the Transform Asia farm and children’s feeding center in the rice paddies. After that it is the long drive back to the capital and then home.
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
December 7, 2010
December 7 2010
Yesterday we had no internet connection so there was no posting to the blog.
We traveled yesterday to the Phnom Suung Baptist Church. This is a part of the Transform Asia network of churches. It is a very poor church and the health care needs here are great. Despite the obstacles these poor Christians face, they have a small and well organized church. They are very proud of their organization board that has all the names, positions and pictures of the key church staff and lay workers posted on the rear wall of the church. The senior pastor is away in Thailand, but we are hosted by the associated pastor who is also the church planter, and the English teacher. He explains to me that his parishioners know of the birth of Christ and that he is the son of God. But they do not understand the life of Christ or the resurrection. It is important to him that we are here as he will be using our visit as a means of teaching about the life of Christ. He goes on to explain to me that he has started several small house churches in the region and that they are each going to be celebrating Christmas. He also tells me that since he is the only pastor and will preach a Christmas message at each church, it has been decided that the Christmas service will be on a different day in each church starting on December 19 and ending on December 25.
Monday’s clinic is a small one in comparison to out largest clinics where we saw over 400. We see about 250 folks. It is oppressively hot at the clinic today. Dr. George and I quickly become soaking wet as we treat each patient who comes through the clinic. Cases today are again pretty typical, lots of infections, hypertension, knee pain, back pain, headache, neck pain, blindness, deafness, and an assortment of other conditions. Due to the heat, we run a little slower but the smaller numbers allow us to complete the day around 3:00 pm.
Tuesday morning we travel about 100 KM to the village of Pastor Timothy. He is one of the network of Transform Asia Pastors. But before we depart, we have a time of team devotions, a daily time of prayer and sharing with the team. This day, Evelyn one of the team members from Kansas City tells us her personal testimony and how it has stimulated her compassion for the girls of the Trade Center. Transform Asia runs a trade school for women in Battambang where girls who have been rehabilitated from the sex trade and slavery are physically, emotionally and spiritually rehabilitated. They also learn a trade. There are three programs, seamstress, cosmetology and computer operation. For the past 3 nights while we stayed in Battambang each night, the staff here has made us dinner and the girls have been our hostesses. Each of them has a remarkable story ranging from being orphaned and sold into slavery to having been kidnapped and forced into prostitution. Evelyn gives us a devotional on Philippians 4:11 and the need to be content in all circumstances. She shares with us how difficult that is when she sees what the girls have been through and how much of their innocence has been taken from them. But, she also explains how meeting these girls and seeing how they have overcome their circumstances has afforded her the ability to see that even after the worst of indignities a women can live through, with Christ they can be not only redeemed but also learn to be content. If they can do it she can do it!
We arrive at Pastor Timothy’s church at about 10 AM. We soon learn that this little Cambodian village church sits on the site of the very first Christian church in Cambodia. First built in 1920 by the Ellison family - well known CMA church missionaries, the church went through a period of ministry until the late 50s. As a result of political challenges and regional war, the church was abandoned by the CMA. About 30 years ago Pastor Timothy’s parents came to the area as a part of an expanding Baptist presence in Cambodia and rebuilt the church. Today it flourishes as a significant component of the local village culture.
Our clinic today is busy. We see about 350 cases. There are some clinical challenges. Several major neurological disorders, a number of recent stroke victims, some very large tumors and a number of traumatic eye injuries with subsequent blindness. We do the best we can and God does the rest as each patient is prayed for. The prayer team reports restorations of hearing, healing of pain, and a number of salvations.
Our time here in Cambodia is quickly coming to a close. It hardly seems on the one hand that we have already been here 13 days but we have. We will do two more clinics before we head back to phonm penh.
