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Theresa Hudler in Cambodia News Updates Spring Newsletter 2005 Hello! I’m so happy to be back. As you know our mission field is where our two feet are located and I am doing Mission Work with the Lord here as HE is taking care of the Mission Work in Cambodia. At this time I have been thinking of all that has been going on since I left the Wat Opot Project in Cambodia on Feb. 1st, 2005. It started with my adventure to Thailand for an ITAG Conference, than a 26-hour trip to Maryland and till now. THE WAT OPOT PROJECT IN CAMBODIA Lord I rely on YOU for all that is going on at the WAT. It is growing into a learning center. The people who are on ARV drugs are living longer and need to make money so they can become good Cambodian citizens. YOU have allowed us to help the HIV victims, who are willing to learn, to grow food, raise animals (like pigs and chickens), to sew, weave, etc. in order to become self-reliant. For the children left behind from AIDS, YOU have allowed them to go to school (some for the first time) and be at the proper level with teachers YOU have given us. For those who are dying, YOU have allowed us to show them YOUR SWEET LOVE. Thank YOU Lord for the Bibles in their language, for YOU know the people of Cambodia are starving for YOUR love and WORD. Thank YOU for all the homeless who are coming to the WOP; may we build homes for their stay with us Lord. Thank YOU for YOUR Holy Spirit in guiding us in the vision YOU have given to Wayne, Vondin and myself. Thank YOU for the growth that is taking place. Thank YOU for the people YOU have given the Ministry of helping the missionaries. We are Partners with YOU Precious Jesus. THE MINISTRY WHILE IN USA At BWI, two people met me: one an old friend and the other a new friend. It was great. They had a sign welcoming me. My eyes were leaking with joy. PJ is taking care of my calendar of events while I am here. She has been a great help and allowed me to rest by doing all the work for me with schedules and appointments. So many have accepted me into their homes with open arms. There are so many and I know you know who you are. Thank you. My family has been great. Christopher John, my oldest, and his wife Angie, have saved my winter clothes and made me feel so welcome with goodies they know I like and things I would need during my stay. My grandsons: Troy age 9 ¾ years old and Tony age 4 years old are the love of my life. They are so great and so loving to their MeeMaw. I stay with them at times. My youngest, Robert Paul, I call Bobby and his wife-to-be Ashley are so helpful to me. They have my youngest grandson Nolyn, age 1 year old that is so precious and very loving. They will be married on 14th of May. I stay with them at times. Also staying with my friend of years past, Robyn. After the 14th of May and for 3 weeks I will be in Upper New York with my dad, sister and her precious family. South Potomac Church, my church family, has grown. So many brothers and sisters the Lord has placed in my life (some old and some new friends). Thank YOU Jesus. The Church has been wonderful to me in helping me adjust to life here in America for this short time. I stayed 2 years on the field to have 6 months leave. Church is people loving Jesus and following HIS new Commandment “Love others as I have loved you”. It is so good to see people modeling Jesus to others. Have been going to Community Groups speaking about what the Lord is doing in the Ministry that HE has given me in Cambodia; about co-worker, Wayne and the Cambodian staff; the homeless, the sick, and the children with and with-out HIV/AIDS. Sixty-two is a wonderful age to collect early social security. It is a dream come true for all the money that comes into MUPS will go to the ministry for helping HIV/AIDS Victims, the children left behind from the disease, the children with HIV/AIDS, the vulnerable children who would be sold into slavery of begging, prostitution or pedophile. The organization will take out money for furlough, etc. so I will be able to go to USA to visit my family, prayer warriors, supporters and tell them what the Lord is doing through and in me in Cambodia but will not send me support. PRAISES WHILE IN USA 2. Went to a dentist who gave me free exam, x-ray and cleaning and than on top of that ½ the dentist bill. Thank YOU Jesus. 3. Went to the eye doctor and had the exam free. No disease in my eyes but needed tri-focal to which the doctor gave them to me as a gift. 4. While talking to the social security woman in Chicago I encouraged her to read her Bible and to come closer to the Lord. Also gave her the Gospel message. She thanked me and said her mother told her the same thing 2 weeks before. Confirmation. :>) PRAYERS FOR CAMBODIA MINISTRY. Can’t wait to see what the Lord will do. Please pray for: 1. Funds for a van so that we can take the children to the hospital for their ARV Drugs and exams; also to pick up the sick to come to our hospice to die or to get well. Around $20,000. 