I will be working on posting more photos and videos

This is just to let you know that I will continue to work on posting photos and videos of the clinics.  I will try to post photos and videos for each day of the mission trip.  It will take several weeks for me to reach my goal on this, so just check back from time to time on the page marked "Photos and Videos" for new material.
I hope this is a blessing to you and encourages you in your faith in Jesus Christ!

Future Posts

Message to those who are viewing this blog
Now that the 2010 Cambodia Medical Mission trip has concluded I will be focusing my work on this blog towards posting photos and videos of events that occurred each day.  I want to make an record of what happened.  I will post them chronologically, going back and filling in days that were missed.  Right now I am posting photos/videos of Sunday, Nov. 28.  So, if you are interested, you can check back from time to time to see the new photos/videos/commentary that I will be adding.  I hope this is a blessing to you.
Regarding Video Testimonies
I also want to add one comment about video testimonies of healings and salvations that occurred on the mission trip.  I think this should be understood by all, but just in case...the purpose of these video testimonies is to make much of Jesus Christ.  It is not about the man, the person who is sharing the testimony, it is about Jesus who is the One doing all the work.  We on the team are simply given the privilege to be used by Jesus to carry out His work.  I can vouch for each testimony that the event you are hearing described really did occur, no matter how miraculous it may seem to you.  These things are true, it is not embellished or magnified in anyway.  If anyone has any questions about these testimonies feel free to send me an email at kurt@kdwa.us.  I would be very happy to respond to your comments or questions.

Journey Back Home Part II

I am home - Praise God for safe and smooth traveling back home!  I am sitting in one of the favorite spots on the couch in front of the wood stove beside the Christmas Tree. I hear the Christmas Carols playing in the background,  Hannah, Dan and Drew are making breakfast.

When I woke up this morning it was 34 deg. outside with a white dusting of snow on the ground.





It was about 80 degrees when I left Cambodia Friday night when I left the Phnom Penh airport.  It is hard for me to believe that Friday night I was in Phnom Penh.  The Medical Mission trip to Cambodia of 2010 went by so fast!  I knew it would.  It was a wonderful experience and I praise God that He called me to be part of that Team. In two weeks I made friendships that will last a lifetime.  Sam, Ron, Rick, Cyndy, John, Regina, Glenn, Evelyn, George, Nelson, Setan, the translators, the drivers the drama team...you are in my heart forever!

I want to share one main thought that is in my heart right now and it is directed primarily to those of you reading this blog who are born again by Jesus living in America.  You have read some of the miraculous events that I posted on this web site, and I will be posting more in the days ahead.  You may have thrilled with me at the marvelous things that Jesus did during the two weeks of Medical Mission and Evangelism in Cambodia.  Now I ask you a question, what is happening in your world where you live?  As you live your day to day life in America, walking with the living Lord Jesus Christ, do you expect Him to do the miraculous in your life?  Do you expect your co-worker to be saved? Do you pray for your co-worker to be saved, do you share Christ with him or her?  Do you expect Jesus to heal you of your infirmities?  Do you pray and ask for  healing?  It's one thing to read on a blog about a  person (me) seeing and/or being involved in miraculous healing by Jesus and people getting saved while he is on a mission trip in a third world country.  But what about you where you live and go to church?  Is this type of thing happening in  your life?  I hope so.  Get excited about Jesus!  He is alive, active, living and moving in the lives of human beings all around the globe, and in your community!  Recognize this and make sure your life is connected to this living and reigning Lord Jesus Christ!

Journey Back Home Part I

I am on the journey back home today.  It is Friday, Dec. 10, 2010 at 9:30 AM.  I am riding in one of the vans in the  front seat.  The driver is Sophal.  In the bench seat behind me is George Sooley one of the Team members.  We have several translators in the van also.  Watt, Lucky, Nairy, So Pie and Chan Nam.  So that's eight persons and as much luggage, backpacks and computer bags that we can stuff in any available space.  I have my backpack under my legs, I am typing on my laptop which is on top of my computer bag on my lap.  Right beside me my arm is resting on two duffel bags.  You get the idea.  We are off to Phnom Penh.  Nearly all of us will be leaving tonight at midnight.  We have a six hour drive ahead of us.
I was just able to Skype my daughter Hannah while riding in the van, and wish her Happy Birthday. I was able to sing her Happy Birthday on her 16^th Birthday which was pretty important to me. Thank you Lord for this wireless internet card that Watt loaned me.  I turned the microphone towards the back of the van and had the five translators sing Happy Birthday to Hannah in the Khmer language!  I thought that was pretty cool!  :)

I just took pictures of those in the van with me.  One of the translators (Lucky) was sleepy when I took the pictures.