As I was last year I am awestruck by our awesome God who uses Cyndy, me and the rest of the team to show the love of Christ to people who have never heard the message of Christ. Christianity is an extreme minority in this part of the world. Islam is growing fast and Buddhism is the predominant religion. But none of those religious systems offer hope. I will never forget the second clinic we were doing when an elderly man told me that he would never forget that day because it was the day his hope was restored. He was so happy to learn that Christ expected nothing from him other than for him to accept Christ, acknowledge Christ as his Lord, and let himself be loved by Christ. We American Christians take our faith so for granted sometimes. We have no idea what it is like to be so close to survival on a day to day basis. We have no idea what it like to grow up in a belief system that contains thousands of gods each of which demand something different from us (Buddhism). Or do we? There may not be thousands of idolized statue type gods each with a name and a history vying for our attention, but there are certainly thousands of idols such as things we take for granted - each of which in their own way diverts our attention from the one true God. Things such as how we entertain ourselves, house ourselves, dress ourselves, the toys we acquire, the causes we adapt as our own, and the list could go on and on. It is these sobering moments, half way around the world in a culture so so different form ours that I appreciate our Lord even more and learn that there is so much more that He expects of me. I can only pray that I keep my spirit and my soul open to his leading me, and that when I hear Him calling I am actually listening!
Sorry about only one picture, the bandwidth got sucked up by somebody else after I got the first one inserted.
Yesterday we had no internet connection so there was no posting to the blog.
We traveled yesterday to the Phnom Suung Baptist Church. This is a part of the Transform Asia network of churches. It is a very poor church and the health care needs here are great. Despite the obstacles these poor Christians face, they have a small and well organized church. They are very proud of their organization board that has all the names, positions and pictures of the key church staff and lay workers posted on the rear wall of the church. The senior pastor is away in Thailand, but we are hosted by the associated pastor who is also the church planter, and the English teacher. He explains to me that his parishioners know of the birth of Christ and that he is the son of God. But they do not understand the life of Christ or the resurrection. It is important to him that we are here as he will be using our visit as a means of teaching about the life of Christ. He goes on to explain to me that he has started several small house churches in the region and that they are each going to be celebrating Christmas. He also tells me that since he is the only pastor and will preach a Christmas message at each church, it has been decided that the Christmas service will be on a different day in each church starting on December 19 and ending on December 25.
Tuesday morning we travel about 100 KM to the village of Pastor Timothy. He is one of the network of Transform Asia Pastors. But before we depart, we have a time of team devotions, a daily time of prayer and sharing with the team. This day, Evelyn one of the team members from Kansas City tells us her personal testimony and how it has stimulated her compassion for the girls of the Trade Center. Transform Asia runs a trade school for women in Battambang where girls who have been rehabilitated from the sex trade and slavery are physically, emotionally and spiritually rehabilitated. They also learn a trade. There are three programs, seamstress, cosmetology and computer operation. For the past 3 nights while we stayed in Battambang each night, the staff here has made us dinner and the girls have been our hostesses. Each of them has a remarkable story ranging from being orphaned and sold into slavery to having been kidnapped and forced into prostitution. Evelyn gives us a devotional on Philippians 4:11 and the need to be content in all circumstances. She shares with us how difficult that is when she sees what the girls have been through and how much of their innocence has been taken from them. But, she also explains how meeting these girls and seeing how they have overcome their circumstances has afforded her the ability to see that even after the worst of indignities a women can live through, with Christ they can be not only redeemed but also learn to be content. If they can do it she can do it!
We arrive at Pastor Timothy’s church at about 10 AM. We soon learn that this little Cambodian village church sits on the site of the very first Christian church in Cambodia. First built in 1920 by the Ellison family - well known CMA church missionaries, the church went through a period of ministry until the late 50s. As a result of political challenges and regional war, the church was abandoned by the CMA. About 30 years ago Pastor Timothy’s parents came to the area as a part of an expanding Baptist presence in Cambodia and rebuilt the church. Today it flourishes as a significant component of the local village culture.
Our clinic today is busy. We see about 350 cases. There are some clinical challenges. Several major neurological disorders, a number of recent stroke victims, some very large tumors and a number of traumatic eye injuries with subsequent blindness. We do the best we can and God does the rest as each patient is prayed for. The prayer team reports restorations of hearing, healing of pain, and a number of salvations.
