REPORT FEBRUARY 2005

Dear Partners,

Without boring you with too much good news at one time we want you to know that never have we been busier or so blessed..

1. Tsunami Relief has taken a good share of our time recently with a two and one half week trip to Sri Lanka and Indonesia to assist brethren in relief work there. Brethren in Indonesia said they were ready to give up when I arrived but after helping them see the opportunities and how they could work with the Victims of the Tsunami they are now doing a wonderful work.

Indonesia has been called a non-receptive area because of the media coverage of the Islamic movement there. This is anything but true. Indonesia may be one of the most receptive areas in the world to the gospel if we look at what a very few brethren have done on the Island of Nias. In fifteen years they have established 48 village congregations with a combined active membership of more the 1500. These same brethren are now working in the Tsunami Relief effort and are already busy in the first stages of planting new congregations through this humanitarian outreach. They have distributed food, clothing, farm tools, 1000 school uniforms and are rebuilding schools and homes that were destroyed by the Tidal wave.

Sri Lankan brethren that have feared the Government have gotten braver in their evangelism efforts as a result of the Tsunami and one of the congregations we are working with is concentrating on widows and orphans who lost everything including many family members. Thus far they have furnished food, clothing, pots and pans and necessities. They are presently preparing to rebuild homes for 19 families which your contributions will make possible.

2. Well Drilling Season is here again and we just completed the 9th well that you have helped finance. We are drilling several more in the next couple of months. The Ministry of Health has requested our assistance to help build a small reservoir for one village. The annual rainfall was again way below average and water tables continue to drop making the situation more and more difficult. Many villages are hauling water for 10 to 30 miles on ox carts. It has become a critical situation. We desperately need someone to come and manage this for us so we can do more. If you know of anyone please have them contact us.

3. The Orphanage approval is promised within the next three weeks so we are working more with builders to get the plans finalized. We have waited on the government approval for many months but are hopeful we will soon have approval. The cottage will house up to 20 orphan children and the house parents.

4. The Rice Co-op is expecting its members to start returning their loans and in anticipation we are building a storage room 35’ X 10’ to keep the rice in until they need it in about nine months. This project has received wide acclaim by the participants and district officials.

5. The church continues to grow with 54 reported baptisms in the last month. Two of those are bright young men who have studied with our English Bible Study teachers here in Phnom Penh at the PIP Center. The others were in several of the village congregations that continue to thrive.

6. The Construction of the Boat for the Mekong Clinic is well on its way in Saigon, Vietnam, 250 miles south of here. I have been there twice in the last nine weeks to work with the shipyard on details. One of the great blessings is that we have a brother who is an expert in the construction and sailing of boats that is moving to Saigon to oversee the construction. This will assure a better job and relieve me of much stress as I will not need to be there every month. The target completion date is set for September but reality tells us it may take a month or two longer.

7. Reworking of our English Bible study material is to begin in March. Tiffany Dahlman, English teacher and experienced English Bible study teacher, who spent seven months with us last year, is returning to work on the material. Dick Ady has done a marvelous job of writing the WEI material but, as is to be expected, it must be adapted to every culture. We have been developing culturally appropriate supplemental lessons which Tiffany will rework, field test and improve for us. These lessons will make our teaching much more affective and because they are for S.E. Asian Buddhist, can be used throughout this part of the world. She is also developing vocabulary word lists for each lesson and a text at the completion of each of the six study books.

8. A Management couple to run the English Bible Study Center is being aggressively sought through word of mouth, Internet and advertisements in Christian papers. Unless a manager can be found we will be forced to close this program by the end of the year. It has been productive but requires daily, hands-on management of teachers, scheduling, cook, house keeper and materials and we are no longer to give it the attention needed. Travel and room and board can be provided for the right couple. Please pray that someone will surface to take this work over.

Your continued support and prayer are needed and we thank you for all you have done for so many through our Cambodian mission.

Yours for sharing the gospel with all while there is yet time,

Bill & Marie-Claire McDonough

The Partners In Progress Center