Mekong Floating Ministries: Why We're Doing "Business As Missions"

Mark arrived last Friday. It is a blessing to have him here even though he is young and it’s his first international mission trip. He is doing a lot that I do not have the ability to do or am not even gifted at. Working with computers, teaching five evenings a week with three different churches... everything is so new to him. I know he will grow through this in more ways than he can imagine and will carry it with him for years to come. Just hope that I am being all that I can be for him. I am quite busy with the business. The bacon has had its setbacks, nothing that can’t be overcome though. Packaging is the biggest problem but should have that taken care of in the next week. The restaurant is going very well! We have been open now for three weeks and are bringing in about $300 a week. My hope is to get that up to $500 in the next month. We are doing free delivery in the city which is a new thing here, but seems to be working so far. I’ve put menus in hotels and guest houses around the city and think that will help a lot.

Please pray that the Lord blesses this. I don’t think the restaurant will ever cover the cost of this ministry but it should do around 50 % of it. Bacon is what will make the big difference.

Something I have wanted to start since we got this house are Christian English classes but that would require someone supporting it for $75 a month and $350 to buy desks and supplies. Mark is here until the second week of August, and Ellis and Rachel are coming at the end of July until the end of October. I would like to start the classes with them; but then we would need to have a Cambodian there to teach with them, because I don’t want to start it unless it will continue after they are gone. So many things are started for a short period of time and then they stop when the foreigners leave. I am never leaving Cambodia, God willing, so we would have to have a Cambodian teacher while they are here and after they leave. Giving the Cambodian’s hope and then taking it away is the worst thing we can do. We have the space above the Meat Shop to use as a classroom and we are a quarter-mile away from the high school. About 700 kids pass by the restaurant at least three times a day.

I would want this to be a Christian-based school that teaches English through Scripture. If anyone felt God laying this on their heart, you would never know just how much and how big the effect you would have on a large number of lives; not just the ones going to school, but their families and friends as well. Please pray for this business, that it can have the impact the Lord has showed it can if we stick to it. Jesus never started anything He didn’t finish. That’s what He said on the cross: “IT IS FINISHED!” God bless.

Why we’re doing “Business as Missions”

For those of you who are new to this blog:

I have been self-employed for the last 30 years. Between the years of 2008 and 2010 I was in Cambodia and it was my third time here. In 2008 I was staying and helping at an orphanage for twelve months. As the world economy was crashing, I watched three orphanages close and a number of medical clinics as well. Kids were just put back out on the street as donations quit coming in. The Lord told me during that time that I was to go back to the states to get support to start a business to support ministry here with the profits from the business. My original plan was to start a fish farm. It would make a small income to support the ministry. The Lord gave me a vision to help the Vietnamese on the Tonle Sap and Mekong River. These are displaced people who live in floating homes. The Cambodians do not like them, so they don’t get any help; not that there is much help for their own people to begin with.

As I was looking for an opportunity to begin this ministry, the Lord gave me the vision to do bacon and sausage. It is currently all imported from Thailand. There are two small smoke shops catering to the rich and 5 star restaurants, but the vision I got was to start small and build up to an actual processing plant. I used to do this back in the states on a small scale for myself and friends. Thailand imports over 2000 pounds a day here, so I thought, why not make it here?

My small church of about 120, Mosaic Fellowship, in Spokane, WA, has provided this ministry with $20,000 to start. We are about 7000 short still waiting for the Lord to provide the rest. I have made about 300 pounds of bacon and sausage, but the packaging is the hold-up. We need a vacuum sealer and 6 to 8 months of support until business is off the ground. In the meantime, I have started the pizza restaurant. We are the only Western-style restaurant in all of Kampong Chhnang. The restaurant is doing very good for being only three weeks old and while this will not support the ministry completely (monthly costs are $1300) it will provide about half of the needed amount. To start distribution of the bacon we will need $1000. And monthly support monthly support of $700 for around 7 months. We are selling a small amount here and there, but our intended markets are the tourist cities of Siem Reap (near Angkor Wat), Sihanoukville and Phnom Penh.

I believe that the bacon will provide funds for this ministry and many others in time. We are going to have other ministries distribute the product so they can use the profit to help themselves. Well that’s about it in short! If you would like more info contact me at mtmasingale@gmail.com. Any donations should be made through www.mosaicspokane.com. Please pray for this ministry and God bless!

-Father Mark