a new washing machine, underwear and detergent

We love it when a church asks us for a project for their summer VBS program.  It is has happened a few other times and we love watching the excitement of the children to raise the money themselves. The first time we experienced it was many years ago when the Waterloo GBC children raised money for new luggage for us to return to Asia.

This year the Waterloo CVCC asked us if there was anything that the Ranong Kids Home needed. Well that is an obvious answer........they always need things.  But when Mike asked them for three suggestions, we were a little surprised at their answer.

They said:
1) A new washing machine.  They had just one for 30 children, and it was wearing out quickly. The kids had to add  the water with a bucket till it was full.
2) They wanted new underwear.  They currently had  about 2 pairs each and those were ripped and torn.
3) The cost of detergent adds up over time, so they wanted a supply of soap.

When we told Denise the CVCC VBS director, she said the team loved the ideas and wanted to see how much the children could raise.

It was perfect timing, because we arrived into Waterloo that week, and were able to go and share with the children the second to last night of their VBS.

We loved getting in on the enthusiasm of the children and got to watch them do all their singing/dancing songs, skits, and games.

It was fun to tell them more about the children and thank them for caring about them.

The stage was decorated with cute visuals for the children with a washing machine, some undies, and a  thermometer with the goals.  On Thursday night when we were there, they had just enough for the machine.

The giving boxes were a competition between between the boys and girls. 

On Thursday night, the children rotated around to us for 20 minutes each  in 5 different age groups of about 15-20 each.  My favorite was the group of 5-7 year old's.  They asked us some of the funniest questions.  When Mike told them about the Moken ladies delivering their babies on a boat, some of their comments were:

"If I had a baby on a boat, I would want it to be a really big boat"

and, "I was born in a church"

and, "well, I have two mom's"

Sunday morning the  VBS children did the entire church service and presented this check to us.  They ended up raising enough for the washing machine and enough for all the underwear which is 7 new pairs for all 30 children. 

After church there was a potluck picnic, and they ended up raising enough in donations for the detergent goal too.  We are thrilled!!!

Mike continues to have his weekly staff meeting with the Ranong team via skype.  Last week, when he talked with them, they asked about the underwear.  Guess they need some pretty badly.  What an exciting skype call it will be this week, when he can give them the full report.  Thank you so much to all those children at CVCC for blessing the children at the Ranong Kids Home!

FBC Mission's Conference

What a privilege it was to be special guests at this year's Faith Bible Church Annual Mission's Conference.  We were affirmed over and over throughout the week by this church.  They really know how to do a missions conference and encourage their missionaries.

A big shout out:

-to this church for loving on us, believing in us, honoring us, and demonstrating sincere interest in our ministry and lives.

-to Pastor Wayne for taking time out of your busy schedule to meet with us and affirm us for our value to the church family, telling us that it is not because of  what we do, but for who we are. Also, reminding us that it is not about statistics and that faithfulness is more important than fruitfulness.

-to Roseann for the very thoughtful gift bags including such cute homemade cards

-to the missions committee for planning and working so hard to organize this 5 full days of missions conference. More pictures can be seen here. 

-to everyone who treated us to meals in their homes, at the church,  and at restaurants. (We did not pay for one meal for 5 days)

-to Cynthia for the delicious meal in your home and then being such a warm hostess for the dessert fellowship in your home, also.

-to Jim and Dusty for taking us canoe-ing on the Little Miami River on such a gorgeous fall day.

-to Mark and Cindy for being out missionary/church partners and spending time with us over dinner.

--to all you church members who came to our seminars and SS class and showed your interest with smiles and questions

-all of you who came to our Asian market booth, had fun shopping and bought our "stuff"

-to that first customer who bought some dried fish and told us it was delicious.

-to Mike M. who encouraged us in setting up our booth and gave us the resources to have fun shopping for Thai products.

-and a HUGE thank-you to our amazing hosts Steve and Trina for sharing your beautiful home.

and for giving us the Cincinnati cultural experience of two local specialties, Skyline Chili and Graeter's Ice Cream.

-Jim and Nancy for your friendship and night full of laughter.

-the church commissioning service Sunday night that sent us off with prayers and feeling your support for what we do.  Once again you encouraged us beyond what we expected.  Thank-you!

eat, eat, eat, bike, eat, eat, eat, bike

A favorite activity of Mike's and mine this time in the USA is exploring new bike trails.  They are peaceful, scenic, well-paved, and in this comfortable climate are  so inviting to us.  In contrast the trails in Thailand are almost non-existent, hot, humid, unpredictable, and rough.

