What does harvest mean to you?

Coming from a technology culture where corporations produce everything from my computer to the food I eat at dinner every night, sometimes causes me to miss out on the significance of words like “harvest” in Jesus’ teachings.

When you say the word harvest in Cambodia everyone knows what you are talking about. Harvest time is one of the most important seasons of the year for the entire country. Every November life in Cambodia revolves around the rice harvest. The word for food in Cambodia is actually “bai” which means rice. So when you are talking about food it always revolves around rice (breakfast, lunch and dinner). When an entire culture revolves around an event you can’t help but take notice and think about it’s significance and meaning.

Harvested rice on the roadside

Cambodia is a beautiful green country during rainy season. If you travel in any direction in any part of the country you will see endless fields of beautiful green rice. When the rain stops in October everything changes. The rice begins to mature and you can feel the anticipation. In many areas of the country this year the flooding caused widespread anxiety as people were worried the rice crop would be destroyed. You see, everyone gets the staple of their entire years food supply all during this one season. Rice is harvested, dried and stored to be used all year.

Everyone is involved in one way or another. Even the young people in the cities travel to their home province to help with the rice harvest. Our IT specialist, Panha, came in on Monday and was acting tired. I asked him why he was moving so slow. He is young and energetic, but that day he said he was really sore from cutting the rice stalks in the province all weekend. Young people like Panha have good jobs, but their parents often depend on their help during the harvest to produce the income and food they will need for the rest of the year. The young people of course get their share of the rice and bring it back with them. You can see mats of rice drying in the sun on sidewalks and roadsides all over the city of 2 million people in Phnom Penh.

Rice drying in the sun

Rice being thrashed

 We were travelling in the province (countryside) last week and I was able to observe how the harvest works. There are thousands of small plots (1 to 4 acres) one right beside the other each owned by a different person or family. The fields are a beautiful green. One day a field will turn from green to a beautiful gold (I think Jesus used the word white when He talked about it). The entire family will wade out in knee deep water to their field and in a matter of a couple of hours cut the entire crop and haul it by hand to the nearest road or water buffalo cart path. The stalks are dried and fed to the cattle and the heads are thrashed and the rice grains are separated and dried for storage. Everything is used. A good rice crop means a prosperous and healthy year ahead.

Entire family in Takeo province who accepted Christ.
Pictured with ministry team and church pastor. 

This week we were in the Takeo province during rice harvest. I couldn’t help but draw a parallel between the rice harvest and the harvest we were seeing as a result of four years of work in the Seeds of Hope program. The project staff and ministry team had been working with villages teaching agriculture techniques, animal husbandry and providing seed projects of chickens, pigs and cattle. Our WASH program had also been drilling wells to provide clean, safe drinking water. During that four years the field staff, ministry team and local church had also been sowing seeds of love and the message of Christ. I know seeds, water and harvest may seem cliché to some, but when you are living it, it isn’t a flippant saying. It is a reality. As the ministry team and church pastor travelled in these villages, visiting with families we were literally seeing a harvest. Just like in the book of Acts we would see entire families make decisions for Christ. As the Seeds of Hope and WASH projects were coming to a close, the church was seeing a corresponding harvest.

What does "harvest" really mean to you?

This made me ask some questions. Does my life revolve around a preparation and anticipation for the harvest? Do I and my church understand our future relies on the harvest? Does our culture revolve around it? Are we waiting with sickle sharpened in hand as a family ready to go to work when the field turns golden?

“Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, then comes the harvest’? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest.” John 4:35 ESV

A Hard Day

Every day begins with the anticipation of what situation God might use to reveal Himself through. Most days at the end of the day I have some new happening to ponder and a sense of joy from seeing positive change in people’s lives. Those are the days I love to share stories about with you!

Unfortunately, today wasn’t a day that ended that way. Today was one of those days I don’t like to talk much about, but one of those days that does happen often in our work in Cambodia. I will break the golden rules of blogging here and post more than 600 words and show no pictures, but if you really want to share what life is like in Cambodia with me you’ll take a few minutes to read this through.

As always I started my day with great anticipation. We were going to one of my favorite areas in Takeo province. Takeo is beautiful and the people there have worked hard to develop their villages, churches are growing, and people are very friendly and open. When we first arrived at the pastor’s house I could immediately recognize the sound of a Buddhist monk’s funeral chant a few houses away. We asked what happened and the pastor told us a man had fallen from a tree picking coconuts and died a couple of days before. This was sad, but it wasn’t someone we knew so there was a sense of distance from it. We asked the pastor how we could help today and she asked if we could visit the sick with her.

