The battle over children…

Last night I went to bed thinking about the struggle/fight/battle for the hearts and minds of children.  I haven’t been able to shake it all day long…I hope to find release with some of my thoughts with this posting.

This battle over children is not specific to where you live, who you are, your race, your gender, your income level…it isn’t even specific to our time and place in history.

The battle began as our recorded history began…in the beginning.  The fall of man in the Garden can even be seen as a war that was waged by the enemy against the first children of God.  A battle that was seemingly won but for those who have read the last page of the book, we know that the WAR will be won by the Father.

The battle came against male and female both.  How did the enemy inflitrate in the garden?  He began by saying in today’s vernacular “Did your Dad really say?”  He called into question the values and teachings of a father to his children.  Doesn’t really matter (for this blog posting) that it was the Heavenly Father and the first children, Adam and Eve.  In a nutshell,  it was just a voice speaking against and calling into question the teachings and instructions of a father to his family.

The battle continued through the wealthy seed of Abraham and through the seed of a servant woman, Hagar.  The battle raged with Abraham and Sarah.  Not able to wait upon the promise, Abraham and Sarah turned to Hagar for what?  A child.  The battle between the child of promise and the child of the flesh still wages today and is played out so sadly in newspaper headlines.

How did God, in His infinite wisdom, choose to reconcile with fallen man?  Through the birth of a child.  “Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given…”Isaiah 9.

But with the birth of our blessed Savior, came one of the most vicious attacks against children in recorded history.  It came against sweet innocents.

Matthew chapter 2 recounts the event in stark terms…Our enemy (through Herod) was so frightened of the newborn Christ child that each and EVERY male child in Bethlehem was put to death.  Each and every single male child two years old or younger… That grips my heart as I am the parent of a two year old myself.

I live in Cambodia where the enemy (through Pol Pot) stripped away the true meaning of family with the Khmer Rouge.  Families were torn asunder while 2 million lost their lives so quickly and somewhat quietly …the world didn’t and still doesn’t shrink back in horror at the atrocities.  When I share about our ministry and the country of Cambodia, time and time again folks will tell me that they have never heard of this…”when did this happen?”  Or worse yet, some will say “Oh, I’ve seen that movie, The Killing Fields.  That really happened?”
Yes, folks, that really happened.

At times, I will be to the point of pulling my hair out because it can be just so stinkin’ hard ministering/living in Cambodia.  Mark and I seem to often go from one situation to another…one fire put out to another…it is a constant battle.  Time and time again the thought has visited my mind…”Why is the battle so fierce over just 22 little children?  (Benz kids plus Bykota Kids) We aren’t that big.  We are just trying to love and care for 22. “  Why?  Because we are engaging the enemy over his favorite target and his biggest threat…children.

I have had many who question, some kindly–some not, our ministry.  “We like to support church planters” they say and for a while I thought that I understood.  But something has risen up inside me…I think it is a truer understanding of our calling and the HOPE that is ever present in our calling.

We ARE church planters!  What the enemy has taken and tried to destroy…God is rebuilding through the lives of the children of Bykota.  We aren’t building a church building and doing provincial outreaches or doing medical ministry…all those things are so needed by the people of Cambodia and we so desire to see them come.

What we are doing is trying to raise up 22 warriors.

Twenty two warriors that already have the enemy of God shaking in his boots.

Twenty two warriors that are being equipped to handle the Word of God and life’s affairs in an approved and unashamed manner.

Twenty two warriors who will walk out into the country of Cambodia and take it by the power of the Word of God and their testimony.

PURE AND UNDEFILED RELIGION IS THIS…TO CARE FOR ORPHANS AND WIDOWS IN THEIR TIME OF NEED!

Want to join us?

Breathing in, breathing out,

Rhonda

 

Rejection

I am wondering if I should take it as a serious rejection that the cats…all 3 of them…refused to sleep on the fold out couch with me last night.  They took turns perching on a chair opposite of my bed to stare at me while I laid there.  I am trying to tell myself that they had no evil intentions but rather were simply playing “guardian angels” for me.

The Chronister’s new home in Washington DC area is so gorgeous but in a way it is kinda freaky.  I can look out in their back yard and it looks VERY similar to their back yard in Seattle.  So I keep having dejavu moments!

Breathing in, Breathing out,

Rhonda

 

CHANGE is not a bad word…

It is an inevitable fact…one that I am only now in mid-life coming to accept as truth…that some things in life cannot be changed.  But there are some that can.  There are some things that God as given us as realities that are “fixed” in our lives that we have to learn to accept.  But there are some things that He would have us to never accept, but rather, with His power that resides within us, always work to change.