2. Funds for the sewing center: sewing machines, material, needles, thread, etc. Around $1500. 3. Funds for material for the weaving center. Around $800. 4. Funds for extra food for the learning center as HIV victims learn to sew and weave to generate income. 5. Someone who would care for the children while his or her parent is in the learning center. A short-term missionary would help a lot. :>) Only need air fare and spending money; we would supply the rest for one or two persons. 6. Funds to build homeless shelters on the campus of WOP for the many homeless that are with us now and will be coming. This will shelter them till they learn a trade and make enough money for them to purchase a place to live and feed themselves using the money they will make from their trade. Thank YOU Lord. Around $20,000. 7. Funds for our dream to come true to build a group home for the children, including funds to set it up and keep it going. This is a wish that will cost a lot (around $150,000 or more for building, set up and to keep it going for a few months). Thank YOU Lord for hearing our prayers and answering in YOUR perfect time and way. Thank YOU for the people who are praying these prayers. In our Lord Jesus Christ name we pray. Amen. Would love to hear from you - Theresa Hudler, South Potomac Church, PO Box 1009, White Plains, MD 20695 Email: 012924260@mobitel.com.kh or
theresahudler@yahoo.com JESUS LOVES YOU AND SO DO I January 24, 2005 Dear Friends and Family, First, please jot down this email address: LadyPjay@aol.com; you can reach me through this address of PJ at South Potomac Church the entire time I am stateside. This will probably be my last newsletter for six months or so - in three weeks I will be home in Maryland! I am so excited about seeing my family and friends again, I can hardly wait. But I wanted to take this moment to thank all of you for being the Lord's servants along with me for the past five years here in Cambodia. And to update you on some of the lives you have touched, some of them oh-so-briefly, but so importantly. I remember back to 1998 and knowing the Lord had told me that I was to "go." In 1999 I came over on a short-term mission to Suriname. In 2000 went to Cambodia and knew I was to return to Cambodia with my nursing skills as well as the Gospel: I said, "Yes, Lord, I could go and help them, maybe as soon as 2005!" As you know, His timetable was far different from mine, and by the end of 2000 I had found MUP, been given the basic amount needed to start, and was setting up my first apartment in Phnom Pen! So now I have been here over four years and what miracles we have seen as God provided through your prayers and support. Out here at Wat Opot we are having a bout with chicken pox. So far we have five down with fevers, rash and itch. We figure we have about 12 more children to go as some of the others have had it already. I can't remember if I ever had chicken pox. I will be leaving WOP February 4 to go to the city. Hopefully I will not be in quarantine! On February 16 our dear little boy Chhang died. His grandmother and he arrived here almost a year ago and he immediately wound himself around our hearts. We couldn't do much for his body, he ate often but never gained any weight. While here he became independent and feisty. He never had social skills because of being hidden away and treated like a baby. His grandmother had cared for him while his mother cared for the younger child who does not have HIV. She will be lost without him. Wayne will be lost without him. This was a child who Wayne fell in love with because he was so sick and because Chhang had a way about him that twisted Wayne around his finger. I too will miss Chhang. He was a challenge to care for and a delight to have around. He made you laugh at times and at times cry. He loved to listen to the children sing about Jesus and do their dances. He rode a riding toy you got for him till he became to sick with an incurable skin disease. He had TB along with HIV/AIDS. My heart is heavy and crying for all of us left behind with out him. But I know that he is in a better place, sitting on the Lord's knee or on His shoulder or running with the others who have gone before him. Best of all he is healthy. This is the picture I will keep in my head of dear Chhang. If she wants to stay on, we may offer his grandmother a job in the kitchen. In less than two weeks we lost Chhang and two other children,
