In our prayer card for this month, we requested that you pray specifically for God’s care and protection to rest upon our health and wellbeing this week, and we can say that your prayers were directly answered, as last night, the 18th of July, our house was broken into.
As missionaries we are allowed one month worth of vacation each year. Last year we had the privilege of visiting Tiffany’s brother in Japan for 10 days and this year we have just been too busy to take any time for vacation. That is until this week, when we decided that it would be o.k. to go to the beach for the weekend. Then, this morning, at 8:30, we received a call from our neighbors, telling us that the doors to our house were open early this morning. Praise the Lord that they knew that we were not home and that they also called our landlord as well. It was at this time that we called our leader Pastor Kimsan, the National Superintendent, and asked him and another teacher from the Bible School to go check our house and see what the damage was. At that time, we decided to cut our vacation short, after only being gone from Phnom Penh for less than 24 hours, and head home. We were not sure what we would find when we returned home, but we were praising God that He encouraged us to take the vacation; because on that night, while our house was being broken into, God allowed us to sleep safe and sound.
Once we arrived in Phnom Penh, Pastor Kimsan met us at our house with the keys to the new locks for our house; seeing as the burglars had cut four locks off the front door as well as removing the deadbolt. When we entered the kitchen, we immediately saw the mess and it was obvious that the thieves were in a hurry, searching and going through everything, every drawer, and every cabinet. However, God is very good. There were many things that the thieves could have taken from our house; the furniture, TV, computer, voice recorders for our Language, and most importantly our Passports and the donors’ money for the new building fund (that money was wisely hidden by Tiffany in 3 different places around the house before we left). But they didn’t steal any of these things. Praise the Lord!
After finding the mission’s money and our cat, Tinkerbelle, the shock of being robbed began to wear off and God gave us a peace about the whole situation. Even though we lost several things that we daily use and enjoy, God was able to bring a smile to our faces when we had to talk to Pastor Kimsan, Rotha and Leak about some of the things that the thieves had stolen. First, we decided that the thieves must have liked coffee because they took our coffee maker, coffee grinder, and water heater (as well as a few other electronics). Then we decided that the robbers were hungry because they ate the rest of Tiffany’s cookies out of the fridge and took our ham and bread from the fridge as well. Finally, we decided that they were cooks because they took many of our spices and seasonings, some cooking utensils, and dressing/hot coco/taco seasoning packets that we received from people in the States, as well as sugar, flour and our Crisco.
All we can say is that God is good and He was watching out for us and the things that belong to the mission, there is nothing that we lost that we cannot live without. Even though we felt, and still feel, quite violated, we ended our time today with the pastors praising God that nothing for the ministry was taken and that our cat and our lives were safe. Even our landlord sent us a text over the phone saying “Good news to hear that you lost only a small amount and may loose only a little bit of money. You are lucky and I realize that the God of your missionary job helped you because of your belief in Him.” Praise the Lord. Today we said “Awh-Gkoon pBray-Awng” over and over with our neighbors, our landlord and Pastors, Thank you God!
Once again, we thank you for your prayers. They made a difference last night and will continue to make a difference for the rest of our term in Cambodia. Please continue to pray for the safety of the people here during these elections and struggles with the Thai people. God is moving here and Satan does not like it so we have to fight harder, on the knees! But don’t loose hope because we know the victory is ours.
God Bless,
Tim and Tiffany
