Cambodia Missions Team Blog 2011
Date: January 17, 2011 - January 29, 2011
Cambodia 2011
January 2011 marked the 6th consecutive year that West Layton
Assembly has sent a team to Cambodia. This year was significant because of the
changes that have or will take place in several villages that we have gone to
last year. This is written from my perspective. This year the team consisted of
a nurse practitioner (Terry), a retired teacher (Renee), Jeff, Jerry, myself and
Pastor Scott. We joined Gil who was there before we came. Gil who is also from
West Layton Assembly usually spends 3-4 months a year in Cambodia and has been
going there for eleven years now. To those who read this it is my hope that it
will make you feel like you were there with us.
Blessings
Jim Zacharias
Blessings
Jim Zacharias
We left Milwaukee on Monday January 17 around 7 AM and spent
the next 27+ hours either on a plane or walking through or waiting in an
airport. We arrived in Phnom Penh around 11 PM and everything was pretty much
what we have come to expect from the major travel portion of the trip. The last
thing that we normally do though before going out to be greeted by Pastor Jonah
and Gil is to count suitcases. With 6 of us there should be 12 suitcases but
there were only 11. Because we travel as a team and all of the suitcases are
used to transport medicine. It is a little bit of a project to first figure out
which person’s name is on the missing suitcase. To describe the suitcase and to
fill out the paperwork so that they can look for it took nearly an extra hour.
When we got to the hotel it was Wednesday 1:30 AM Cambodia time.
Wednesday was mainly a travel day. After breakfast we took in some culture by touring the royal palace in Phnom Penh. Last year we were dependent on public transportation and only had an hour after breakfast before catching a bus. This year the tour was possible because we had a van that could take us to Siahanoukville. However, because we had a lot of luggage, it would have been one very full van ride for about 6 hours. So Gil, Jeff, Jerry, Pastor Scott and Renee decided to take a bus to SLM. It seemed to be a good idea at the time but the bus that they were on had no windows that could open and no air conditioning. The outside temperature was around 90 degrees but inside it was much warmer. Meanwhile the nice air conditioned van arrived at SLM but we had 11 - 50 pound bags to take to our upstairs room where I began to unload and sort the different medicines while Terry went to the store with Racha to get provisions – towels, coffee, soda and munchies. Shortly after we finished unpacking the rest of the team arrived. The evening English class was almost over and we had a time to do introductions and shared some miniature snickers bars with them. Afterward we had dinner - chicken and rice. It was a full day. Breakfast tomorrow at 7:30
Thursday - Kompongsong Bible School / Evening English @ SLM
I always love going to the bible school, the place exudes spiritual light that is to me very refreshing. Pastor Jonah introduced each member of the team, Gil led us in singing the hello song (a staple for 6 years now in Cambodia) and Pastor Scott shared a short message. I just loved Pastor Scott's message, it was from the book of Jeremiah, it was simple, direct and powerful, and actually he merely quoted God. “God is speaking; He says “I have a plan for your life. It’s a good plan! It’s a plan to prosper you and not harm you, to give you hope and a future.” That was an excellent verse and a word of encouragement for the people of Cambodia. We had a medical service while Gil, Renee and Jeff had a special service with the children there. Renee and Gil really did a great job preparing for children's services. They developed a song that would teach the children the gospel message. The best way to describe it is Yes, Jesus loves me meets the gospel bracelet. That may sound weird but it was really good. I just love the creativity of so many people in our church and some who did not go but helped anyway they could. In the children's service they also worked on a craft, creating visors for them to wear with each one using colors that were mentioned in the song. On the medical side each person had a specific job to do, Terry and Pastor Jonah were doctors, Pastor Scott was the pharmacist and I was the scribe. Jerry volunteered to become our wound care specialist for the trip earning him the name Doctor Boo Boo. We were very busy as many had medical needs but after a couple of hours we felt that most were treated. However, when the kids service was finished suddenly there was a line of 30+ added to the medical needs area. Most all of them had cold symptoms so we had Gil and Renee treat kids with those problems so that we could all finish at about the same time.
