Sparkyyyy….that’s what we’ve renamed her because when we try to say her name we mispronounce it and say it incorrectly and it is a very nasty word in Khmer.  It really suits her, but not when she first came here.  It sure didn’t.  She is an orphan from Svay Pak, and she stayed with a family that would sell her for sex whenever they needed money and would allow anyone to rape her whenever they felt like it.  She is just a little six year old girl.  Short black hair, big dark eyes, just darling.  She’s just beautiful, especially when she smiles.  She was so mistreated by this family.  When she got a case of head lice, they shaved her head.  It was just very humiliating for her.  The ladies and girls in Cambodia pride themselves on their long, beautiful hair, and she looked like a mini monk or a little boy.  The community would snare at her and call her degrading names.  When and if there was any food left over after the family ate, they would throw it on the floor, and she would have to scramble and fight the dogs to get anything.  One day Pastor Chantha and his wife, Bunthen, found out about her, and they called ARC.  They told ARC’s Administrator of Counseling, Siserat, of Sparky’s dilemma.  Siserat got in touch with the Ministry of Social Affairs to get custody of her and brought her to ARC.  This was about six months ago now.  When she first arrived here, she wouldn’t raise her head or look at anybody.  At meal time, her head was always down low to the table. She was always out to protect herself and her food, and she would glance furtively about.  One day a house mom offered her some food, and she just stared and looked dumb struck; she wouldn’t take it.  When the mom walked away and left it on the table by her, she grabbed it and ran from the table ninja-like.  An adult offering her food?…It was just unthinkable to her, and it certainly hadn’t happened very often in her very short six years.  Yesterday I met up with her at one of the water coolers, one that has a hot water tap, and she was there with a bowl of ramen noodles to make herself soup just clicking her chopsticks away. She looked at me and gave me a big ole smile, “Hey Nana!”.  It just choked me up because here she was so confident just making a snack in the middle of the day.  Day by day she has become more relaxed and confident knowing she is in a place that loves her and will let her eat however much she wants whenever she wants it and she doesn’t have to fight for scraps of food off the floor amongst dogs and cats.  At meal time, she just gets up and gets more rice or anything she wants anytime she wants it.  She’s just a darling little girl.  Right now she is outside playing this game that I can’t understand, as you can hear in the background.  It is because of God’s grace and his love and provision flowing into Cambodia through you that little Sparky is eating, and learning, and laughing and playing and thriving, and she knows it’s because of Jesus and people like you. She is one happy girl.  We here in Cambodia are blessed to witness this. Our sincerest gratitude for your prayers, support and encouragement.  God bless you and keep you until we talk again.  Bye bye.

Recently Troy Dean, pastor of One Life Church in Lincoln, CA, led a short term mission team of young adults and William Jessup students to Cambodia.  This podcast is the story of their experiences as he and Scott Mehren share it with their church.  We hope their stories of hope will challenge and encourage you in your faith.  Due to the length of the podcast, there is no transcription available.

A week in the village of Svay Pak, Cambodia, can seem like a ride on the emotional roller coaster from hell…all downs and really fast.  After all, we are working in a village where dozens of little girls are trafficked and abused every single day.  But the downs are lower now, now that we’ve been there two years.  Now that we personally know and love each child.  Thankfully there are highs, times when hope is fulfilled and it seems as if we’re standing on the top of Mt. Everest.   I’d like to share with you a little of the ups and downs of a week in Svay Pak.

It was Monday afternoon and children were gathering for the kids program at Rahab’s House, but something was different…Something was wrong.  Two young girls, one 13, the other 7, were missing,  two girls that hadn’t missed a day at Rahab’s House in nearly two years.  Pastor Chantha noticed this immediately and went to the girls’ house.

When he arrived at the house, the girls were nowhere to be found, so he asked where they were.  He was told they were gone on a holiday.  Chantha didn’t believe it so he continued to press the family and amazingly they told him the truth.  The girls were sent to one of their mothers who is a prostitute in another town.  More amazing they told him the name of the town, the location of the brothel and the telephone number.  The girls had been trafficked away from Svay Pak.  Armed with all this information we felt confident the girls could be rescued.

Immediately authorities were contacted and given all the information we had, including photos of the girls.  We then waited anxiously for news of their rescue.  But the news never came.  Due to a number of circumstances beyond the control of those involved, the girls were not rescued.  And we were certain these precious ones were lost to us forever.

It’s Tuesday morning at Rahab’s House and children are gathering, but this morning is different from any other in Svay Pak.  Recently we selected 36 of the poorest children that attend our children’s programs, children whose families cannot even afford to send them to public school, and have paid for their tuition, books, and uniforms to attend a private school just outside the village…and this is their first day.

Each child is filled with excitement, anticipation, and a hope they never thought could be theirs.  The girls have their hair pulled back tightly in pony tails or pig-tails; the boys have their hair slicked back and parted, and for the most part clean faces.  Rahab’s House youth pastor Ratanak lines the kids up 2 by 2 and begins marching them down the main street of Svay Pak, and as they march they are singing a worship song at the top of their lungs. 

