Dear Friends and Family, Poor Pa Tom (That s me, Ted Olbrich, it ...
Dear Friends and Family, Poor Pa Tom (That s me, Ted Olbrich, it ...
Dear Friends and Family, Poor Pa Tom (That s me, Ted Olbrich, it ...
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<strong>Dear</strong> <strong>Friends</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>Family</strong>,<br />
<strong>Poor</strong> <strong>Pa</strong> <strong>Tom</strong> (<strong>That</strong> s <strong>me</strong>, <strong>Ted</strong> <strong>Olbrich</strong>, <strong>it</strong> <strong>me</strong>ans Big Daddy ) Moaney (Chief of Staff<br />
for Orphan Care) was talking w<strong>it</strong>h the staff, unaware of my presence behind her. My<br />
ears perked up. He d better start printing his own money . Why? I blurted, unable<br />
to contain my curios<strong>it</strong>y. Red faced, Moaney turned <strong>and</strong> began to explain. Well, <strong>Pa</strong>,<br />
you have so many children to get married, you re going to need a lot of money! I<br />
decided sarcasm might be my only defense. No Moaney, this is Cambodia. I ll get all<br />
the girls to marry rich guys (the groom always has to buy his bride) <strong>and</strong> I ll tell the<br />
boys to marry girls from poor families (low bride price). See, I ve got such beautiful<br />
daughters I could get rich on this deal! Moaney laughed, <strong>Pa</strong>, you don t underst<strong>and</strong>,<br />
orphan girls in Cambodia will never get a big price, <strong>and</strong> no girl will marry an orphan<br />
boy unless he has lots of money. The only thing you can do is arrange for the<br />
orphans to marry orphans, or pastor s children, <strong>and</strong> since none of them have any<br />
money, guess who pays? I cringed, Yikes, maybe I need to find so<strong>me</strong> North<br />
Koreans to give <strong>me</strong> so<strong>me</strong> printing lessons?<br />
Did that really happen? Well, sort of. After we returned from the below pictured<br />
wedding, where an orphan girl married a pastors son, <strong>and</strong> guess who? footed most<br />
of the bill, Moaney did suggest I start manufacturing money. You see, she did her<br />
math, 3500 orphan children, at least 200 per year soon to reach marriageable age.<br />
Yup! <strong>Pa</strong> s in trouble! http://www.missionreports.com/pa_thom_in_trouble<br />
Make sure<br />
you click on the wedding photos!<br />
The good news is that when the orphans <strong>me</strong>et <strong>and</strong> marry, they are almost always are<br />
called to ministry. I think <strong>it</strong> has to do w<strong>it</strong>h a common upbringing in the church. For<br />
so<strong>me</strong> reason they do very well in ministry. They know what <strong>it</strong> is like, <strong>and</strong> have few<br />
dreamy expectations. Also, since most of them ca<strong>me</strong> from painful backgrounds, they<br />
really know how to relate to the difficult circumstances that people face, <strong>and</strong> thus<br />
their ministry is effective.<br />
Is there is so<strong>me</strong>thing fishy about this? No! It s just the s<strong>me</strong>ll from the Cham Chao<br />
church/ho<strong>me</strong>. <strong>Pa</strong>stor Peter, our national leader, ca<strong>me</strong> up to <strong>me</strong> w<strong>it</strong>h a concerned<br />
look on his face. <strong>Pa</strong>, those 20,000 catfish in our pond are eating $15 per day worth<br />
of fish food. I know you want to raise them up to feed the convention, but they are big<br />
enough already, <strong>and</strong> I don t want to buy any more food. I knew I was being set up ,<br />
but took the ba<strong>it</strong> (no pun intended). Ok Peter, what do you have in mind? I asked. I<br />
want to drain the pond <strong>and</strong> make pickled fish (Prahoah, think s<strong>me</strong>ll ). We can store <strong>it</strong><br />
for two years, <strong>and</strong> <strong>it</strong> will be ready for the convention in February . I agreed, <strong>and</strong> he<br />
started pumping the pond. Ne<strong>it</strong>her of us had a clue as to what we would find. Tons of<br />
fish! It was like the ultimate mud wrestling contest w<strong>it</strong>h all the orphan boys wallowing<br />
in waist deep mud, pulling in over five tons of fish. They chopped, salted, <strong>and</strong><br />
washed fish for the next three days, w<strong>it</strong>h over three tons of finished product. Peter is<br />
so pleased he wants to re-stock the pond. Oh, there are probably 500 pounds of sun<br />
dried fish heads that they are saving for soup. Yum!<br />
http://www.missionreports.com/fish_pond_tc_dec06<br />
Christmas is always a big deal in Cambodia. This year we easily had several hundred<br />
Christmas celebrations around the country. The churches begin saving for this<br />
through a special offering beginning in August. My guess is that over 100,000 people<br />
attended programs in one location or another.<br />
http://www.missionreports.com/christmas_province_06 More than 100 large pigs,<br />
tons of raisins, rice <strong>and</strong> vegetables were the base fare for the feast throughout<br />
Cambodia. The Cham Chao Church had in excess of 4000 people in attendance, in<br />
three services, that lasted from 7:00am, Sun. Dec. 24 th to 1:00 am Christmas day.