Friday – Crocodile Hole Village, this village is a former Khmer Rouge village that the team from West Layton visited 5 or 6 years ago. Pastor Jonah had talked with a leader of that village recently and this leader wondered why our team hasn't been back since. We medically treated over 100 people there including one young girl with a growth on her neck. We are hoping that the medicine that we gave will take care of it but are planning to have Pastor Jonah call her family because it could be something more serious. We provided lunch for everyone attending our visit there. It is always fun to distribute food to all of the people, we will go to each person and hand them lunch boxes of rice, meat and vegetables and a bottle of water. In the evening we went to Agape House, this is a place that is run by Pastor Jonah’s wife. They provide food, shelter and a Christian education for about a dozen kids ages 5 -15 who are either orphans or their parents cannot afford to take care of them. I was very blessed by their presentation to us – they are taught well! They also served us dinner. Afterward, they asked us questions, they asked me to share my testimony. I normally look forward to answering that question but I am also aware that it is a different culture here. I need to describe the difference between following rituals and having Jesus in your heart. It is something that I hope to do better in the future.
Saturday- Buffalo Village. This village is really the best thing that we are doing in Cambodia. It can be summed up in the phrase ‘if you build it they will come.’ Years ago West Layton Assembly helped build a school here and the village has grown to the point that the children don't fit in it anymore. Also many of the children have need for higher level education. This year is special because we had a ground breaking service for the schools expansion. Construction was started the following week and should be finished in about 3 months. A special service was held that included many of the village leaders. Of course afterward we provided food and water along with medical & children’s service.
On the way back some of the team stayed with the van and went to a really beautiful area with waterfalls. Several unforgettable pictures were taken there. We should have learned from the earlier bus trip without air that the best travel venue was the van, but Pastor Jonah wanted to head back to SLM rather than go to the waterfall. Terry, Jeff, Racha and myself decided to go with him, this became a new and special experience – a Cambodian Taxi. Pastor Jonah found and made arrangements for this ride while we waited. OK, so here’s the car, a Camry wagon. It seemed a little odd that after we were comfortably seated that 2 guys got into the drivers seat. But that was really just the beginning, after a mile or so a stop was made and more people were getting on. Then another stop was made and more people were added. Now the back was full with people standing on the bumper and holding on to the tailgate. The front was full with 4-5 people in front and Terry, Jeff and myself in the middle and the driver was requesting that we sit on each others laps. That’s where Pastor Jonah told the driver he “shouldn't treat foreigners that way.” He convinced him and we got our ride to the base, all 13 of us and we didn't have to sit on each others laps.
Sunday – Church & Baptism Services Pastor Scott shared a message and Pastor San translated it into Khmer for the people attending the Sunday morning service. It was really interesting to watch as some words didn’t translate. I will always remember the way some words were worked out. Pastor Scott mentioned the law of gravity in his message but what is the law of gravity? Pastor Scott drops a pen and says it falls. Pastor San speaks a word. I think it worked… everything moved on. But for all I know the definition of gravity in Cambodia is when a pen drops. The baptism is always a joyous time by the beach. Pastors Scott and San baptized 19 people. Afterword we had communion and a meal, we talked with Pastor San about his ministry in Cambodia. He is the superintendent for the Assemblies of God in Cambodia. He has a couple of sons that are studying to become pastors. There are a lot of good things going on.
Monday – Sihanoukville Prison – Before we came to Cambodia we had heard that Pastor Jonah had made a connection with prison officials and did some medical service at the prison. Because of the many needs and rough conditions we were looking forward to the opportunity to be a blessing there. So how we do a medical service at a prison? Through a fence of course. That is how most of it was done, however a few of the prisoners that had serious skin conditions that were allowed out to be treated. Terry, Pastor Jonah and I were allowed in to the prisons hospital where they kept the sickest prisoner/patients. There we saw an AIDS patient who was almost always feverish, an 80 year old with many problems (prostate, liver, heart, stomach, asthma) and a guy who was paralyzed from a stroke. While we were doing this the rest of the team was able to have a time to share the good news with some of the other prisoners, it was good to hear. At the prison we were surprised to meet a guy from Cincinnati named Allen. Allen spoke really well and was interesting to listen to, but when asked about what he believes he started going on about the Bible not being true. As he continued to go on he spoke lies about Pastor Jonah. After we got back to SLM Terry led everyone in a short debriefing time regarding our encounter with Allen.
Tuesday – Smech Deng - Much like last year we packed up all of our belongings and medicine for several outreaches and visited this village before heading out to Phnom Pehn. Unlike last time we were using a van that would take us to everywhere, so we didn't have to wait for public transportation and we didn't have to take all of our belongings out at the village. Like last year we had a great time of sharing and did a medical service for over 100 people and like last year come across children with bloated stomachs. There were 2 brothers who had probably the same condition, we decided that Gil could take one of them to get checked out next week. Before we left we had one last thing to do in this village – Dedicate Mia’s headstone. Mia is the little 10 year old girl that we met in this village last year who had untreated cancer. She believed in Jesus and went to heaven in early April last year. Her headstone had a Bible verse on it ‘Who believes will never die.’ John 11:25 It is a testimony of her faith in Jesus. The carvers were asked to make adjustments regarding the verse and the spelling of Mia’s name, which they also botched ‘EMAY’. Onward to Phnom Penh and when we got into the city we were in for one of the most insane rides ever because it was rush hour. There are hundreds of small motorcycles on the road during this time and if they can fit in they are gonna try. So we were amazed that no one got hurt because they would be within an inches of us most of the time. Another weird thing that happened, a policeman tried to stop us… on foot by just running out in front of us and holding up his hand. When he realized that we were not stopping, wow that was a near miss. Well we made it to the guest house without any problems except maybe some nervous twitches.