Sophal the driver

George Sooley and Watt

Lucky (in front - he was sleepy! :) ) and Chan Nam

Nairy (left) and So Pie

And....me!


The  only component that remains for this mission trip is to travel to Phnom Penh, rest there until around 10:30 PM and then go to the airport to catch the midnight flight to Seoul, South Korea.  That is about a 5 hour flight.  I have a 4 hour layover in Seoul, then fly to Atlanta. That flight over the pacific ocean is 15 hours long.  That is a long flight for me!  I hope I can sleep some on that  flight! Then I fly to Asheville, NC and arrive around 1:30 PM on Saturday.  According to my biological clock it will be 1:30 AM Sunday morning.  So I will lose 12 hours when I arrive in Asheville.  I will probably nap a little and then try to stay awake until my normal bed time.  
Some thoughts about this mission trip
So here I am now on the tail end of Mission Cambodia 2010!  I can hardly believe it. Honestly, to me right now it is like I arrived yesterday.  Many on the Team expressed the same thoughts.  It has been a truly blessed experience to be on this Mission Trip!  We serve an awesome God.  I think one of the main thoughts that I have, and have been shared by many on the Team, is that we are privledged to be asked by God to serve Him here.  We all believe God has appointed us to be on this Team.  He assembled it.  He called us to serve. We responded with a yes.  And God did the work through us.  This is way we should serve God 24/7 anywhere, everywhere.  God is the almighty, awesome God of the universe and He is the one who does the work in the life of a human soul.  God, in His perfect plan, has ordained it so that  He chooses to use Human Beings to carry out His work. He uses us to do His work.  We are His hands, his feet, and we should be ready to serve. 
At the airport
Well, we made it to Phnom Penh uneventfully.  Everyone had a good trip.  John Clark got sick upon arrival, but he is now sitting with us at the airport and seems to be fine.  We prayed a lot for him.  We said our goodbyes to the drama team before we left Siem Reap.  We said our goodbyes to the translators upon arrival at Phnom Penh.  It was a sad site to me to see the backs of those young people walking away from us into the crowded streets of Phnom Penh.  I wanted to run after them.  Then we spent a few hours near the TransformAsia office.  We prayed one more time for John Clark and prayed for Setan Lee and his family.  Then headed off the airport.  We made it through customs OK and then said our goodbyes to Glenn and Evelyn Cobb who are taking a different flight then me and the other Team members.  We are now seated at the gate ready to board the 5 hour flight to Seoul, South Korea. On that flight with me will be George Sooley, Sam Hopper, Ron Cole and John and Regina Clark.  We will be boarding soon.  We debriefed a little  bit at the airport and all felt the Mission Trip really went well. We felt the presence of the Holy Spirit with us and saw God work in mighty ways. 

David Center Orphanage - Sanitation

John Clark and I finished our survey of the David Center Orphanage sanitation problem.  About $2,000 would solve an immediate problem.  If anyone wishes to give a unique Christmas present, consider contributing to improving the sanitation conditions at the David Center Orphanage helping 51 children and the staff.
Problem & Solution
The current bathroom facility discharges toilet waste to holding tanks which are pumped out; a 'pump and  haul' waste disposal system.  The holding tanks are currently undersized.  This can be remidied quickly.  A local concrete pipe manufacturer makes (approximately) 36" diameter tongue and groove pipe in 3 foot joints which can be stacked together to make a holding tank.  Two joints can make a nice size tank which can be easily doubled by setting two of these side by side connecting them with a pipe.  The local manufacturer also knows individuals in the village that have the capability to excavate the pit for these tanks, set them and do the pipework.  All the other materials that can make this system work are locally available also.  I estimate that $2,000 would cover the labor and materials including some contingency to completely replace the current holding tanks.  The new system that will provide larger capacity and a better enclosure reducing the potential for vector attraction.  This would provide immediate relief to the residents at the center.  So, if those of you reading this feel led by the Lord to help out you  can simply contact me at kurt@kdwa.us and I can put you in contact with the appropriate individual.  This would be a great blessing to the children and staff at the center!  A very nice Christmas present! :)
I will write more on the David Center and try to post photos as I make my trek around Siem Reap looking for high bandwidth internet.
God Bless!

