When You Are Out Of Options

Andong Slum just outside Phnom Penh

I am daily reminded how many safety nets I have and how many more I used to have. I have come to realize I relied much more on resources available to me in my everyday life instead of a reliance on God. In some ways this is not a bad thing given that God has provided many of those resources and provided us with the wisdom to use them. The real lesson I have learned in Cambodia is about what I do and where I go when I am out of those natural options.

Very soon after we arrived in Cambodia we were faced with a dilemma that has stuck in my mind and is a signpost for me to keep my faith and life focused in the right direction. We were having dinner in the home of a new friend. At the end of dinner we had a time of prayer and he asked us to pray for one of his Cambodian friends. The man had a motorcycle accident and had a head injury. Fortunately, he was transported to the hospital in the capitol city and received basic care. He had swelling in his head and was in a coma. His family sold many of their personal possessions to get him to the hospital to receive emergency care. After a couple of days the family ran out of money. In Cambodia the medical system has very limited resources and cannot offer free medical care. The doctors told the family if he did not start waking up the next morning or if they did not pay the $100 per day fee the hospital would have to release him and the family would have to take him home with no medical care.

The family was out of options. Our friend was telling us the story during the prayer time. My natural reaction was to consider how I could get the $100 per day the family needed. Then I realized I was personally waiting on a bank transfer and wouldn’t have access to any funds for at least two days. After thinking a moment I too realized since we were in Cambodia we didn’t have options to help. It was at that moment I was filled with both faith and conviction. Our “only” option was to pray for him to wake up the following morning and I was immediately convicted because this should have been my first and the best option.  I asked the group to agree with me in prayer the man would wake up the next morning. The next morning I received an excited phone call saying, to the doctors’ surprise, the man had come out of his coma just before the doctors arrived.  I had the privilege of going the hospital the next day to visit with the man and his family and witness an amazing recovery. 

In the village of Kampong Pluch during the floods.
Many families were displaced. 

Time and time again in Cambodia I have seen people out of options and seen God do the miraculous. I recently read a report that showed 20% of Cambodian Christians said they came to Christ after seeing a visible miracle take place in their life or someone close to them. While I in no way feel that Cambodia’s current situation is God’s best for the people who live here, I have seen when people have few options they most often search for God and His help. Being a loving Father He answers and as a result this country is ripe for harvest. In the midst of hardship and the most difficult of circumstances people are accepting Christ and the church continues to grow. The majority of pastors in Cambodia have at most a primary education. It’s not biblical knowledge people are searching for, but relationship with the Living God.

If you find yourself in a place where you feel you are out of options (or better yet as your first option), try following Dr. Dean’s advice:

Go to the source of truth. Go to God in prayer, in His Word or to someone you know who is the “real” deal. Not to your credit card, google or gossiping girlfriends.

Submit to God's directives by faith. The bible is filled with stories of the miraculous. Too often we focus on the miracle and not on the point of the stories. It was the acts of obedience and trust in God by those who received.

Trust God's perfect provision and timing. Ephesians 6:13  “Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.”

Simply put. When we are out of options, God isn’t. 

From a Mom’s Perspective

Cambodian Suburban

I wanted to stop for a moment to just share our family’s week from a mother’s perspective.

When we returned from Thailand for our visa renewals, four out of five of us came down with “Montezuma’s Revenge” as we call it in Texas.  We recovered from that illness, then Kyler, began running a 102 fever during the night after we returned. Although I am a registered nurse with an emergency room background, my reasoning goes out the window when my children are ill.  I wasn’t sure what was causing his fever which catapults the situation to a much more serious position….malaria, dengue fever.  I began praying asking for peace and wisdom from God for what action to take next. 

In the US, I knew that at any moment I could pick up the phone and called Dr. Wiley.  Or, I could walk into any hospital and Kyler would receive whatever high quality emergency medical care he needed. But here in Cambodia, the situation is completely different.  We are living in a developing country where hospitals are operating at a very basic level. High quality pediatric emergency services are non-existent. These are the moments that are difficult for me.  Wayne and I watched Kyler closely throughout the night, and praise God he slowly improved over the next couple of days.

Wayne and I received a designated financial blessing earlier in the year giving us the opportunity to upgrade from pedal bikes to motorcycles.  Wayne purchased a “new to us” motorcycle on Friday.  I chuckled this week just thinking of how we have integrated into Cambodian lifestyle by trading our  red 4X4 Ford extended cab family pickup in Texas to a red 125cc family motorcycle. Not the most glamorous or comfortable lifestyle, but wouldn’t trade this experience for the world. And yes, we promise that we will all wear our helmets!

