The new tuktuk!

The new tuktuk for meat delivery!

Warranties? Not here.

Here are some pics. 

It has been a very rough two weeks training people. 

Had to fly to Thailand Thursday to get pepperoni and ham casing. 

Bought 1500.00 worth from China but they sent the wrong ones. Don't think they will make it right.  

Came back Saturday. 

Haven't had much sleep the last few weeks.

There are no real warranties here. Once you buy it you own it. 

Bought washer that makes it's own hot water. 

Worked three days. Took back and cost 25.00. 

Lasted 3 more days. 

Not sure what to do about that.  

Missed you for quite some time.

Love you brother.

Mark

A short update. Finally!!

Hello!

It has been a long, long time since I have written anything on this blog for the ministry in Cambodia. 

Want to put out there what Mark wrote to me recently by email.

Rocking and rolling here.  

Have 9 people working.  Going to need about 7 more within 3 weeks.  

Doing about 75 kg a day need to get to 100 kg sold then will pay the bills. 

That's with 17 working.  

It take a lot people to to do this more than I ever thought. 

But we are finely doing what I came here to do put people to work with good jobs.

                                            Right now cooking about 150 kg of baby back ribs. 

Ready to eat. Just put bags in hot water, microwave or grill it till hot.  

Had to do something with the ribs. 

Also doing Buffalo Hot Wings. We'll see how they sell. 

No one else is doing any thing like that here. 

Well have to go bother. 

God Bless

May the Lord continue to bless you all. Keep holding Mark and the ministry there in Cambodia up in prayer.

I am sure he appreciates it all.

D.

My last emails have expressed my worries over money.  I have received a couple of replies from those I sent them to.  Thank you so much for your encouraging words and prayers. 

I decided 4 days ago I would fast.  I know it came from God.  In 20 years of being a Christian, I have never fasted and I needed to hear from Jesus.  I needed to know I was on the right track.  I know He has provided all through this ministry, but to have to think about money every day and where it will come has been very stressful to say the least.  I also decided I would read my Bible all day while I am doing this.  What a peace that brings! 

I have heard from the Lord loud and clear, but not what I thought I would hear.  He showed me all that He has started here through this ministry in 1 year.

It is easy for me forget some of these things as i don't really do any of them; I'm just am here to provide a way for the people here to share the word with there own people.  I think that the way we have done things in the past has had bad side effects.  The main one being the people look more to us (foreign missionaries, foreign money) to provided than they do the Lord.  So I try very hard not to be seen doing things; they are all done through Chinda and Chan.  This is what the Lord showed me:

# 1 the English and bible teachings started in the village 9 months ago are going very good.  There are 28 students one amazing teacher.  Chinda found Mr. Sina.  When he started he had 3 cell groups and now that we are paying him he has 9!  Wow!   He turned down a good full time job at Grace School because he would have to give up some of his cell groups.

# 2 The English/Khmer bible study goes on 5 days a week here with Sina leading us and all the employees, including 4 others from outside who come here to study.

# 3 Fish pond filter, air pump and starter pond are completed at Patrick's farm.  We are putting fish in it this week. 

# 4 The cell group we support in the village down the river is growing greatly.  There were 30 children adults standing to the side to listen in on the word of God!

# 5 We are supporting Chandy in Bile school.  Her mother lives next to the family were we have this formerly stated cell group.  This week she told Chandy that she want to be a Christian!  Wow!  Many people are excited and have patiently been praying for this, especially Chandy.  There is also one other lady who is very curious about Jesus.  Chinda and Chan are going down Tuesday to spend the and night there making sure they fully understand the truth of the good news of Christ.  She will be the first adult Christian in that village.  It will a blessing to watch how the Lord works there.

# 6 The ministry is feeding many families from the meat scarps that we would through away.   This is the only meat these families ever get.  Without it their diet would solely consist of rice.

# 7 Starting to work with Samaritans purse is exciting.  They want me to help them set up water filters and air pumps for village so home church pastors will become self supportive.  They have 26 village churches they want to do this year.  Wow!