We must set the mark for ourselves to accomplish both of these things…to accept some things and to work to change others.  If we fail to do this, we will end up saddled with worry, guilt (although often undeserved), and be constantly frustrated.

While visiting with my aunt this week who is recovering from chemotherapy for Acute Leukemia, she read to me from a devotional, “Worry is the interest paid on trouble before it comes due.” 

God’s ways are always much higher than our ways…we must learn to trust Him.

Remembering Psalm 55:22 “Cast your burden on the Lord, and He shall sustain you.”

I love you, Aunt Janice!  We claim your total healing!

Breathing in, breathing out,
Rhonda

 

Prayers needed for Linda

Little Linda is our youngest Bykota Kid.  She is approximately 3 years old.  She came to us with hydrocephalus which is congenital issue which is sometimes called “water on the brain.”  When she came into our custody, she was already a patient at the local children’s hospital but she had been abandoned in province by her natural family.  The provincial village chief found a family to take her in and the village helped to care for her.  However, the situation changed for the foster family and the village chief, who has met us before, instructed for her to be taken in to Phnom Penh to our ministry center.

Linda has suffered with a great deal of shunt problems and has it replaced repeatedly.  The last time it was replaced, she suffered a stroke after the surgery and an infection set in.  The doctors didn’t believe that she would live but the prayers of the saints calling this little child’s name out before the throne were heard and answered with a miraculous recovery.

This last Tuesday evening, which is Wednesday morning in Cambodia, Mark spoke to me on the phone and told me that Linda’s eyes were very droopy.  But within an hour she went from being droopy to being asleep and unable to be roused.  She was taken into the hospital and it was assumed that it was again an issue with the shunt.

A CAT scan showed that the shunt was functioning but that the issue was a hemorrhage and she has since had surgery to correct it.  Again, the doctors in Cambodia did not expect her to survive the surgery but she has.  So we give thanks for the strength and life that flows through this beautiful little girl.  But we ask that you please contact the prayer warriors in your life and to pray protection for her against infection and any relapse.

Breathing in, breathing out,

Rhonda

 

In the States

Rhonda addressing partners at Calvary Fellowship, Carthage, MO

I find myself in the States because it is once again time for the annual update to our partners. Our partners are wonderful faithful folk who walk along side us in ministry in Cambodia even though most of them will never visit the country in person.

This trip has kinda not turned out like I expected.

Scheduling times and dates to share with partners has always been pretty easy. But this year has proven to be quite the challenge because of a variety of reasons. In some cases, it is simply the case of “not going to work out.” But in other instances, even the weather has interferred.

I landed in DFW and thought that the balmy weather on the evening of May 1st was much like what I had left in Cambodia. But then by the next day, storms and tornadoes moved in. “Hmmmm,” I thought, “It seems that the monsoon season has followed me to the US.”

This became even more apparent when I moved from the DFW area to Tulsa and yes…it was nice when I got there but my the next morning, it was stormy and rainy.

Then I move on to Carthage and you guessed it…STORMS. So much in fact that it was highly questionable if I would even speak at the first church because they had their power knocked out late Saturday afternoon. However, by Sunday AM service it was fine.

The rain and storms continued on and off for the better part of two weeks. In the course of that time, it was time to go on to Stillwater, OK. It was a beautiful day when I left Missouri with my college-bound daughter, Kati. But by the time we reached Tulsa…storms. BAD STORMS such that Kati, a new driver, was quite stressed out on the road.

I got Kati settled the next week at college and I have journeyed on to Kentucky where I am staying in Benton with the Bailey family. It seems that I have shaken those storms lose or…maybe they just haven’t found me yet.

Should a reader of this blog be interested, I would love to share my upcoming dates:

June 7th…Heritage Bible Church, Possom Trot, KY
June 10th…First Baptist Church, Hughes, Arkansas
June 11th-12…Home of Ben and Christina Chronister Washington, DC
June 14th…Immanuel Baptist, Butler, MO
June 21st…Bykota Church, Carthage, MO
July 12th…Home of Greg and Aleta Ford, Tulsa, OK

Other dates and small groups as yet pending….

Please pray for my family as they are trying to manage things alone without me in Cambodia and they are having to manage without Kati as well since she is gone to college.

Breathing in, Breathing out,
Rhonda

 

Decorating for Valentine’s Day

As most of readers of our blog know, our children’s home is founded on the Biblical model of a family. Mark is Dad to these 17 children and I am their mother. We feel that with all our hearts and so do they. It is a different type of family than the Benz family is with our bio/adopted children…but it is a family nevertheless.