Our first visit was to Serey Mum. Serey Mum was a young lady in her 20’s. We had to climb up into her one room stilted bamboo home to visit with her. She shared her story as she lay on a mat on the floor. Two months earlier she had been climbing a tree picking coconuts in her front yard when she fell. The 15 to 20 foot fall had left her with no feeling or ability to move from the waist down. Her family did not have the money to purchase transportation to the nearest hospital 200 km away. While we sat there with Serey Mum her daughter, who looked to be about 8 years old, fed her small bits of food and fanned her to keep her cool. This humble bamboo one room home had no running water or electricity. While this whole situation was difficult enough to process I soon began to notice Serey Mum was coughing often. I knew enough from Tricia’s nursing stories to know laying on her back all this time was allowing pneumonia to set into her lungs. I began to get upset when I realized for a coconut, worth 37 cents, Serey Mum had been paralyzed and was lying here in a very desperate situation.

Many people will ask at this point why we didn’t do something. Remember I said these days happen too often, but I don’t like to talk about them. We carry benevolence funds with us for just these type of situations. We gave Serey Mum and her family enough money that day to provide transportation and a medical exam, but we all knew she would likely tell her husband to use the money for food and clothing for the children and family instead of for her personal needs. There are some things the Western mind cannot understand.

As we continued to visit with her the small home began to fill with villagers. Before we knew it the room was filled with 10-12 adults listening to us encourage Serey Mum with the Word of God. We had a full room of people who were hungry to hear more about the God we were sharing about. During that time two of the local pagoda leaders joined in the conversation. As we shared the gospel, they began to try to show us the good they had done by sharing a small notebook that showed the record of alms they had collected from villagers to give to the poor. These men were touched by the Word of God, but when others decided to respond to the Gospel they said their own righteousness, proven by their alms collections, was enough.

I could try to turn this story into a bright and cheerful one by sharing that two people made decisions for Christ that day, by sharing that Serey Mum was a Christian who knew Christ and was ready to meet Him. Somehow, though I could rejoice, it did not bring joy to me that day. I won’t try to discuss the theology, but on this day I think for a moment I understood John 11:35. We see in this story Jesus, knowing Lazarus would rise again, was still touched as a man by his friends’ death.  I think on this day I might have understood why “Jesus wept”.

We prayed for Serey Mum, believing in a God who does the miraculous, without seeing a change. We also went on that day praying for an elderly lady who went to a traditional medicine man for an eye infection and was now blind in one eye and had a worse infection. Again we prayed for a man with a lung infection and blood pressure problems. I have seen God do some miraculous things during my time here in Cambodia, but today was not one of those days.  Today was a day where my heart and life, and the life of Serey Mum, was caught in the tension between the Kingdom of God and the kingdom of this world. This place of tension often makes many days difficult, but this one was a particularly hard day. My heart was deeply saddened, and though it was a hard day, at least I can say it was not a bad day.

“This is the day the Lord has made; let us be glad and rejoice in it.” Psalms 118:24 

Hope For Life Rekindled

Sreya's appearance when I met her for the first time

As I stared out from the back seat car window of the Samaritan’s Purse field vehicle, I try to imagine what my life would be like to live in the Cambodian slums with Wayne and the boys. The houses I see are nothing more than small squares of either wood or sheet metal with dirt floors barely large enough for sleeping and burning wood to cook over.  As the vehicle I am in comes to a stop in front of one of these homes, I open the door and am overwhelmed with the smell of garbage permeating the vehicle.  I scooted over in the seat to make room for a young Cambodian woman and her little girl.  

The little girl is a two-year old bright eyed beautiful child named Sreya. She is both a frail and medically fragile child. She is consistently hospitalized with severe breathing problems.  In March of 2011, the Targeted Child Nutrition Program Team, whom I am interning with, met Sreya and her mother while conducting a nutritional screening of children in this particular slum. Srey was found to be acutely malnourished. TCNP also provide Sreya with a medical screening. It was that medical screening that revealed Sreya was suffering from a serious congenital heart defect that is continually and progressively worsening.

That morning, we were taking Sreya to the Calmette Cardiology Clinic here in Phnom Penh to obtain an echocardiogram (picture of her heart).  Later that day, after the   echocardiogram was completed, the TCNP program manager, the cardiologist, and I sat down to discuss Srey’s health.  The result was clear. Her condition would continue to deteriorate without heart surgery.

My TCNP manager immediately contacted Angkor Children’s Hospital’s in Siem Reap, Cambodia. After consulting with cardiologist Dr. Lyda, it was agreed that Sreya needed immediate corrective surgery without any delay. The TCNP team quickly contacted the family and made the arrangements to bring Sreya to Angkor Children’s Hospital’s. On admission, Sreya’s condition was already deteriorating. Wayne and I along with the staff of Samaritan’s Purse immediately began praying that Sreya would be stable and strong enough to undergo the surgery.  Sreya’s family was also encouraged by the prayers and support of the staff at Samaritan’s Purse. Two days later, the surgery was performed on Sreya’s heart. God strengthened Sreya and the surgery went well without any complications.

Sreya’s hope for life is back. For the first time in Sreya’s life, her heart beats normally and the murmur is gone.

Sreya’s grandmother says her grandchild “now breaths normally, has good appetite to eat food and looks very healthy”.

Above all, Sreya has a big smile on her face. Sreya’s family thanked Samaritan’s Purse for saving the life of their little girl.