Wednesday – We went to Siem Reap by boat, this is about a 5 hour cruise that was a nice time of checking out the scenery and enjoying the ride. However several members of the team were not feeling well. Jerry had the worst of it with a 103 degree fever. The good news is that we are a medical team with the right medicine to deal with it, so with some cipro and plenty of rest that day he was able to participate in Thursday’s activities.
Thursday – Kouk to Chan Village - We split the team up for the day with Terry, Pastor Jonah and myself doing a medical service nearby and the rest of the team checking out the temple complex at Ankor Wat. This was a unique experience for me. Everywhere we had gone before everyone had their part, Terry and Pastor Jonah were doctors, Jerry was the wound care guy, Pastor Scott was the pharmacist and one of the translators and myself were scribes. Because we were a small team today, on one side of the table Pastor Jonah was the doctor, scribe and translator. On the other side Terry was the doctor and Pastor Timothy (a pastor who worked in that village) was her translator and also did the scribe thing. In between them I became the pharmacist. This was a challenge because I know that Pastor Jonah is fast, He had told us that in the past he had once done medical service for over 300 people in one day by himself. With two doctors from America we would normally help around 110. When Pastor Jonah does a medical service with us he will normally take several bottles of medicine and go to work on another table by himself. This time he was on one side of me and Terry on the other and my goal was to keep up with both of them. Going into this village I really didn't know that this was the plan. As I looked and them, both ready to go a thought came to me ‘WWJD’. What would Jonah do? In every service we had done to that point we had used a pill counter to accurately count the number of pills we would give for what ever need that they had. More or less the main adjustment was not using the pill counter but eyeballing it. I was able to keep up and also handle pill cutting requests and more specific antibiotic counts. It was about as fast as I could go for 3+ hours and when we finished I exhaled and thought wow.
Friday – This was our last day in Cambodia. In our pre-trip planning I made only one request, to visit Kompong thumao. This village we visited for the first time last year and we were all shocked to learn that the church that we held our service in and pastor’s home there were burned down by arsons about a month after our visit. The location of this village is perfect for our return trip midway between Seim Riep and Phnom Penh.
So, how are they doing? God provided marvelously for their rebuilding efforts. Their church was a beautiful new building with tile floors. This is amazing when compared to my description of this place in the 2010 trip blog. ’ This is one of the dirtiest villages that we went to. We ministered in a church there and I may have been hypersensitive about bugs and conditions in general. I saw one very small bug that I needed to take my glasses off to see and my arm itched so I rubbed it and noticed that it kind of sparkled.’ Anyway we were blessed and impressed by what God had done for these people. We started the medical service after a few testimonies and met a young girl with an obvious need. Some people had pointed her out while we were serving those in line and after a while she came up to see what we could do for her medically. Sithorn had a major growth on the side of her head that caused her ear to turn sideways and it just looked real bad. When she came up Terry stopped the medical service to gather people to pray for her. She felt that this was beyond medical help but not beyond God’s healing touch. We had never done that before and I was hopeful that when I looked up after the prayer that she would be healed but that was not the case. Jeff and Gil spent time with her as we continued with medical service. They heard of her faith in Jesus and of people who have come to the Lord because of her. They heard that only a year ago she looked normal. Gil wanted to have her seen by doctors in Phnom Penh but later on when we contacted her pastor to arrange this we found out it had already been done 6 months ago. She had brain cancer and was given a year to live, it’s sad - I think that she is only 16 years old.
On our way back to Phnom Penh a car pulled over and started on fire right in front of us. Military vehicles go by us heading to the border as conflicts continue with Thailand. I sometimes wonder what we will see next. When we got to Phnom Penh Terry, Gil and I had a little time to visit one of our translators from last year named Savon. Her life changed suddenly when a friend asked her if she would watch her newborn for her. Her friend died about an hour or so later. And now Savon has a little baby girl that she has promised to watch. She was really a cute baby. But there are many struggles for Savon. Her brother, who makes major family decisions, wants her to put the child in an orphanage. Savon and her mom believe they are supposed to take care of the child. Please keep them in prayer.
