May brings spring weather and hope!

April passed quickly and smoothly.   We completed our vaccinations in April.   Although we were apprehensive about it, we also felt very vulnerable to the risk of COVID-19 even with the few trips we make to the grocery store.    Neither Ron nor I had any reaction to the shots.   Our arms were slightly sore for one day but no other reaction.   We feel blessed.  Now that we feel a little safer, we have had lunch at Capt.'s D's a few times.   We still wear our masks when out in public (following Biden's example...ha ha) because others do not know if we have been vaccinated.   Many stores and restaurants still request that people wear masks and keep their distance from others so we abide by the rules.  

We have worshipped on-line with the Brown Street church of Christ in Waxahachie, TX.    We parked our RV there on many occasions and they generously support our SAS work.  We feel at home with this congregation.   But, it is not the same as worshipping in person and we miss the fellowship.    

Ron will fly to Dallas next Saturday (May 15th) and stay with one of their elders.   He is scheduled to give a sermon and brief report on the work at Groesbeck, TX on Sunday morning and then at Brown Street on Sunday night.    He will return home on Monday, May 17th.   Since he is flying for a brief weekend, I will stay home this time.

We have not attended church services but intend to start back soon.   The Canton church is very small and the drive to the building is very dangerous.    It is straight up a hill with a curve in the road as you turn up so I would never make that drive myself.    The church in Woodstock has a current problem.    They disfellowshipped a member who has openly announced that she is gay.   She is attempting to bring a crowd with her and the media to stir up trouble.    We don't want to be involved in this situation and hope it ends soon.    The Piedmont Road congregation in Marietta, where Leigh Ann (our daughter) went when she lived here, is about 30 minutes from us.   There are no other sound congregations closer.   North Georgia has always been a difficult area for the church to grow.   

The schools are closed again in Nepal.   India is having a very horrible time with COVID and it is spreading into Nepal again.    Many people are out of work and desperate for food so SAS is again providing rice to Christians.   This week 52 families were given large sacks of rice.    We do not know when the pandemic will improve in these Asian countries.

Our safe houses in Laos are also in lock-down mode due to COVID-19 until the end of May.   Our girls are safe but cannot go to school.

Casa Esperanza of Angels' orphanage in the Philippines is rather isolated so their island is doing well.  The children are still in school on the campus and life is good there.

We continue to be so blessed with everything we need.  I talked with my neighbor last week and we both agreed that sometimes it takes a pandemic and hard times for people to realize how very blessed we are.   If life was terrific all the time, we would not give God credit for the good times because we would not realize all the many blessings we receive from HIM.    We often take things for granted and do not realize that we have more than we need all the time.   Thanks be to God for each of you and for our many blessings.

  

 

Happenings in Nepal

While there is good news, there is also bad news.   The good news first!   Two of our supported girls in one of our safe houses, were baptized over the weekend.   Taking confession, baptizing and picture following baptisms:

Workers are preparing many sources of income for each safe house to obtain self-stainability with food so they can learn to care for themselves in difficult times of not having jobs.    They are busy learning to have beehives, mushroom farms, fish ponds, raising some chickens, and developing rice paddies, corn fields and vegetable gardens.     It is a busy time for our worker and our girls leaning to help. 

Can you find the Queen Bee or would you like to help

rob the bee hive?

Mushroom farming

Now for the bad news:    We were notified yesterday that an entire village in Nepal burned with 115 homes destroyed.    They have no fire stations, fire trucks with water or any system to put out fires.  The villages are very poor and the construction of houses are easily consumed with fire.   No people were lost but they are in great need of food, clothing and shelter.   Ron is busy getting the word out to raise money to help these poor people.    In third world countries, the government is poor and does not help. 

Spring in the Philippines

There are videos of the children in the Philippines enjoying their Easter egg hunt all over the beautiful campus.   Check Facebook "Casa Esperanza of Angels" if you want to watch the children finding the eggs, then opening the plastic eggs to find the candy.    Each had a sack to collect the eggs and then put their candy in after putting the plastic eggs back in a box to use again next year.    Note how orderly and mannerly the children are throughout the videos.    Simple treats like this are the making of great childhood memories.

The fruits are producing and the flowers are spectacular, not to mention their beautiful skies.   I could not copy one sunset where the sky was bright orange but it is on Facebook.

The Rider Club (a biker group) comes to Casa periodically and brings gifts to the children and entertain them with games.    I know this is another special treat for the children with each of their visits.    Instead of making "field trips" the entertainment comes to the campus.    