Sreay after her surgery

Sreya is one of many children suffering from life threatening heart conditions. It is estimated that nearly 20000 children in Cambodia suffer from congenital heart diseases. Shortened lifespan and lifelong morbidity results from a lack of diagnosis and proper treatment. Proper diagnosis and referrals with help and encouragement to the family can change the lives of these children. Most importantly, the love of God can touch the hearts of the parents as they receive care from Samaritan’s Purse staff which I am blessed to be a part.

Work Hard Play Hard – Leeches, Waterfalls and Green Vipers

When Tricia and I first got married we realized very quickly we were both driven people who had very strong work ethics and we needed to make sure we took time out in life for fun and relaxation. For us that translated into the philosophy that if we were going to work hard then we were going to play hard. We made sure in our financial stewardship that we planned for intense times of fun and relaxation (I know I used intense and relaxation in the same sentence, but that’s just who we are). When we came to Cambodia we decided the same philosophy applied no matter where we are in the world.

Lazy Afternoon

For the last four months we’ve been spending most of our time working and even made sure on weekends we were plugged in to a strong local church. Tricia was originally supposed to only work part-time (20 hrs/week) with her internship, but has actually worked about 35 hrs/week on top of being an incredible mom. We’ve taken several day trips to experience some of the incredible cultural opportunities life in Cambodia has to offer 3 boys from West Texas, but really needed a few days to disconnect from work and spend some good quality family time playing hard.

This last week our office was closed Wed-Sun for the Cambodian Water Festival. We decided we would  go on a family adventure to a lodge in the jungle. We took a 5 hour bus ride from Phnom Penh and followed the directions on the lodge’s website. It simply said to stop the bus at the fourth bridge on Road 48 and get out of the bus and go under the bridge and someone will be there to meet you. When we got there our guide was there and off we went in a traditional Khmer riverboat (there was no road access to where we were going, the only way to reach it was by boat). The river was surrounded by thick bamboo and tropical forest with mountains on both sides. When we arrived at the lodge we walked on elevated walkways to our bungalow on stilts (everything was about 6 feet off the ground). We soon understood why everything was off the ground!

Notice the stylish Socks on the Rocks

On our first morning there we decided to go for a guided hike. We climbed over the mountain behind the lodge and took about a 2 hour hike through the jungle to the Tatai Waterfalls. When we set out that morning our guide told us to be ready for the leeches, but told us not to worry these weren’t the big ones. I don’t know where they came from, but there were thousands of them and they moved fast. I had always imagined leeches as these slow moving creatures that attached themselves to something that stayed in one place too long. No matter how fast we moved these tiny leeches would find a way to attach themselves to our shoes and then climb their way up (You had to move fast to catch them before they got too far up your leg if you know what I mean).

Stopping to pick the leeches off

The boys were amazed at the small wildlife we saw: geckos, red dragonflies, colorful birds, tree frogs, skinks (kind of like a lizard), spiders, a variety of insects and a giant black scorpion the size of your hand. Although we all had to stop several times to remove leeches, it was worth the work when we arrived at the amazing waterfall. We enjoyed a couple of hours of swimming, climbing and Micah even jumped off the top when he thought mom and dad weren’t looking! Thank goodness a boat was waiting to take us back to the lodge at the end of the day.

Sleeping under  mosquito netting

The food and accommodations at Rainbow Lodge were incredible. All the food was fresh from local village farmers and fishermen from across the river. The entire place was solar-powered and designed to be eco-friendly. We would wake up every morning to the singing of Gibbons (a type of monkey) across the river.

One of our favorite activities was our next day kayak trip alone as a family. We set out together in two kayaks going upriver looking for something interesting. We saw water buffalo swimming in the edge of the river and a blue kingfisher flying across the top of the water.  After paddling about thirty minutes we saw a break in the forest and small stream that joined the river. We heard water rushing and decided to check it out. We found a beautiful waterfall created from a small stream that flowed down from the top of a very large hill. Before Tricia and I could get out of our kayaks the boys had started climbing the rocks headed for the top of the waterfall. We climbed the 900 ft waterfall and found freshwater shrimp and crabs along the way in small ponds formed at each level. The flowers and plants were beautiful, but somehow we missed the extremely beautiful and highly poisonous green viper two men from England found the next day at the same place after we told them about our find.

Finally after a couple of full days of adventurous activities we had worn the boys down enough that Tricia and I had a day to relax and get some rest before going back to work. That didn’t stop the boys from exploring and discovering bat caves, orb-web spiders and bamboo shafts they made into spears. In the afternoon we were reminded of home and weekends with friends and family when we took a lazy swim in the river floating on innertubes and jumping off the dock.

The Journey is Just Beginning

Kong Sochenda in front of the nearly complete Health Center

Kong Sochenda watches daily with excitement as the new building adjacent to the health post is being constructed.  This week the construction workers are making the final touches to the building. The new Health Center, which is being financed by Samaritan’s Purse, is due to be completed in mid-November.   Kong Sochenda is the chief of Kork Roka Health Post and a midwife.  Over the past several months, I have had an incredible opportunity to visit with Kong, provide maternal health education to her and her staff, and purchase needed obstetrical equipment for the new delivery rooms.