Our time here in Cambodia is quickly coming to a close. It hardly seems on the one hand that we have already been here 13 days but we have. We will do two more clinics before we head back to phonm penh.
As I was last year I am awestruck by our awesome God who uses Cyndy, me and the rest of the team to show the love of Christ to people who have never heard the message of Christ. Christianity is an extreme minority in this part of the world. Islam is growing fast and Buddhism is the predominant religion. But none of those religious systems offer hope. I will never forget the second clinic we were doing when an elderly man told me that he would never forget that day because it was the day his hope was restored. He was so happy to learn that Christ expected nothing from him other than for him to accept Christ, acknowledge Christ as his Lord, and let himself be loved by Christ. We American Christians take our faith so for granted sometimes. We have no idea what it is like to be so close to survival on a day to day basis. We have no idea what it like to grow up in a belief system that contains thousands of gods each of which demand something different from us (Buddhism). Or do we? There may not be thousands of idolized statue type gods each with a name and a history vying for our attention, but there are certainly thousands of idols such as things we take for granted - each of which in their own way diverts our attention from the one true God. Things such as how we entertain ourselves, house ourselves, dress ourselves, the toys we acquire, the causes we adapt as our own, and the list could go on and on. It is these sobering moments, half way around the world in a culture so so different form ours that I appreciate our Lord even more and learn that there is so much more that He expects of me. I can only pray that I keep my spirit and my soul open to his leading me, and that when I hear Him calling I am actually listening!
Sorry about only one picture, the bandwidth got sucked up by somebody else after I got the first one inserted.
Saturday, December 4, 2010
Saturday December 4 2010
December 4, 2010
Breakfast today is a unique rice concoction made with sticky rice and dried fruit along with coconut, stuffed into bamboo sticks, sealed on the end and roasted over an open fire. You peel back the bamboo until you get to the rice, and then you pull the rice out of the its bamboo canister. It is warm and very tasty. Sort of like thick oatmeal that is sweet and moist with a great dose of coconut. Yummy.
After breakfast we depart on a 60 km ride along the river to a small village named Bak Proha. This village sits right on the Battambong river. This region is one of the poorest in the country and is a former Khmer Rouge stronghold The Khmer Rouge were the communist army forces who followed Pol Pot in his attempt to turn the country into an agrarian communist paradise. Because of this history and the killing fields, these villages have been largely ignored until recently.
This river region is actually a bustling center of river commerce. The river is busy with flat boats, sampans and all types of other water craft. They carry supplies, bring crops to market and move commodities such as food and fuel. On one side of the single lane dirt lane we travel for 45 kilometers are rice farmers and cattle herders going about the day to day life of poor dirt farmers and cattle farmers. On the other side of the road is the river. At one point we come across a single lane wooden bridge that will not support the vans with all of the passengers so we unload, walk across this rickety bridge and then hold our breath while the vans come across one at a time. We all make it and are back in the vans for the final few clicks to the village.
We set up in a school again today. Where in the past the schools were concrete block buildings with tile floors and in one instance electricity, this school is pole construction, corrugated walls, dirt floors and a corrugated roof. There is no electricity. There is no running water. There is no toilet facility. There are no fans.
We set up and quickly realize that these folks are even more poor than our prior villages.
Dr. George is ill today and so he stays at the hotel to recover from his case of Delhi Belly. I know how that feels as last year I was down for two days with the runs. His not being with us makes me the only treating doctor. I see 329 patients today. Early in the day I organize our clinic so that we rotate through our three exam tables, I Teach Cyndy how to do leg checks and I use the drama team kids to perform a number of little tasks to keep things rolling. We get started at 11:00AM. The last patient is treated at 5:00 PM. With the one hour lunch break, that makes it about 65 patients an hour! But it is a team effort as they are each registered, vitals taken and meds prepared before I see them. This team of 11 folks along with our 9 interpreters as well as the 8 kids of the drama team have come together to create an efficient and effective medical team. We see the typical case mix today with several patients with special circumstances. One 80 year old man has been sick with acute TB for several weeks and is down to less than 100 pounds. He is emaciated and feverish. I do not expect that he will be around much longer. The prayer team comes together to pray for him and his survival.