Watt's Mom

One of the translators that I have become close friends with is "Watt."  That's his American nickname (like 100 watt lightbulb).  His real name is Sereiwath.  They pronounce the th like a t, so the last part of his name 'wath' he pronounces as "watt", so that's how he got his nickname.
His mother accepted Jesus as her personal Saviour Sunday morning!  Praise God!
The Story
Watt was very concerned for his mother, father and sister.  His mother was opened to the Gospel, but was afraid of the Buddhist god.  She was also afraid of her ancestors, I think I understood Watt to say that she was afraid if she accepted Jesus, that her ancestors (who were Buddhists) would come haunt her.  Watt's sister accepted Jesus, but according to Watt, has become confused and waffles back and forth between Buddhism and being a follower of Jesus.  Watt's family lives in Battambang.  We have been staying in Battambang for several nights, so Watt has been going home and talking to his mother.  Sunday after church Watt invited several members of the Team and some of his friends who are translators to go to his house and talk to his family.  He wanted us to share the Gospel with them, answer quetsions that they might have with the hope that they might accept Jesus as their personal Savior.  We arrived at the Watts home and I was stunned.  I have not be exposed to this kind of home in Cambodia yet.  It is on the 'other side of the fence' regarding the poor people we have been helping.  Watt's father is the District Chief of Battambang, a very high ranking official.  Battambang's population is over 100,000, so he is like the mayor of a city of that size.  But I think more powerful, more important, than a mayor that we are used to in the USA.  Their home is stunningly beautiful.  Many wealthy people in the USA would love to have a home like Watt's.  I will try to upload a picture of their home after I post this text, but it probably won't go through.  At any rate, we entered the home and met his mother, father and sister. We exchanged some greetings and preliminary talk.  They are very loving, caring people, I instantly felt drawn to them.  During the course of the conversation Watt's mother informed us all that early in Sunday morning she prayed to accept Jesus as her personal Saviour! What great news. She said the night before Watt had talked to her for about 3 hours.  She thought about what he said to her, she thought about the Gospel and her heart was opened up to Jesus to receive Him as her personal savior.  Praise the Lord.  We talked about a lot of things related to the Gospel and during the conversation Watt's dad received a telephone call and he had to leave to attend a meeting. He expressed his apologies and left.  After he left Watt's mother took us on a tour of them home.  Absolutley beautiful, teakwood everywhere.  Their home is 3 stories high, we went to the very top which is open for viewing.  You can see all across Battambang from the top of their house.  We could see the hotel we were staying at.  Up there, on the top of the roof we had wonderful fellowship. Watt's mother has pain in her joints (probably arthritis) and we prayed for healing for her joint pain.  Then we went downstairs to the front of the room she dedicated to the Buddha god.  Where the idols where.  She was afraid that ghosts related to Buddha would haunt her. We circled around her there, held hands, and prayed that Jesus would surround their home and protect them from Satan's attacks. Then we finally went downstairs to their lining room and prayed for a blessing on their whole family and that Watt's father would come to know Jesus and his sister would be strengthened in the Lord.
Also, during the course of all of this one of the translators who is Buddhist, Nary, (her nickname is Nary, her real name is Cham Nan) informed the group that she accepted Jesus as her personal Saviour during the church service Sunday morning!  What an awesome Day! Praise God!
A note concerning future blog posts
There are others out there who are reading this blog - some members of the Team have asked for the web site address for this blog and are interested in news and information about the trip.  There is so much to tell.  And I am so very limited with the slow internet speed.  I wish I could upload videos of testimonies and photos.  I intend to complete this blog with videos and photos (God willing) when I return to the USA and can get on true high bandwidth.  So if you want to check back to see photos and videos of some of these events hopefully it will be there for you.