# 8 The pizza house employs 2 full time and 2 part time Cambodians at a good wage 50 cents an hour.  All other restaurants pay half this.  In other restaurants, they work 7 day a week, 12 hours a day for 50.00 to 70.00 a month, and full time makes around 90.00 and work 10 hrs and have Sunday off

# 9 Partnering with Andy on bacon sales in Phonm Penh will be huge for us.  This will start next week.

A lot has happened in 1 year.  What I got out of all this is that the Lord didn't start all these thing for just 1 year.  He will see them through!!  Thank you Lord!!

Business has picked back up some, and we will be able to pay rent and electric with money from restaurant thank you all for your prayers, please don't stop.

Picture of cell groups 3 different ones and fish filter operating are here

Reflection on my time in Cambodia

While typing this, my friends at the Pizza House restaurant that I've come to know so well are preparing the same meal we had a few days after I first arrived in Cambodia. I now know that it means “cow walking up a mountain.” There are still so many things I don't know about Cambodia though, and two months here could hardly suffice to learn an entirely different group of people, way of life, language, and culture. I really feel like my time here in Kampong Chhnang was more of a blessing to me than the people I came in contact with while here. There is already an established church, although small, in many of the cities of Cambodia. Believers are able to worship freely with no persecution from the government now, which is a tremendous blessing and answer to prayer. A large amount of the population of Cambodia however lives in the countryside and rural areas. The fact remains that about 98% of Cambodia does not believe in Jesus, and there are many who have not even heard His name.

I was able to visit a few of the house churches that meet in these rural settings with my friend Sina and see how God has been moving through this movement. There are some powerful things happening here in the name of Jesus Christ that are bringing people to faith in Him. I heard some of the most powerful and miraculous testimonies in these settings, and this is how the Church in Cambodia needs to grow. The churches that have been established in these city settings need to focus their support and efforts on village missionaries like Sina, that will live like the people, talk the same language, and be the most effective at bringing the Gospel to a nation that is so dark and trapped in spiritual bondage to the enemy. As American believers who grew up in an entirely different setting, we can still come alongside and encourage and train these believers to fulfill this work, and I would love to come back and do just that sometime in the future.

My favorite thing about Cambodia at the beginning of my trip was the people, and that has not changed at all throughout my time here. The overall friendliness of just about everyone I came in contact with was overwhelming, and the relationships that I've been able to start have been a huge blessing to me. The amount of love I felt at a church I have only visited three times here and the prayers they spoke for me I feel could not be matched at churches I have spent years at in the States. I really am going to miss the people I've met here terribly. The question I've heard more than any other from them is when I will come back. I tell them all that I will as soon as I can, and it is my hope that God has the same plan in mind.

Please pray for the business that Mark has begun here, without whom I never would have come to Cambodia in the first place. His vision and heart for these people is just as strong as it was over a year ago when he left America. God has been blessing the Pizza House financially, and the meat packaging is set to begin very soon after I leave. Pray for Ellis and Rachel as they seek to help out in any way they can and have been learning the language and culture at a rapid rate. Pray for the Cambodian Church, that God would raise up national believers and leaders to go to those who have never heard the name of Jesus Christ in Cambodia and plant churches that will grow and multiply. May the name of Jesus be lifted high in this nation! Thank you for keeping up with all of my posts, see you all very soon.

-Brother (Baby) Mark signing off

Last time teaching in Cambodia

Party with the youth group at Pastor Vuthy's church

My best friend in Cambodia - Chan

 

A Day at Angkor Wat

Rachel and Ellis arrived here last Wednesday. The travel seemed to go well for them. They have both spent a lot of time overseas so I think it is a bit easier for them to acclimate. Rachel has been soaking up the language since it's one of her passions and already knows about as much as I do! They gave me some support that they wanted to give me when we were both back in the States which gave me the chance to afford a trip to Angkor Wat! So after they sat in on all of my classes we hopped on a bus heading towards Battambang on Saturday morning to start the adventure. 

On the bus I sat next to a man from Nigeria who teaches English at the university in the city. We talked about a lot of things since it's a five hour bus ride and I found out that he was born a Muslim, then became a Seventh-Day Adventist, but now is more of a universalist. He was convinced that people can be their own judges, they know whether they are good or bad enough to go to Heaven or Hell. He seemed to have respect for Scripture so I asked him about where it said that there is none who is good and what the cut-off was for being a "good enough person for Heaven." That Jesus lived the only perfect life and it is only through him that we can live in Heaven with Our Creator. He changed the subject shortly after that, but I hope that it helped him reconsider some things.

