Deb and I are grateful to God for all that He is doing here.And thanks again to all of you who have been faithfully praying for the church situation here and for us.I believe God's Spirit is moving.I do not see that Pastor Sok has changed his position much, but I'm seeing other changes.My two staff that had broken away from the church are Paul and Nyal (rhymes with "all").Both were very hurt by Sok's dealing with them in the past.

However, each of them have stopped in at Sok's house to just sit down and chat.Actually, Paul stopped in only because one of Sok's younger daughters, who has admires Paul, called out to him as he rode his bike by their house and invited him to come in.Actually, Paul wanted to stop in before, but lacked the courage or humility to do so.God used an innocent child to begin cracking the pride of men.Paul and Nyaa know they need to talk to Sok seriously, apologizing for their own behavior, but also telling Sok how they felt wronged by him.It's going to take some courage.I know no other church member who has ever approached Sok in this way.Please pray for all three of them.

Also pray for a Mr. Lee, our most capable garden extension agent, whom, after many years, has started asking me questions about my faith.

I ask you all also for prayers for our tuberculosis (TB) program.TB is very prevalent here - I believe one of the highest rates in the world.We are required by law to cooperate with the government, and that has been difficult.The provincial health department has generally been unsupportive of the TB program.By God's grace, the national TB department, which is heavily supported by Japan, has been quite supportive, allowing us to operate.

Lately Debbie has been struggling constantly with the local government nurse, who must approve all TB cases.He is becoming an obstacle in treating TB patients.One problem is that he is fearful of his superiors, and partly rightly so.Sometimes they question him about our data, because we tend to find more TB cases than the accepted national TB rates says there should be. Nor will he accept TB cases into the program if he cannot get a positive sputum smear (test) on them, despite that many TB active carriers here do not have positive sputum smears.Usually this is because they have already been improperly treated elsewhere.More disturbingly, we are finding that he is beginning to assert his power over certain patients that have upset him in some minor way.He forces them to wait for weeks or even months before he accepts them for treatment.

Meanwhile, many people continue to die.Debbie has to pester the nurse to accept patient after patient, and it's wearing her out, giving her little time for other health work (and home schooling our boys).And of course, we wonder how any patient can see the Christian witness in the program when they are so discouraged from being treated and healed.

We have decided either its time to close the program and use our resources elsewhere, or we need drastic changes in staff and program.Closing the program certainly is not an ideal option.Many will come to our home for help, but it will be illegal for Debbie to treat them without being part of a government program.And we lack the funds to buy all the TB drugs, which currently are provided through the government.

But we're not sure we can make the necessary changes.Some staff are government staff and these we cannot fire or hire.We are also quite dissatisfied with some of our private TB staff.When we hired them, we felt under government pressure to hire certain village health workers, and we made some unwise choices.They seem to have much less concern for the patient than their salaries.We are ashamed that our Christian witness is this.

And yet many people have come to Deb these past two weeks, very very sick, dying, and begging her to treat them.In my reading of Proverbs this past week, several passages about justice and helping the needy struck my attention."Do not withhold good from those who deserve it, when it is in your power to act." (Pr 3:27) and, "Speak up for those whose who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute." (Pr 31:8) Here in Cambodia, TB is certainly a disease of the poor and powerless.

So we are praying and praying, asking God to guide us.How can we design the program to accept TB cases swiftly, respect people as human beings, and still keep the government nurse's cooperation, a must for us to be legal?Can we find qualified and caring staff?We need to make the decision soon, as our contract with the government has already expired and needs renewed soon, if we are to continue.Please pray for this dilemma.

By His Grace,

John Coats