Lamyai Season

This year every Lamyai tree that I see is weighed down so heavy with fruit.  This tree is in our neighborhood and I have never seen fruit on it before.  Every place I drive in the city, the Lamyai trees have the hardiest crop that I've ever seen and their branches are bending low to the ground with bunches of fruit.

Our mango trees are like that- some years they have zero fruit and others they are overflowing.  It reminds me of Iowa farming from my childhood.... comments like "it's a good year for corn or soy beans."  This is definitely a good year for Lamyai.

Now off to the kitchen to enjoy a few more of this juicy and delicious fruit! Before long, we'll be enjoying Iowa fresh sweet corn and garden tomatoes!

honest confessions

A little honesty here... missionary life is not always a bed of roses. Our feelings come and go in waves... something like:
it's a privilege to do what we do....
to this is hard and too much sacrifice...
to God, you have blessed us so much....
to I am so weary and drained...
and on and on.

It took us several  years to see this pattern- but we eventually noticed that  there is a direct correlation to the times that Satan attacks us -AND-  the times that God is using us and moving in our ministry. Satan does not want His Kingdom to be grown, and so he does his best to attack us right before or during a big ministry event.

AND... he is crafty and knows what is the best way to attack each of us.  It is strategically the things that are most important to us.  For us.... the family!  We have seen so many families of people having an amazing influence in ministry be attacked in very cruel ways. We noticed the pattern way back in the 80's when big teams of summer project students would come to work with us.  When we were right on the verge of introducing hundreds of students to Jesus - our marriage would experience the biggest strain, miss-communications and stress.  It made me feel so unworthy of the work that we were doing.  Who wants to be  a hypocrite, right?  But after a few times, we discovered the pattern- and then were aware and could watch for attacks.  Praying together and  making a strong effort to communicate better, were just some of the tools we learned to defeat the attacks and discouragement.

Not too long ago, I experienced this all once again- even after all these years.   Like I said, Satan knows what areas in our life we are the weakest in and how he can get us down.  For me personally, it is often my Thai  language ability.  I was having a "I hate Thailand" episode of self-pity, hurt, and pain.  I'm usually able to go with the flow and enjoy my life as it is.  At that time, though: I was:
-fighting a bad cold and was physically weak,
-I was in a special training that went from 8:00am to 7:00pm.
-long days on campus in the heat
-immersed in the Thai language with Thai people all day long
The reality that I have been in Thailand for 28 years and do not speak as fluently as I should made me feel stupid, a failure, and worthless.

There is more to this story, but I don't think that I want to be THAT honest here. Basically I was very discouraged, tired of struggling with the Thai language, and feeling at that moment like I did not want to be in Thailand.

The next morning in my quiet time with the Lord- he showed me almost like a flashing digital neon sign.  I was being attacked because God was really using me that week in ministry in an unusual way. My statistics of ministry on campus that week were this:
44 people that my partner and I shared Christ with through the Four Laws Book
21 people that I personally shared God's plan of salvation with (in Thai)
10 people prayed to receive Christ into their life with my partner and I
6 people prayed to receive Christ with me
2 people went through a follow-up Bible study with us

That was a lot of ministry contacts for me in one week.  Plus, I attended several functions that week all in the Thai language completely...a meeting of Christian business people in the evening, had a lunch and a dinner with Thai friends, went to a house dedication,  and even went to a Thai movie at the theaters with our staff. That was a lot of the Thai language for me.

It was so obvious that it was a spiritual battle.  Satan had me down and I decided I was not going to let him win. I learned a few things during that time....
-God has a plan for me and satan wants to defeat me- but if I walk with God through it all satan is defeated.
-God wants me to learn patience... He denies me certain things because He wants me to pray
-Psalm 92:13-15 reminds me that if I am planted in God's house, I will bear fruit in my old age.

Life is busy right now again as we leave for the USA one week from today and have things to take care of here before we leave.  We are weary and tired and the adversary is attacking again.  It is our choice to believe his lies, or walk with God and believe the truth.

I share this with a hope that people new to the ministry will recognize this pattern as we did.  Your attacks might be  something good; even as discouraging as they feel.  If you step back and look- you may see the good reason of why you are being attacked. It is your choice who will win the spiritual battle!

