LTI

This week our northern region of Thai CCC is having their Leadership Training Institute (LTI). There are about 120 students that have come together from the universities around Chiang Mai. During the afternoon today they broke up into several groups with different topics depending on how long they had been a Christian.

Today, I spoke to the Alumni group on the topic of "Influencing people and Making Your Life Count". Tomorrow, Mike will be giving an evangelistic talk to a group of international students from China who have joined us. Pray that God's spirit will speak to each of their hearts and meet the needs they have wherever they are in their walks with God.

It's that gardening time of year.

Last week, while we were gone, Lori did some gardening to surprise us. When I found out that she had actually decided to pull out four pine trees in front of the house and replace them with palm trees-- I realized that she was possibly getting carried away with her little project. After she explained to me how therapeutic it had been for her and how she loved working with her hands and creating something new, I decided it was good to just let her have at it and dig away. I actually really like the new look. Since then she has gotten quite involved teaching out at GIS everyday, so yesterday I decided to finish her project and make a new flower bed under her trees. There are only a few months of the year, that I enjoy gardening here. It is usually too miserably hot and most everything dies because of the heat. These next few months, our city will be looking real good with flowers in many colors and varieties while we enjoy our cool season.

In the midst of working in the yard, Sam and I didn't like this "tookay" and in a team effort took care of him to prevent us from being bothered by him in the future. I'm not sure who was more proud-- Sam or I (as you know I don't like this breed of tookay's)However, Sam definitely ended up in the "doghouse" last night. I knew the new flowerbed might be a temptation for him to sleep in with the coolness of the new fresh dirt and dampness. Just before I went to bed late at night, I checked on him and sure enough he had made the new flower bed into "his bed". He had dug a nice deep hole and looked so pathetically comfortable snuggled right down in where the new flowers were. He got some serious scolding and punishment from me, but I'm still not sure he's cured. I know of no "dog away" treatments here, and the Thais tell me to cut up hot peppers and put them in the dirt. Somehow, I just can't see me cutting up enough little peppers to keep the flower bed covered long enough to keep Sam out. Any other suggestions? This picture was taken before he got in trouble when I still thought he was cute!

Please pray for Collin Michael

Isn't this the most adorable soccer team ever? Collin is on the far right next to his Daddy, Coach Jon. He just finished his first ever sports team at age 5 -- and from Jon and Marisa's description if we would have gone to a game we may not have even recognized the sport! He loved it though and I think is ready for a childhood of more soccer. Even had a soccer theme birthday party!

However, we'd like to ask you to pray for him right now. Two days ago he had a seizure which they thought was caused by a fever since he was sick. They took him to the dr. the next day, and she did not think a fever was the cause so now plans to do tests until they can find the cause. His CT scan came out clear, so now it's an EKG and then next would be a MRI.

Marisa was with him when he had the seizure and said it was pretty frightening to watch. We are praying for the Dr's. to find the cause and for Jon and Marisa to not live in fear as they walk through this time of unknowns with their sweet little Collin. You can read Marisa's account of the day here.

North and South

Mike has been on Phayam island this week – directing a project of about 30 people. He called about half way through to tell me that he sliced his toe pretty bad on a piece of metal. We prayed that it would not get infected, and so far it seems to be healing good. This week they painted the new cement homes, tore down some of the old ones, and finished the fish tanks. Here's a before photo and I'm eager to see an after painting photo. Mikes not too keen on photography though, so you may have to wait for my next trip down. Up here in Chiang Mai- I jumped back into life (after our seminar) as I’m preparing to meet the Continental Singers in Bangkok soon and lead their tour for the next 18 days around Thailand. Plans for this week were:
-Finalizing the concerts and activities for the 14 Continental Singers here in Thailand.
-Preparing a talk to give at our LTI camp this weekend.
-Some much needed jobs around the house.
-Writing two articles asked of me quite awhile ago.
-Catching up on e-mails and some computer jobs
-and the list goes on…….it seems we both continue to need wisdom to know when to say yes and no and just enjoy our blessings!

Lori had a fantastic week working with the Hume Lake staff. She feels God is giving her some passions and direction for her future. We are so very thankful for this rich community here in Chiang Mai and the different people that God has brought into her life to help her walk through this time of transition. I just read that Chiang Mai is ranked in one of the top ten places in the world to live. Not sure where that came from, but we truly are thankful for our home here .

McDonalds #2

I remember so well the day that McDonald's first came to Chiang Mai, many years ago. It was like a missionary family reunion. We were all so excited to have the familiar fast food arrive in our city and hung out there for the day celebrating it's opening and enjoying all the free give-aways together.
Now a 2nd location has finally opened and I thought it was only appropriate to go with Lori on opening day once again. This opening was much different. Our little city has changed so much. The mall (which back them was non-existent) was packed with foreigners, mostly tourists and we only knew one other family. It is not as big of deal anymore when another American restaurant comes to town. Ronald did a great job though of keeping the crowd entertained with his celebration dances, and those Big Mac's are just as tasty as ever.

