Visit to CVCC kids and Chang Island

One of our church ministry partners, CVCC,  has been supporting 5 of the children in the Ranong Kids Home and while some of the Aronson family was here (for another project), they came down to spend some time with those 5 kids. The first night they took them out to eat at a restaurant that overlooked the water between Thailand and Burma.

Rawoot, Milaa, Tamae, ThongDii, and Surin enjoyed getting to know Jim, Reatha, and Ariane better.

The kids do not speak much English, but they tried their best to communicate.  It was good that Mike and I were along to help with the conversation and translation.  We all enjoyed watching the sunset over Burma in the distance.

The next morning when we went to church on Chang Island, they wanted to come with us.  The high/low tide there is so drastic and we never know for sure what we'll be coming in to.  I gave a groan as we approached and saw that the tide was way out.  It means having to walk through that murky, stinky, gross stuff to get to the village pier.

Reatha had brought along a lollipop butterfly gift for everyone in the church, and the kids helped us get them assembled before the service.

The children from the village sang a few new songs that they had learned before the message. 

The 5 sponsored children from the home told us that they really  like to worship with the Moken people.  They sang a special song at church also. 

After church, Mike had a 'some sort of business meeting', so I asked the 5 kids to take us around to meet their parents and family. This is Tamae with her mother.

Lawoot was happy for us to meet her father.  He has a handicap leg now and can barely walk with a cane.  He was stung badly by a stingray while diving for fish and worms, as they all do, and did not get it treated afterwards.

As we walked through the village, the children were still enjoying their lollipops from church. 

Others wanted us to take their photo, too.

It was clear that the kids were uncomfortable in trying to create a family photo.  For some of them, it is difficult to really decide who is their family.  Marriages are not always as defined, one parent dies, others live in their homes, and they cannot always label who is their family and who is not. This helps explain why they do such much better in the home that  we have established in Ranong.  They really do not have a family on the island that raises and teaches them.  Milaa chose these people for her photo.

This is Surin with his sister. ThongDii is from another island, so we could not meet his family. 

We spent the rest of the afternoon, sitting on the pier waiting to return to the mainland.  The pier is where many of them congregate and work.  A boat came in with some freshly caught fish.

During the day they work in pairs for hours untangling the fish nets and getting them ready to go back out again each evening. 

They are so good at what they do.  It's their daily routine and livelihood. 

It was nice to see the tide come back up as we loaded up the boat to return.  This is the same area in front of the pier that was mud when we arrived. 

The two hour boat ride back gives us time to process and pray from our trip 'to the ends of the earth.'

James 1:27

"Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this:

to visit orphans and widows in their distress." 

missing those four baby girls

I am pretty sure  most of you know that one of the greatest sacrifices and challenges for a missionary is being so far away from their family. We've only been away from our grand-babies in Arkansas and Oklahoma for three months, but it's feeling longer. They change so much at these ages.  We said good bye to Kennedy when she was just four days old and now she'll be three months this week. Michael sent us a photo of Lola Mae today and we could see that she had changed so much too.  I told him "she does not look like a newborn anymore", and then I was reminded that she will soon be six months.  

While Jen was in the hospital with Kennedy, one of those "for hire" photographers came around, and I decided "why not?".  Knowing that we had to say good-bye, I wanted some nice photos to bring back with me.  These were taken when she was not even two days old. We left two days later and this is how I remember her.

Oh, I love those squishy little newborn cheeks.

I also arranged for someone to come in and get photos of Lola Mae soon after her birth, and realized that I never shared them yet. Time moves slowly but passes quickly!

This precious baby girl just had her first bites of food today and Ellie Faye is jabbering up a storm now. Like I said, they change so fast.

I love my family and each photo that I get of them. And yet, I am so very thankful for all the ways that I can watch them grow and change in this new world of technology. There is not a week that goes by when I don't see our darlings on our computers or phones. 

The girls were together last weekend, and got this photo for us of the four of them together. You can bet it's my new screen saver. 