Strey Neang, a six-year old girl who was here only four days before she died; and Kosal, a seven-year old who was especially dear to me. He died As you read this I am organizing for three areas: I am packing up my room here at Wat Opot so that someone can stay in it while I am gone. I am organizing the new, incredibly-updated apartment/office in PP. (When I come back what luxury we will have: a central place to go to a couple of weekends a month, a private room with a toilet for me, a TV and air conditioning!). And I am packing for my trip to Maryland after a detour for an agency conference in Chaing Mai, Thailand. Then USA, and hopefully seeing most of YOU!! Again, you can reach me through PJ at South Potomac Church in White Plains, Maryland. Her email is LadyPjay@aol.com. I will be off email here after February 1. In His love and service, Blessings love, joy and peace from Christ Jesus For God so loved the world, July 3, 2004 I thank you all for praying. I will be starting the TB medicine on Tuesday, then in 2 months will be x-rayed to see how it is working. Come the full 8 months I will be TB free God willing, then in middle of Feb. 2005 will be on my way back to Maryland and be able to meet family and friends who have been praying and supporting the Lord's ministry through me in Cambodia. We have a new request that the Lord has placed on our hearts:
July 1, 2004 Dear Friends and Family, I have a long praise list this month. Thanks be to God for:
For any of you who have been here before, you would hardly recognize our place now! We have more children and 2 young HIV-Positive women living with us, one with her child. They have nowhere to live or work and we are accommodating them both. There is a silk-weaving loom in the dining room now, and the old food bar has been taken out and a stage has replaced it. We have a new children’s play area and a fishpond with a fountain. The crematorium has been repainted, and on the other side of the road a pig house is being built so that some or our members can start raising pigs to sell. All the fields have been plowed and vegetables and rice has been planted by some of our members to raise money for themselves and their support group. More and more of our patients are regaining control over their lives with the help of reading the Bible and the care with the ARV drugs provided by the doctors of Medicins Sans Frontieres. With this we are looking into helping some by building a large work shelter where we can keep more weaving looms and sewing machines so we can put more of our members to work. With the increase in the number of children, we are looking into hiring a full time teacher and starting our own school. Some of our newest children have never been to school or had to quit to take care of their mother when she became ill. These “caregivers” are usually girls, and we want our girls to have a good education along with the boys. We are truly blessed with what YOU, Lord have given us over the years through the people who are helping with the Wat Opot Project (WOP) in Bati District, Takeo Province. Wayne, the wonderful staff, and the supporters YOU have sent our way. Thank YOU, Lord and thank you dear family and friends. Would love to hear from you! Click here for contact information. JESUS LOVES YOU AND SO DO I Love Theresa God blesses you For God so
loved the world, May 29, 2004 Thank you prayer warriors for your words of encouragement and prayers to our FATHER and HIS most precious SON, JESUS through HIS HOLY SPIRIT. This update is not complete. I have finished the sputum’s and waiting for the results. That takes 2-3 weeks. Smile. I do go back to the doctor in 2 weeks for repeat chest x-ray. The original finger stab and infection looks great. No red line and the swelling are gone except for the finger. Still tender, slightly swollen and a little mean looking. You know, discolored. I am able to bend it half way. Thank YOU Lord my GREAT PHYSICIAN. Thank YOU for giving Dr Amine wisdom in prescribing the proper medicine for me to take care of finger, ear, and lungs. Thank YOU JESUS. I have not missed a beat from the time I had the accident. We have had many patients, the orphans day program to get ready for and projects that needed attending—toilet for kitchen area, security doors and front gate for crematorium, sanding and painting tables and walls, etc. So lets see, besides the duties as a nurse/advisor and in between soaking my hand we sanded, painted, put together two artificial flower arrangements, cut nails, shopped, carried the purchases home on the back of the motorcycle. I have to confess that I took 2 naps a day instead of one. The medicine seemed to be working well and placed me in a rest mode ½ hour after taking it. Smile. I do enjoy resting in the arms of Jesus. When one hour is up, HE wakes me up and than gives me the strength to continue. After the orphans day program I decided I needed to go into PP and be with fellow Christians, rest in air condition room, and shop for the needed supplies we can not get in Bati—also