Today was a day of gift giving. We gave gifts to the leaders and the disciples. They were all very thankful but we are even more thankful for the blessing of meeting them. We have become friends and will cherish these memories.
JB and LD distributed gifts for the athletes in Lord’s Gym
Kickboxers in action
Top kickboxer’s at Lord’s Gym with Coach (light green shirt on left) and Sopeak who runs the gym (dark blue shirt)
Some of the guys in Lord’s Gym train with “Coach”, who is the brother and trainer of the #1 kickboxer in Cambodia. These young men train intensely every day with each session ending in a talk about kickboxing which includes references to Jesus Christ. Unknown to us, some of these kickboxers are a mix of perpetrators, pimps and a few believers. Some of the “bad men” have even come to Christ giving up their own lives and good salaries which paid $3,000-$4,000 per month. Now, they work in construction at $70-$100/month. Praise God for these opportunities!
We distributed more rice to a community at the brick factory. Pastor Chantha’s desire is to build a rice market and distribute rice to the local people throughout the year. The brick factory families have to take out a loan from the brick factory owner, often at a high interest rate, and work hard to repay that loan. Many times the loans are not repaid because the interest rate is so high, leading to workers indentured to the owner for the rest of their lives. Pastor Chantha would be able to start up the rice market with $5,000 supplying rice at no interest. He can buy the rice during harvest time, when the prices are very low. If he has a store house, then he could provide rice at the low price during the rainy season when everyone else doubles the price.
We’re so excited to give back to the people in Svay Pak. Even though we have to leave we can still support them with prayer and finances. To give directly to AIM, click on http://agapewebsite.org/get-involved/give/ .