Podcast Transcriptions

Singing in the background…

Do you believe in miracles?  I do now.  We’re in Rahab’s House this morning.  Rahab’s House used to be a notorious brothel in the town of Svay Pak, Cambodia.  It was a place were little girls were commercially raped and tortured on a daily basis, multiple times.  It was a place where there were little girls, the youngest of little girls, trafficked throughout Cambodia and Southeast Asia.  But today it’s brand new.  Today it is a place, a community center, where Christ’s love flows through to literally thousands of residents on a daily basis.  Today we are attending a church service and you hear those voices leading worship this morning, well, those are girls from Agape Restoration Center. Girls rescued from sex trafficking led horrible lives who now find hope in Christ and lead others in worshipping him.  The communion this morning was led by Sopheak Mooey.  Sopheak is a security guard at ARC.  The offering the devotion was done by Socheat, who is a maintenance man at ARC.  Special music was done by Chan Thou, one of our drivers and a lead volunteer at the health clinic at Rahab’s House.  And the preaching this morning was done by Chan Tha, our lead driver at ARC.  Among the 200 worshippers this morning are families from Svay Pak, who used to traffic their children, but no longer do.  There are also girls from ARC’s transition center who volunteer every week to set up and tear down for church here at Rahab’s House.  And there is also three young women, three graduates from the program at ARC.  Each one a successful business owner, and each one at one time, held as a sex slave in this former brothel.  But today each one is filled with hope as they sit and worship their Savior.  Yeah, I believe in miracles. 

The singing continues…

There is loud, exiting noise in the background…Don begins,

“It’s an exciting day here in Cambodia.  Specifically, it’s an exciting day in Svay Pak, as we’re here for the opening of the Lord’s Gym, Svay Pak.  Many of you know that the Lord’s Gym, the idea behind it here in Svay Pak is to give a place, a safe clean place, for young men between the ages of 15 and 25 to hang out.  A place to have fun.  A place for them to hear about a truth of Jesus Christ.  And today we are blessed to have two members of the Lord’s Gym, Roseville here, Terry and Dean, who have drawn a tremendous crowd. Over 200 people have shown up in this little village to see them perform feats of strength.  They are tearing the Sacramento Phonebook in half, they are rolling up frying pans as if they were burritos, they are taking steal bars bending them over their heads, around their necks, putting them in their mouth and bending them.  They are taking soda cans and popping them like they were made out of plastic and showering all the people here.  The crowd is loving it and what’s interesting to see here, the most important fact, is that of the 200 plus that are here, there are at least 50 young men between the ages of 15 and 25 who have never heard the gospel.  And in addition to these guys, Terry and Dean, showing their strength, they are sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ and letting them know that a true man’s strength comes from Christ.  And they have an audience who’s listening and we anticipate, that is our prayer, that God will use this place to take young men, many of whom are involved in the crimes that take place, or the trafficking of young girls, the use of drugs and the selling of drugs, and take these very young men and transform them to be God’s agents to stop it in this community.  So we ask you to continue to pray for the ministry; we ask you to specifically be praying for the Lord’s Gym, for Terry and Dean, as next week the gym opens officially and they’ll be working out with this group of young men on a daily basis and will have an opportunity to firsthand, one on one, share the truth about Christ.  So pray for them and pray for these young men and pray for the Lord’s Gym that God might use this to advance his kingdom and bring glory to his name.”

More loud, exciting noise in the background.  Terry Douglas begins speaking with a translator…

“I am a pretty strong person (translation).  I am physically strong (translation) but my real strength does not come from the weights (translation).  Every morning when I wake up (translation) I get down on my knees and I pray (translation).  And I ask God, I ask Jesus to be my strength before I begin my day (translation).  I want to talk to some of you men out here, (translation) about what it means to be a real man (translation).  Real men are not just physically strong (translation).  Real men are morally strong, they’re mentally strong (translation).  Real men do not use their power to hurt other people (translation).  A real man would use his strength to protect those who can’t protect themselves (translation).  Real men will stand up when others are in trouble (translation).  A real man respects people (translation).  You can be strong on the outside, (translation) but you can be morally and mentally weak on the inside (translation).  You can’t be a real man if you are going out doing things you know are wrong (translation).  So we’re here today to help you reach your goals and your dreams.” (translation)