go to the bank for funds. Smile. Thank YOU Lord. So I called up Lynn and Tom Newhouse, our field director and asked if I could stay with them for a while. They said yes so here I am in an air-conditioned room. Friday Lynn and I went shopping all day. Found some neat bargains. Tom hooked me up to his phone line and so I am able to get on line with no hassles. Saturday is chill out day for me, which is today the 29th of May 29, 2004. The Newhouses are out with their children’s games and programs. Their maid is washing my clothes and I am writing to you. I will rest and eat when I want to. I’m so excited to be treated as special, thank YOU Jesus for the family pf GOD YOU have placed me. Sunday is the Lord’s Day but for me every day is the Lord’s Day. Monday will go to bank, post office (they have a box for me), and to the Bible League Cambodia to see if I can get some Bibles for the children of GOD who have HIV/AIDS and the community, also the monks who have requested them. Please write and tell me your prayer requests. It must please God for HIS children to pray for one another. Till I hear from you or in 2-3 weeks when I hear about the sputum tests or the chest x-ray results. I love hearing from you and will answer when the server will allow the emails to go out. Like I said, I am in PP and the emails are coming in and going out fine. God blesses you and your most precious families. Love, May 24, 2004 Dear Prayer Warriors, I am truly in the Lord’s hands. HE has given me my daily portion and I am rejoicing. Sometimes the portion is sweet and other times it is bitter. I stand on HIS WORD that HE will always protect me and be with me forever. Sunday at 6:30 AM a boy came in from community with a boil on his leg. We have been treating him for the boil and just waiting for it to get ripe enough to do a needle aspiration. While doing this procedure the boy became restless and hit my hand so that the needle went into my pointer finger with his pus in it. I cleaned the wound well on my finger and than finished the procedure on the boy. He was so upset that he caused me to be injured. I placed myself on antibiotics. Last night it started to swell and I put ice on it. In the morning I started hot soaks because it was swollen twice the size and the swelling was going down my hand. I could not feel nor bend the finger. This afternoon, Monday, I noticed that there was a red line half way down my arm. I called Dr. Amine who works with MSF in Takeo Hospital. He is sending a car tomorrow morning to pick me up so he can do some tests. I have a stiff neck now and a headache. Wayne thinks the bacteria went into a blood vessel and it is moving quickly. I am now on Amoxcillin 1000 mg till Dr. Amine examines me in the morning. I have a peace about all that is going on. What I need is prayer for the young boy because he will feel so bad that he caused all that is happen to me. He comes Tuesday Morning for me to check on him. I know the Lord has given me this daily portion and I accept all that HE is doing in and through me. Whatever comes of this I know it will be for HIS GLORY. Lord, what ever you do to me I thank YOU and I praise YOUR name. Be with the little boy and grant him peace and healing. Give me his disease and heal him. Be with his father and give him wisdom so that he does not accuse the boy for the affliction YOU have give me, LORD. Be with my family in the states and here. Let them know that YOU are LORD. I stand on YOUR WORD that YOU will save them because YOU don’t want anyone to perish. You want everyone to know about the mediator between GOD and Man, the GOD/MAN Jesus and all HE has done. Thank YOU LORD for my daily portion and grant all who know me courage, strength, wisdom, love, joy and peace that only comes from YOU, Christ Jesus. Thank you for taking the time to read this note. God blesses you all as you pray for the little boy and the salvation of his soul and his family. Love, May 5, 2004 Dear Friends and Family, I have so many exciting stories I could share this month! Our resurrected Lord is alive and well here in Cambodia. Many people are turning to Jesus! I am so thrilled you can’t imagine. The Lord is truly drawing His own to Himself and He is allowing me to be His witness. See what your prayers and support are doing! Some examples: When I was in Phnom Penh to celebrate my 61st birthday earlier this month, I got a call from my Khmer son, Komrou, and we went out. I have known Komrou for three years and he has always seemed very control- and power-hungry, always wanting the best job and the most money. This time something was different about him, but I could not think what. While we were eating dinner he told me he was going to church! Nuch, my Thai daughter had taken him while in PP (Phnom Penh) for a visit. He told me how all the people he knows are turning to