Arriving in Battambang, the buses to Siem Reap were entirely full for the rest of the day but in order to get a full day in of sightseeing at Angkor Wat we had to get there that evening so we piled in a Toyota Camry with six other people and made our way to Siem Reap. Right away we got picked up by a man named Nang who became our tuktuk driver for the next two days of sightseeing. I had really high expectations of what the temples were going to be like since I've wanted to  see them for a long time, and they blew my expectations away. We got up before sunrise to start the tour at the main temple and visited about seven more temples afterward until the early afternoon. It really was amazing what these people were able to accomplish without any kind kind of machines or technology to accomplish the architecture. The level of intricacy in the artwork was mind-boggling as well. 

We did a full loop around the lake on our way back to Kampong Chhnang, and that time I sat next to the main sports writer for the Phnom Penh Post, one of the most reputable news agencies in Cambodia. He grew up in the Brahmin caste in Bangalore, India and we had some good conversation as well. By the time we got back home yesterday it was late and left just enough time to eat and then crash into bed. 

Be praying for my last week here in Cambodia and the start of Ellis and Rachel's time here. They're still trying to figure out what their place is in the ministry here and how best to serve God with their time. Pray for clarity for them and that Mark's ministry would continue to be blessed financially. Thank you and God bless all!

-BM

The back of Angkor Wat after walking through it

Bayon or "the Face Temple"

Rachel and Ellis looking tired at Ta Prohm

They had elephant rides! They cost 15 dollars, but pictures are free ;)

House Church!

This last week has been pretty spectacular. I was able to join some of my students for a youth rally conference that was being held in town all of last week. The conference drew youth from five different provinces in Cambodia, and about 200 students were there worshiping God. The believers here are so passionate and it was an awesome experience to worship Our Creator with them. When my friend Ratanak was helping lead worship with some other students he rushed offstage and grabbed my hand and dragged me up on stage to dance with them for the whole group. Even though the songs are in Khmer, what I can do is sing the Hallelujah choruses and jump and clap my hands, it was a lot of fun. There was a small team visiting from America that were able to spend the whole week with them and then headed up to Angkor Wat. The last night of the conference there was a big bonfire and worship session that lasted for over two hours. It was powerful to be a part of and although I couldn't understand everything, it left me feeling very encouraged and helped me to build some stronger relationships. 

  

Prayer time right before musical worship

The bonfire

This past Sunday I woke up and was out the door before seven on a moto with Sina heading to a village about 25 kilometers from Kampong Chhnang. Sina leads 8 different house churches that are all very young, two of the groups we visited were less than three weeks old. We only visited four different houses that day, but were on the go for about twelve hours. The first group we visited was the oldest and largest with about 25 people in it. They had people who were able to teach and even provided everyone with a small breakfast of bread and rice. 

The next group was much smaller, but I’d been there before. The man who had been completely paralyzed before that Sina and some others had been praying for was there, his name is Taud, but I'm probably spelling it wrong. When I saw him a month ago he still could not walk but had control of his upper body. When I saw him two days ago, there was no sign of sickness left in him at all, he was completely healthy. What I was not expecting was for Sina to say, “Okay Mark, you can preach now.” I should have known beforehand that they would ask me to say something, but I was not expecting to preach for the house churches, even though they were smaller, about 8-10 people. I opened up to Matthew 4, the passage I used at Tree of Life two weeks before and started talking with them about discipleship as my friend Chandy translated. None of the people there were present for the service beforehand so I figured I was in the clear. The same thing happened at the next church we went to, also a similar size. At the last church we prayed for a man with a gigantic boil in the middle of his foot and an old Buddhist woman who could not use her legs. There was a boy there who was mute whose older sister was trying to help him read and sing. The love she had for her brother was one of the more touching things I've seen here so I had to get a picture of that. 

This week Rachel and Ellis are headed to Cambodia, their plane lands in Phnom Penh very late this evening and Mark will be there to pick them up. Pray for their time here and that God can use them in powerful ways as a team for the three months that they will be spending here in Kampong Chhnang. Thanks so much for reading and God bless you, Brother Mark out.

First and largest house church

Second church we went to, the man in the brown shirt is Taud.

The third house church, the small speaker by Sina is how they do musical worship

Sister and brother