HeartCry Missionary Society is privileged to assist Dara and Kelly as they proclaim the gospel and care for the marginalized in Cambodia. Dara and Savon (Dara’s wife), are Cambodians who serve tirelessly as directors of an orphanage that provides for the spiritual and physical needs of twenty children (https://purereligionministries.org). Dara also has a tremendous heart for sharing the gospel and evangelizing, training pastors, and he assists an American missionary, Kelly, with translation work.

Kelly is an earnest and faithful partner and friend of HeartCry. He disciples three Khmer pastors that HeartCry supports and regularly visits the pastors and the churches to teach them biblical doctrine and to encourage their faith. Kelly labors faithfully to equip pastors to care for the Khmer churches and communicate the gospel effectively to the lost. Too, Kelly has helped the orphanage by providing a more productive way to grow food and raise poultry and ducks. The goal is to help the orphanage become more self-sufficient. This week Kelly shared the following report with the board of directors of Pure Religion Ministries and HeartCry:

Dara already has jumped on their food production. The Lord has been blessing the work of his hands. The chickens, ducks, and turkeys are all multiplying in numbers.

Dara has the kids carrying water in buckets to the “garden” area outside the house. They have been raising A LOT of morning glory, a Khmer staple green vegetable that is very easy to grow. Dara says that they all eat the fresh green morning glory vegetables “every single day.” Morning glory is the main ingredient in “sour soup,” a Khmer favorite dish eaten with rice.

The morning glory is also being fed to the chickens, ducks, and turkeys, along with their other food. Obviously, the fresh greens are healthy for them to have in their diet.

My wife, Georgia, and I donated a new blender to them to cut the morning glory into a paste, small enough for the newly hatched to eat and get their greens in their diet right away. This “morning glory paste” is mixed with their regular feed, so now even the new chicks are getting a more healthy diet, resulting in stronger disease resistance and lower mortality rate.

According to Dara, they often slaughter and prepare ten chickens at a time. The last time that I asked, Dara said that they haven’t had to buy chickens from the market in quite a while! Dara also took the initiative to build a hand-made, very sturdy old-fashioned hand pump, pumping water from the ponds in the back that harvest rainwater. It works well, but every drop has to be hand-pumped.

The bright side, Dara is very industrious and takes the initiative once he is given a good idea, and he puts the kids to work so that they gain valuable experience and knowledge of these things. I know that each of us would be delighted to see them become more than 75% self-sustaining on any food that needed to be bought, Dara and Sovun most of all. THANK YOU for your love for these precious orphans and the extended family. Another reminder: the women in the staff that help in the kitchen also receive the blessing from your support. They always have enough to eat too!

Blessings,
Kelly