Because He is risen, we have hope for tomorrow!

Although Christians observe the Lord's supper each Lord's day in remembrance of His death, burial and resurrection, the world recognizes Easter Sunday once a year. People who are not religious will go to church once a year on Easter.  

According to the Biblical documents, the events of Jesus' death and resurrection took place during the Jewish celebration of Passover.

Passover celebrates the liberation of the Jewish people from their captivity in Egypt. It begins on the 15th day of Nisan in the Hebrew calendar, lasting seven to eight days, in the springtime. Jesus linked his death to the Passover lamb in his last meal with disciples.  

In the earliest days, various Christian churches celebrated what was then called Pascha, on different days. Some observed on Passover itself, or the Sunday after Passover most commonly.  Finally, the universal Council of Nicea in 325 AD established the date to celebrate Christ's Resurrection. It would be the first Sunday after the Full Moon occurring on or after the year's first vernal equinox.

In years past, we got new spring clothes to wear for Easter Sunday.   Little girls would wear hats and sometimes white gloves.  We boiled eggs and dyed them pretty colors or added designs. Children always got an Easter basket from the bunny with candy and used it at the Easter egg hunt to collect the eggs they found hidden in the grass and around the yard.   Family lunches were always an enjoyable event for Easter Sunday.   

Question: "What is the origin of the Easter bunny and Easter eggs?"

Answer: It is commonly thought that the word Easter comes from a pagan figure called Eastre (or Eostre) who was celebrated as the goddess of spring by the Saxons of Northern Europe. The only problem with this theory is that it has no basis in history. The existence of a goddess named Eastre or a spring festival in her honor is based on pure conjecture. The same is true of the origin of the Easter bunny and Easter eggs—no one knows for sure how these things became a part of Easter observances. The most we can say is that the word Easter is probably related to the word east (ost in German) and that the Saxons had a month they called Eosturmononath.   What is the history of Easter Bunny?  According to some sources, the Easter bunny first arrived in America in the 1700s with German immigrants who settled in Pennsylvania and transported their tradition of an egg-laying hare called "Osterhase" or "Oschter Haws." Their children made nests in which this creature could lay its colored eggs.

While we enjoy all of these traditions, they are not biblical.  In fact, they are of pagan origin.  Like many of the traditions surrounding Christmas, we enjoy traditions but do not incorporate them into our worship.    

For a Christian, the Friday before Easter Sunday, is the most difficult day of the year as we remember the fake trial that Jesus went through, the flogging and mistreatment he received, the painful trip carrying his cross and the horrible crucifixion.    The agony was more than we can even imagine yet he endured it for our salvation.    He could have called 10,000 angels as the song says, yet he died alone for you and me.

The happy time of Easter on Sunday morning is to celebrate his resurrection from the dead.   He gave us the hope of resurrection and having life after death.   He gave us the hope of heaven.  For this, we can be happy and rejoice on Easter Sunday and celebrate with family dinners and being together to worship Him.

I remember one special Easter at Ron's aunt Virginia Taylor's home in Columbia, TN.    All of the Brown family was there and the children had a wonderful Easter egg hunt in the front yard.   I can see Leigh Ann in her pretty Easter dress and Ronald in his yellow one-piece boy's suit with their baskets looking for eggs.  If we have pictures of that day, they are in the children's picture albums.   

I also recall a special Easter when Ha Ha, a little boy from China was with us while he had skin grafts for a burn he had received when his mother tripped and spilled boiling water on his face.   

Ha Ha was the nick name given to him by the flight attendant (Masako) who accompanied him on his trip the the U.S and back home again in one year.   His real name is Li Ce.   I can honestly say, he was the best child in behavior that I have ever seen.   He is now 17 years old and in a vocational school in Xi'an, China learning how to repair electric motors for cars.  He writes to me remembers so many things from his year with us and the Petersen family (Peachtree City, GA) while he was 3-4 years old.    We sent pictures home with him so I think he must look at those picture and recall his year with us.   I have sent him many of the pictures we took of him.

I have just sent him $100 to give him a little spending money.  He is so grateful for our love and help and it brings great joy to know that he has a good life and a hope for a good job so he can take care of himself.    

These are pictures of him in 2008 and in 2020 so you can see that he was a handsome little boy and he  has not changed a lot in 14 years. 

In Everything Give Thanks!

 "In everything give thanks"  is a very good way to start off each day.   Ron and I were reflecting at breakfast this morning how very blessed we are.   I would have to write all day to list the many ways we are blessed but I will reflect on just a few at this time.