It’s an awesome parade made even better as people along the street come out of their homes and businesses waving to the kids and cheering them on.  What a sweet moment on a street most famous for the trafficking of little girls.

Recently, Bridget and I were blessed to be part of an anti-human trafficking conference in Toronto, Canada. One of the speakers was a man named Brian McConaghy. Brian is the president and founder of an organization called Ratanak. Ratanak helps support a variety of ministries here in Cambodia that fight against the sex trafficking of little girls. One of those organizations happens to be our Agape Restoration Center. As Brian spoke at the conference, he shared a little bit about his years of experience in fighting sex trafficking in Cambodia. We’d like to bless you now by sharing with you some of what Brian shared with all of us in Canada.

‑‑ seizes the power of every moment and who unleashes the full potential of their life is that they have an advance mentality.  And no matter how much fear, no matter how much self doubt, how overwhelmed they are by the obstacles they face, they still move forward, and they jump.  And it’s a great privilege for me to introduce you one such person whose life I believe reflects these very attributes.  His life is a long obedience in the same direction.  It has been one of focus, one of intentionality, one of commitment; to a country for the last 20 years as God has used him to be involved in rebuild the broken gates and walls of the nation of Cambodia.  Brian has shown me that when we harness our potential for God’s kingdom and are willing to enter into those places of pain and darkness, one person indeed can make a difference.  And so, would you please welcome Brian McConaghy, the founder of Ratanak Foundation.

Well I’m not sure who that guy was being spoken about.  That’s humbling indeed to listen to.  What I hope is that you not catch any kind of a glimpse of Brian McConaghy over this weekend, but that you catch a glimpse of what God is doing with children in Cambodia.  When we were singing I was very conscious of the fact that we were not singing in a vacuum.  We’re singing in a rich rich historical heritage.

In the late 18th early 19th century England, which was at that time the naval and economic power of the world, was subjected to the madness of one man.  A man, who over and over and over again, would not give‑up on what was on his heart.  He worked years for his goals.  That man was Wilberforce.  And his long journey started with education.  He needed to be educated about the problems of this world in order to make it personal for him.  For if things are not personal,  we simply do not have the drive to make change. 

In making it personal he understood grief.  I believe we too will understand grief if we take it upon ourselves to look at some of the ugliness this world has to offer.  But, more than anything else, he applied his faith.  The celebrated acts of Wilberforce were not so much acts of social justice as they were a logical outworking of his faith. 

Today’s slavery is no less grotesque.  It is no less daunting.  There are thousands of people in sex slavery just in Cambodia.  There are millions in slavery throughout the world.  Let’s be under no illusion this is brutal brutal stuff.  Western society has the luxury to look away, to change the channel, to isolate ourselves in this western affluent cocoon, to create a studied ignorance in which we all live.  God has no such luxury.  He is compelled to be involved because this for him is intensely personal.  There are no options if love is involved.  We can only love that which we know. 

And so I’m exited to see you here this weekend; that you are giving up time to learn and to know.  And my hope is that through the process of knowledge you will grow to love those who suffer, that that will become a personal thing for you.  The personal relationship that God has with all the unseen kids that we don’t know about drives him.  He is absolutely passionate for these children. 

Rich Mullins, in one of his songs, has described the love of God as the “Reckless raging fury they call the love of God.”  I love that illustration.  For this is a father that is angered.  This is a father who rushes to the defense of his children.  Such love is not diminished, not sidetracked, not tamed, not domesticated, and it’s absolutely not afraid of grief.  So do we want to see as God sees?  Those are fearsome words.  That’s a very tall order for us. 

What I’ve said to many people getting involved with Cambodia over the years is, “To learn to love Cambodia is to learn to grieve.”  Those two are absolutely joined.  We are subject to such grief if we chose to look into the darkness.  Like God, if you choose, you will share burdens, you will know grief, you may feel overwhelmed, you may experience trauma, you will know tears, as any of us who have worked in Cambodia know tears.  

I would encourage you not to shy away from these things.  For such emotions are a picture of God’s heart for his children.  They drive us to action because it personalizes this.  These are no longer distant children, they become more and more real the more we learn.  That is dangerous stuff.  It’s life changing stuff.  But it’s very powerful stuff. 

So, will all the hardships of the world, all the trauma of the children we are gonna hear about this weekend, will this drive us away?  Absolutely it will drive you away; if you do not have love.  Without love, don’t even start this process because that is what will keep you going.  That is the sole thing that keeps you going.

How much hardship, how much distress, how much grief would it take for you to give‑up on your own children if they were suffering?  There is no amount of hardship, there is not amount of grief, there is not amount of trauma.  Parents will keep coming back and coming back and coming back, year in, year out in the defense of their children.  And God calls us to make this whole issue, of far‑off children being exploited, personal.  He calls us to be as parents; driven.  That we will not give‑up, that we will not be dissuaded, that we will move forward whatever the difficulties, and we will see lives changed, claimed by him into joy.