Rice is Life!

On our early morning walk last week, a rice patty lined the road in all it's beauty....rice for breakfast...... rice for lunch........

rice for dinner.........

and rice for dessert!

Morning Walks

While we were at the seminar these last two weeks, we were on the other side of Chiang Mai and enjoyed getting out for early morning walks in an area that we don't usually go to. The Huay Tung Tao Resevoir is a place we enjoyed going to with the girls when they were younger- but never got to see it's beauty and splendor in the early morning as the sun rises over the lake.

It is actually a recreation area with these little huts for people to rent and have their picnics or gatherings. It was in one of these little huts about 10 years ago that we took baby "Apple" for a picnic to tell her that she was going to be adopted into a new family that loved her very much in Minnesota. Mali is now 14 years old.

We watched the sun rise in the distance as we walked.

A nice paved road goes all the way around the lake with no traffic early in the morning. We walked this morning with our small group leaders, Keith and Ginny.

Nestled against the little mountain called Doi Suthep.
Grove of banana trees off in the distance. Even though it was the early morning hours, the humidity felt like we were in a sauna. Our favorite time of year is coming soon, when it will dip down below 70 F. at night. I think the Thai's are getting ready, too, because this morning I saw a neighbor with his coat on ready for those frigid temps. :)

NCF Seminar

I really don't know where to start in summing up our last two weeks at the "NCF Counseling and Member Care Seminar." It was again like trying to drink out of a gushing fire hydrant. We learned so much about being better listeners, what to listen for, how to ask questions, and that it is not our job to fix everything. We learned that the only way out of a problem is to work 'through' it.This is the 55 attendees and staff together. We represented missionaries from 10 different country's of passport, serving in 11 different countries and from 27 different mission organizations. There was such a wealth and spectrum of experience in this group.

More than anything we appreciated the love and compassion shown to us by people who seemed to really care about our needs too. Sometimes as missionaries we give and give and don't have people that pour into us- so this seminar was also a huge blessing and gift to us. In one of the first meetings when they commented that missionary couples can struggle because of a lack of normal family life style, I knew that we were in the midst of some understanding people. By them allowing us to be real and grow as individuals, we are now more able to give ourselves. We received such a breadth of information and appreciated that it was all Biblically founded.

This is Dr. Bruce Narramore, the well known Christian psychologist and author.

In order for us to be the best counselors ourselves, they divided us up into small groups where we processed some of our own personal issues that we were dealing with in life. This was actually the most helpful and meaningful aspect of the seminar for Mike and I. What an incredible opportunity to be surrounded by the richness of a dozen or more professional Christian counselors for two weeks. The leader of our small couples enrichment group, Dr. Keith Edwards has two doctorate degrees, specializes in couples counselling, is a professor of psychology at BIOLA and yet he was so approachable and vulnerable himself.

This is our Couples Enrichment group that we met with every afternoon.

It wasn't all serious, we had fun too- especially when Mike had to play the part of a ballerina. I really enjoyed getting to know the other participants and learning from them. Here we are at our final BBQ dinner.

Next week is the "Loy Kratong" holiday, so we had a jump start on the celebrating on our final night together.

We are really grateful for this amazing opportunity to learn so much life changing material during the past two weeks, and pray that it will help us to be better equipped to help our dear Thai friends and fellow missionaries that we work together with.

The first tear

When Adam and Eve were driven out of the Garden of Eden, God saw that they repented of their transgression. He felt pity for them, and gently said: ‘Poor Children! I have punished you for your offences and have driven you out of the Garden of Eden, where you lived without grief and worry. Now you are entering a world full of grief and unhappiness that defied description. But you shall know that I am generous and that my love for you will last forever. I know that you will encounter much adversity and it will embitter your lives. Therefore I bestow upon you my most precious treasure, this costly pearl- the tear. When you are overwhelmed by grief, when your heart is about to break and great pain is clutching your soul, then this tear will fall from your eyes, and the burden will at once be easier to bear.’

At these words Adam and Eve became numb with grief. Tears welled forth from their eyes, streamed down their cheeks, and fell upon the ground.

And it was these tears of pain which first moistened the earth. Adam and Eve left behind a precious inheritance to their children. And ever since, when someone is in great grief, his heart is in pain and his mind is heavy, tears flow from his eyes. And behold! The grief eases.

Put a plastic bag on your head if.......