We enjoyed a delicious seafood lunch at Red Lobster restaurant yesterday to celebrate our 63rd wedding anniversary.   Last year, we were in the Philippines and what a lavish reception we were given that day! 

This year, the waitress took our picture on the cell phone but its too dark and bad to even post!   Ron and I reflected on how blessed we are with our birthdays coming in May and June (83 and 84) to be able to do what we do.   We have escaped the COVID-19 virus so far and so has every member of our family.    I will have a visit with a new rheumatologist on Thursday and discuss the safety of the vaccine for my immune system situation.   

About a month ago, Tatum Dotson, our granddaughter was in the hospital in Tampa, FL for a week.  Leigh Ann helped her a lot during the time she was in the hospital by keeping her dog, Rocky, and doing some laundry and work at Tatum's condo so she'd have things in good shape when she got home.  Tatum  had severe pain with a ruptured abscess on her colon.   We are thankful that the right antibiotics and good hospital care healed her and she seems to be doing well at this time.    

None of our girls in our safe houses, nor the children in the orphanage in the Philippines have had any serious illness.   Our workers are also doing well.

Several of the older girls at Casa Esperanza of Angels are in one-on-one Bible studies with the minister/house father after expressing an interest in being baptized.    They are sure these older children understand the important commitment they are making rather than just following a trend of what others do.  There is much excitement now with a minister delivering the Sunday sermon, continual Bible teaching and the tent being filled with a large number singing praises to God each week.    They had to buy more chairs!  What a good problem.  

Ronald and Gigi live busy lives with the construction of their first family cottage under construction.  I think the plans are to have about four of these to accommodate visitors in the future.   The dire need now is for Ronald and Gigi to have this first one for a home and office.    It will be some time before they can obtain funding for the Administration building that will have an apartment for them.   They have been living in a one-room laundry house for the past year and it is very cramped.   They have been willing to sacrifice to make room for all the children they have accepted.    

There is a total of 19 children between our two house there now.  The two houses have space for 17 more children but it depends on whether they are boys or girls to complete the sharing of rooms.  They are presently evaluating six or more children that possibly will come to Casa and we have been told there are many others who are abused and neglected and need a home.    Gigi is busy with the home schooling for the children at various levels of learning as some children are almost teenagers and have only been to the first grade.

When anything has to be done with the government, Ronald and Gigi must travel to Cebu another island nearby by ferry.  On a recent trip, they took this picture at some location along the way.   I wish it were possible for them to get away more often for their own relaxation as they are under constant pressure.   Running an orphanage is not an eight-hour job.   The paperwork continues after the day ends and problems arise to make it a 24/7 job.   But, the rewards of helping these precious children make it worthwhile.  

Spring is here!   Robins are hopping all over the yard and flowers and trees are in bloom.  The Bradford pear trees are so white and beautiful.    Dogwoods and azaleas will be in bloom soon.   

The COVID-19 numbers are down and we see more businesses open, people out without masks going about their daily lives with more confidence that things are getting back to a more normal condition for easy living.    We hope this continues to improve so we can put the pandemic into the history books and be done with it!

We are still not traveling to visit churches.   Ron works from his computer and phone to keep supporters well-informed to know that our work in Asia continues as before and much good is being done.   I continue to keep sponsors well-informed about the girls they support.    We are still capable of handling all of the work and are very thankful that we still have this ability.   

The bottom line of this post is still the same...we are very blessed and we are thankful to God for our lives and everything that HE does to sustain our lives and provide the things we need.   To God be the glory for everything that is accomplished.    May HE bless each of my readers...friends and supporters.

Three baptisms!

Oh, happy day for three of our girls who were baptized within the past 7 days.    Kiana is supported by SAS in the Philippines.   Marevic is one of the Casa Esperanza of Angels' girls in the Philippines.    They were both baptized on Sunday, February 20.   A tropical storm was heading into the Philippines so the ocean water was very choppy as they baptized the two girls there. 

Yesterday, Amisha was baptized in Nepal.   Notice the dirty water in Nepal where Amisha became a Christian.   

We are blessed with warm, clean water baptisms but in other countries, they put on Christ under whatever circumstances they have available.  

We are thankful for the Bible teachers who taught these girls about Christ and for the hearts of the girls for being receptive and believing in HIM.

 

  

Hoping for Spring!

Today, while millions of people are without power and see no sign of spring, I am certain spring is not far behind.    My jonquils had buds last week when I cleaned out a flower bed and the forsythia has buds.  The camellia tree is bending over with beautiful blooms. 