Still, the situation dictates that we live in seperate facilities. But one of the drawbacks to living with SEVENTEEN other children and staff in a dorm is that there is very little “personal space.”

That is another great blessing of using the ACE model of school with the Bykota Kids. Mark had the typical ACE school desks built. (or as we refer to them…their ACE offices)

We allow them a whole lot of creative license to decorate there own personal offices. We do ask that it be clean enough to be free of germs LOL…and that it be an area that allows for them to do school. They aren’t allowed to put something in there that gets in the way of studying. We have to sometimes speak to Bee because he will put his educational toys in there or coloring supplies and leave no room for his school books.

Today the Bykota Kids decorated their offices for Valentine’s Day. They had lots of fun and it really pleases me to see them enjoy their personal space and to do things in their own individual way.

We are certainly not busy over here trying to put out cookie cutter kids. They are all unique, special, WONDERFUL individuals. Each and every one of them are necessary to the body of Christ. They have a role that no one else can fulfill as well as they can.

Of course, because it is Mark and Rhonda Benz who are parenting these children, we are so often reflected in them. One of the funniest ways is the fact that these Cambodian children are learning to speak English and try as we might, we still sometimes see a little Southwest Missouri come out in their diction. Ät Bykota House you can hear Cambodian children saying “ya’ll dun with those scissors?” or “Mom, I fixin’ to go to my house now.” LOL

Breathing in, breathing out,
Rhonda

 

February Update

“The cries of children were everywhere…”

In the early morning hours of January 24th the families fitfully dozed in desperate attempt to get some final moments of rest before a new day in the Dey Krahom community began. Just the day before, all the families had been asked to show the ownership documents for their homes because a large corporate developer desired the land they were living on. They left these meetings with a promise that no eviction action would be taken until all was considered and reviewed.

The still quiet of the morning was soon broken with cries of children and the calls of frantic mothers when at 6 15 AM hundreds of Cambodian security forces and hired demolition workers stormed the sleeping community with tear gas, riot shields, bull dozers, and diggers. Tear gas and riot shields…against what was mainly women and sleeping children?

Most of the families were unable to retrieve their belongings as they were lucky to escape unharmed. The Phnom Penh municipality has provided less than 30 of the 152 families with shelter at a designated resettlement site some 16 kilometers from the city centre. Most of the structures at the site are incomplete, and there is no clean water, no electricity, sewage or basic services. Earlier, most of the affected community rejected being resettled there because it was too far from Phnom Penh, where they work, mostly as street vendors.

This is a sad example of the injustices that happen daily in Cambodia. It is in this atmosphere that High Tower Ministries is, by the grace of God, raising the 17 children we are blessed to have in Bykota House.

Additions to High Tower Ministries

We are blessed to have the addition of a new little girl, Linda. Linda, age 3, suffers from hydrocephalus which in basic terms is water on the brain. She was abandoned as an infant in Krochet Province. The village chief asked a family without children to care for her and that was adequate until the family did have children of their own. They then couldn’t continue to care for Linda because of the expense of transporting her back and forth to Phnom Penh where she is patient at a local children’s hospital. She presently has a shunt to aid in the draining of excess fluid. The village chief knows of our ministry and sent the child into us where we have received custody and established her as a Bykota Kid.

Also…our prayers have been answered! We have been earnestly seeking the Father for additional workers for the ministry field. He has blessed us with Elaine and Nick Hayden, a retired couple from the UK. They are coming on recommendation of Moved With Compassion Ministries of Singapore which High Tower has relationship with. Nick and Elaine are coming as self-supported workers with a heart for the Bykota Kids. Please rejoice with us and welcome them as they join in the work here.

Thank You for Feedback!!!

We received much positive responses to the plan to update monthly for the year 2009. Many of our home team expressed that they were printing out the Prayer points to mount in a central location to prompt daily prayers. This is very encouraging to us to hear! Thank you so muc

February Prayer/Praise Points

~~Bykota House rent-February 1st came and with it came the rent due date. We were very blessed that we had $325 given specifically towards the rent prayer request of $3600 and we sold five little dachshund puppies. However, we were still short on the rent, and a balance of $600 is remaining. We give praise for that which is paid and lift up the remaining balance.

~~Peter-additional tests and additional opinions have been sought. We are now being told that Peter is suffering from Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis. He spent three days this last month in the hospital. While he is home now, Peter is still in such pain that he cannot walk most days. Please continue to lift Peter up in prayer. We also are seeking a sponsor for Peter. Thus far, his clinic bills have totaled to more than $600 in the month of January alone.