Happiest Place in the World

The happiest place in the world is not Disneyland- but it is the place that all your kids can be at- at the same time, especially when it is the home that they grew up in. It has been a dream of ours for years to have the girls all come home together, and has taken a lot of work to make it happen. My diligent husband has spent hours, researching, watching ticket prices, praying and working on this dream of ours.  Air ticket prices have soared and the dates that the girls  were given permission to come home are right at peak holiday time which has made the prices even higher.  Just this week, prices dropped, final dates were okay-ed and Mike stayed up till 2am one night on the phone finalizing the tickets. With our miles that we have saved, and the better price that Mike found on the tickets that we purchased- it means that all 7 of the family from the USA is coming to visit the 8 of us here for a very affordable price. The girls are already planning out who will sleep in which room and naming all the memory filled places that they want to go to.  They have not all been here together for over 10 years.  They've never been here together since the son-in-laws (and babies) joined the family.  It is going to be an action packed, fun filled, crowded house, full of memory making for two weeks this Christmas.  I believe that no matter how old you are, coming back  home to your childhood house where you grew up is one of the best places on earth.  We are thrilled and I want to give a big "shout out" to my hubs for figuring this out.

Our last family photo....time for an updated one, eh?  Missing those two new baby girls here! 

this big world that is becoming smaller

Korean is now sending missionaries to the USA. I know people in Iowa going to South Africa on  mission trips.  There is a couple that we know in South Africa moving here to Thailand to work in a prayer ministry. We have Thai Christian friends who have moved to China to share God's love. There are Chinese who have gone to Kyrgyzstan and Kyrgyzstan has sent people to Afghanistan. Can anyone tell me if they can keep this going?

Korea to USA to South Africa to Thailand to China to Kyrgyzstan to Afghanistan..........

I was just  thinking about this the other day, how different it is now from the days of the first missionaries who went to another country and culture.  Now people hop from one country to another like they are next door counties. Some frugal people may ask, "why doesn't everyone just stay in their own country and save the travel money and stop swapping cultures?"  I have seen God doing amazing things in people lives through mission trips. What do you think?

Tell of His glory among the nations,

His wonderful deeds among all the peoples.

I Chronicles 16:24

All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord.

All the families of the nations will worship before you.

Psalm 22:27

MK2MK in Chiang Mai- Project 2

The first group of the MK2MK project left over a week ago, and the second group is settled and starting their month of ministry.  This month should be much easier, since we've already done it all once and the leaders know a bit more of what to expect. This is a large group again of 60 project members. 

The first group went to a Thai cultural dinner show one of their last nights and Summer and I joined them.  Summer got a Thai dancing lesson while there. 

Last Saturday was the first day at the orphanage for the 2nd group. They started the day with some orientation about the children at Asia's Hope and how they can understand them better. 

The kids love the activities, stories, crafts, and fun times together.

This week they have a full week planned and  they will start their campus ministries.  We're starting our countdown to our trip to the USA this fall and keeping busy with all that entails.  Busy busy days!

Rock Quarry

We had such a fun family time at the old rock quarry this weekend.  We are sure thankful that we can do fun things with our grand-kids like this here in Thailand.

It's so much more work here to go on simple outings.  I don't know how to describe it, it just is- but this time it was worth it and relaxing once we got there.

Collin especially enjoyed it--- can you tell?

Looooong day of gardening

Today we had some special guests come help us with some gardening at our TCCC center.  They have been in town for a training from another country, and wanted to do a work project together as a team.  They worked so hard in the heat of Thailand and got a lot accomplished. We are very thankful for their servant hearts.

They put in some sodded grass and planted flowers.

They cleaned up some nasty areas that have needed it for a long time, trimmed bushes, hauled away garbage, trimmed trees, raked and all that gardening stuff. The center looks so much better!

Mike and I joined with their team for the day.  I never realized how big this yard is until I (push)mowed the entire thing myself.  Not a good idea to do it in the middle of the afternoon either.  When I got home tonight I was so EXHAUSTED!

While we were finishing up outside the gym area, the new MK2MK students started coming in to play basketball and volleyball during their free time.

We are so grateful for this amazing TCCC center, that is used in many ways by many groups.  The face-lift that it got today was much needed and we want to thank this team who worked so hard to make it more beautiful. 

Service Project at Leprosy Village

One of my responsibilities this summer with our large mk2mk project has been setting up service opportunities for them. Since there are 60 of them and they do these projects in smaller groups, they have had a variety of opportunities to choose from.  They have loved helping different ministries here, especially playing with kids at the orphanages.

Last week, a group of them volunteered at the McCain Institute for Rehabilitation. Reports are that it was a favorite day for many of them. I was so impressed with their attitudes and desire to get down on their level and build relationships with the folks they visited.

They started out by leading at their 7:45am daily devotional.  They sang songs, shared testimonies, told a Bible story and more. After the program, they had a craft for each of the residents to do, and divided up one MK to be a partner with each of the residents.

This facility used to be a leprosy colony and most of them were patients with leprosy. 

Many of them had lost fingers, toes, and even noses from leprosy years earlier. 

The craft involved cutting out a chain of people on paper and then coloring them.  It was difficult for those who had lost fingers, but they tried so hard and our students helped when they wanted help.

It was so beautiful to watch some of  these young high school kids really engage with the old folks.  I was so proud of them.