Many budding trees and plants will be set back with this deep freeze this week.   Here in North Georgia, we are blessed with 25 degrees and sunshine at 4 p.m.  We did not receive snow or freezing rain from this cold front but some of the cold air hit us early this morning.   We are both doing fine but staying home and working on the computer to keep our mission work running smoothly.   

Our workers in Nepal, Laos, and Thailand continue to develop their self-sustainable programs to increase support for themselves in an effort to reduce the amount of funds they need from U.S. supporters.   Ron has been instructing them for two years to begin to research ways to carry on the work without so much dependence on the support from the U.S.    This has a two-fold purpose:   1) the girls will be taught ways to sustain their lives during adult years if jobs are not available to support themselves and 2) be less dependent on us, should we die and not have successors to carry on the support of this mission work in the future.

In Nepal, they are beginning to have bee hives to produce honey for sale, mushroom farming to sell mushrooms, chickens to produce eggs and meat for their own food supply and rice paddies when enough property is available.    In Laos, they are growing beautiful gardens and making concrete fish ponds to produce cat fish for their food supply.   In Thailand, they have gardens and are planting a rice field.    In the Philippines, Ronald has a large vegetable garden and a fruit orchard producing bananas and all kinds of tropical fruits.    

We continue to provide sacks of rice for the poor Christians in the Himalayan mountain villages.  A nurse from California just donated $500 for this group of people.   They have no space to grow their food, travel outside the villages is impossible and there is very few labor jobs for the people to work and make money to support themselves.    With the COVID-19 shutdowns of some areas, there was no work and people were at the point of starvation.  The last group of Christians walked two hours from their village down the mountainside to meet our workers bringing sacks of rice to them.   Vehicles could only drive so far and then a flat bed trailer pulled by a tractor took loads of rice further up the hillside to meet the people walking down the mountain.   Walking back up to the village with a 60 kg bag on rice on your shoulder or head would not be easy but they were very happy to receive the food.   A couple of months ago when the weather started to get really cold, we also distributed blankets to different villages.   Here are some pictures of those gifts being distributed.    As a result of our benevolent work this winter, many have become Christians.  The saying, "Don't tell me what you know until you show me how much you care" teaches the people that we love them and care for their physical needs as well as their souls.   They are grateful for the love and gifts.

The second house construction was completed in the Philippines and we have wonderful house parents now caring for four girls we are supporting.  They have two girls of their own and one is a Christian girl who is a good example for the new girls.   There are other girls waiting to come but have been held up due to court proceedings that must be completed before the girls are allowed to move to our safe house.    We hope three others in the process will get to come soon as they are at risk.  Sometimes, they are roaming the neighborhoods begging for food.  They have no supervision and are often raped and abused by relatives.    

Here is the story of Flor who has been at our safe house for about a month now.    

Flor’s grandmother and the social worker brought her to the safe house and then her grandmother came back two days later and took her back home.  The grandmother thought she would lose five hundred pesos of government support (about US $10.45) per month.  The social worker got involved and made sure the grandmother would continue to receive the five hundred pesos with Flor in our care.  Flor was crying the day her grandmother took her back because she wanted a better life and she was so happy to have an opportunity to live at the safe house with other girls and go to school.  She has suffered all of her life and had no security or happiness.  

Flor is at the safe house and happy again.  When we arrived the second time, she remembered all the names of the other girls in the safe house and the house parents.  They welcomed her with open arms and it was an emotional time for all of them.   Flor’s mother and grandmother have signed a document stating that they will not come take her back home as before. Normally, we would not take in an 8 year old, but let me explain the circumstances.   Flor and her two-year old brother have different fathers but they are nowhere to be found.   Flor’s grandmother who is 67 years old was laid off from her job so they have no income now except for about U.S. $25 government income.   They cannot provide food for the four of them and she will never be able to go to school.   Flor is often left alone and she goes around the neighborhood begging for food.  There was some indication from the social worker that she has been abused by a cousin. 

As young as she is, she dreams of having a better life for herself and her family.  She wants to go to school but having a dysfunctional and poor family, she has no hope for a better future. Now she will go to school and enjoy the life she dreamed about.   Soon she will know the love of God and her life will never be the same again.

Please pray for our girls in all of these locations as they are poor and have no hope without someone helping them.   Their lives will never have any hope of being better without the love of Christians who change circumstances by giving a portion of their riches to help SAS care for them.    

May God continue to bless us with unsearchable riches in Christ Jesus!