These past several months have been a breathtaking experience.  There always seems to be so much to do and so many healthcare needs of the women and children I work with.  I stopped at the beginning of this month, November, to ponder some things deep in my heart.  It was this time last year that I turned 40.  A little over 20 years ago, I felt called to medical missions. With that, I entered Nursing School with the sole vision and dream of allowing God to use this tool as a way to minister the Gospel in developing countries.  So, for 20 years I continually prayed and asked the Lord, “When will you be sending me?”  

My 40^th birthday was a difficult one in that I looked back at my life wondering if my dreams and vision as a youth were meant to be fulfilled in a different way. In a way I just didn’t understand. Wayne asked me the other day “How would you like to celebrate your 41^st birthday”.  I said, “I can’t think of any other way that I want to celebrate it, other than to simply be right where I am, Cambodia.  I am living and doing exactly what I’ve dreamed of. 

This month, I had the opportunity to provide a half day educational seminar to the health center staff on the topic of Preeclampsia (Pregnancy Induced Hypertension).  The health center staff was extremely encouraged and grateful for the seminar.   According to Kong, she has rarely been provided with education seminars or up to date curriculum since her midwifery training years ago. 

As the exciting dedication day of the new building approaches, I have realized that success is not a place at which one arrives, but rather the spirit with which one undertakes and continues the journey.  I am thankful to God for allowing me to spend my 41^st birthday in Cambodia and using me in this journey.

Expect the Unexpected

First day of stretch and warm-up practice in Phnom Penh

When I came to Cambodia I 

came with a heart to serve saying to the Lord “I’ll do whatever You ask me to and go wherever You ask me to.” I had ideas of what that would look like, but the one thing I didn’t expect was to be coordinating 40+ Samaritan’s Purse Cambodia staff to run in a half marathon / 10K.

After Tricia and I had been in Cambodia for a month we recognized the need for exercise, but didn’t have many alternatives. It is hot and humid here and after a full day of work you don’t feel like getting out in the muggy climate to make a trip somewhere to exercise. And, I guess I should mention that quality exercise facilities are not readily available. I was looking for options for staying healthy, but wasn’t prepared for what God had in mind.

One day I read an inspiring story of an SP staff member in Liberia who encouraged the staff in her country to run a marathon with Team Samaritan’s Purse. I was touched by the story and told our Country Director about it. The next day he came and asked if I would organize a run for the SP Cambodia staff. I have ministered to people in many different ways and spent much of my time developing leaders, but had never inspired anyone to run in a half marathon or 10K, especially myself. The last time I had run long distance (2 miles was long distance for me) was on dirt road course during high school. My idea of maintaining my health in Cambodia had not included getting up at 5:30am every morning to run before work. It appears God had other ideas.

I took on the challenge and our staff is going to run in the Angkor Wat International Half Marathon in Siem Reap, Cambodia on December 4th. I began travelling and communicating with our country offices about joining in the race. Cambodian’s are amazing people who work extremely hard, but running long distance is not a common sport here. My initial expectations were that 20 to 25 people would join in the race. As I talked with the staff about the race several themes began to emerge. The staff saw this as an opportunity, not just to get healthy, but for the country staff from all different offices to be together showing their unity and love for one another and for Cambodia. It was seen as an opportunity to have fun together, an opportunity as a group to be a witness to the love of Christ for the nation of Cambodia, and as an opportunity to tell the world Cambodia’s story and raise funds through Team Samaritan’s Purse for all the projects we are involved in. We even set up a website for people, civic groups and churches to hear the story and support us in our run:

Read our story and see how you can help!

Poipet staff and friends at a recent run

I was blown away by the amazing response. On registration day 44 of our staff, from every SP field office in Cambodia, registered to run. That morning our Asia Regional Director, Kerry Dodson, was with us in Phnom Penh. She delivered the devotional for the day. Her scripture reference was:

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12:1-2 ESV)

This timely devotional reminded us all of the Christian value of perseverance, reminded us that the world is watching us run our “race” and challenged each of us to keep Jesus at the center of all we do. 

Once again I am reminded God will call us to do the unexpected, so He can do more through us than we could ever expect!

Family On The Field – Compassion makes the difference

Tuk-Tuks are our family's mode of transportation

When we decided as a family to accept an internship with Samaritan’s Purse and move to Cambodia we knew there would be some major transitions. Tricia and I had traveled to places like Cambodia, Guatemala and Haiti before, but our 3 boys had only experienced their comfortable West Texas life. How could we prepare them to move from the land of Ford 4 wheel drive trucks, flat screens and bean burritos to the land of tuk tuk’s, rice and mosquitos?