In this trip we documented and provided medical service to over 760 people, baptized 19 people and thousands heard a message of hope through Jesus.
After the Trip / Letters from Pastor Jonah and
Gil
1-30-11 Well, I am here just to say thank you very much for
the amazing ministry that you and the team have done here in Cambodia for the
last 10 solid days! That was so intense and a blessing for 1000's of people in
Cambodia. I should say that that was one of the best team works we have done
together. You all have been such a great inspiration to me, to SLM's family and
to the people you touched in those 10 days!
1-31-11 Beginning from yesterday, we are setting up all the medicines you've gifted us. Um, they're a lot. We did medical services in two places yesterday. Please continue to keep us in your prayers.
2-10- 11 Buffalo Village I also conducted a medical service for both parents and students and treated 78 patients. Gil and I are planning to go back again next Friday.
2/11 Gil - I spent 4 days with the little boy and his mother from Smach Deng village. We went to Royal Ratanak Hospital – the best hospital and most expensive in Phnom Penh. The boy was diagnosed with "Thalassemia"- a genetic blood disorder where the body makes an abnormal hemoglobin molecule thus not allowing proper oxygen to be carried to the body, causing large amounts of red blood cells to be destroyed by the body resulting in an increased size in the spleen and liver and an overly anemic condition. He will be required to have life long blood transfusions. When we picked the boy and mother up, his skin was so pale and he was so weak. At the hospital, he weighed in at 10.5 kg or about 23 pounds. They said he would need an immediate blood transfusion and hospital stay. Well at the Royal Ratanak that would come in at over $800. They suggested that we go to the government hospital where they could treat him at a lower fee so that's where we went and now it was about 6pm. Well the rules here were if you want blood, you have to give blood. They told us to find someone who will donate blood, a moto driver or taxi driver, someone off the street. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. (the horror stories of government ran health care) the mother said she was unable to donate because she had some type of blood problem, now it was after 8pm. They checked into the hospital and we decided we'd have to find someone to donate the next day. Good thing about this was the hospital fee was only $5.00 day. We went back the next day and the doctor told the mother and I that on Monday she should just go to the blood bank and let them know her condition and see what happens, by afternoon the boy was in the process of being transfused. She said they felt sorry for her and let her have one unit of blood for the boy. It was a 5 hour process so they stayed in the hospital Monday night again. Tuesday morning the doctor released the boy from the hospital. The doctor also said to come back next month and to bring the other boy along for transfusion. Well apparently all the fright talk about donating blood to get blood, it appears just to be a scare tactic so the system won't get abused. The boy appeared in good spirits, talkative, and color a bit more normal. I am planning to talk to Pastor Ritty to see if his church can arrange some donors for blood. Although the blood bank gave blood to the boy this time, he will need it for the rest of his life and as will his brother. I know this will push the blood bank temper levels to the highest level and they will scare her off so she won't come anymore. If some blood is donated periodically, this shouldn't happen.
2-17-11 Right now I am in Buffalo Village with Gil. The construction is going on well. We also treated 70 patients. One of them was taken to the clinic for minor surgery.
The little girl with the cyst we saw in the Crocodile hole village, her dad is bringing her to Sihanouk Ville tomorrow. Gil and I are planning to take her to CT Clinic and let the doctor examine. Please keep her in your prayers.
The best news is that, last week, three families came to the Lord including the Deputy Commissioner at the Preah nob district. He is the one with the heart problem and high blood pressure. You have met him couple of times already. Now he is willing to be baptized. Please keep him in your prayers.
4-4-11 Last Sunday we went back to the Fisher men's village for a free medical service and treated 180 patients with Rachha and Bunsat. Coming Sunday we are planning to do the same in Otrach village where there are some very poor families living in temporary shelters. They were pushed out from their original village and relocated there by force. Please keep them in your prayers.
5-1-11 This morning we went to the Fishermen village for a medical service and treated about 40 patients. Thanks for the medicines you left with us.
6-18-11 Pastor Jonah - I want to let you know that the little girl in Kompongthumao village, whom we all love and pray for is with the LORD now. She passed away June 17 at noon time. I am happy that she is with the LORD where she will become normal, healthy and happy always. I feel so relieved that I visited Ms. Sithorn and her family the month before she left. I feel even more relieved that I also gave her counseling and the chance to say, "I truly believe in Jesus and that I will be in heaven with the LORD!" I still remember her voice when she told me, "God bless you, too!"
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