Hester version of the priestly garments

I was really proud of Micah this week. In Christian Perspectives at school, his class is studying the Tabernacle of David.  Micah’s assignment was to recreate the priestly garment.  He spent quite some time researching the attire. Smiling from ear to ear, he proudly announced to us that the entire class clapped for him as he gave his presentation.  Micah is happy at school which brings so much peace to me on the inside that we are at the right place for our family.  He still has moments when his Autism creates challenges, but he is thriving so well at this international Christian school.

My week ended by helping a close Cambodian friend of ours.  Her 3 year old son needed a simple surgery which in the US would have been done at birth.  It’s was quite a simple surgical procedure, but untreated her son could eventually become septic causing his kidneys to fail.  I am happy that God brought this little boys need to our attention and now he's healthier than ever.   I also had to stop and ponder my gratefulness to God to have been blessed to be born in one of the greatest countries in the world with access to an amazing health care system.

Thank you God for the health of my family while we are on this journey in Cambodia. Please continue praying for our family as we process through these difficult times and celebrate with us in our times of joy;  only through God’s  grace we will continue our calling here…….for we don’t know what tomorrow will bring. 

Tricia

Starting A New Job!

The talented team of social workers and nurse midwives
I serve with. 

As my five month public health internship with Samaritan’s Purse came to an end back in December, I knew I wanted to remain serving in Cambodia.  We already had plans to return to Abilene for the Christmas holidays at the completion of our internships. Wayne and I made a decision at that time to return to Cambodia, not sure where exactly we would be serving, but knowing God has called us there.  Just before we left for the US, I came in contact with an organization called Mother’s Heart-Cambodia.  It is the first and only Christian crisis pregnancy center in Cambodia (www.mothersheart-cambodia.org/). During that time, I had an incredible opportunity to visit at length with the Founder and Director, Katrina Gliddon who is both an Australian midwife and nurse practitioner. She began to share with me the extreme challenges that the young, single, pregnant women of Cambodia face. I was moved with compassion.  I had learned a lot from my public health research regarding women’s health while at Samaritan’s Purse. The information and statistics I recovered was both unbelievable and staggering.

Cambodia ranks among the highest in the region for maternal mortality with 1/3 of deaths being attributed to “backyard” abortions. Unplanned and unwanted pregnancies are recurrent and consistent hardships among the youth.  Access to reproductive health services remains a barrier for most women due to poverty and a lack of education. An estimated 73,000 abortions take place per year.  Abortion inductions and the use of easily accessible over-the-counter abortion pills as forms of contraception have become a pandemic in Cambodia.  89% of those occur in unsafe, illegal clinics.

 During my visit with Katrina, she continued to share with me the vision of Mother’s Heart : To empower women with choices and to be a voice to those who have none. Last year Mother’s Heart helped over 100 girls, young women and their partners, infants and families by providing resources and programs. Through education, counseling and mentoring MH has helped their clients sustain healthy choices for their own lives and the lives of their baby. 

One of God's miracles!*

When Wayne and I returned to Phnom Penh in January, I was excited to get a phone call from Katrina. She asked that I meet with MH board members.  Following the meeting, I was offered, and with joy accepted, a position with Mother’s Heart as Assistant to the Country Director.   I have been working with Mother’s Heart now for the past three weeks utilizing my management skills as well as my skills as a registered nurse.  I have seen some great hardships and some incredible miracles during these short few weeks. Please continue to pray for me in my new job:  that God would touch the lives of these women and their babies, their identity is transformed and their lives are changed.

*Babies names and photos of mothers are not made public for safety and confidentiality reasons. 

No Longer In Debt...

Everyone has specific principles they are passionate about. For Tricia and I one of those principles is to live and help others live a life free of debt.  You may be familiar with Proverbs 22:7 “The rich rules over the poor, and the borrower is the slave of the lender.”

In countries like Cambodia where 70% of the population live in poverty, debt can be a very dangerous problem for families. They can lose what little they do own if they find themselves in a cycle of debt and even the smallest of crises happen.

This week I visited with a family and was inspired by their story of becoming debt free. Like most people the solutions are often simple and require basic knowledge, a helping hand, and changed behavior.

In 2009, Sang village was selected to be one of target communities in implementing a Samaritan’s Purse project. Most of the people in this community were living by producing wood charcoal, collecting wild fruit for selling, and rice farming.

Ms. Saing Saran, 27 years old with two children, is living in Sang village, Kampong Chhnang province. Her family was in serious debt with a microloan and she was identified as one of the Seeds of Hope project beneficiaries. She was given building materials to build a compost house and given material for building a fence for her home garden and given six types of vegetable seed.