While we tried our best to prepare the boys, nothing could get them ready to face the new sights, sounds and smells they would encounter. Sitting in an open air tuk-tuk surrounded by loud Cambodian traffic just isn’t the same as being inside dad’s air conditioned pickup.

The first couple of weeks were pretty tough. Everybody was having a hard time. The first week of school wasn’t much better. Everyone at their new school spoke English, but it was accents from 27 different countries from around the world!

Thank goodness Kyler began to show signs of adapting. Being the youngest, after a few monkeys and a new friend from Holland his age he was set to go. Micah was the next to decide he liked his new home when realized he could bike to the corner and get his new favorite dish of rice and chicken. But Reece has been our very unhappy hold out – at least until last week!

All the boys had been a little intimidated by the new people they were surrounded by every day, but Reece was especially scared of Cambodian people. He would yell and cover his eyes every time he saw a Cambodian child playing outside without any clothes. We had been here 8 weeks and were starting to get a little worried. Then we went to our local market.

After we had finished shopping for the day and came out to get in a tuk-tuk to go home Reece encountered 3 kids his age who were dirty, in torn clothes and looked really hungry. They just stared at our family and then said hello to Reece. Normally Reece would have turned away, not sure what to say or how to handle the situation, but that day was different. He reached down and pulled a small toy out of his pocket and handed it to one of the kids. They shouted with joy and a smile grew across Reece’s face. When we got in the tuk-tuk to go home, instead of scuffling with his brothers, Reece stopped and bowed his head, closed his eyes and folded his hands together and began to pray. It wasn’t a 3 second prayer, it was a long sincere prayer leaving Tricia and I with our jaws dropped open and tears in our eyes. Something from that moment on changed.

Reece has been full of joy this week. He’s like a different person. We looked outside one day and he, Micah and Kyler were in an empty lot next door teaching the neighborhood Cambodian and foreign kids how to play baseball. Where mom and dad’s attempts at using material comforts or more hugs and kisses to make him feel better didn’t work, compassion for others had transformed his little heart. 

School boy at a school where SP provides
school feedingand clean water access tanks

This was big reminder to me that God created each of us with hearts of compassion. My mistake as a parent was focusing on trying to raise a comfortable child instead of engage with a compassionate child. We have realized once again that God sent us as a family and our boys just want to share in what God is doing.

Micah, Reece and Kyler all decided this week they would join Team Samaritan’s Purse and run with Tricia and I in the Angkor Wat 10K and 3K family fun run in Siem Reap,  December 4. They are going to run to raise money for Samaritan’s Purse projects that help children and families in Cambodia. You can check out their story and fundraising page at http://www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/micahreecekylerhester/micahreecekylerhestersfundraisingpage

What does a love story have to do with church history?

I have had many new experiences during my time here in Cambodia. One of my most recent and memorable was attending a funeral. While funerals are often very tragic events I felt the story I heard of God’s faithfulness and the power of love needed to be shared, especially given it’s historic significance. I think most of you will understand why I haven't posted any pictures on this blog out of respect for the family.

The Ministry Team with Samaritan’s Purse Cambodia received a call notifying us the mother of one of our young Cambodian staff had passed away. The team here at Samaritan’s Purse is very close and cares for one another, so the Ministry Team prepared to travel to the next province to attend the funeral. Since I am working with the Ministry Team, I was asked to be a part of the delegation going to visit the family.

I wasn’t sure what to expect when we arrived at the funeral. I knew that funerals in Cambodia could last for three days or longer as the family waits for relatives to make the long trip from other provinces. One thing I definitely wasn’t expecting was to see old friends! When we arrived at the funeral and stepped out of the truck, we were greeted by the son of the lady who passed away. Moses was not only a Samaritan’s Purse staff, but a friend I met over four years ago on another trip to Cambodia. I was so surprised and excited to see him, but instantly deeply saddened to find it was his mother who had passed away.

We hugged and talked and spent time getting caught up on personal news and life happenings and then Moses invited me to go with him to see his mother. Funerals here take place at the family home, which in this case was a traditional Khmer wooden house on stilts. We climbed the stairs to the one room house and went in to see his mother, who was lying on her beautifully decorated bed.  Moses’ brothers and sisters were decorating the casket next to her bed with beautifully colored, decorative material. Moses then introduced me to his father, Witsah.  Witsah greeted me as if I were a member of the family and asked me to sit with him and talk. I wasn’t prepared for what I was about to hear.

As the conversation went on I asked Witsah how he met his wife. He described her as a “first generation Cambodian Christian” who owned one of the first translated Khmer bibles. This means she accepted Christ as a result of the first indigenous churches established after the introduction of the Gospel by foreigners in Cambodia in 1923! They actually met just as Pol Pot and the brutal Khmer Rouge regime had taken power. This is of great significance because being a Christian and especially one with a bible was an instant death sentence during the regime! To understand how significant this was you need to know that after the Khmer Rouge regime killed somewhere between 2 and 3 MILLION people in Cambodia, there were only 700 known Christian believers left in the entire nation!

