Oct. 2, 2014
NOTE: This is a LONG story… But God has been so powerfully at work that
Chris and I wanted to get these details down so we don’t forget them… and to give glory to God. For those who have been praying for us, this
is the story of how God has been very much at work in answer to your prayers… If you don’t have time for the full read, you
can just jump to the bullet points at the end…
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It has been
3 months since we arrived back in Cambodia and it has been a full three months!
In July we
attended our Cambodia Team Field Forum with all of our teammates, got
reconnected with missionary colleagues and national church leaders about key
things that went on over the past year we were gone, found a house to rent, and
got settled in. We also started an
almost daily one-minute video blog called “Manfred Minutes” about life and
ministry in Cambodia. Feel free to check
them out at www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4w6I-H8LAe-JwbMBsPDCZNXJJblMDyKc
In August
and the first half of September, David was on the road most of the time getting
caught up with our team of International Workers around the country and working
with them to set goals for the coming year in life and ministry.
After a lot
of traveling, the trip on Sept. 10-12 was to be David’s last trip for a while. He was going to visit some churches in far NE
Cambodia, in Ratanakiri province, about 10 hours from Phnom Penh. He was with the Cambodia Alliance National
Church President, Rev. Sok Sophon. It
was a very important visit because 5 of the churches there were struggling with
some very difficult issues that could have led to significant divisions in the
churches there. We met at one of the
churches in Blang village and had a good and full day speaking with some of the
key leaders who were struggling. Along with other missionary colleagues, we can
honestly say that the Lord did an amazing work to bring healing to those
churches and the issue of divisions were dealt with through sincere repentance
and a fresh and sincere desire to work together for the building of Christ’s
Kingdom. The
National Church President
was scheduled to return to Phnom Penh with me on the 12th but he had
some additional matters he had to deal with so decided to delay his return by a
day… We’re so glad that he did.
As many of
you are aware, on Sept. 12, I was traveling back to Phnom Penh by van with 14
other passengers, all of them Khmer except for me. Like every van in Cambodia, there were no
seat belts. This van had a heavy load
hanging off the back end and about an hour into our 10 hour trip, a back tire
blew out at 60 mph. Because of all the
weight on the back, the van began to fishtail side to side and then rolled over
completely, one time, amazingly and thankfully, ending back upright.
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| Amazing we all lived |
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| That's my window |
I remember praying quickly as I felt the van
start to roll, “Jesus save us”. Amongst the
passengers, there were broken bones and cuts and bruises… but no injuries that appeared life threatening
to any of us. Noticing that no one was
killed, a couple of the passengers told me “we were lucky” and I responded to
them with deep sincerity, “I am a follower of Jesus Christ, and I prayed that
He would save us… and He did“. Just one small example of His grace in the
crash, all of the windows on the van completely shattered with the exception of
the one window that my face was squished up against as the van rolled. My eyeglasses were completely destroyed but I
didn’t have a single scratch on my face.
I could tell
however, that I was hurt in my back and called Chris to say that I suspected I had
some broken ribs and maybe a problem with a lung. She got lots of people praying and made
contact with one of our missionaries, Joyce Johns who is a nurse who lives
about 40 minutes from the crash location.
There are no ambulances in this remote area of NE Cambodia so the other
passengers and I waited about 15 minutes until we found another van to bring us
towards Phnom Penh. I got off that van
about 20 minutes down the road and asked if any of them wanted to go to the
small provincial hospital where I was going… they decided to stay in the van to
go to a larger hospital about 5 hours away.
Joyce met me as I got off the van and brought me to the provincial
hospital in Stung Treng. They did a 5
minute examination and took one x-ray.