Cyndy and I are befriended today by a little girl who wants to help us do everything. She is about 7 years old and wants to do everything. She steps in and starts changing exam table paper, wants to escort patients to the tables and endears herself to us very quickly. Apparently she is an orphan as the interpreters can not locate a parent. Seeing all of these orphaned kids is tough because you know that they have little chance of even what passes for a normal life in Cambodia. As much as Transform Asia would love to pick each of them up and take them to the TA orphanage, TA is limited by support funds and a facility that can only hold so many kids. I hope each of you who reads this blog goes to the www.transformasia.us web site and reviews what it takes to sponsor a child. Your support is definitely needed!
Tomorrow being Sunday we will be taking a day of rest. It will be a welcome day for all of us.
I am still not able to post pictures to the blog due to the poor speed and low bandwidth of the internet connection. I am thankful that I can even post this so I will try and post pictures later.
Bye for now!
Breakfast today is a unique rice concoction made with sticky rice and dried fruit along with coconut, stuffed into bamboo sticks, sealed on the end and roasted over an open fire. You peel back the bamboo until you get to the rice, and then you pull the rice out of the its bamboo canister. It is warm and very tasty. Sort of like thick oatmeal that is sweet and moist with a great dose of coconut. Yummy.
After breakfast we depart on a 60 km ride along the river to a small village named Bak Proha. This village sits right on the Battambong river. This region is one of the poorest in the country and is a former Khmer Rouge stronghold The Khmer Rouge were the communist army forces who followed Pol Pot in his attempt to turn the country into an agrarian communist paradise. Because of this history and the killing fields, these villages have been largely ignored until recently.
This river region is actually a bustling center of river commerce. The river is busy with flat boats, sampans and all types of other water craft. They carry supplies, bring crops to market and move commodities such as food and fuel. On one side of the single lane dirt lane we travel for 45 kilometers are rice farmers and cattle herders going about the day to day life of poor dirt farmers and cattle farmers. On the other side of the road is the river. At one point we come across a single lane wooden bridge that will not support the vans with all of the passengers so we unload, walk across this rickety bridge and then hold our breath while the vans come across one at a time. We all make it and are back in the vans for the final few clicks to the village.
We set up in a school again today. Where in the past the schools were concrete block buildings with tile floors and in one instance electricity, this school is pole construction, corrugated walls, dirt floors and a corrugated roof. There is no electricity. There is no running water. There is no toilet facility. There are no fans.
We set up and quickly realize that these folks are even more poor than our prior villages.
Dr. George is ill today and so he stays at the hotel to recover from his case of Delhi Belly. I know how that feels as last year I was down for two days with the runs. His not being with us makes me the only treating doctor. I see 329 patients today. Early in the day I organize our clinic so that we rotate through our three exam tables, I Teach Cyndy how to do leg checks and I use the drama team kids to perform a number of little tasks to keep things rolling. We get started at 11:00AM. The last patient is treated at 5:00 PM. With the one hour lunch break, that makes it about 65 patients an hour! But it is a team effort as they are each registered, vitals taken and meds prepared before I see them. This team of 11 folks along with our 9 interpreters as well as the 8 kids of the drama team have come together to create an efficient and effective medical team. We see the typical case mix today with several patients with special circumstances. One 80 year old man has been sick with acute TB for several weeks and is down to less than 100 pounds. He is emaciated and feverish. I do not expect that he will be around much longer. The prayer team comes together to pray for him and his survival.
Cyndy and I are befriended today by a little girl who wants to help us do everything. She is about 7 years old and wants to do everything. She steps in and starts changing exam table paper, wants to escort patients to the tables and endears herself to us very quickly. Apparently she is an orphan as the interpreters can not locate a parent. Seeing all of these orphaned kids is tough because you know that they have little chance of even what passes for a normal life in Cambodia. As much as Transform Asia would love to pick each of them up and take them to the TA orphanage, TA is limited by support funds and a facility that can only hold so many kids. I hope each of you who reads this blog goes to the www.transformasia.us web site and reviews what it takes to sponsor a child. Your support is definitely needed!