After meeting, the couple decided to get married. Witsah asked the Khmer Rouge village leaders if they could wed. They were granted permission and were told when the next “community” wedding ceremony would be held. Nothing “individual” was done during the Khmer Rouge regime. On the evening of their wedding (weddings were not allowed during the day because everyone was required to work seven days a week) they joined 280 other people in the village center in the dark where 140 couples were married at one time. Witsah said “I looked so hard for her. There were so many people and it was dark. I was afraid I wouldn’t find her before the wedding was finished. But I did!”

With tears in his eyes he then told me how God’s hand protected this amazing lady throughout the reign of the regime. During that time Witsah and his brother Pitsah accepted Christ and subsequently accepted the call to pastor. After the regime fell both men planted churches where they still pastor to this day. Witsah declared the faithfulness of God as he shared with me how each of their children have gone on to serve the Lord in some form of Christian ministry. The miraculous life of a lady from a simple village has produced amazing fruit. I was seeing pioneering Cambodian church history right before my eyes!

As we concluded our visit Witsah asked that we continue to pray for him so he would have strength to continue the work of God. He said his wife had been a daily encouragement for him and on days where he did not think he could continue it had been her who had lifted him up and given him the strength to carry on.

This story is a bit longer than most, but one I felt needed to be told. No matter how hard any earthly leader tries to eliminate the story of Christ, God will always sovereignly protect a remnant. That remnant will often be a simple person who God will use to show His great love, wisdom and power through. I was deeply honored to be sitting in the presence of this precious family hearing their miraculous story. 

“When Helping Hurts“

Ever since I can remember I have had a passion for caring for the poor and marginalized and the sharing of the Gospel. It is just part of my DNA. Most of my major life choices have come about as an outflow of one of these passions. If you are reading this then more than likely you in some way share these as well.

The trouble I have always had with these inclinations is how to live them out responsibly and with an integrated approach. Should I give money to the guy standing on the street corner with the sign? How should I help the couple with two small children who have come to the church office asking for financial assistance? As a church committee or outreach team, how should we design our benevolence program to really help people instead of enable them to stay in their situation? Is our short-term mission team really helping the people we are going to minister to? And, how do we share the Gospel in an effective way when we try to live out the biblical imperative to care for “the least of these”?

For years I have seen people and churches wrestle with these questions. We’ve all acted and done the best we could, but there was always a nagging question of whether we were really helping people or actually hurting them by our actions. As I was preparing to come to Cambodia I was really looking for researched, proven guidance that was biblically based and theologically sound. That is when I found the book When Helping Hurts: How to Alleviate Poverty Without Hurting the Poor and Yourself. http://www.whenhelpinghurts.org/  Authors Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert run the nonprofit Chalmers Center for Economic Development and also teach economics at Covenant College. In this book, they communicate both a sound, gospel-centered theology of poverty and the “best practices” of poverty alleviation. They have answered many of my questions with an approach that is academic but not heady, helpful but not condescending, challenging but not demoralizing. While this book may not be a choice for your daily devotional, it is a book Christians should read as we try to make responsible decisions to help people, both in our own communities and internationally.

The authors help us confront our own unrecognized “God complex” that often hinders our effectiveness. They introduce us to best practices like asset-based community development (those are just big words for deciding how to help by seeing peoples strengths and abilities instead of always seeing their needs and weaknesses). They help us recognize crucial distinctions (like those of relief, rehabilitation, and development). And they do all of it through a rich, gospel-driven perspective. They write neither as smug experts who have already arrived, nor as distant prophets who are content to point out our faults, but as humble practitioners who are learning what it means to seek for God’s kingdom to come “on earth as it is in heaven.”

They also take the time to show us why many well-meaning approaches to poverty alleviation – both governmental and church/private – actually hurt the very people they’re designed to help. And, if you are wondering whether to take that short-term mission trip or need some advice in planning your next trip – they have a chapter in the book just for you.

If you care about the poor… if you long to see the church recover a heart for justice… if you desire to alleviate poverty in ways that are truly sustainable and empowering… if you just want to learn more so you can participate intelligently in the conversation… or if, like me, you know you need to grow in this area and want a reliable tutor… you should buy this book!

Bringing Comfort to Hurting People – Divine timing turns an accident into an eternal encounter

As I was sitting inside a small thatch home constructed of wood and braided palm leaves, visiting with a fellow believer and the Samaritan’s Purse Ministry Team, out of the corner of my eye I saw a lady in the narrow “street” pouring cool water down her back. I was shocked to see her back was about 25% covered in fresh, third degree burns with skin peeling off of her badly burned body. Recognizing the lady was in severe pain and had been burned only moments before, a Samaritan’s Purse Ministry Team member approached her to see what happened and offer comfort. While the lady’s injury was tragic, the timing of the Samaritan’s Purse Ministry Team visit was an eternal miracle from God.