When we first got to Iowa we enjoyed the Cedar Valley Nature Trail through Gilbertville, and later on the Cedar Prairie Trail and Cedar Valley Lake Trail  through Cedar Falls.

They are especially fun when you do them with the family together, which we did when we first re-united in Iowa.

Or with some cute grand-babies when we got to Arkansas.

This past week, we have been on the road travelling throughout four states and  as most appointments are over meals, we have really enjoyed the chance to get on bikes in each state and get some exercise. It also feels good after sitting in the car. 

As we biked in Winona Lake the weather was perfect and the leaves were gorgeous.

In Ohio, the trail was coated with leaves and the trees are starting to look bare. There were times that so many of the leaves were falling from the trees that it looked like snow. Sort of normal to people that see it every year, but pretty cool to us.

This is one part of America that we wish we could wrap up in a box and take back with us. Since that is not going to happen, we will keep on enjoying the cool, crisp air and raining leaves coming down from the magnificent colored trees each day. We have another week coming up now with a lot of appointments and probably a lot of eating.  Yikes- sounds like trouble for me. 

Our Cloud of Witnesses

I finally got our Cloud of witnesses bulletin board done in our office. I've wanted to do this for years.  It's huge: almost 3ft by 4ft.  I love it!  It is made up of photos of people that we could not have continued on here without. The support they give us, enables us to do what we do. Some of our ministry partners have been on our team from the start--- that means 36 years!  It also displays pictures of fellow workers in the ministry (both Thai and American) who encourage and press us to keep on walking with God.

I really believe that our biggest "Cloud of Witnesses" is people who have gone on to heaven and are cheering us on. Most specifically I think of our parents.  This March 17 will mark 5 years since my dad, Leonard, died- who was the last of our parents to leave us here.

I did a short study on Hebrews 12:1.  I like how Unger's dictionary explained that the clouds are a symbol of armies and multitudes of people.  He illustrated with the figure of an amphitheater filled with Old Testament saints witnessing New Testament believers running the race of faith.  Isn't that a cool illustration? He also gave the image of "the witnesses answer to the spectators pressing around to see the competitors in their contest for the prize."

When I look at this board it reminds me to pray for our sending team also, especially when I see their faces.  Our team gives us additional spirit and encouragement to increase our earnestness and be faithful to God. We feel extremely thankful, grateful, and blessed to have such a faithful team behind us!

Josh Hovies & Esther Schrock

My heart hurts for a sweet family as they have lost their son in an underwater training accident. He was a United States Airman.  You can read the story here.  Their family lived near ours here in Chiang Mai and the parents in this video taught our girls in school while their children went to school with ours.  Josh is the boy next to Jen (the cute redhead in overalls) Josh was a great kid, whom his brother described as an outstanding Christian. Praying for his whole family.

Another very dear friend Esther Schrock lost a very short 6 week battle with cancer this week, too.  Glen and Esther have been a part of our ministry since we first came on staff with Cru. Esther was one of our biggest encouragers: always having us over for home cooked food when we were in Iowa,  so  interested in hearing about our work, stocking us up with Shaklee vitamins so that we'd stay healthy, etc.  She was a wonderful wife and mother to her family; and friend to us.  We will miss her and we are praying their family, too.

Can't help but think about the fun reunions with these saints with my parents in heaven!  What glory they are experiencing!

Trapping

We're off on a two week trip of  visiting ministry partners, a wedding, visiting our family, and Thanksgiving with Lori.  Still hobbling on one foot with crutches and the 'ole so faithful scooter, I am soon approaching the 3 week mark of post surgery #2 and will be so glad to have this all over with and behind me.  God has been good to give me some great down time during recovery and I've enjoyed extra time with Him, reading and just slowing down.

First stop on our trip was a day with old friends and ministry partners, Redd and Jill in southern Iowa.  Redd is one of my Mike's favorite hunting buddies and one of the most expert outdoorsman/hunters on this earth.  He is a wealth of knowledge and they live in a part of Iowa that has the highest population of deer of anywhere.

Their home is full of his mounted trophies. 

Turkey, deer, fox, bear, bobcat, fish, badger, and more were displayed throughout their home. 

Old huntin' buddies re-unite

Trapping is a whole new hobby/income that was new to me and I found quite fascinating.  Our first morning there, he brought in his catch of  13 coons and a coyote.