Before the materials were distributed to her, she was trained in how to take care of the garden, produce compost, use the compost in an efficient way etc… “I used compost that I produced for growing vegetables such as morning glory, cucumbers, eggplants, and gourds. I used these vegetables to feed my family also I earned 5,000 – 10,000 riels( $1.25-$2.5) daily by selling the surplus during the growing season.” said Mrs. Saing Saran.

We were really impressed in how the compost house helped her family physically and economically. “Normally, we borrow money to buy at least four bags per hectare of chemical fertilizer to apply to our rice field. But after we had the compost house, we no longer borrowed money and the chemical fertilizer usage was reduced” said Mrs. Saing Saran.

For those of you who have helped others to work their way into a life of freedom from debt  I say “Thank You!” To those who have found themselves in a cycle of debt I hope this story encourages you to look at the most unlikely of solutions around you for freeing you and your family from the bondage of debt. Freedom from debt was one of the key life principles that empowered Tricia and I to live out God’s dream for our lives and come to Cambodia!

Thank you to Chet Phanna who was able to capture this wonderful story!

Dreams Do Come True...

Often as I travel across Cambodia people tell me they dream of starting their own business. 81% of Cambodians earn their living through agriculture. The majority of these are poor rice farmers with small plots of land only able to produce enough rice for their family to simply survive. Whenever there is a flood or drought the family is plummeted into a crisis. Many of them dream of having their own business and are willing to work hard, but lack the start-up resources to begin a business and break their families cycle of poverty.

A few weeks ago I heard the story of Mrs. Sem Sam Ath from Chet Phanna, one of our amazing Samaritan’s Purse field staff.

“This year, we might not have enough rice to eat because of the floods affecting our rice field. But we might sell our pig to get enough capital to start a small grocery store in the village to provide for our family.” said the 34 year old, Mrs. Sem Sam Ath. She has two children and is living together with her husband and children in Sang village, in Kampong Chhnang province.

Every year this family provided for their members by cultivating rice and some additional vegetables around their yard. She was looking to start a small store in front of her house in order to earn additional income to provide for her family. Unfortunately she didn’t have enough money to start this enterprise. With Seeds of Hope (a Samaritan’s Purse Project) help she was actively involved in most of the trainings which our field officer provided in her village such as compost making, fish farming, and home garden sessions.

In the last five months, she was selected to benefit from the pig project and she was trained in how to effectively raise pigs. After the training she also was provided with building material to build a pig house and was given two vaccinated piglets.

Since that time we saw her pigs grow really fast and remain healthy. When we first started the pig project, we indicated that over a four month period from the day we distributed the piglet that the pig’s weight should be at least 154lbs. This month her pigs were measured using our calculation and we found that each pig weighed about 198 pounds.

“After I sell these two pigs, I will buy two more piglets to replace the previous ones and with the remaining money I will construct a store in front of my house to sell products to gain more income to provide for my family. Finally, we would like to say a big thank you to Samaritan’s Purse for helping improve both our knowledge and living conditions and for supporting us” said both Mrs. Sem Sam Ath and her husband.

Proud of her village store! 

The end of the story is that this week I was able to visit and see the fulfillment of Mrs. Sem Sam Ath’s dream. Not only was she able to buy 4 more piglets after the sale of the two pigs she raised, but she was able to open her village store.

I share this story with you because I know many of you have helped purchase fish ponds, pigs, chickens and other livelihood projects, but might not have ever seen the outcome of your generosity. Mrs. Sem Sam is a great example of someone who works hard and has taken your helping hand to make her families dreams come true. 

Things I never knew fit in a shoebox!

When Tricia and I came to Cambodia to work with Samaritan’s Purse many people asked us if we ever got to be a part of delivering the Operation Christmas Child shoebox Christmas gifts to children. Most of our work is with relief and development projects and we haven’t been involved with Operation Christmas Child. However, this month I got the amazing privilege of being part of a team working alongside the local church to give the gifts in churches and schools in Pursat province. It was during the distribution of these gifts that I found some surprising gifts that come through Operation Christmas Child.

Giving the gifts was a touching experience. In one village we passed out gifts to the children in the village primary school. At the end of our time at the school one of the teachers grabbed us and ushered us into her classroom. She thanked us for coming that day and showed us her desk drawer. In her drawer were a few odds and ends and three pencils. She told us her class of around 20 had to share these 3 pencils to do their work every day because the students were from poor families and couldn’t afford school supplies. She said her students were excited today because they all received writing pencils and colored pencils in their shoebox gifts. I guess God knew which gifts needed to come to this village. At another location after the gifts were given a mother came to us and thanked us for her 5 year- old son’s gifts. In his gift was a pair of flip-flop shoes. She was very appreciative and went on to tell us this was her son’s first pair of shoes. She wanted to know how someone knew what her son needed. We were able to tell her it is God who knows our every need and desire and only He can fulfill!