Andong is a resettlement community/urban slum on the outskirts of Phnom Penh, Cambodia. The people here suffer in abject poverty. The “street” is a narrow passageway only accessible on motorcycle or by foot and is cluttered with litter and pools of polluted water. Samaritan’s Purse has established a **Targeted Child Nutrition Project ( www.samaritanspurse.com.au/project/targeted-child-nutrition-project/ ) in this community to address the severe malnutrition among the children here. I was with the Ministry Team in this community following up with families served by the TCNP team, sharing the Gospel with them, when we encountered Srey Pheak.

 Srey Pheak had been out that morning on her motorcycle trying to sell rice porridge in Phnom Penh hoping to earn a few Riel to support her family.  While she was stopped at an intersection, a car ran into her from behind, splashing her scalding hot pot of porridge onto her back. Having no access to health care she simply returned home to wash her wounds, and to have an eternal encounter. While on that day the Ministry Team could only provide comfort and a referral to a free health care option, we were able to return two days later for a follow-up visit. It was during this follow-up visit that we found that she had been visiting a partner church, but had not accepted Christ. After visiting with Srey Pheak and sharing the Good News of Christ she made a decision to accept Christ as Savior and Lord. Fortunately, she has been receiving medical care for her physical wound, but more importantly, in Christ, she has found the only answer for her spiritual condition, eternal salvation.

**The TCNP is the program where Tricia interns. She spends time each week doing assessment and trainings in these communities as well.

Texas City Girl Goes to the Cambodian Countryside

River Crossing to one of the villages

For  four days,  I a left both Phnom Pehn and my family to travel by van along with 18 other people to a remote district of Cambodia called the Chey  S’aang District in the Preah Vihear Province near the border of Thailand. We left on a Friday morning and arrived at our “guest house” that afternoon.   Our van ride started out on paved roads but eventually turned into pot hole filled dirt roads.  Our team was the staff from the Targeted Child Nutrition Program.  Next year, Samaritan’s Purse will be launching a new base in this region.  Our goal was to assess and evaluate the incidence of malnutrition in 4 different villages in this particular district in order to strategically design a plan to reach out to the moderate to severe malnourished children and expectant women .   My assignment on this trip was to assess and screen pregnant and post-partum mothers.

My teammates measuring children's heights

I was both excited and apprehensive about the trip. Since I was the only westerner on this excursion, I knew my traditional comfort level was going to be challenged.  I was secure in knowing that I just needed to pack my personal clothing, mosquito spray, and any personal toiletries (which that means TOILET PAPER ALWAYS!)  The chances of seeing a “western toilet” were zero, and so I mentally prepared myself for 4 days of a “squatty potty”.  My four day outlook was to focus on the needs of others and not myself along with listening to what God needed to do in my heart regarding setting aside my own personal needs.  

When we arrived at our “guest house” , I quickly realized I had no idea what the next four days would include.  I thought the Lord was going to reveal some great “Word of Revelation” to me on this trip. The scripture I humbly embraced became Matthew 6:25-34 “Is life not more than food and the body more than clothing?” Our guest house was a large oversized hut on stilts with the “kitchen” below on a dirt floor.  We had three double beds and 7 women.   I was overwhelmed with thoughts from my western mindset as I was staring at basically what some would call a shack made of wood planks, no air conditioning, no running water, and  3 hours of electricity by generator in the evenings.  “My” bathroom was a “squatty potty” outhouse with a bucket and large tub of water for bathing to share among about 15 people next to the pig stalls.  I adored the “cute” little scrawny “organic” chickens that ran around everywhere which I thought were to provide us with daily fresh eggs.  However, one afternoon as I rounded the side of hut to go to the outhouse, I saw a young Cambodian kid who obviously had just wrung the neck of one of those “cute” chickens and was plucking its feathers!  I suddenly realized that I was observing the elaborate preparation of my supper tonight which was later presented on the table right next to the pig ears!

Passing a water buffalo  

With all this in mind, my thoughts were centered around these findings at the end of the 4 days.  As a nurse, I assessed approximately 50 pregnant and post-partum women in all and found that around 20% of them were malnourished.  This being said, I am thankful to be exactly where I am. I am thankful  for this season in my life. I am being used as an instrument by Samaritan’s Purse to make a difference in the lives of those who are less fortunate than myself. Please pray that our team will develop an effective  strategy to combat malnutrition in the district of Cheng S’aang.

How Clean Water Facilitates Church Empowerment

I have always taken for granted being able to turn on the water faucet and have a fresh flow of clean, safe water for drinking, cleaning and bathing, until I moved to Cambodia that is. Like many small communities throughout Cambodia, the community of Khadai Ron in the Takeo Province had only one source of consistent drinking water. The 1,137 residents of the community had to walk from their homes to the local Pagoda to fill their water buckets from a community pond. As you might expect a community pond would often become contaminated. While the long walk to obtain water made life difficult enough, the sickness that often came from drinking contaminated water made life unbearable. If you became a Christian in Khadai Ron there was an even greater challenge.

