We may be going downhill but the journey has not yet ended!

On June 8, 2010 (nine years, three months or thereabout) we started RV’ing.    I said then and I say again, there is “no recreation” in Recreational Vehicles.    We have adjusted and the living in an RV is not bad if it’s parked in a shady spot, where we have sewage and water connection and 50 amp electricity.    As soon as we arrive at a new location, it takes about an hour to get parked, connected and set up again.   We can sit back and relax then.   Well, maybe not when we have lots of computer work waiting for us.   On the days we travel, we get behind in our work so we must catch up again.

We are typically in one location for about two weeks.  We pull the car behind the RV and then use the car to drive to various congregations for Ron to give a 40-minute power point presentation about our work.   We usually have appointments on Sunday and Wednesday night to give reports.   Our work now is Save Asian Souls (www.save-asian-souls.org). We were in China from 1998 to 2015 and then Ron began this work helping teenage girls who are at risk for traffickers.  

Over the 9 years, we have had about 5 different RV’s.   We started out with an old one that broke down every time we drove it.  As he found one that better suited our needs, we traded again.   We spent a lot of time in RV service departments where the cost is extravagant.  Ron has done as much of the maintenance work as he could but it’s still been expensive.  

In May of this year, Alfred Thomas, a member and former elder at the Chickamauga, GA church of Christ, donated his American Dream 1994 RV to SAS.  He did a lot of work to be sure it was in top running condition.   We were happy to let someone start repairs on our 2007 Tiffin Phaeton so we can put it up for sale and use the American Dream.  Hopefully, by the summer of 2020, we will sell the one we own and not have that debt any longer.    

The American Dream is nicer inside…very well built and pretty.   It does not have sliders and is shorter than the Tiffin.   It has taken some getting used to having very tight quarters.   We threw away stuff and pack up and stored other stuff and we are managing quite nicely.   Only minor things have gone wrong with this RV but that is to be expected.

(I have to practice posting pictures again to make it more interesting.  After five years, I've forgotten how to do a lot of things.)   

We will arrive in Alvin, TX (the Lord willing) which is south of Houston, TX on November 10, 2019.   Ronald and Gigi will also arrive that day from the Philippines to begin using our RV and car while we travel to Asia for five months.    Ronald and Gigi will not stay in the U.S. that long but they will report to their supporters in TX and then return to the Philippines.   

We will leave from Houston (the Lord willing) early in the morning of Nov. 13.  We will catch the first flight out of Houston to Dallas, change planes for either Hong Kong or Taipei (depends on the strike and unrest situation in Hong Kong).   It is a 16-l/2 hour flight.   The entire day and night will be taken up for this portion of the trip.   If we go to Hong Kong, Ron plans for us to stay one night to rest but last year we went to Taipei, had a short layover and flew on to Bangkok, Thailand.  This year, we are going to use buddy passes from a friend.    An employee of an airline has 8 buddy passes per year.   They can use them or give them away.   We have to pay the tax on the ticket but the airline employee will have to claim the value of the ticket on his income tax return.   It’s a good deal for us but not for the person giving us the ticket.   It is truly a gift from a friend for them to donate buddy passes for us.   With a buddy pass, we are on standby status.  We fly on Wednesday because that is usually the day the flights are not totally booked.   We can only get on if seats are available as the gate is ready to close.  Usually, we get business class seats since coach is probably sold out.   This is the good part for a long 16+ hour flight.     Even then, it is a very long time and you feel like you will never arrive.   We have trouble sleeping on a plane.   In this section of the plane, the food is fabulous.   The leg room is priceless.

We will be in Thailand a good portion of the five-month stay because Ron will get construction started on a safe house in Mukdahan, Thailand that will house 60 girls.    A lady in Bangkok, Thailand, donated the acre of land and Dr. John Bailey of Colleyville, TX is funding the expense of construction from his Bands Ministries Foundation.

We will have internet and we will keep working.   We will find time to visit all of our safe houses in Laos and Thailand and some of the areas in Nepal.   We hope to have time to go to the Philippines in April before we return to the U.S.

You can follow our journey by reading my posts on this blog.   I will try to post at least once weekly if the travels and workload permit.

Please keep us in your prayers.

A Long Dry Spell for a Writer

It has indeed been a very long dry spell for a writer to post nothing on their blog in five years.  A lot of changes have occurred in five years but most of you who know us are aware of things that have happened.   Even though we go through many mental hoops with changes in life, we usually come out O.K.    We changed the focus of our work in Asia from orphans to setting up safe houses for teenage girls who are at risk for trafficking.     This work is incorporated as Save Asian Souls.  The change was not easy but the work has taken off and continues to expand.   More about this work as I continue to post segments.

Our son and daughter-in-law (Ronald and Gigi Brown) have completed the first house in Tanjay, Negros Oriental and it is ready for children to be accepted to live there soon.   House parents have been hired and all inspections and approvals have been accomplished.   There is much more construction ahead.   Their five-acre property will eventually have four houses (one for only teenage girls financed and supported by Save Asian Souls.)  They will construct an Administration Building for the office and apartment for Ronald and Gigi to live in.  At this time, they have a room in the laundry room building, separate from the house, in cramped quarters to be able to provide all the space in the house for the staff and children.   Eventually, they will have a pavilion for the church to meet and used as an all-purpose building for the facility.    In their future plans, there are guest cottages, one for the minister and his wife, and even a school in years ahead if financing is secured.