Jesus and how he wants to learn more about this God. He talked about Buddhists not following Buddha and his teachings, and how the Buddhists where he works are back-stabbers and talk about each other and have problems at work. He said he had noticed that Christians are not like that. Komrou has been going to a World Vision service on Sundays. He said he is learning about Jesus through people sharing their testimonies. I encouraged him to get a Bible and read the Word for himself. He said Jesus made the world and all that is in it and "I want to know more about this God!" Before we parted, he told me that he does not want his former lifestyle any more. He wants to help poor people. Sen (pronounced "sin") Dara was 32 years old. During his life he was a party boy. One day when he went out to have fun, his family moved away. He became homeless. Monks brought him to us. He had been living with them, but they could not stand to have him around and did not want him to die there. His AIDS had progressed so that he was full of sores from head to toe. He could not eat nor take care of himself. I asked the monk if he wanted to be notified when Dara was near death or when he died. He said "NO! He's all yours!" Wayne and I went to work on Dara. He got a bath and clean clothes. He brushed his teeth I think for the first time in months. I made special lotion and gently put it on his whole body. A month went by and no one came to see him. We played Christian music and also a Gospel tape. I asked him if he could read and he said yes, so I gave him the Gospel of John. He would read it out loud all the time. Dara came out of the hospice for meals, and after a while he would try to dance and sing with our music. But he often fell because his body was failing him. I would smooth him with lotion I made for him, hoping to mute the decaying smell from his skin. He would look at me with his beautiful eyes and smile. I could see Jesus smiling back at me. We had become his only family, the family of God. On March 19 he went to be with the Lord. Sadly, we also lost six more residents’ ages 25 to 43 in just six days. I’m sure the Lord was with them when they died. Thank you for praying for me and for the people whom I serve here in Cambodia. I also thank you for the financial support and gifts. Some of you have sent money for me to use for Christmas, my birthday or just to make my life comfortable. I have saved it and now I am going to buy an air conditioner for the new Partners in Compassion Office/home in PP. I don’t get there much but when Wayne or I go into the city, we will be able to sleep in a cool room. Until now if we want to sleep in a cool room we have had to go to a hotel at a cost of $15 a day. Wayne went in to PP last week and he stayed in a hotel. He had been ill and very tired. Now he is refreshed. And from now on, with the new AC, he or I can be refreshed right at our own office/home there. Thank you so very much. I spent my birthday in PP, but I also have been doing home visits to clients who live 120 kilometers up near the border of Vietnam. The roads are like a roller coaster ride - up and down, in holes and out, and then very narrow paths on top of rice paddies. All we have is the name of a commune and village to go by. Once there, we have to ask the community if they know the person we are looking for. Then we have to go looking for them with the villager's directions. It is truly an adventure and we really rely on the Lord to enable us to find them. He is faithful! On a personal note, when I return on furlough next year, spring of 2005, I will have a third grandson and a new daughter-in-law to rejoice in. My younger son Bobby and Ashley had Nolyn on March 20, 2004! He joins Christopher and Angie's sons, Troy (9) and Tony (3). I am truly blessed to have 3 precious grandsons. Prayer request: We have just been informed that WORLD FOOD PROGRAM will be cutting our rice to four areas - right now we are in 13 areas. That means our orphans and poor HIV+ clients will be dropped. I went through the list and we have some 259 people who will be affected by this cut and 20 orphans. Wayne and I need direction from the Holy Spirit. We are thinking of $10 a month for the families. Our prayer is for the Lord to guide us in the way we are to go. In the mean time I started a FOOD BANK with $100 that was sent extra this month - April. Thank YOU Jesus for the extra funds to use for 10 families. YOU are an AWESOME GOD knowing what we need before we need it. Please also pray for us, for Komrou, for those children in the orphanage and the adults in hospice. How much we thank you. Would love to hear from you. Click here for my address.. JESUS LOVES YOU AND SO DO I Love Serving those the Lord sends me in Cambodia December 13, 2003 HAPPY HOLIDAYS 2003-04 NEWSLETTER FROM
CAMBODIA God blesses you |
