TCCC Staff Conference 2017

Last week was the Staff Conference for our TCCC staff throughout the country and it was held at our center in Chiang Mai. One of our staff made this recap of the week.  I absolutely love it and have watched it over and over. When we first moved to Thailand, there were just two full time staff and it has been our privilege to watch the ministry grow to this group of staff. What a joy it is for us to work with these brothers and sisters who are so passionate, fun,  lovable, and most of all seekers of all that God wants them to be.  Enjoy! 

Visit to Elephant Island

Mike and I have been preparing for a time in the USA that will be a little longer than our usual quick trips.  It has been some work to make arrangements to be gone from our responsibilities here, but we are reaching the home stretch.  Yesterday, we took a trip out to the Moken village that we work in on Koh Chang. (Elephant Island)  While Mike met with the elders in the village to discuss the future of the church and their spiritual growth, I wandered around with my camera to get some snapshots of the people and village life there.

This month, we received some sad news to us, that one of our teenage girls in the dorm, decided that she wanted to stop her studies and move back to the village and marry a man she had met. This is Milaa and she is only 15 years old.  We had hoped that she would continue her education, but the cultural pull of the village life was stronger. The village had a party for her.  She was very happy to see us and seems very happy with her new life. In their culture as soon as a woman is able to have babies, they move in that direction and the older villagers encourage them to do that. 

This little guy was very happy about his fruit treat. 

Down on the pier, they were cleaning out their nets from the night before and getting them ready to go out again. 

Then they cleaned up the small dead fish off the pier from the nets.  Notice she is using a branch as a broom. It actually works great. 

The men are getting their boats ready to go back out and net-fish again.

She is making new nets, all by hand.

The children are so entertained with the simplest things.  Here is a game they play (something like like Mancala) by digging holes in the dirt and transferring marbles. I rarely see store bought toys.

Here is that view from the church looking down over the village, that NEVER gets old. 

Cooling off....

one of the women's jobs.....

One of the little village stores is looking real good.

The Burmese influence of Thanaka in the village.

bath time at the community well...

Pin is unable to speak, but the gals were excited that she smiled so big for me. 

happy, fun, smiling girls having an afternoon drink (can't we just take them home?) 

Bye bye till next time and remember, that time has no concept to them.

The church on the hill is being overgrown with trees, but still a lighthouse on a hill.

Lets end with one of my favorite photos of the day.  There was more than one new litter of puppies in the village, and they were so tolerant of lots of handling by the children. It just doesn't get much cuter than little boys giggling with new born puppies.

Good wholesome play..... no screens, no digital devices....just animals, shells, sticks, and whatever happens to be laying around.  And lots of smiles galore! 

still remembering..............

Rushing back to Iowa when my brother Dean died was one of those"bitter-sweet" times in life. Nothing brings together family more than 'weddings and funerals'. In all our busyness, this past month, I forgot to share some special photos from the family gathering.

There were a lot of sweet reunions at the viewing.  Here are two generations of aunties and nieces.

Dean chose his Rousselow cousins as his pallbearers and some of his closest friends.  Judy got them all a John Deere hat to wear. He had worked there for 28 years.

His casket was made out of refurbished barn wood.  It was beautiful.  

We all know that Dean was a HUGE 'Iowa Hawkeyes" fan.  He rarely missed a game.  Judy told his friends that the Hawkeyes lost a big fan and she did a great job in leading everyone (with her phone as back up music) to sing the Iowa Fight song one last time for Dean. It was a fun time in the midst of sadness for his friends. 

Dean is buried just a a few feet from dad and mom, as you can see their tombstone here. He was also buried on the same day that dad died, March 17, 2009. 

I grew up with 16 cousins on my mom's side. There were four daughters and they each had 2 girls and 2 boys, and each one was a different order.  We were the boy,girl,girl,boy family. We all have such great memories of getting together for holidays and Sunday lunches. Here is a photo of 14 of us together one Christmas.

We have not been all together for so long, but 10 of us were able to get together at the funeral. Dean was the second of all of us to die and 4 could not make it. Here are the Kepple, Grady, Saunders, and Rousselow cousins. 

The Saunders got the only 100% attendance award.  It was so fun to see the four of them together. 

Paula, Mark, Lou Ann, and Mike

Here they are joined by their wives,  Roberta and Rhonda but the girls hubbies didn't make it. 

We tried to squeeze as much as we could into our time together.  Here is one more gathering at Barn Happy in Cedar Falls with the aunts.  The girls love that place. Most everything in the store is made in Iowa. 

Last night was another night of remembering.  We attended a memorial service for our former director, Yuttasak. 

It has already been one year since he died, and one of our hardest years ever. You can read about his life here and here. 