They said no broken bones so I headed back to Joyce’s house. Through the goodness of our colleagues, the
Kesses, they drove me 8 hours, all the way to Phnom Penh that night… taking it extra slow on the bumpy parts. I was very sore but still believing the initial
x-ray that said there were no broken bones…
Good medical
advice in Cambodia is hard to come by. During
the first three days after the accident, all medical consultations were done by
phone and email… including taking photos
of x-rays and sending them to our team doctor, Kent Copeland who lives 300+ miles
away. Thankfully, the Lord worked
through this process to provide missionary doctors (Kent Copeland and Tim
Benadum) who were very diligent in providing the best advice possible. I was able to stay in my own bed for the first
4 days after the accident, with Chris and Jenna as my nurses. In Cambodia, recuperating at home, cared for
by family, is common practice and I much preferred that to being in a Cambodian
hospital.
The good
doctors recommended a CT scan which was done on Tuesday, Sept. 16. It showed 6 broken ribs in the back, a broken
collar bone, a pneumothorax (which is air in the chest cavity from a hole in
the lung), some bleeding at the bottom of the lung (from the broken ribs), and
bruising of the lung. My right shoulder
was also very bruised and difficult to move. Ironically, although I hurt, I
didn’t feel THAT bad and had no idea to the extent of the injuries. I was told by our expatriate MDs that I
needed to go to Bangkok for proper treatment.
Since I was quite stable for several days, I decided to go overland
(because of the pneumothorax and differences in air pressure when flying, going
by air wasn’t medically allowed).
On Sept. 17,
Joe and Kay Kong, along with Chris, Jenna, and myself began the 12 hour overland
journey to Bangkok… About one hour into
the trip I began to feel air bubbling up from my lung on the right side. The air was filling up under the skin on the
right side of my chest… actually making the skin look like there was a balloon
underneath it. This was potentially
dangerous and we knew it.
Lots of
prayers were said in the car and we immediately decided to return to Phnom
Penh. We were directed to the Phnom Penh
Heart Hospital. Dr. Tisophea is the
chief heart surgeon there. I have
directed several heart patients to him in the past and he is a very gifted Cambodian
surgeon. Amazingly, about 15 minutes BEFORE reaching the heart hospital, while
we were still on the road, I felt the air bubbles stop… and by the time we got to the hospital, the
swelling under my skin had already begun to go down. An amazing and immediate answer to prayer!
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| Chest Tube... No Fun! |
One more
piece to add to the mix… several days
later, we heard from one of our missionary colleagues, Heather Williams, that
on Sept. 17, the very day we were driving to Bangkok… on the same road that we were traveling on…
at Pursat town which is about 2 hours further down the road from where we
turned back, there was a terrible accident that completely closed that road for
about 12 hours. If we had not turned
back, we would have most likely been stuck in that traffic jam with nowhere to
go.
While I was
at the Heart Hospital, in dialog with our acting Field Director, Jeff Williams,
Dr. Kent Copeland, and Dr. Tim Benadum,
we made the decision to life flight me to Bangkok. Because of the pneumothorax, they had to put
in a chest tube. A chest tube allows a
person with a pneumothorax to fly since it mitigates the problems with the changes
in air pressure. Amazingly, after the
decision was made to fly, an additional x-ray was made at the heart hospital
and the pneumothorax was gone. The
Cambodian heart surgeon said that I did not need the chest tube anymore… but the air ambulance people said that they
had seen the CT scan from the day before that clearly showed I had a
pneumothorax and that I would not be allowed to fly unless I had a chest
tube… at this point everyone was of the
opinion that I needed to get to Bangkok as soon as possible… and the only way they would fly me was with a
chest tube… so the Cambodian heart
surgeon, using local anesthetic, reluctantly put in a chest tube… not an experience I will want to do again anytime
soon.
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| Our Jet... the one and only time I've flown first class |
The small 8
passenger jet arrived around 6 PM with a Thai Thoracic doctor and 2
nurses… very professional. They loaded me on a gurney and brought me by
ambulance to the airport. Fortunately,
there were 2 extra seats on the plane so Chris and Jenna could go along as
well. We arrived at the Bumrungrad
hospital at 9 PM after an uneventful trip.
They took a bunch of x-rays and confirmed… no pneumothorax… so I was able to get the
chest tube out early the next morning.