Tomorrow being Sunday we will be taking a day of rest. It will be a welcome day for all of us.
I am still not able to post pictures to the blog due to the poor speed and low bandwidth of the internet connection. I am thankful that I can even post this so I will try and post pictures later.
Bye for now!
Friday, December 3, 2010
Friday December 3 2010
Friday December 3, 2010
Its now been a week that we have been in country. At this point most of us are asking, what day is it anyway? Spending each day in a different village doing the same thing with only dinner, sleep and breakfast in between has that effect on you. It is important with that in mind not to fall into an attitude of complacency - sort of the same day different stuff - mentality. The people we see today as patients, and the people who are prayed for are each experiencing Jesus for the first time. If we fail to keep that in mind we run the risk of letting our complacency interfere with our purpose. This is a lesson to take home to our daily life as well. Yesterday it is estimated that fewer than 5% of the over 400 people we treated in the clinic had ever heard of Jesus! Can you imagine that? Can you imagine anywhere in Fremont where 5% or less of the people have ever even heard of Christ? We take so much for granted in our world. At the same time folks in Cambodia take certain things for granted as well. In speaking through our interpreters with some of these folks to get a sense of what their life is like I learn that most of them can not read or write. While the current generation of children are being educated, the lost generation has had a devastating effect on this country. The lost generation is what the children of the parents murdered in the killing fields are called. From the early 70s around 1973 through the early 80s Pol Pot a communist general who took control of much of the country and then fought to keep it for those years, murdered as many of the educated class as he could. His goal was to kill all teachers, all government officials, all business owners, all Christians, and all professionals. He nearly succeeded. At that time the population of Cambodia was about 8 - 10 million people. His regime the Khmer Rouge, murdered more than 3 million people. Those people were largely the cultural glue that held the society together. The long term effect of the elimination of these people left the country without its most valued assets. Educated people. People who cared for their country and with their skills could improve the society and culture.
Absent these people, education was no longer a priority. Schools closed. No one cared if there was an education system. Businesses deteriorated. Basic goods and services disappeared. Health care deteriorated. People were no longer taught basic sanitation and hygiene.
Restoration of this society has progressed in the larger cities such as Phone Penh and Bateman where schools operate, hospitals and clinics are open and business is moving ahead fast. But in the remote villages the priorities are food to eat, clothing to wear and shelter from the weather. Education and health care take a back seat to these pressing needs.
These circumstances directly resulted in the deterioration of this society and culture and are why there is such a high rate of sickness and disease associated with basic hygiene and sanitation. It is why poor sanitation and hygiene habits gives rise to chronic urethrits in both male and female. It is why a simple case of conjunctivitis - pink eye - left untreated with basic hygiene leads to the loss of an eye. It is why TB is chronic in a large part of the population. The lack of knowledge as to why you cannot swim, bath, wash your clothes, wash your kitchen utensils, drink and fish from the same water source is why there is such a problem with parasites and worms.
Providing answers to these problems in the name of Christ is advancing the church of Christ in Cambodia due in large part to the work of Transform Asia.
In today’s clinic we see about 250 patients. One of my early patients to day is an 80 year old man who tells me that he has recently been in the city where he was in the hospital for kidney disease. He goes on to tell me that due to his lost health he has lost all hope in life and desires that my god (this is him speaking) will give him hope! He asks me if my god gives people hope! Our trip leader Sam Hopper and I pray for this man before he is treated at the clinic and after being treated he spends more time with the prayer team. When he is getting ready to leave he comes to me and tells me that he will remember this day for the rest of his life because he now believes that there is hope and he now believes in Jesus.! What a great way to begin the day. We see a large number of landmine victims today with missing limbs, mostly legs. Most of them are men but there are a few women amongst them. There are still a few large areas in the country side where mines have not been fully cleared, so in addition to some of these folks’ being victims of land mines as soldiers, some are simple farmers who also are maimed when they literally stumble upon a mine.