Everything that I've been taught about never putting a plastic bag over your head was just negated this week. In our hotel room here at this conference, Mike and I laughed so hard at this plastic bag that we found in the top drawer of the desk.
Why would they want us to protect the smoke anyway? My cute husband decided to model their instructions for me.
The strangest part of the whole thing is that there are no hallways at this hotel. Our room has a balcony door out to a garden on one side of the room and another door to the outdoor walkway on the other side. Do you think if we have a fire that we should take time to look for the bag before stepping outside into the fresh air?

Counseling Seminar and Hume Lake Camp

Last week and next week, Mike and I are attending a seminar by the Narramore Christian Foundation. Because of our ages and years of experience here, we are often called on to counsel our staff and fellow missionaries. The Narramore Christian Foundation has developed an intensive counseling seminar, just for people like us to increase our counseling skills. More than 2,000 people have taken this training in the U.S. It has been a truly intense first week and we are learning allot. The seminar is actually teaching us allot about ourselves which will help us to better understand others. The instructors emphasize a strong integration of biblical and theological truth with practical psychological insights and counseling techniques.

In the meantime, Lori is involved in one of the loves of her life....being a camp counselor. Hume Lake Christian Camps out of Hume, California has come to Chiang Mai this week to run two camps for missionary kids. Lori loved going to their camp as a high school student and now is thrilled to get to be involved as a camp staff and have an impact on the Jr and Sr high kids this week. We are praying for an amazing week for Lori and all the campers.

Happy Birthday, Mike!

Mike and I have been in classes at a seminar all week and just decided to come home for the weekend. Today is his birthday so he wanted to be at home and enjoy his birthday gift.

Lori and I actually gave him his birthday gift last weekend because we thought we'd be gone on his birthday. He finally got his own recliner that he has wanted for years. It seems that many men like having their own special chair that is tailor made for them and them only. I call it his "king of the house" chair. Mike had been gone working in the south last week, so Lori and I worked on this gift while he was gone. When I picked him up at the airport, the surprise was all ready for him. We blindfolded him and made him figure out his gifts. First he discovered that I finally replaced a woven grass rug on the floor that he didn't like with a new softer rug. Next he found his new recliner with a new little table beside him for his drink and remote controls.

Here he is enjoying his new 'king of the house" chair with Lori.

Happy Birthday, Mike! You're the best husband I've ever had! (That's a little joke between us). Hope you enjoy a weekend of just lounging in your new chair before we head back to classes next week.

Daddy, You Can Let Go Now

Petronas Twin Towers

This was the view we had daily out of our hotel room in Kuala Lumpur. I said in an earlier post that when we arrived in our room and opened these curtains to look out the bay window, I literally gasped and squealed. Every evening when we came back to our room, I was in awe again. We were just a few blocks from the famous Petronas Towers, and walked by them every single day.

These Twin Towers are the world's tallest free standing twin towers, and a world-renowned icon of Malaysia.

They tower 451.9 meters over the city and we could see them almost no matter where we were in the city.

Each time that we walked around them or by them, I wanted to keep looking up at their gleaming structure of steel and glass.

I also wanted to take another picture from each different angle to try and capture the 88 floor towers and just how enormous they were.
Our last morning we got up early to wait in a line and get just two of the 1700 free tickets given out each day to get to go up to the 41st floor in the famous sky bridge to have a look around the city.
Here we are in the sky bridge at our appointed time of about 6:30pm. It is the highest two story bridge in the world.

The view from the sky bridge looking down and all around the city gave us allot to take in.
The mall area in front was a fun place to hang around as it had plenty of people every time we were there trying to get the best possible photos. It was a friendly community of tourists giving tips to each other of how to capture the giant towers. It was fun to capture Lori trying to get that perfect angle here.

The lights from the towers lit up the whole area and sky. As if I didn't already have enough photos, the last night I shot this favorite of all.

The Real Reason

What a relief it was when Lori and I went to the Thai Consulate yesterday and she picked up her passport with the new 90 day visa to Thailand in it. No more crossing the borders for short term visa's now. Our mission of going to KL had been accomplished. We felt like celebrating!During the waiting period, we treated ourselves to every American franchise possible that is not available in Thailand. The longer we were there, the more American restaurants we kept finding. I am a bit embarrassed to say that the last day, we realized together that we hardly ate any Malaysian food because we were so excited to visit the places that we don't have here. Here's a few of our stops:This was one of the most exciting discoveries. I know we should not have indulged and I will not even tell you how many we had! :(

Wendy's is Loris favorite fast food in the USA (next to Chic-fil-A) - so she was thrilled to find this one!This one was walking distance from our hotel and was a real treat indeed! Never ate here, but we were amazed at finding another familiar place that we would have enjoyed if we had more time. Why can't these places make their way on over to Thailand? Maybe we don't have enough English readers here to support this one?

No matter where we go in Asia, we are pretty sure to find 7-11's and KFC's. Malaysia was especially fond of KFC, because we literally saw them in every neighborhood - just like here in Thailand .