The Thai
thoracic surgeon, Dr. Kittichai, strongly recommended that I have surgery on 2
ribs that were badly broken and out of place.
He would put them back in place along with a couple of permanent metal
plates and screws to keep the ribs together.
He explained that without the surgery, healing would take a lot longer
and there were dangers of additional long-term problems. On Friday morning we found out that he would do
the surgery on Friday night, Sept. 19…
one week after the accident.
But before
the surgery, we had one more major surprise… At around 1:30 PM on Friday, we were
told that the surgery would cost about $10,000 and the policy at the hospital
is that you have to pay for the surgery BEFORE they do the surgery. They
told Chris to get them the $10,000 by 3 PM…
Chris talked to the hospital finance people and asked if they could
delay and they said they could only delay one more hour until their finance
office closed at 4 PM. Additionally, Dr.
Kittichai was the only doctor at the hospital who had experience with this kind
of surgery and he was preparing to go on vacation in the next few days… so if the surgery didn’t happen that Friday
night, it would have to be delayed for more than a week.
We were in a
city of 10 million people, we only knew about 4 people in the city, we tried to
contact them but couldn’t get through, we needed $10,000 in about 2 hours, and
we don’t have a bank account with that much money.
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| Pastor Sang from the Evangelical Church of Bangkok |
Chris
immediately thought of the story in Matthew 17 where Jesus tells Peter about a
fish with a coin in its mouth that God would provide to pay the tax… Her immediate prayer was “Lord we need a fish… I believe you will provide that fish!”. At just that time David got an email from a
former Cambodia missionary colleague, David Strong, who now works with CAMA in
NW Thailand… very far from Bangkok. David M. skyped him and told him of our
predicament. David Strong was not the
fish but he led us to the fish! He
contacted a friend of his, Pastor Mark Patterson, at the Evangelical Church of
Bangkok. Mark was in the middle of an
important meeting. He told us later that
he usually doesn’t take calls in meetings but for some reason, he decided to
take that call. Mark heard about our
need and promised to float us the needed funds.
By this time it was about 3 PM.
Mark sent one of their other pastors, Pastor Sang, to get the money from
their bank. The bank closed at 3:30 PM. Pastor Sang arrived there at 3:20, just 10
minutes to spare. He then left the bank
to come to our hospital. He hand
delivered the cash to our hospital room at 3:55. He and Chris brought the money to the
hospital finance office at 3:58… 2
minutes to spare before they closed. God
provided the fish!
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| Battle Scars! |
The surgery
went forward Friday night as planned under general anesthetic. Dr. Kittichai informed us that it went
well… I now have a nice 12 inch scalloped-shaped
scar to prove it. I was very sore Friday
night and Saturday and could only take a few steps. By Sunday I began to feel
quite a bit better and we even received some guests for a few hours. By Monday I was easily walking the length of
the long halls at the hospital. In
dialog with the doctors, we felt I could be discharged on Monday (just 2.5 days
after surgery) as long as I stayed in Bangkok for a few more days.
We went to
the Alliance Guest House and continued to recuperate in that restful place with
lots of good food. On Friday, Sept.
26… exactly 2 weeks after the accident
and 1 week after the surgery, we all flew back to Phnom Penh where we were
warmly met both by some missionary colleagues and Cambodian church
leaders. It felt so good to be home! I have been told to take it slow for the next
few weeks which I am trying to do… each
day, I feel less pain, greater movement in my right shoulder, and more stamina. We
would humbly ask for the Lord to bring complete healing… and I am well on that way. Thanks for your ongoing prayers.
Throughout
this journey, we have had a strong sense that there was a spiritual battle that
has been going on throughout this time.
Some of the ways that battle has been manifest include:
- The
two weeks around mid-September are known as “Pchum Bun” which is a festival in
which spirits manifest themselves powerfully throughout the country. For years, missionaries know from experience
that this is the spiritually darkest time of the year in Cambodia.