And in so doing, despite all those negatives I’ve talked about, let me assure you that at the end of this process, and even as a blessing through this process, you can experience even joy as we see lives changed.  For this is a rich, rich thing, not easy, but it is a rich rich thing to serve our God for those who do not have a voice.

Wilberforce was faithful.  He was tenacious.  He was driven.  He was passionate.  He was a man of weakness.  He was a man that suffered from constant ill‑health.  In the great strong leaders we seek in the world today, he was a failure, but he had love and he had faith.  And he kept going for decades.

He stands as an example to us, of one who is tenacious.  His task was huge; ours is no less so.  But we work alongside the very same God he served.  And we have rights to expect the very same thing from God who loves his children and works for his glory in their lives.  I hope you experience just a little of that passion of God this weekend.  Thank you.

Four girls from ARC have a very special “Thank You”.

Don: Good Afternoon. We are at ARC, Agape Restoration Center, this afternoon. The girls and staff have just gotten back from their first overnight trip to see Siem Reap. They had a great time on the trip. They visited temples, the national museum, they went to the cultural village, they went to a lake swimming, and just had a great time. And I have four of the girls here with me this afternoon that would just like to say a little bit about the trip and I’m gonna turn it over to them right now.

Bella: Hello, my name is Bella. I just want to say thank you for your support us to go have to have a good trip at Angkor Wat. I really happy to see my country. They have a great temple and when I, when I visit there I see a lot of many many people and I really enjoy there. I really proud, I really proud of my country because have a good, a good temple and want I hope some day you will come and visit there too. It’s the end, I want to say thank you so much. God bless you.

(Whispers and laughing)

Keo: Hello, my name is Keo. It the first time I go there go to see Siem Reap. I am great to be there with all the girls and I can see a lot of people and I can see a lot of beautiful temple. I hope one day you will go there too. And I want to go there again. Thank you for your support (whispers and laughing). I want to say thank you. God bless you.

(Whispers)

Chanthy: Hello, my name is Chanthy. I would like to say thank you for your kindness people for my trip to see Siem Reap. We have a good trip. I hope I go there again. You are my blessing. I am really thank you for your generous. Thank you, God bless you, bye.

Don: Sochea do you want to try again?

Sochea: Hello, thank you for support. Hello thank you for support for everybody. We all go to see Siem Reap. We already have been and we all want to you come to go there with us. (whispers and laughing). Bye. God Bless you.

Don: Well, I wish you could be here to see these girls. They’re all very beautiful and they all have very big smiles now that they’re not speaking into the recording. But we thank you so much, We thank you from the bottom of our hearts, for all your support of ARC. You are a great blessing to us and we hope someday we can return that to you. God bless you all. Bye now. 

Girls: Bye.

The noise of gym equipment being used is heard in the background…

Hey everybody, this is Clayton Butler podcasting on location at the Lord’s Gym, Svay Pak. We’ve officially opened up the gym. We had Dean and Terry a couple weeks ago come in to perform some feats of strength. Dean and Terry are from Roseville’s Lord’s Gym, and so we were able to gather a great crowd, about 200 people came out to see the show. But we didn’t know if we would actually have a consistent group that would want to exercise, but by God’s grace, we are having about 20 to 30 young men consistently come everyday to exercise. And they are the age group that we wanted to reach; they are about 15 to 30 years old. And so what we do is when they come to exercise, we start with a devotional time and prayer, and then during exercise time we have worship music playing, and then we close with devotions and prayer again, and they help us to clean up. So it’s been really great to see how the body of Christ has come together to help us launch this gym. We had volunteers from America come to help, we’ve had God  himself come to gather a crowd, and now we have some missionaries in Cambodia that have come along side us to support us as well. Two Baptist missionaries named Rob and Demetrius have volunteered their time to teach some exercise classes, and these are high caliber missionaries. Rob has been here for 12 years, and so it’s a great honor for him to come and help us lead devotions. So keep us in prayer. This is an exciting time for us. This is the first time in Svay Pak that we’re ministering not only to the children that are negatively affected by sex trafficking, but also to the same young men in the community that are perpetuating sex trafficking. So we are ministering to both sides of the coin and it’s an exciting opportunity. So please pray that during these devotional times the gospel would go forth in power, that these young men would be transformed. Not just transformed to the extent of coming to Christ, but transformed to such an extent that they would be the ones that are perpetuating the anti-trafficking movement in Svay Pak. Thank you for your time, God bless you guys.

Clayton with athletes at The Lord's Gym

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.

Don and Bridget were recently in Toronto, Canada for a conference on human trafficking and had the opportunity to share the amazing work God is doing at Agape Restoration Center.  We invite you to listen to Don share several stories of hope from ARC on our most recent podcast.  Just so you are aware, our friends in Canada refer to ARC as New Song, a beautiful, metaphoric name. 

We ask for your grace as we do not have a written transcript of this message.