While these were all touching stories, they were one’s I was expecting to hear. I had heard many stories like these before. What I wasn’t expecting to hear was the stories of other ways the Operation Christmas Child gifts affected many others involved in the process. I was amazed to hear that things like unity, leadership development and church empowerment came with every shipment of shoebox gifts.

We traveled to the shoebox distribution sites with Sophea Sem. Sophea is a young Cambodian pastor who is the head of the National Leadership Team responsible for distributing nearly 100,000 shoeboxes in Cambodia this year.

As we went from village to village Sophea told me how pastors had a difficult time trusting one another after the affects of years of war. Working together to coordinate the giving of 100,000 shoeboxes across the country had given pastors a reason to work together. Operation Christmas Child has brought pastors together for a unified purpose and mobilized the church to reach children and parents in the target areas.

He said tackling the large task was a great leadership development tool. Dealing with the organization and logistics of handling such a large project had stretched many pastors and leaders and improved their leadership capacity.

Finally he shared how the generous gifts from around the world also facilitated church empowerment in Cambodian communities. When village and provincial leaders saw the generosity and love of Christians around the world working together with the local churches of Cambodia, they have started showing the church more respect and given them opportunity to have a voice in the community. In Pursat province on the final day of our distribution this was evident when the Pursat City Mayor, the Provincial Governor and one of the Secretary’s of State for the Country of Cambodia all attended a ceremony where local church leaders presented 2,000 children with shoebox gifts. During the presentation the gospel was presented and the Secretary of State stood up and declared to the children and families, that while Cambodia is a Buddhist state, they all had the freedom to follow Christ if they chose. This was an amazing declaration for such a high-level government official. Another surprising gift I never thought would fit in a small shoebox.

Difficult Choices!

Recently, I had the incredible and humbling experience of organizing and running a mobile medical clinic with our staff from Samaritans Purse Cambodia along with a medical volunteer team from Samaritan's Purse Canada. Our two day medical clinic took place at the Maternal Health Center in a small village in the province Preah Vihear. It was a blessing to hold the clinic in this particular province because this is the village where Samaritan's Purse is opening a new base this year. The clinic provided a great opportunity to work with the village leaders and health center staff as well as minister to the physical needs of the people. In addition, we were able to donate a large number of vitamins and medications to the Health Center. Furthermore, we were excited to be able to give two baby cribs to the maternity ward.  This was a special time for us as a team to be able to assemble and donate the cribs because currently the center had no cribs to place newborns in. 

Team Assembling Baby Crib

The logistics of organizing a mobile medical clinic are challenging and God always humbles me in different ways with each clinic I run. My nursing speciality is both emergency as well as cardiac. By far the most difficult job whether it is in the US or in a mobile clinic setting in a developing country is the triage process. This is the process of deciding who gets to see the doctor first.

First time for the maternity ward to have baby cribs

In the US, I know every patient I triage in the emergency room will have the opportunity to be examined by a doctor. However, this is not always the same in developing countries. The night before every mobile clinic, I pray and ask God to give me wisdom for the triage process for the next day. In Cambodia, not everyone has equal access to healthcare, so we always have more people come than we can possibly ever see.  As I pray, I realize that I will have to make the tough decision of deciding who gets to see the doctor. I do not take this job lightly. I know it is always important to bathe the decisions in prayer because during the mobile clinic the Gospel of Jesus is presented.

At this clinic we were be able to treat around 120 people. I always calculate the number of patients I think a clinic can handle based the number of the volunteers I have along with the number of physicians. However, the typical number of people who will arrive at any mobile clinic is anywhere from 300-500 and sometimes more once word spreads that there are doctors present.

This morning was not any different. As the sun began to rise and we arrived at the clinic, there were  about 250 people already present and more people were arriving as each moment passed. This is when the difficult moment arrises. I quickly work my way through the crowd to select the 120 people who I feel need medical attention the most. The burden is always painfully difficult as people stare into my eyes and physically tug at my pant legs hoping I will select them. With great care and deep thought, I selected the 120. With great disappointment that never gets any easier,  I announced to the remaining hundreds that we will not be able to treat them. 

The two days of hosting the clinic were bittersweet. On the one hand we were able to treat a large number of patients and improve their physical health and minister to their spritual need, but on the other, we had to turn away hundreds. Although this is always a difficult challenge I know it is something we as the body of Christ must continue to do. I was reminded that this is why I am in Cambodia. This is what I am called to do. I am thankful to  God for choosing to use me in this capacity.