There was a lot of joy in the room in spite of the circumstances.  These three especially laughed the whole way through their craft.

We learned that the markers were much easier for them to use then the crayons.  Noted improvement for the next time they visit there. 

The students came away feeling like they had so much to be thankful for and yet so full of joy from the opportunity to spend time and have fun with these people who do not get much attention at all. The disposition of these old folks was sweet and grateful.

I was happy to see how much they enjoyed such a simple craft.

They took the decorating of the people very serious.  This lady worked so hard on each body making it different.  It only took a little effort on our part to bring so much joy to them.

No wonder the students said it was one of their favorite days.  Their hearts were full because they knew they were being used by God in these sweet old folks lives. 

They were proud of their finished craft and took them back to their rooms.

This pair was the sweetest of all.  The lady could not do the craft at all, so Kalissa just sat and held her hand most of the time.  Maybe it was the most love through a  physical touch she had felt in a long time. It was so so sweet and brought tears to my eyes to see their relationship.

Then Kalissa asked me to tell her new friend (in Thai) that she thought she was beautiful.  The resident responded with, "I do not know what I look like because I have been blind for 14 years, but thank-you." I'm pretty sure that this may have been one of the sweetest interactions I've heard.

The team wanted to do something more to serve the people. When asked what they could do, the director told me,"many of the residents cannot do their own gardening without fingers, and they are embarrassed if their grass area is overgrown.  Could you come clear the weeds and grass for them?"

The MK kids said that what they enjoyed the most was knowing that they were doing something that they had asked them to do because they could not do it themselves. True service!

This guy was proud to tell me that he does his gardening himself. 

On the other hand, this guy kept asking us to do specific things that he wanted done that he could not do himself. 

They started out working while there was a slight drizzle of rain, but before they were done it was pouring down rain.  We kept asking them if they wanted to stop and they would answer each time with "no- let's get the job done". Honestly we all agreed, that it was more comfy to work on an overcast rainy day than the sultry hot ones that  we've been having. So it was unanimous- "Thank you Lord, for the rain today".

We finished our time by going through a museum explaining the history of McCain and watched some of them who make handicrafts to sell.  Their art work with handicap fingers, is way better than anything I would attempt to do. 

The MK group  ends most of their activities with a debrief time.  They gathered in a circle and there was a lot to process after this visit.  It has been so encouraging for me to hear the things that they are learning and growing in as a result of their time here in Chiang Mai.

The first group of 45 left this weekend to return to the USA and the second group arrived today.  As I was making phone calls to set up their service projects this next month, every place said that they would love to have them come back. What a testimony!  They are a great group of kids and God is using them this summer here in Thailand. 

it begins with the people

I think that this video might give you a desire to visit Thailand, if you haven't already. It shows the glamorous side of this country we have lived in.  It is a little one sided, making our life look always exotic and beautiful.  But one thing that we definitely do agree on with the Tourism Authority of Thailand is the theme of their new campaign, "It Begins With the People".  Thai people are warm, loving, happy, hospitable, and our staff that we work with even more so, because they have the love of Jesus in their lives.  Enjoy this new video and we'll see you soon:

Papa/Nina Adventure Camp Day

It was a combination of reasons: Mike travelling a lot lately, me having several fun ideas that I have wanted to do with the grand-kids (but never making the time), and Marisa needing a break part way through the summer.....that led us to have a grand-kids fun day ALL day at our house last week.  Don't know how I raised four girls, because I was totally exhausted at the end of the day.  Amazing what a few years does to me.  Anyway, we had so much fun... Have a look:

The first project of the day was to put up a tire swing in our front yard.  Climbing the ladder may have been the most fun.

After the swing was up, it was time for homemade Popsicle's.

Tin can stilts were next on the projects to make. 

They were a little difficult for Nathan to maneuver, but Summer did better.

By then, it was getting pretty hot and time for the slip 'n slide.

Not one slip'n slide, but two side by side.

A great way to keep cool, until the yard got swampy.

Papa made some wooden stilts, during some of the water play with the kids help.  They were a lot harder to walk on than we anticipated.  Like really really hard to do. Anyone have any tips on these things?

After a lunch of home made macaroni and cheese (by request), they got to paint the new tire swing to make it purty-er!

They asked to use the left over paint to paint other things.... like pretend carpet for the fort house?

We ended the day with a water baloon fight... boys vs. girls.

Nathan deliverd the water balloon launcher's to the teams. 

Love the look on his face here- he really wanted to get the angle right. 

After we all got a little impatient with the launchers, it was just a free for all water war. 

The favorite of the day's activities was definitely the new tire swing and the grass underneath is already turning brown. It will be providing hours of fun.

Just looking over our day makes me realize that it's no wonder I was so exhausted.  We crammed a lot into the day- but the memories made are worth it all. I love to hear their belly laughs on the swing.