Tomorrow we will be going to a floating city to do our clinic. This is a village that literally is in a lake and the entire village floats on the lake top. It is the first time that transform Asia will have been to there to bring health care and the message of Christ.
Sorry about no pictures today, for some reason they are taking very long to upload and are then being tagged as a secuuirty error. I will see if I can put pictures up on another site and put in a link, but the connection here in Battambang is rather slow, so it may have to wait.
Until next time God Bless.
Its now been a week that we have been in country. At this point most of us are asking, what day is it anyway? Spending each day in a different village doing the same thing with only dinner, sleep and breakfast in between has that effect on you. It is important with that in mind not to fall into an attitude of complacency - sort of the same day different stuff - mentality. The people we see today as patients, and the people who are prayed for are each experiencing Jesus for the first time. If we fail to keep that in mind we run the risk of letting our complacency interfere with our purpose. This is a lesson to take home to our daily life as well. Yesterday it is estimated that fewer than 5% of the over 400 people we treated in the clinic had ever heard of Jesus! Can you imagine that? Can you imagine anywhere in Fremont where 5% or less of the people have ever even heard of Christ? We take so much for granted in our world. At the same time folks in Cambodia take certain things for granted as well. In speaking through our interpreters with some of these folks to get a sense of what their life is like I learn that most of them can not read or write. While the current generation of children are being educated, the lost generation has had a devastating effect on this country. The lost generation is what the children of the parents murdered in the killing fields are called. From the early 70s around 1973 through the early 80s Pol Pot a communist general who took control of much of the country and then fought to keep it for those years, murdered as many of the educated class as he could. His goal was to kill all teachers, all government officials, all business owners, all Christians, and all professionals. He nearly succeeded. At that time the population of Cambodia was about 8 - 10 million people. His regime the Khmer Rouge, murdered more than 3 million people. Those people were largely the cultural glue that held the society together. The long term effect of the elimination of these people left the country without its most valued assets. Educated people. People who cared for their country and with their skills could improve the society and culture.
Absent these people, education was no longer a priority. Schools closed. No one cared if there was an education system. Businesses deteriorated. Basic goods and services disappeared. Health care deteriorated. People were no longer taught basic sanitation and hygiene.
Restoration of this society has progressed in the larger cities such as Phone Penh and Bateman where schools operate, hospitals and clinics are open and business is moving ahead fast. But in the remote villages the priorities are food to eat, clothing to wear and shelter from the weather. Education and health care take a back seat to these pressing needs.
These circumstances directly resulted in the deterioration of this society and culture and are why there is such a high rate of sickness and disease associated with basic hygiene and sanitation. It is why poor sanitation and hygiene habits gives rise to chronic urethrits in both male and female. It is why a simple case of conjunctivitis - pink eye - left untreated with basic hygiene leads to the loss of an eye. It is why TB is chronic in a large part of the population. The lack of knowledge as to why you cannot swim, bath, wash your clothes, wash your kitchen utensils, drink and fish from the same water source is why there is such a problem with parasites and worms.
Providing answers to these problems in the name of Christ is advancing the church of Christ in Cambodia due in large part to the work of Transform Asia.
In today’s clinic we see about 250 patients. One of my early patients to day is an 80 year old man who tells me that he has recently been in the city where he was in the hospital for kidney disease. He goes on to tell me that due to his lost health he has lost all hope in life and desires that my god (this is him speaking) will give him hope! He asks me if my god gives people hope! Our trip leader Sam Hopper and I pray for this man before he is treated at the clinic and after being treated he spends more time with the prayer team. When he is getting ready to leave he comes to me and tells me that he will remember this day for the rest of his life because he now believes that there is hope and he now believes in Jesus.! What a great way to begin the day. We see a large number of landmine victims today with missing limbs, mostly legs. Most of them are men but there are a few women amongst them. There are still a few large areas in the country side where mines have not been fully cleared, so in addition to some of these folks’ being victims of land mines as soldiers, some are simple farmers who also are maimed when they literally stumble upon a mine.