Clinic Saturday Dec. 4

We conducted our clinic Saturday, Dec. 4 in Bak rou tas Village, about a one hour drive from Battambang. It was a long bumpy ride along a river.  This is the first Medical Mission Clinic that has ever been conducted in this village.  TransformAsia has been there before but on other types of missions.  Setan said when they have gone to this village  before they had to travel by boat up the river.   At one point we had to cross a wooden bridge that was about 15 to 20 feet above a side stream that flowed into the river.  It was so rickety that we had to get out of the vans to lighten the load in the vans (a total of four vans and one truck).  It was a bit scary to watch the superstructure of that wooden bridge sway back and forth and the colums to go up and down in the stream under the weight of the vans!  God protected!  The villages we go to are the poorest villages, these people basically have very, very little indeed.  Some just the clothes on their backs. God was in the Clinic for sure!  It was amazing.  I was in the prayer line only for about an hour.  I remember praying for a group of about 4 women at one time.  When we began asking what their problems were one women said she had already began to feel better when she walked into the Clinic! I truly believe that if we could see the spiritual world with our physical eyes we would see God's protecting angles surrounding that camp and that holy fire would be making a wall around us keeping out Satan and darkness.  Elisha prayed for his attendant that he would be able to see God's horses and chariots of fire all around the mountains when the King of Aram came up against Elisha in 2 Kings 6:17. I believe that sort of thing is happening when we enter those clinics and gather in a circle for prayer and ask God blessing on the clinic.  God is there and He is moving in a mighty way bringing health and healing and viatlity to these poor sick people. In doing this they are touched by the living God and their hearts are open to Him, many are open to Jesus and the Gospel message.  As I mentioned this is the first time that this type of Clinic has been conducted in this area and so we are in a sense the "tip of the spear."  There were many who received Jesus Christ as their Saviour and were transformed, and I believe many more will receive Jesus after we are gone. This is the beginning of the Body of Christ developing in this area.  
I will try to post pictures and tell some stories with those pictures later on today if I can get to an internet cafe that has high bandwidth. The hotel's internet can only do email and post text to the blog.  We are off to church now, it is Sunday, Dec. 5 at 8:15 AM. We will be worshipping at TransformAsia's Women's Center.  This will be a great blessing. There will be no clinics today, this is a day of rest (and we all need it! :)  )

Clinic Friday, Dec. 3

As I write this portion of the blog post, I am traveling to the clinic; it is about 9:30 AM.  I realized this morning that the days and nights are starting to swim together in my mind.  As I sat at the breakfast table this morning those at the table with me were also having trouble retracing where we spent the night as we discussed the week so far.  I am attempting to take more accurate notes so I know where I have been and where the clinics were conducted.

Devotions

Each day we start off with about 30 minutes of devotions in one of the rooms. This has been an uplifting and encouraging experience.  Ron leads us in a time of worship. Then someone shares a devotional thought.  Sam asks different team members the night before to share something for devotions.  These times have been very rewarding and a good preparation for ministry.  We need to continually stay focused on loving Jesus and loving people.  We want to make sure that what we do today flows from our love for Jesus.  To love Him intensely first and focus on how awesome He is, who He is and our relationship with Him.  From that flows the motivation and ability to love others.  This should be 24/7 living!

Riding in the Van

The last two days I chose to ride in the van with the translators.  Today I am the only non-Cambodian in the van, this is great.  I enjoy getting to know Sophal the van driver and the translators.  Sophal was one of the van drivers last year, so I already knew him.  We are good friends now and enjoy each other’s company.  The translators in the van with me today are Phorn, So Phay (soPIE); Sereiwath (watt);  one we call “Lucky” (I do not have his full name yet); Kong, Sophannary (nairy – like “mary”); and Lylim, Pisak (PEEsack).  Nairy is female.  In Cambodia the surname is first and the given name is last.  The translators work very hard.  This is stressful work for them.  It is the mental strain of constantly translating non-stop the whole time we are active in the clinic that is tiring – not the physical labor of setting up and breaking down camps.  I can imagine this is difficult.  Most of them are law, economics, and medical students who, as part of their education, learn English. They are not professional translators. So this is a challenge for them and hard work.  Some of the translators are believers, but not all. So for those translators who are not believers, this is an opportunity for them to see God at work!  You can pray for them that they will enter into a personal relationship with Jesus.

My assignment for today

Sam Hopper has assigned me to serve in the prayer line today, I will not be working much (maybe not at all) in the pharmacy.  I will share my experiences tonight when I get back to the room.

