Change is coming, sort of . . .

In the last 22 years, Dar and I have boarded an airplane to leave Cambodia many times. Each time, we knew we’d soon be back to carry on the relationships and activities that God had placed us in.

Tonight, five minutes before midnight, we’ll leave Cambodia with slightly different plans.

Darlene and I will make America our primary residence.

We will get to establish new friendships, enjoy our families, children and grandchildren. We will find and fellowship with a new church family. We will move to place we’ve never lived previously - Cape Coral, Florida. When we first visited that area a couple years ago, we were amazed at the similarities with our long experiences in southeast Asia, at least in terms of weather and environment. We expect we will fit in quite well.

But are we really leaving Cambodia, the village of Sobhan, the staff and children at Jumpah?

No.

We will continue to equip, train, motivate and encourage a growing team to strengthen their relationships with each other, with God, and with their neighbors.

In America, we will tell more people about what God is doing through the lives and actions of Jumpah. We will encourage new and existing friends to pray, to give and to volunteer their time and skills.

We will travel to Cambodia a couple times per year, hopefully with some of you — volunteers with skills in business, wood working, gardening, or some other expertise needed by Jumpah. We will provide training and support that will enable Jumpah staff to meet the needs of poor, rural families.

Basically, life and ministry for Jumpah will continue without missing a beat.

Children who lost their parents to the impact of the HIV virus are part of a loving family. Village families with issues of domestic violence, alcoholism, disease, and poverty receive opportunities to turn their situations around. Men and women with very little hope receive vocational training and, even more important, a job that provides money. Ultimately, that is the key ingredient that fuels real hope… A hope that will begin to slowly transform the life of the individual and the family.

Jumpah serves neighbors in the name of Jesus, because Jesus first loved and served us.

Finances have been a real challenge this year. Giving by the many friends of Jumpah has dropped rather significantly. At the same time, Jumpah has implemented a plan that will help…but it will take a while to be effective.

Social enterprises will provide jobs for more rural Cambodians and provide income to Jumpah, income that will reduce the requirement for outside funding.

The Jumpah School, the Farm and Demonstration Center, the Wood Shop, and the Wood & Things retail store in Phnom Penh are all in the startup phase of businesses. All of these businesses require financial investment and skilled volunteers to become profitable.

As I hit the button to post this update on the blog, I will also publish the link to our long overdue update to the Jumpah website. In addition, you can follow our social enterprise activities on Facebook. And you can now donate online - easily, quickly and securely.

http://timratzloff.wixsite.com/jumpah  (this address is temporary)
https://www.facebook.com/adventurecambodia/
https://e-giving.org/jumpah  (online giving)

Please continue to support Jumpah. View the sites above and share the links with friends.

Together, we can continue to offer Hope and Opportunity to families who currently have very little of either.

Jumpah needs you. We always have. We always will.

Together, for 20 years, we’ve extended love and compassion to so many desperate people.

In the beginning our actions provided a measure of comfort and extended life (a bit) for moms and dads suffering from the impact of HIV-AIDS. Your support enabled Jumpah to provide daily support and to build simple but beautiful, small homes for so many families.

When parents died, Jumpah welcomed the surviving children (some of them also desperately sick) into a loving, growing, Cambodian family. Again, your support purchased land, built homes, trained and hired staff, and cared for surviving children.

In the beginning, we developed relationships with very poor families in the village and provided some with simple jobs. One man who was first to be helped is now the village leader. Another lady is currently cooking meals at Garden of Joy. Your partnership with Jumpah made it all happen.

In the beginning, Jumpah reached out to the the sick, the unwanted, the handicapped, the poor, the helpless. We did it all because Jesus loves us and we wanted to pass that love on to other people in actions and in words.

Jumpah needs you. We always have. We always will.

Today, Jumpah people and programs continue to extend the same love and compassion to our neighbors…

…But there is a difference - now our love and compassion can do much more than extend life, provide a measure of comfort, bring temporary relief to overwhelming circumstances, or provide surgery to a very sick person.

Now, your continued support provides genuine hope and real opportunities for individuals and families to break out of poverty and improve their quality of life.

Most of you know how we are doing that. Here are a couple reminders.

Improving health— modeling a healthier lifestyle to our neighbours, teaching hygiene practices to children in community, offering occasional health seminars to villagers.

Providing education— opened a private school for village children (pre school through grade 6) that is becoming self sustaining through mandatory school fees.

Vocational training and Job creation— providing training in agriculture, wood working, teaching and small business. That is then followed by hiring some to work full time with Jumpah activities.

Agriculture assistance— developing a small farm that we hope will become profitable and eventually offer a model for farmers and other groups to follow.

Family support— through normal relationships with people in surrounding villages, our staff are finding opportunities to counsel, support and help families with needs.

Your support makes sure that these activities continue and lives continue to be changed.

Jumpah needs you. We always have. We always will.

Today, the Jumpah account at Mountain View Community Church is extremely low. Actually, I believe it is an historic low. Under $1,000 low. In Cambodia, we have enough cash to operate for July and part of August.

Each month, Jumpah requires $11,000 to operate normal activities in Cambodia. This includes all salaries for Cambodian staff, all program expenses, all funds to operate Garden of Joy, and Ratzloff’s allowance. There are no administration charges from MVCC, only small bank fees for money transfers from America to Cambodia.

In addition to the monthly operating costs, Jumpah is currently raising funds for a couple major capital expenditures that will significantly help our AdVenture Cambodia businesses. These funds will require gifts over and above the amount required each month for operating expenses, but they are a one-time gift, not an on-going requirement.

An additional school building with three large classrooms and one teacher resource room will require gifts of $58,000. To date, friends have given about $20,000 toward that opportunity. Jumpah will begin construction as soon as necessary funds are received.

Giving normally lags in the summer, but this summer we desperately hope and pray this trend turns around. Would you be part of making that happen?

As always, checks marked “project Cambodia” can be sent to:
Mountain View Community Church
Project Cambodia
12033 Seattle Hill Road
Snohomish, WA  98296

Here is a relatively new, but simple, quick and secure way to give online.
https://e-giving.org/jumpah

And if you’d like to follow our progress in establishing small businesses in Cambodia:
https://www.facebook.com/adventurecambodia/

I hope you have stayed with us through the rather lengthy letter. And I really hope and pray you will continue to follow and support the people and programs of Jumpah. Together, we will bring hope and opportunity to more and more Cambodians. As we are faithful, we expect to see more people enter the kingdom of God.

Thanks so much for your encouragement, prayers and support — in the past, now and in the future.

Tim Ratzloff