Tomorrow we will be going to a floating city to do our clinic. This is a village that literally is in a lake and the entire village floats on the lake top. It is the first time that transform Asia will have been to there to bring health care and the message of Christ.
Sorry about no pictures today, for some reason they are taking very long to upload and are then being tagged as a secuuirty error. I will see if I can put pictures up on another site and put in a link, but the connection here in Battambang is rather slow, so it may have to wait.
Until next time God Bless.
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
December 1 2010
Wednesday December 1, 2010
WOW, that’s all I want to say about today. We travel north of Kampong Channon 100 kilometers to Pusar. Once we check into the nights hotel, we travel out to a village and set up for the clinic. On the medical side we see the same kinds of cases that we have already come to expect. The number of Malaria cases is greater today however. We also see a number of typhoid cases. i also see a young man with a disfiguring birth defect.
And before I forget, the ride on these roads is always an adventure!
But the real WOW comes today in the experience that Cyndy has. She spends some time in the prayer station and finds herself praying the prayer of salvation with a young Cambodian Muslim woman. This young lady tells Cyndy that if our God heals her, she will believe. That is not an uncommon response to folks in this part of the world when they are in a position to respond to the message of Christ. But the real impact moment of the day comes toward the end of the day.
A mother brings her 17 year old daughter to the medical clinic for treatment. The young woman is in a state of almost total disconnect with reality. She is disassociated from her surroundings and family. She ignores everyone, speaks in a voice not her own, calls herself by a name that is not hers and avoids eye contact with anyone. As she comes to the clinic, her mother is very upset and barely able to tell us what has occurred. She is seen by Dr. George and it immediately becomes evident that in addition to what we can see, she is severely disturbed. She will not allow Dr. George to come close. She recoils from him. As I take a look at her from the examination area next to Dr. George I am debating with myself if she is in fact possessed or under a severe spiritual depression, or perhaps she is suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. We take her mom aside and ask her to tell us what has gone on in this girls life recently. As the story comes out, (and mom is very reluctant to talk about it since she is very embarrassed by the situation), we learn that 6 months ago this young lady was enticed into going to Malaysia on the promise of a job that would pay a few hundred dollars a month. That kind of money is enormous to this poor family and on the basis of this promise off she goes to Malaysia. A few weeks ago this young lady returned from Malaysia and she was as her mom tells us a mess. It turns out that she had been indentured into a sex slave ring. For 4 months she had been sold to the highest bidder at a brothel in Malaysia each night! Two weeks ago she was injured in the foot and could not walk. The pimp promptly shipped her back home. This explains a great deal about why this young lady is now suffering physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually! She suffers from PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder). She will not trust any men. She is afraid of everyone. As Transform Asia operates a Women’s Center for girls just like this we immediately bring Pastor Setan and several of the young women from the drama team over to pray for her. I am incredibly impressed by the level of spiritual maturity of the teenage Cambodian girls from the drama team who begin praying for and ministering to this young lady. Mom takes a step back and allows these young ladies to minister. Cyndy bonds with mom and I will let her tell that story in her blog tonight. The amazing thing that happens is that after about 30 minutes, this severely PTSD young lady begins to come out of her mental, emotional and spiritual shell! By the time we are ready to leave for the day, she is waving, crying, thanking us, and her entire countenance has changed. Mom is so grateful that she and Cyndy have just become soul sisters! But I will let Cyndy tell that part of the story!
WOW
Another WOW moment today is when a young Buddhist Monk comes to the clinic and when I treat him I ask him if I can pray for him. He tells me that if “your god will help me, you can pray for me”. I take him over to the prayer warriors and he sits and allows them to pray for him. Ron has a vision from the Lord and tells the monk that God has told him that he is not going to find what he is looking for on the path he is taking in his search. Ron then goes on to tell him details about his ( the monk’s) life that I can tell by the look on the monks face are likely true! Whether this experience will have an impact or not I do not know but God does and at the very least a seed has been planted. You have to keep in mind that these monks do all that they can to discourage the villagers from seeing us at all, so for any of them to be a patient and then ask for prayer is really big deal.