Five hundred of them received Christ. I was surprised to realize how few of the<br />
average Cambodians had connected the dots relating the Christmas story to God s<br />
plan of redemption. For them Christmas is a neat story about God coming to earth as<br />
a baby. So, we threw together a book w<strong>it</strong>h so<strong>me</strong> foundation grant money. Next year<br />
we will print 250,000 of them. They were a h<strong>it</strong>. It explains the entire Christmas story<br />
as God s plan for the salvation of man from creation to the resurrection. We printed <strong>it</strong><br />
in comic book fashion. Of the thous<strong>and</strong>s given out few were discarded.<br />
http://www.missionreports.com/christmas_dec06/index0002.htm<br />
No one seems to know much about our Tractor Factory . Almost two years ago our<br />
first graduates ca<strong>me</strong> out of the Don Bosco Technical School <strong>and</strong> had a hard ti<strong>me</strong><br />
finding jobs. I had purchased an antique tractor in the States, as <strong>it</strong> was like the one I<br />
learned to farm on 50 years ago, <strong>and</strong> I figured, I ll bring <strong>it</strong> to Cambodia <strong>and</strong> pay the<br />
boys to restore <strong>it</strong>. Well, they dissembled every bolt <strong>and</strong> part, put <strong>it</strong> back together, <strong>and</strong><br />
<strong>it</strong> looked like new. I got to looking at the tractor <strong>and</strong> I realized that the simple<br />
technology of <strong>it</strong> was much more su<strong>it</strong>ed to Cambodia than sophisticated modern<br />
machines. Then, I noticed an abundance of junked Korean army truck front ends,<br />
scrapped out Japanese diesel truck engines, <strong>and</strong> ca<strong>me</strong> up w<strong>it</strong>h an idea. I went to<br />
<strong>Pa</strong>ul Mok, our chief <strong>me</strong>chanic <strong>and</strong> church elder, Do you think we could adapt these<br />
diesel engines <strong>and</strong> put on a 4X4 front end to build a rice tractor? His eyes l<strong>it</strong> up <strong>and</strong><br />
a big grin covered his face. Sure! Well, today we are working on our 20 th tractor.<br />
The boys earn a decent living, <strong>and</strong> the tractors produce a good inco<strong>me</strong> for orphan<br />
support. Bob Holl<strong>and</strong>sworth, of Seeds Ministries, has donated a large steel building<br />
that is being erected to house the production. I ve got another 20 tractors s<strong>it</strong>ting in<br />
A<strong>me</strong>rica wa<strong>it</strong>ing to make the trip. If anyone knows of any Case Model 930 tractors<br />
s<strong>it</strong>ting around, we give donation cred<strong>it</strong>. (Hint)<br />
http://www.missionreports.com/tractors_jan07<br />
Our Training all <strong>Pa</strong>stors program keeps growing. Six months ago we had 83<br />
participants. Last month 190 showed up. These pastors are district <strong>and</strong> divisional<br />
leaders <strong>and</strong> they go back <strong>and</strong> train 10-60 more leaders. We had to hire a special<br />
assistant just to gather data on what is happening. I feel a l<strong>it</strong>tle like David counting<br />
the children of Israel, but the foundation wants numbers. I hope God s not mad.<br />
http://www.missionreports.com/pastoral_training2006/december<br />
We participated in several dramatic rescues of trafficked young people this past<br />
month. We give no details, unlike the organizations that make all the noise. Why? We<br />
want to be effective!<br />
Cambodia is one big construction zone. Brick prices have doubled <strong>and</strong> re-doubled<br />
from one year ago. There are no unemployed brick layers. We are building a Medical<br />
Clinic, a Gar<strong>me</strong>nt Factory Worker s Dorm for 360 wo<strong>me</strong>n, a Tractor Factory, 14<br />
Church/Orphan ho<strong>me</strong>s, new office facil<strong>it</strong>ies, <strong>and</strong> nu<strong>me</strong>rous cafeteria buildings. Plus,<br />
w<strong>it</strong>h money from a loan, <strong>and</strong> inher<strong>it</strong>ance from my mother, Sou <strong>and</strong> I are building a<br />
ho<strong>me</strong>, complete w<strong>it</strong>h a small orchard, so I can play far<strong>me</strong>r in my spare ti<strong>me</strong> :>)<br />
http://www.missionreports.com/ho<strong>me</strong>s_construction_jan07/index.htm<br />
Hannah, our youngest daughter, ca<strong>me</strong> back from college for Christmas. We shed the<br />
usual tears as we thought of our children <strong>and</strong> gr<strong>and</strong> children left behind, but Sou <strong>and</strong><br />
I spent the entire month of December in Cambodia. Our staff took much needed<br />
breaks w<strong>it</strong>h Anna <strong>and</strong> Emily returning to the States <strong>and</strong> Jamie going to Israel. They
are all back <strong>and</strong> slaving away. We have several <strong>me</strong>dical <strong>and</strong> construction teams for<br />
January, so <strong>it</strong> will be an, All h<strong>and</strong>s on deck month.<br />
Be blessed w<strong>it</strong>h a Happy New Year!<br />
<strong>Ted</strong>, Sou <strong>and</strong> Hannah <strong>Olbrich</strong>,<br />
Anna Blake, Jamie Gonzalez, Emily Plater