Today has been a wild day. Spent time at the foster home of the girls who were in my very first file. What an astonishing thing it was to meet the girls - young women now - who are an absolute joy. it was overwhelming but I held it together - just! it is too late to re count now so that story will have to wait.
This evening we had a great team meeting, time of prayer and then headed out to a brothel! Not often you see that sort of stuff in the same sentence! Anyway, very disturbing end to the day. I will have to fill you in later as it is late and I am exhausted.

This afternoon Steve F. typed up this account of the weekend trip up to Siem Reap. I will post this now and try to get back to the blog tomorrow.

Blessings.
Brian.


Kopreach – Hell on Earth or Holy Ground?

It was doubtful that our van could get through the muddy roads. If it rained anymore the trip would be off and we would have to turn back. Many of the potholes were deep and full of mud. For one long section the road surface from shoulder to shoulder was covered by 1-2 inches of grease like slimy mud threatening to put us into the water filled ditches on either side. As we got closer to Kopreach the road narrowed down to a lane that was barely wide enough for the van to get through. After three hours of driving, two of them being on dirt roads we finally reached the village of Kopreach.
Kopreach is the village that Rexa’s family was evacuated to on April 15, 1975, the day Cambodia fell. It was in this village that they became slaves of the Khmer Rouge. It was near here in the jungle that Rexa’s family was brutally slaughtered. It was here that Rexa was clubbed from behind and left for dead in the grave. This village was hell on earth. While there no bones oozing out of the earth as there are at the Killing Fields, the grim reminders are all around. The lady that used to scream “kill, kill, kill” is now the smiling toothless granny sitting on her bed. The middle-aged lady who is a wife and mother used to be a young girl from a middle class family in Phnom Phen who is separated from her family. The city girl has become a poor countrywoman. The reminders of hell are never far away.
The school that Rexa had built in Kopreach is the first thing that you come to as you approach the village. It is two beautiful, clean and spacious buildings. In fact they are the nicest buildings in the village. When we arrived one schoolroom was filled with adults and children, it was Sunday. They sang and prayed, they recited scripture and Steve Norman preached on David and Goliath. As we toured through the village afterwards Rexa told us that there are 60 Christians in this village of 500 that is 12% of the population. The school is a beachhead, a catalyst that is turning hell on earth into Holy Ground.
Pray for the rural churches around Siem Reap that they will have effective pastors that will equip their congregations.