Ron thinks his time away from home is more than half-way completed. He is living in the house with the house parents. Ron is in the bedroom downstairs and there are five bedrooms upstairs. He gave the house parents money to buy food on Monday when they moved in. He eats simple but different meals from the house parents, although the house mother has offered to prepare his meals. The main food for any Asian is rice and Ron does not want to eat rice unless he has to as he feels it has no nutritional value but high caloric content.
Ron says the house parents have no real work experience but they are very loving and kind-hearted and eager to learn to do the work with girls. He feels they are grasping a basic understanding very well and they will grow with the work and do well, caring for the girls.
The first girl, Mee, eleven years old, is supposed to arrive on Friday of this week. I understand her parents are in prison and she lives with an old grandmother who is an alcoholic. She has to sleep with an older brother so she needs a safe environment and better living conditions. The house parents know Mee so that will give her more security coming to the safe house to live.
Ron will review the procedure for adding new girls and show them how to complete the forms we need to assign Mee a sponsor. Our translator, Phet, in Vientiane, Laos knows Thai so she will help with the translating. There is one member of the church that knows English well and the house parents can consult with her for help also. They know only a little English. Ron is using his phone to translate as he instructs them on how to establish house rules and operate an orderly safe house for girls.
Ron expects to be there about two more weeks. After that, he will travel to Mukdahan, Thailand.
He built this two-story safe house there in 2020 but we had to leave before it was totally finished. They completed one section of it for the girls we already had but when the pandemic hit Asia, the work did not continue. The house parents and 9 girls live there but they have not been able to add more girls. Portions of the house are not finished. Ron will spend a week there to determine what more needs to be done to complete the building.
The new Omicron virus has only begun to appear in Asia. There are a few cases in Thailand, detected as tourists have arrived from other countries. At this time, borders between Thailand and Laos are open but that could change any day as this virus spreads.
Ron hopes to leave Mukdahan by the end of January and travel to Vientiane, Laos to meet with workers there.
He will begin to seek airline reservations for returning home. If this is possible, he may be back in the U.S. before the end of February.
The work is going extremely well. Ron is very pleased with the new safe house and eager to visit the other locations and return home. Well, almost eager. He is eager to get home but does not look forward to cold weather when he arrives in February or early March. He has soaked up the warm weather and enjoyed it very much.
Thank you for your continued interest in our work, for your prayers and support. Have a very blessed New Year.
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