It has been an incredible day! We treat over 200 patients from as young as 3 months to as old as 90. At the end of the day we are all exhilarated and tired at the same time. As becomes the custom on this trip I will be in bed by 8:30 and we all we be up at 5:30 for devotions for our next leg up to Battambang where we will be staying for several days as minister in the region.
WOW, that’s all I want to say about today. We travel north of Kampong Channon 100 kilometers to Pusar. Once we check into the nights hotel, we travel out to a village and set up for the clinic. On the medical side we see the same kinds of cases that we have already come to expect. The number of Malaria cases is greater today however. We also see a number of typhoid cases. i also see a young man with a disfiguring birth defect.
And before I forget, the ride on these roads is always an adventure!
A mother brings her 17 year old daughter to the medical clinic for treatment. The young woman is in a state of almost total disconnect with reality. She is disassociated from her surroundings and family. She ignores everyone, speaks in a voice not her own, calls herself by a name that is not hers and avoids eye contact with anyone. As she comes to the clinic, her mother is very upset and barely able to tell us what has occurred. She is seen by Dr. George and it immediately becomes evident that in addition to what we can see, she is severely disturbed. She will not allow Dr. George to come close. She recoils from him. As I take a look at her from the examination area next to Dr. George I am debating with myself if she is in fact possessed or under a severe spiritual depression, or perhaps she is suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. We take her mom aside and ask her to tell us what has gone on in this girls life recently. As the story comes out, (and mom is very reluctant to talk about it since she is very embarrassed by the situation), we learn that 6 months ago this young lady was enticed into going to Malaysia on the promise of a job that would pay a few hundred dollars a month. That kind of money is enormous to this poor family and on the basis of this promise off she goes to Malaysia. A few weeks ago this young lady returned from Malaysia and she was as her mom tells us a mess. It turns out that she had been indentured into a sex slave ring. For 4 months she had been sold to the highest bidder at a brothel in Malaysia each night! Two weeks ago she was injured in the foot and could not walk. The pimp promptly shipped her back home. This explains a great deal about why this young lady is now suffering physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually! She suffers from PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder). She will not trust any men. She is afraid of everyone. As Transform Asia operates a Women’s Center for girls just like this we immediately bring Pastor Setan and several of the young women from the drama team over to pray for her. I am incredibly impressed by the level of spiritual maturity of the teenage Cambodian girls from the drama team who begin praying for and ministering to this young lady. Mom takes a step back and allows these young ladies to minister. Cyndy bonds with mom and I will let her tell that story in her blog tonight. The amazing thing that happens is that after about 30 minutes, this severely PTSD young lady begins to come out of her mental, emotional and spiritual shell! By the time we are ready to leave for the day, she is waving, crying, thanking us, and her entire countenance has changed. Mom is so grateful that she and Cyndy have just become soul sisters! But I will let Cyndy tell that part of the story!
WOW
Another WOW moment today is when a young Buddhist Monk comes to the clinic and when I treat him I ask him if I can pray for him. He tells me that if “your god will help me, you can pray for me”. I take him over to the prayer warriors and he sits and allows them to pray for him. Ron has a vision from the Lord and tells the monk that God has told him that he is not going to find what he is looking for on the path he is taking in his search. Ron then goes on to tell him details about his ( the monk’s) life that I can tell by the look on the monks face are likely true! Whether this experience will have an impact or not I do not know but God does and at the very least a seed has been planted. You have to keep in mind that these monks do all that they can to discourage the villagers from seeing us at all, so for any of them to be a patient and then ask for prayer is really big deal.
It has been an incredible day! We treat over 200 patients from as young as 3 months to as old as 90. At the end of the day we are all exhilarated and tired at the same time. As becomes the custom on this trip I will be in bed by 8:30 and we all we be up at 5:30 for devotions for our next leg up to Battambang where we will be staying for several days as minister in the region.
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