~~Kati’s college interview went just fine! Thank you for your prayers. She did lose the phone connection but the college was very understanding and pressed through. We are now trusting that her acceptance will be forthcoming and in addition, we are praying for a room/board scholarship for Kati.

Need: As most of you know, when we moved over to Cambodia, we sold all we owned and invested that into the ministry. Kati is now returning to the States and she has need for transportation. We are seeking the donation of a vehicle for Kati’s use. If you would like to donate towards this need, please contact Rhonda by email or Judi at the church.

~~This last week, the children of Bykota House went on a field trip to the National Museum. These young Christians had their eyes opened even more to the reality of the idol worship that permeates Cambodian culture and is entwined through Cambodia’s entire history. Many of them have made comment on that fact and have expressed remorse and regret over this sin. This is a major Praise the Lord! This was not something taught by Mom or Dad…this was not preached by a Christian preacher…this was revelation from the Holy Spirit Himself. We rejoice with them as they begin to mature in Christ to become mighty warriors in His kingdom.

~~Dachshunds-we have sold six puppies and they have gone on to their new homes. One more is sold with a cash deposit given and he will be taken home around Valentine’s Day. We are still seeking homes for 2 female and 1 male short hair dachshund. Prayers appreciated!

February Birthdays

February 3rd-Chatreah, 17 years

February 15th-Peroom, 16 years

February 21st-Christopher Benz, 8 ye

Happy Valentine’s Day,

The Benz Family Serving in Cambodia

PS Another easy way to support Bykota House is by using Good Search and Good Shop. More than 900 of the top Internet retailers and travel sites including Amazon, eBay, Target, Apple, Expedia and more have joined forces with GoodShop.com to donate part of every purchase to Bykota House (more than 72,000 nonprofits are now on-board)!

It takes just a few seconds to go to http://www.goodshop.com/?charityid=897810 , select your charity, and then click through to your favorite store and shop as usual.

Also, Yahoo has teamed up with GoodShop’s sister site, GoodSearch.com, to donate a penny to your cause every time you search the web. This is totally free as the money comes from advertisers.

Searching with http://www.goodsearch.com/?charityid=897810 is so easy, and each web search benefits Bykota House! Getting started couldn’t be easier!

Just go to http://www.goodsearch.com/?charityid=897810 and be sure to enter Bykota House as the charity you want to support. And, be sure to spread the word!

To give you a sense of how the money can add up, the ASPCA has already earned more than $23,000!

GoodSearch: http://www.goodsearch.com/?charityid=897810

GoodShop: http://www.goodshop.com/?charityid=897810

 

National Museum

It was time for a field trip.  Sigh…it is so hard to find places that we can take the children for field trips.  It just isn’t the same here as it is in other countries.  Where is a good ole dairy when you need one?  Or an apple orchard?  A newspaper?

We have taken the children on a river boat ride to a silk weaving village, the Royal Palace, and we have done the zoo (or at least the closest thing we can call a zoo) TWICE.  We have enjoyed Apsara Arts for traditional Apsara dancing, gone  swimming, and enjoyed elephant rides at Wat Phnom.  But that just about exhausts our choices.  However,  I realized that we hadn’t done the National Museum yet.

I did the museum when I was here back in 2002 to adopt Seth and Chantal. My memories weren’t pleasant but maybe it would be better??? So we announced our plans and began the preparations.  We needed to arrange care for Bykota Littles and the Benz Littles.  We need additional transportation.  Who is it that gets car sick?  Anyone in danger of throwing up must go in the tuk tuk.  All those important details!

Once we get there, we find the usual disparity of fees.  Foreigners are $3 each…so that cost the four Benz family members $12…the other 16 visitors…all Khmer…were $2 total.  Good grief!  To get the most out of the museum, we paid for a guide in the Khmer language.  We are more concerned that the children understand the museum even if we do not.

We begin making our way through the museum and while it wasn’t dreadful, it was certainly not an experience that I will want to repeat.  Around almost every corner there was another idol of Buddha with offerings requested.  Money can be given, flowers or incense can be bought, prayers can be lifted… I wondered before we entered if this was going to be uncomfortable.  But with a single glance at our group, the idol attendants turned away.  It became apparent that the presence of the Lord was with us.

We kept looking for something, ANYTHING that wasn’t saturated in the idol worship of Hinduism or Buddhism.  Nothing was to be found.  Mark and I began to wonder the wisdom of coming here.  The tour actually got a little long for the kids also.  They did however, perk up when they came upon the swords.  The Bykota boys actively acted out mock decapitations and well, we didn’t stop them.  It was the most entertainment of the entire tour!