Christians are a very small minority in Cambodia. They are often discriminated against. Because they are a religious minority they do not have a voice in the community government system. In most communities the Pagoda leaders hold a great deal of influence within the community and in some cases they use the influence to persecute Christians. In Khadai Ron if a person became a Christian the local Pagoda leader would deny them access to the community pond.

On a recent visit to Khadai Ron Pastor Mai, the pastor of one of Samaritan’s Purse’s many partner churches, told me the story of how the Samaritan’s Purse Seeds of Hope program has changed lives in the village. www.samaritanspurse.org/index.php/articles/sowing_seeds_of_hope/ Samaritan’s Purse chose the church, where Pastor Mai serves, as  a partner church in the village. Together with Pastor Mai, Samaritan’s Purse staff went to community leaders and asked for the names of villagers who would most benefit from the Seeds of Hope program and be good stewards. Samaritan’s Purse then went to these community families and supplied them with agriculture projects and clean water access. Wells were drilled for community members and handpumps were installed. Clean water means healthier lives and no more spending hours each day carrying water from the community pond.

Agriculture programs provide long-term 
food production for families and provide a 
source of income. 

While clean water access was important in improving people's health, it was the rest of the story that amazed me. After village leaders saw the love of Christ being shown to both Buddhists and Christians alike in the village by Samaritan's Purse and Pastor Mai, they no longer discriminated against Christians in the community.

Pastor Mai, a community member and one
 of many wells drilled by Samaritan's Purse

They began to listen to Christian leaders and include them in the local decision making process. Water wells, vegetable gardens, and livestock were a practical display of God’s love that broke down barriers and empowered the Church. Many believers open the use of their wells to other community members. They are now able to share the Living Water as these wells become a focal point for relationships and evangelism. Pastor Mai now has a healthy thriving church with approximately 75members. As a part of the Ministry Team, I now travel with staff to communities like this and visit homes with pastors like Mai proclaiming the Good News and encouraging believers!

My First Ministry Team Experience: HIV, New Baby, Flooding and Salvation

I’ve gone on many ministry visits in my life and encountered a number of very tragic and wild situations, but my first ministry visit with the Ministry Team in Cambodia was the first time I ever waded through knee deep water to get to a home. The stories of leeches the staff told me, and all of the strange plants, fungi, fish and snails I was walking through made it an even more interesting walk. What happened when I reached the home was the most heart wrenching and amazing.

Prey Sala is a resettlement community (urban slum) just outside Phnom Penh where the government has relocated individuals and families who had been living in real estate areas slated for development. As is the case for many resettlement communities the land they are often given in exchange is not always conducive for living. In the case of Prey Sala the entire community is flooded during the rainy season. Homes are either built on elevated foundations (piles of rock dirt and concrete) or on stilts, but are still prone to flooding. We walked about 200 yards in knee-deep water from the nearest road to reach the family’s home.

MaiBrazel had recently given birth to twin girls. During childbirth one of the twins died, but MaiBrazel was given no explanation by the doctor delivering the children. Today’s visit was meant to be a celebration of the birth of the healthy baby girl and the delivery of a small gift to the family. MaiBrazel and her husband have both been diagnosed as HIV positive. Their new baby girl has tested negative for HIV and the family was given free medicine to help build her resistance to the virus. This was a point of celebration as well. Sitting inside this small 15 foot by 20 foot small makeshift home surrounded by water, I was trying to process all of the many overwhelming obstacles this family was facing while my teammate Phka was telling stories and bringing joy into this tiny home. While the word hope has many meanings, not many of which I could think applicable in this families situation, we began to share about hope in Christ. MaiBrazel had already accepted Christ and attended a local church. Her husband often joined her, but still held to his traditional beliefs. Today was a divine encounter for him however. As our visit continued MaiBrazel’s husband made a decision to follow Christ! It was wonderful to see joy and hope enter this home. I went away that day with a deeper understanding of the word “hope” and some new challenges to my western worldview. I’m looking forward to the follow-up visits in days ahead!

Please pray for MaiBrazel, her husband and specifically for the future of their three children. Pray for the Targeted Child Nutrition Team who go out daily delivering parental training, child nutritional training and nutritional food vouchers.  www.samaritanspurse.com.au/project/targeted-child-nutrition-project/ This is the team Tricia works with, the team who initially made contact with this family and had already been assisting them with these programs.  It was their referral that led to this divine encounter.

Sharing our Great Adventure

I am finally bowing to peer pressure. Many of you have asked me to start a blog, but I have resisted until now. It isn’t that I have anything important to say, but the stories that I have about what God is doing are just too good to keep from telling and Facebook or Twitter just doesn’t provide enough room. Location: Cambodia is a blog meant for sharing my family’s adventures in Cambodia, as Tricia and I serve as interns with Samaritan’s Purse www.samaritan.org. I hope to add a bit of variety by sharing our stories about what God is doing, work experiences, our family’s fun adventures, my own personal devotional thoughts and maybe a book review or two from time to time. I hope you enjoy it as something that will challenge and encourage you in your own journey with the Lord and also just provide you with some fun enjoyable reading from time to time!