We miss both Dean and Nok, but continue to believe that God is in control and all our days are in is hands. Teach us to number our days, (Psalm 90:12) and make every day count for eternity. 

Great Commission Church Camp

Mike and I had the privilege of being part of a church camp in southern Thailand, this month.   We had just gotten back from the USA 2 days earlier, but it was worth the travel involved.

The church meets on Sunday nights in Hat Yai and is made up mostly of college students.  40 attended the camp.  5 of those who came were non- Christians, but seeking for truth.  There were several times for small discussion groups.

The majority of students who came were new Christians in the past year.  At least 20 of them were new believers.

I always find their honesty so refreshing.  One guy who attended has been going to church for 5 months and meets one of our staff to study the Bible as he investigate the claims of Christ. They often tell what percent they have come to in their belief.  He was at about 50%- but so engaged in every meeting and activity and still seeking.

Mike was the main teacher and spoke 4 different times, teaching through the book of Ephesians. He did a great job, especially since it was all in Thai including the scriptural texts.

I shared with them on the topic,  "What is a Christian Family".  This is something that they are very interested in and know very little about. I asked them at the beginning to raise their hand if their parents were Christians.  Only 1 out of 40 raised their hand.  They have no idea what a Christian family looks like.  They will be first generation Christians, and I could feel so much potential in this time together.

The afternoon on Saturday was filled with a lot of team games and competitions.

A highlight of the camp for us was seeing 6 new believers get baptized in the gulf of Thailand.  Two of them were from Muslim backgrounds.  The others were from Buddhist families.

We began early Sunday morning at sunrise with a time of worship near the ocean before the baptisms. 

Thai's are so sincere in their prayer and worship times.  It was a beautiful start to our day.

Scriptures about baptism were shared with them before we walked down to the ocean.

After the baptisms, we  gathered around each of them one by one and prayed for them. This is Jaed.

This is Soam, who was an ex-Muslim.

This is Mon.

Bee here is standing by another Bee, one of our staff, who disciples her. 

This is Maengmai. She is struggling now that she is back in university as her family is not Christian and are not happy with her.

This is Gaewtaa. 

Mike prayed for all of them as they would be returning to their families and campus, that they would continue to follow God, even when the pressures were great.

We felt so honored to be a part of this church camp. Mike and I especially enjoyed spending time with out TCCC staff team and watching them interact with their students.  The staff team has 7 on it, with one intern.  They spend most of their time at the "Prince of Songkhla University of Hat Yai", but also travel to three other campuses for a catalytic ministry in the south.

Another highlight was that we found out that of the 5 non- Christians who came, that 2 of them prayed to receive Christ and trust him with their lives during the camp. Another student who had been a Christian but had wandered away from God, decided to come back and follow His ways again. It was so encouraging for us to witness what God is doing through our campus ministry in southern Thailand.

Dean Rousselow 1949-2017

One month ago today we rushed home to Iowa to be with my brother and he passed away the following day. It's hard to believe that it has been a month already.  He only found out in December 2016 that he had cancer.  He fought hard with chemo, but his lungs had a chemical toxicity from the chemo and his battle was a short three months. We are so thankful that we were able to go be with him, that he was not in pain, and that we were able to say goodbye to him. It was a very sweet time for all of our family to gather around his hospital bed and be with him.  He was very tired of the medical fight and so ready to go, by the time that we got there.

Today is "National Siblings Day" and it is so sad to think we won't be together on this earth anymore. This picture was taken of us together just 5 months before he died.  I am so thankful for this photo of us together. We are in order from the left - youngest to oldest- Dan, Judy, Sarah, Dean.

How do I sum up my brother's life of 67 years?  He was a great older brother to me.  He was always so kind to everyone and had a gentle spirit about him. He reminded me a lot of my dad and his laid back and tender heart. In fact, one of the hardest realizations for me is that Dean will not be at family gatherings anymore. He has been our family patriarch ever since our parents passed away.

I loved our upbringing on the farm.  I'll share a few of  my favorite photos:

This was before Dan was born and those toy guns must have been pretty cool to us! 

This was the house on my Grandpa Rousselow's farm that I grew up in until 8th grade.  Sooooo many wonderful farm memories here. 

Mom always dressed us up so much for Sunday's.  I think this was Easter Sunday. 

Another "before Dan" photo!  Sorry Dan! 

1960

Dean and Judy came to visit us in 1989 when we lived in Bangkok.  It was a very special time for all of us.

Dean and Judy (I remind her that I  was the original Judy Rousselow) had been married for 33 years. It is a big loss for her and I am so thankful that 3 of our 4 girls got to come be with the family during this time of grieving. Our family will never be the same again, but I know that Dean is so much better off- free of cancer and suffering. I am thankful for the hope we have in Jesus and all eternity with Him.