Two 2 years olds, a 3 month old, and 6 month old! I can hardly stand the cuteness here.  Keep those pictures coming Bethany and Jennifer! We miss our babies!

Foltz's House Cleansing

"All good things must come to and end" is ringing true around here.  The Foltz family have lived exactly 188 steps (yes, we counted) from our front door to theirs for the past two years.  Our grand-kids were literally back and forth daily, and we had even gotten to the point that 4 year old Nathan could come around the block on his own as I waited at the front door for him. We will always have so many great memories of these two years living next to each other, but  "there is a season for everything", and we understand why they wanted to move closer to the kids school.  They were making up to 4 trips each day back and forth to the other side of town for school pick ups and activities and it was wearing on them. The grand-kids are going to the same school, GIS, where our girls graduated from.  We know all about the trips, but traffic has increased a lot since those days.

We are happy for them to be closer to the school, but will miss them so much.  It is important in Thailand when moving into a new home to invite Christian friends to come pray over the home. We never know what kinds of activities went on in a home with the prior renters.  Most have been occupied by Buddhists, who had a spirit house outside and idols in the home. It is a time to cleanse the home of evil spirits and invite the Holy Spirit to fill the home.

Our Thai campus staff came to the new home, directly after leaving their afternoons on campus.  There were about 30 of us and we started the evening with pizza and desserts.

This group is truly like one big family and Meepor was the center of attention for awhile. 

Nuu, our northern director and Jon shared with us their desire for this home to be used for God's glory in ministry and then everyone walked around the home and yard at their own pace praying through each room.  As I prayed over my grand children's rooms, asking for no nightmares and a blessing on the places where they read their nightly Bible Stories, it made me teary thinking of all the potential, both positive and negative, in their futures. 

Their new rental home is very nice and  more spacious so will probably be used a lot for gatherings. Marisa loves hostessing so lets just call it the new "party house".  And as for us, I guess we will just have to be more intentional about inviting them over instead of the short walk back and forth. We are happy for you and your new home Foltz family, but miss you already! 

Global Proclamation Congress

Last week, Mike and I were in Bangkok for 4 days of planning for the Global Proclamation Congress which will be this coming June 15-22. Trainers of pastors from all around the world will be coming to Bangkok to be trained, and we will be helping as Thailand is the host country. Check out the link to learn more about it.

Richard Ramesh shared with us that as Christianity is growing around the world, there are an estimated 50,000 new believers baptized every day.  We need 1000 new pastors everyday to shepherd them.  As a growing number of at least 2.2 million pastors are given the task of teaching these new Christian's, only 5% of them are trained. Growth without health is not good and 70% of new Christian's fail in their first year.

The need is staggering and the Global Proclamation Commission is addressing the problem of under trained and isolated pastoral leaders.  Their goal is to  connect, unite, and strengthen 100,000 pastors in 200 countries by the year 2020.

Pastoral leaders getting together like this for training has not been done before.  The congress will not be speaker driven or just another event for pastors to attend, but a time to be trained, be coached,  and get resources to continue in their home countries.

Healthy pastors lead healthier churches, and healthier churches are more able to reach their communities for Jesus. Cru being an arm of the church is helping facilitate this congress with pastors from countries on every continent, and we are expectant to see God use this time for His kingdom.

The meetings were held in a hotel in the middle of Bangkok. The view out our hotel was nice.

After days full of meetings, a few of us visited one of Bangkok's rooftop restaurants across the street on the last night for a big city atmosphere and panorama. 

We watched the sun set over  a huge mega city that knows little of Jesus.

Masses of people and traffic in this area is fun to visit, but we are happy to get back to our home in Chiang Mai.  Please be praying for the GProCongress and for God to bring the right kind of pastors to this training to reduce the deficit of untrained pastors in the world. 

Tan, Poy, and Baby Risa

Tonight, we got to celebrate the coming birth of Poy and Tan's baby Risa.