Later that evening, we took in his catch to the local taxidermist  (the infamous "Gumby") who buys the furs.  All sort of furs were hanging everywhere.

While we were there truck after truck came in with the trappers unloading their catch. Most of them were coons on this particular night.

But there were also beavers (see their big flappy tails) possums, fox, skunk, and otters.

During the day while the guys were trapping, I went with a new friend Kathy to visit a Mennonite community and general store. I could have looked around their store  for hours at the simple merchandise for cooking, sewing, and homemaking- although my feet did not agree and cut our time a little short. 

To know Redd is to love Redd.  He is one big warm lovable teddybear that is so much fun to be around.  He recently lost 60 pounds on WW for an upcoming knee replacement. So proud of him for that!  Jill had to work some long hours while we were there, so we missed getting as much time with her. She did take some of her free time to show me around their community which is know for the Maharishi Vedic City.  Sad and unusual to see it right in the middle of Iowa! Thanks Redd and Jill for your friendship and a great visit.
 

Next stop was Lee and Becky in Kansas City.  It was so so good to catch up with them and thier families and lives.  They are always a huge encouragement to us because of  their hearts for God and interest in our ministry! Thanks Lee and  Becky for taking time for us today!

Intended to give- but received more

Last Sunday, after worshiping together with our friends at Bellingham Christ the King Church, we were invited to help out at Camp Horizon by serving meals at a camp for people with special needs.  I honestly think that it was one of the most enjoyable things that we did during our visit.

These kids were so fun to be around because they were happy, content, joyful, and thankful.  There was not one word of complaint or demand.  Their acceptance of everyone was so refreshing,

We enjoyed being around them and interacting with them before and after the meal.

We thought that we were going out to give toward helping them, but they encouraged our hearts much more than what we gave them. I have much to learn from their spirit of joy instead of dissent and  griping. Their week at Camp horizon is a highlight for them- and it was for us too. 

When we got home that night, it was our last chance to play on the lake.  Dusty, Andrea, and Bill showed us how to do some paddle boarding. 

It was our first time to give this sport a try!

We were a bit shakey at it, but it was still a lot of fun! 

Both Bill and Dusty gave a try to surfing behind the wake without a rope. Another new skill for us to watch and amazing to us!

Thank you so so much Bill and Renee for such a fun and adventuresome visit with you.  We look forward to this new partnership with Christ the King Church and their involvement with the Children's Home in Ranong! We loved meeting your church family and mission's committee and look forward to your next visit to Thailand!

Ski to Sea

While in the northwest, we had the gorgeous privilege of boating out of Puget Sound  through the San Juan islands.

Our friends that we were visiting had come to Thailand where we met last year and we took them on our boat out to visit one of the islands where we work with the Moken village.  This is the boat that we travel in for 2 hours out to visit the village.  They kept telling us after our boat trip with them, that they wanted to return the favor and take us on a trip in their boat too.

Steve was our host and captain of the boat, except when he let Mike have a turn navigating. 

I think Mike preferred to let him have the controls.  It was such a relaxing and gorgeous view all day and the weather was perfect!  Sunny and cool!

The only comparison between our boat and his is that they both float on water.  Just look at the size of that wake.  The island in the background belongs to the owner of Oakley sunglasses.

Once we got to Roche Harbor, we walked around the pier looking at countless varieties of yachts.

 

On shore we visited the famous historical Hotel De Haro.

Lots of famous people had stayed there and I saw their signatures in a guest book.  John Wayne had bathed in this tub.

Lunch with our friends, Steve and Karla, Chet and Lynette.  They are very very fun friends to hang out with.

In fact because of prior schedules, two had to get back into town for a reunion and Bill and Renee wanted to join us, so they simply had a friend fly in to do a swap  of friends for the rest of the day.

It is such a beautiful place that there are weddings there every weekend. One was happening as we walked by.

This little church up on the top of the island reminded me of our little church on the top of our island too.

All good times must come to and end, so we started the dinghy shuttle back to the big boat, Exodus!

 On the way back in to Puget Sound, we cold see the Baker Mountain that we had hiked the day before - hence the Ski to Sea experience.

We arrived back in to Bellingham Bay just as the sun was setting.  Thanks Steve and Karla, Chet and Lynette, Bill and Renee for showing us a bit of your world.  What a fun filled beautiful day enjoying God's creation!  Your turn to come back so we can take you on our boat ride again in Thailand!