I am so pleased to announce the expansions of our ministries to Svay Pak Cambodia. As many of you know, Svay Pak is a village where much evil takes place every single day. And it’s been our goal to bring Christ’s love to that village, to bring it in a tangible way, and a transformational way. And thus far, the ministries that have been taking place have taken place in Rahab’s House. And right now we have a kids program, a kids club, that runs Monday through Friday in the afternoons. Two afternoons a week it is run by volunteers from Agape Restoration Center, young girls who have been rescued from sex trafficking. The other three days a week it is run by a group from the States from an organization called Hard Places Community. And they are doing an outstanding job in the tough work they are doing there. As a matter of fact, their director, Alli Melon, has written the first update on their experience, and you can see that today at our website if you would like to see and hear from Alli about the work she’s doing. We also have a health care clinic, a free health care clinic, that operates out of Rahab’s House. It operates two afternoons a week and currently sees 40 or more patients each day; still falling far short of the needs in the community but with plans to expand that I’ll share in a moment. On Sunday mornings we have a church service, and we have over 200 adults attending on a regular basis. Then each month we also provide humanitarian aid for the families with the most desperate needs in the community.

Now one of the expansions that we are talking about is that health care clinic, and beginning in July, we will expand that clinic to five days a week. Five afternoons a week we will be providing that free health care to those again who have the most serious need in that community. We are excited that we have a volunteer coming, a registered nurse coming from Australia, who will be leading the program beginning again in July.

We are also looking to expand the ministry by providing academic education to some of the children in the community. There are literally hundreds of children that desire an academic education but can’t afford it. We are working on several options to being able to provide as many children as possible with that opportunity, and again we will keep you posted as we move forward on that. But we anticipate that also happening by late summer.

In addition to that, we are looking to provide space and partner with a micro loan enterprise. Many of may know that when it comes to loans in a poor village like Svay Pak, there are the loan sharks that charge usury rates and purposely loan to families who cannot afford to pay them back. And the reason that they do that is when the loan is due and there is no money to pay one of the options would be to traffic a child, and in Svay Pak that happens many more times than it should. So we believe by providing micro loans at reasonable rates, loans that can actually be paid back, we believe that they can have a tremendous impact on what’s happening in Svay Pak.

The other area of expansion is to open up a whole new ministry in a new location, still in Svay Pak, and it’s the Lord’s Gym. Thus far as we have tried to reach the community, we have done a good job in reaching women, children, and older men, but we have not done a good job in reaching the young men of the community and that’s the goal of the Lord’s Gym. We see it as a place where they can come for a safe, good, clean fun; drug free, fight free, smoke free, and a place most importantly where they’ll be able to hear the truth about Jesus Christ. The gym is scheduled to open next week, and we’ll be providing you with updates, photographs, on what’s happening. For now, I would just like to ask you to pray for those people who will be traveling from the States. Members of the Lord’s Gym in Roseville, California will be helping us to open that gym.

Now as we expand the ministries in Svay Pak, there is a need that comes forward too, and that need is to have someone lead those ministries, to provide a coordinated effort, and to oversee and train the staff that will be necessary. And I am even more pleased to announce that God has provided just the right person for us, and his name is Clay Butler. Some of you know that Clay as been with us in Cambodia for over a year and his focus has been on discipleship within the church. It’s a little misleading to say focus because he has been willing and able to do everything we have asked him and not to just do it, but to do it with excellence and a God honoring way. And beginning this month, Clay will be the director of Svay Pak Ministries, and we are just looking forward to see how God is going to work through Clay and bring his love in a transforming way to that community.

I want to thank you all of you who support and pray for this ministry. And without you, these things wouldn’t be taking place. Without you, children would not be kept safe and prevented from being trafficked. Without you, children who have been trafficked would not have a safe place to go for healing and restoration and be given a hope and a chance for a future that few children in their situation will ever have. And we are forever grateful for all of you and your support as we prepare to expand these ministries again. We really covet your prayers and ask that you might remember the Svay Pak Ministries of Agape this week in your prayers. Thank you all and God bless.