Poy and Tan are on staff with TCCC and direct the ministry at CMU. Hayley got to join in with mama at the shower, too. 

The staff girls put together some cute decorations. 

We are so excited to meet you baby Risa and we are all praying for a safe arrival! 

A Thai Funeral

The father of Lar, (our northern region assistant director) died recently and Mike and I went to the funeral  a few hours north of Chiang Mai to show her our support.  The funeral was a cultural experience and the way our staff family showed love to Lar made an impression on me that I want to share with you. Lar is the only Christian in her Buddhist family.  We've been to other funerals, but I had my camera on this one which makes it easier to share with my readers what we experienced. At a Thai funeral the casket is placed in the home or outside the home as guests arrive.

A photo portrait of her deceased father was prominently displayed. 

Flowers (real and fake) decorated the coffin.  Our staff came early to help Lar with the flower arranging. 

We came for the meal the day of the cremation and there were  50 tables of 8 set up all around their neighborhood to feed the 400 expected guests. They had been feeding people every night for 7 days before the cremation. The monks came every night to chant the sutras that would benefit the deceased. Food was offered to the officiating monks as part of the merit-making for the deceased. The daily chanting and gathering is not a completely sad affair.  They eat food, play games, and visit.  Efforts are made to take away sorrow, loneliness and the fear of spirits with music and fellowship.

In the afternoon, there was a funeral procession moving the casket from the home to the crematorium.  A man carrying a white banner on a long pole led the procession.

Behind him was the photo of her deceased  father on a wheeled cart.

Next in the procession were 8 monks holding a rope which extended back to the coffin. 

Behind the monks, were the friends and relatives, all holding onto the rope and pulling the casket to the crematorium.  They feel that this is a merit making act toward the deceased. 

Lastly was the casket on a trailer with wheels and a driver who just needed to steer the cart in the right direction as it was being pulled.

You will notice at a Thai funeral that only black or white or muted colors are worn with no bright colors.

It was about a 30 minute walk pulling the casket from the home to the crematorium and even though it is our cool season, the afternoon sun was hot.

Mike and I and our staff joined the procession, to show our support to Lar, some of them holding the rope and others walking behind the casket. 

Once we arrived the casket was placed in front of the crematorium and everyone was served cold water.

The monks sat facing the coffin, and then gathered at a table to receive gifts from the family.

During the ceremony, the guests sat on cement benches to watch them give gifts and recognize the givers. 

These men helped with the ceremony and moving the casket, similar to a pall bearer's duties. 

Pictures were taken with the different groups of guests who came.  This is the family photo. 

Lar is the only child and this is a photo of her mom and her with the funeral helpers.  Now that her mom will be home alone, she had asked Lar to stop working with us and move home to be with her. This was difficult for Lar, which is why we wanted to demonstrate our love to Lar and her mom.

After the monks chanting and ceremony, the coffin was placed outside the door of where it was burned and the guests filed by one last time to ask forgiveness for any wrongs done to him. 

The family stood near the casket as their friends passed by.  Before the actual burning, her mom hopped on a motorcycle and was driven to her home.  They believe that since the husband and wife were such soul mates, that she should not be there when he was cremated, because his spirit might attach to her.

Wood and gasoline were lighted under the coffin and then it was pushed in and the door shut tightly. The smoke billowed out the top of the chimney for the next few hours.  Later the ashes were collected and kept in an urn.

This was the hardest part of the funeral for Lar.  All the guests left right after this, but our staff gathered around her to pray for her and her family.

We walked back to their home and our CCC staff helped with the clean up from all the guests in and outside the home.  We then met together in their home and Mike led us in a time of sharing our love for their family and praying for Lar and her mom.  

Once again, we were so impressed with our TCCC staff and the love they show.  When all the other guests had left, they were a true family to Lar and her mom and I know that it was a huge encouragement to them.  We will continue to pray for Lar and her mom during this next phase of grieving.