- The
potential division in the churches in Ratanakiri that led to the trip in the
first place had a strong sense of the Enemy’s work.
- The
accident itself. David was originally
supposed to be in another van whose driver is known as a careful driver but at
the last minute, that van did not show up, the only van available was the one
that was overloaded.
- When
David was at the heart hospital with significant problems with his lungs and there was a
real danger for pneumonia (which is very hard to heal with broken ribs), the hospital staff
decided to clean the dust and mold out of the air-conditioner that was right
next to David. It looked like it had not
been done for years and they decided to clean it out right then. Fortunately,
Chris asked them to put a mask on David but immediately after they cleaned the
air-conditioner, Chris had respiratory problems that lasted for 4 days.
- One
of the Alliance church leaders whom we know well and who is a trustworthy
person had a dream that woke him up in the middle of the night… It was so vivid that he was in tears and he felt
he had to wake up his wife to tell her about it… in
the dream, he saw the Alliance national church President, me, and one other
person that he could not identify. There
were three open graves, one in front of each of us. He cried because in the dream he knew that we
would die… but then at the end of the
dream, he had a sense that we would somehow be raised back to life… This dream happened before he heard anything
about the accident. He told his wife
about it and it was only later that day, when he heard about the accident, that
it made sense. Remember, the national
church president was originally planning to ride back in the taxi with me but he
delayed his trip by a day.
The Lord has
been so gracious and faithful to answer the prayers of so many… He is winning the battle and we have seen so
many touches of His grace…
- Preserving
my life and the life of everyone else in the van…
- Not
allowing any spinal cord or nerve damage…
- In
one of the most remote places in Cambodia, providing a very experienced nurse and C&MA missionary colleague, Joyce Johns, to see me within one hour
of the accident
- Having
missionary colleagues willing to drive me to where I needed to go for hours on
end
- Having
a group of Alliance church leaders and missionaries anoint me with oil with
prayers for healing
- Many
different medical professionals who have been key players in facilitating the
healing process
- Miraculously
closing up and healing the pneumothorax along the road…
- Redirecting
us away from a 12 hour traffic jam…
- An
email that was sent to me at just the right moment…
- An
important phone call that was answered at just the right time…
- $10,000
cash from a stranger hand-delivered to us with 2 minutes to spare…
- Ongoing
healing and strength as the bones and sinews quietly and steadily re-knit
themselves together…
- An
amazing wife, daughter, and family who have given me such help, strength, and
encouragement
- Clearly
feeling the support and prayers of so many around the world…
We thank the
Lord and we thank you!
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| Blang Baptism, September 14 |
One final
blessing to share… Our meeting to
address the church problems in Ratanakiri was held at the Blang church… I later found out, just 2 days after my
accident, there was a baptismal service at the Blang church where 16 people
were baptized as followers of Christ… What joy to see new life
in Christ! In the light of eternity, it truly makes it all worth it! But it also reminds us that there really is a
battle… Revelation reminds us that those
who have faith in Christ, whether we live or die, are on the winning side… the battle is real… but ultimately, it
belongs to the Lord!
We are
thankful for the many ways that the Lord has so graciously been at work in our
lives and in answer to so many prayers.
But we also know that there are many who are facing much more difficult
battles than ours. And there are many to
whom the Lord may not seem to be answering in the ways you would like. May I encourage you to keep hanging on to
Christ. It’s when we don’t see, but
continue to believe, that faith is most real (Hebrews 11:1).
“But we have
this treasure in clay jars to show that its extraordinary power comes from God
and not from us. In every way we're troubled but not crushed, frustrated but
not in despair, persecuted but not abandoned, struck down but not destroyed. We are always carrying around the death of
Jesus in our bodies, so that the life of Jesus may be clearly shown in our
bodies. While we are alive, we are constantly being handed over to death for
Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus may be clearly shown in our mortal
bodies. And so death is at work in us, but life is at work in you. “ -- 2 Corinthians 4:7-12