The highlight of the event was picture taking in the courtyard garden.  It was very, very pretty.  And Dad handed out money to buy fish food and they loved feeding the fish in the four ponds.

Today the children spent their morning (in total agony) as they worked on short reports of “My Field Trip to the National Museum.” The children would have enjoyed a vaccination clinic more than this painful process.

But HOT DOG…this is when we hit the jackpot!  Child after child commented either by mouth or in their essay how disturbing, how sad, how wrong it is that everything in their country is so against the ways of the Lord.  This wasn’t mentioned by us at all!  This was revelation from the Holy Spirit to the children themselves.  My heart is simply too small and inadequate to hold the JOY that floods me when I reflect on this.

These 17 children are gonna rock this world  These 17 children are going to be history makers in this land and where ever else the Lord sees fit to lead them!

What God has done here in Cambodia with High Tower Ministries is so beyond our wildest dreams or imaginations.  It is so totally by His hand and through His grace.  What an awesome God!  He reigns!

Breathing in, breathing out,

Rhonda

 

Crockpot Granola

This blog is not only about our ministry and work in the Lord’s work with orphans in Cambodia, but it is also just simply about our family and our life in Cambodia.

For this reason, I am going to share a recipe that has elevated me to the status of a “super hero” with my Littles.

Some background…breakfast here is a struggle for Mark and I because there is just so much to do in the first two hours of every day and so we hit the floor running each morning. This is proving harder and harder with each passing year as Mark (not myself, of course) gets older.

We usually have to cook something for breakfast because convenient breakfast foods are just not possible here. There are now several stores that import cereal or granola bars or toaster pastries but golly bob, we just can’t afford them. There are 9 of us here and so we are really getting small bowls if we use only one box of cereal but most of the boxes of cereal are in the $5 to 10 range.

One of the greatest things about America (in my Littles’ opinion) was the abundance of big affordable boxes of breakfast cereal! We kept the pantry stocked and breakfast was a no brainer. Easy…and affordable…

But I have found a recipe for crockpot granola. And praise be to the Lord for a crockpot that my husband purchased for me from a family returning to their home country.

Okay, enough background…now the recipe…

Bag of oatmeal from Australia…okay, this was about 6 cups and even though the recipe called for rolled oats, I had to use instant because that was all that was available to me.

a half of cup of canola oil

a half cup of brown cane sugar

1 tsp of maple flavoring

1/2 box of raisins…regular Sun Maid raisins imported from America…

then being the rebel that I am…I added a great big dollop of honey from the fridge….I think that must have been about 1/4 cup….

Put everything in your crockpot and stir with a spoon. I used my wooden spoon. Put the crockpot on low and cook for 5 hours stirring at least once every hour. BUT…prop the lid open. That is why I used the wooden spoon. I simply left the spoon in and that propped the lid open.

When done, pour into a dish or something to cool. Then store in an airtight container.

I presently have my 3rd batch in the crock pot right now. We have eaten it with milk….it takes less milk than normal cereal. And we have eaten it over yogurt as well.

Either way it has proven to be a winner here.

And for those of you that are curious, the cost to me is about $2.50. I am confident that using store brand or Aldi ingredients in the States, it would be even less expensive.

Breathing in…the yummy smell of maple and brown sugar granola,
Rhonda

 

Puppy Update

We have just listed the puppies in as many places that we can think of so far. A friend gave us a few more ideas that we need to utilize also but haven’t yet because Sunday I feel ill with dysentery. So Mark and Danielle have had to take over my workload and hasn’t left any extra time.

Yesterday however, we started getting calls on the ads we have out. Two families called to come look at the puppies. So we were excited! They are such good puppies, healthy and full of fun! We love them but knew before they arrived that they were intended for other people.

The first family that came by was anxious to pick one out and leave a deposit but won’t be able to pick “Timothy” up until Valentine’s Day.

Then last night the second family came by and vote after vote of the children, parents, and grandmother kept coming to a tie so they just bought two. LOL

Actually, two puppies are not really more work. Two puppies play together and occupy themselves and comfort each other while sleeping. So it is much nicer for the pups, but yet, they still cost twice the money. We are thankful that the Lord has blessed this family to be able to afford two and we just are so pleased that the Father blessed the pups with such an outstanding home.

Please continue to pray for 7 more wonderful puppy homes.

Breathing in, Breathing out,
Rhonda
PS prayers for my recovery would be appreciated too.