More Dirt

Beth is doing such a good job telling about our days (and the nights on the streets) that I cant add much. So I will continue the dirty story. That's the one about the soil. I shared a little about Chantha and Bunthal and their work in Svay Pak. So what is the connection with dirt?

Its really quite simple. You will find the Parable of the Sower in the gospel - start in Matthew 13 - and Jesus tells us that not all the seed falls on good soil. Sometimes the soil is shallow, and sometimes the soil is rocky, and sometimes the soil is full of thorns and weeds. When the seed finds good soil, new life occurs. Every farmer and anyone who has tended a garden knows this. They also know that sometimes the soil must be worked, rocks removed, weeds pulled, a little help here and there, and the soil is soon prepared to receive seed.

You know that the parable is about the Word of God and new life through salvation in Jesus Christ. Read the parable. So Chantha, and Bunthal, and Don, and Bridget, and Ruthie, and Allie, and Aussie Jane, and all the others tend the soil in Svay Pak - and life begins.

But surely there must be places with more fertile soil! Souls can be won to Christ with a lot less effort and heartache in more "civilized" places. Why here, in Cambodia? In part, because here is found a confluence of immorality, corruption, and lack, aggravated by decades of political and social brutality, and imposed upon some of the sweetest people you could ever meet. Bridget says Cambodia is just off the worlds radar. There is no oil, no diamonds, no miles of white sandy beaches, no high technology business park next to a campus that has a Microsoft logo on it. Just people. People with hearts and minds and dreams and souls and children and backaches and cavities and music who want to love and laugh and work and play and help and serve and have hope. Just like us.

Deep breath.

So Svay Pak has quite a few brothels, but also figures heavily in the trafficking of sex slaves. There are efforts in the government to try to stop this, but my sense is they are half hearted, and enforced by many people who earn part of their living from the trade, or participate directly or indirectly. A generation must grow up who know it does not have to happen. AIM helps this by supplementing the rescue and restoration efforts with ESL and school support, skills help and training, and spiritual help along the way. Rahab's House and the Lords Gym are just a start.

Chantha tells us his vision for the new building just leased to them by the Ratanak Foundation of Canada. For $1 a year. It is four stories, and looks like an unfinished shell. He sees a school, computer classrooms, a permanent clinic, church, childcare, and so much more. There is about an acre behind it and he would like so someday get that land and make a playground and build community gardens - which would provide local nutrition and something for others to sell. It only costs 160 million rial. Chump change.

When he tells me his goal is that all the people in Svay Pak will know Jesus - I can believe him because his life is dedicated to them. He and Pastor Ratanak and the other students are an example of the change that God has brought to Svay Pak. Please pray for them as they minister and serve this community.

As for me, Svay Pak is now in my blood. I don't know how this will play out in my life, and I have started praying about that. I knew it started when I started saying "we"instead of "they". Start thinking about the trip. Pray over it. We could use your hands and your heart. In Matthew 9:37-38 the Lord tells us the fields are ripe so we need to pray for workers for the harvest. Please pray.

And by the way - the Cambodian soil I will bring back will not be from the hotel. My container has the soil of Svay Pak and that is what I am bringing back. That's why I came here.

kmm