I’m back in the room now, it's 8:30 PM, the clinic is done and we've had our supper

Wow what a day!  This is the first day that I worked in the prayer line all day.  I did not fill out even one prescription.  The day went fast.  I prayed for many people, I did not count them.  Many were healed and several received Christ as their savior.  I would like to show you some photos along with my story but I cannot due to the internet speed here at this hotel.  I randomly took a photo of a man who was about 75 years old standing outside the clinic just before it started, around 10:30 AM.  Around 2:30 or so that afternoon, that same man was sitting in front of me with about 4 other men.  There were some occasions when the prayer line got so backed up that we could no longer deal with the individual on a personal basis so we had to pray for them in groups. This was just one of those occasions. I did not like to do that, but there were instances during the day when it was necessary.  So, here sit these five men and this 75 year old man is one of them.  I explained briefly to all of them, as a group, why we were there.  This took about 5 minutes. When the interpreter talked to them, it was obvious immediately that this old man could not hear.  He was totally deaf in the right ear and his hearing was so bad in his left ear that the interpreter had to cup his hands around the man’s ear and talk directly into his ear.  So due to that, he only got a very little of my 5 minute talk (hardly any).  Then I told them that I would pray for them each, one by one.  I would just go down the line and hold their head or put my hand on their head and pray for them.  After we prayed for that old man he started to talk to the interpreter!  Obviously he could hear! The interpreter was not cupping his hands over his ear; rather he was standing about 4 feet in front of him. Then I said to the interpreter, "stand here on his right side and talk to him and see if he can hear out of this ear."  He could! Amazing how God touched this old man.  God simply healed this man, and he hardly knew what was happening to him.  I wanted so much to continue talking to him personally and perhaps lead him to Christ but I was not able to at that moment.  I had to tell the group of men that there was a Christian church that met in this village and for them to come to that church to hear more about Jesus.   I got a picture of him with me and the interpreter which I really wanted to post on this blog but the internet speed at this hotel will not allow it. So I will have to do it later. There are many other stories; this one will have to suffice for now. God was on the move at this clinic!  Later on I want to tell you the story about the teenager that was saved.

Clinic Thursday Dec. 2

We conducted our Thursday clinic in a village between Kampong Chnang and Battambang.  We were there between 10:00 AM and 5:00 PM. This clinic had the largest crowd yet. Everything went very well and we saw a lot of patients. God touched the lives of many and we are very blessed to be part of that.

Clinic Wednesday, Dec. 1

Today we conducted a clinic in a village near Posat. We left Kampong Chnang around 7:45 AM and drove about 2 hours to Posat where we dropped off our luggage and checked into the hotel. Then climbed back in the vans to drive a short distance to a Buddhist Temple, arriving around 10:30 AM.  We set up the clinic as usual and it went very well.  The Team is highly organized now.  Everything flows very smoothly; it is much less stressful to conduct the clinics this year as compared to last year.  We have two tables for registration where blood pressure is taken and the patient is asked to describe their problems.  Glenn Cobb and Dr. Setan Lee preforms these tasks.  Then they are treated by one of two Chiropractors Dr. Rick or Dr. George.  Then  the patient sees either the general practicioner Dr. Nelson or the nurse, Regina Clark.  They write the prescription for the patient who them comes to the pharmacy.  After the pharmacy they go to the prayer line  usually staffed by Sam Hopper and Ron Cole. Sometimes others such as myself, John Clark and Evelyn Cobb assist.  Today there were many healings in the prayer line.  The main Buddhist monk was healed of physical problems (in legs) as Sam Hopper prayed for him. I happened to have my camera on video mode when I saw Sam talking to the monk so I taped it from a distance, trying not to be a distraction.  Afterwards I asked Sam what happened and caught that on video as well.  I will attempt to upload it but I may not be able to.  Hopefully this hotel's internet connection will allow uploading of the video. 

A humorous event occurred last night with my roommate Dr. Nelson.  I noticed he was spending a great deal of time trying to unlock his luggage.  He kept trying and trying, finally he asked me if I had something that could cut the little lock off. It just so happened that I did bring along with me some pretty good wire cutters for a specific purpose. So I got those out and we tried and tried to cut the lock but it was too thick.  We were stumped as to how to get into his luggage.  Then we decided to pray about it.  So, we asked the Lord to open the luggage for us. After we prayed he unlocked it with the first twist of the key!  We sat there laughing at how we were trying to cut the lock off ourselves when all we had to do was ask the Father help us.