August has been a busy month!

Is the time passing quickly because of my age?    It seems each week just flies by and I don't get as much accomplished as I planned.   Just keeping up the regular work and taking care of ourselves seems to be a full-time job at this age.   

We have stayed well except for the usual aging woes, dealing with sleep problems and aches and pains of back aches and fatigue.    My check up this week indicated that I am in "good shape for the shape I'm in"  Everything on my blood test was in the normal range.   COVID (Delta Variant) is surging in Georgia again so we have not been traveling.   We only went to visit one congregation outside of Atlanta this month.  

Our work continues to go well but not yet at a normal pace.   Several of our girls have been baptized as they continue to be taught by the ministers (who are their house parents) in each safe house.   

COVID has been bad in the Asian countries and they have been shutdown.   The borders of Laos have been closed since April, I believe.  Nepal has been shutdown twice so far this year.   The girls are struggling with the schooling but so far only two have gotten sick.    

We are still providing food for the poor Christians in these countries as they cannot work to earn enough to buy their daily food.   Several have been baptized as a result of our food program as the Christians share their food with neighbors.

The Philippines still have restrictions regarding travel off the island.    Casa has 23 children and a busy summer of activities but everyone has been in good health.   

Four of the older children were baptized two weeks ago which brings it to a total of 9 conversions so far.   

A new full-time minister has been hired so the community will be receiving the gospel when he is able to easily go about teaching.

Ron plans to return to Thailand the last of October, the Lord willing.  There will be many restrictions if he is even allowed to go to Thailand but he is preparing to have the proper paperwork to permit him to travel there.    Since the virus is still very bad in Asia, I will not go on this trip.   I have an autoimmune disease that puts me at a higher risk with COVID.    Ron will try to get a booster before he goes and we pray he will not get sick.

I will post more often to this blog when he leaves so I can provide an update about him and his trip.  We plan to chat each morning and evening to keep from worrying about each other.   There is a 12 hour difference in the time.  

Thanks to everyone for the wonderful support for our work, the many prayers that remember us and those we care for in Asia.    May God bless each of you as you continue to have interest in our work.   It is a team effort to save the lives and souls of those in need.    Thank you!

Everyday life from North Georgia to Asia!

There is not much to post regarding our work in Nepal and Laos.   The COVID-19 shutdown continues in both countries.    Two of our girls in Nepal have been tested positive for the virus but they are young and not very sick.   Some men in the Narayangarh church of Christ have the virus but we do not have any update on their conditions.   Our workers are doing well in both locations.  

In all locations, they continue their gardening programs, harvesting fresh vegetables to eat, planting corn and rice for future crops and daily living chores.    The girls keep busy studying their school books, trying to keep up with their knowledge to be able to continue successfully when schools reopen.   Some schools will take the combined totals of their exams instead of giving a final exam to promote girls to the next grade level.   But, some will give a final exam when the school reopens and this is a concern for the girls who know they will face a test as soon as they return to school.

We see more and more businesses opening in the U.S. without requiring masks.    Although less than half of the people in Georgia have been vaccinated, many of those remaining are young people and the virus does not seen to be spreading.   I read that there are up to 16,000 new cases each day in the entire country, which sounds high, but is a very low number from what was reported only a few months ago.  

We are beginning our weekend travels to churches that want to have a current report about our work.  Many churches know enough from our reports to continue their support and say it is not necessary for us to travel to visit them.   We have given up the Tiffin RV travel as it has become too difficult for Ron to maintain and drive since his back has been hurting a lot more this year.    I got updated glasses so my vision at a distance is good and I can help with driving the car on trips that are more than just a few hours.

We piddle with growing some vegetables and are getting green beans, peppers and yellow squash.  Ron has plants growing well to provide us with okra, spinach, zuchinni squash, and melons.   Tomato plants have many green tomatoes so we will have ripe tomatoes soon.    

Last week, our daughter, Leigh Ann, and Ellen Mao, a friend from San Jose, CA, visited for a few days.  I asked Ellen if she had eaten fried green tomatoes and she said she loved them.   I picked two of our green tomatoes and fried them for her and she really enjoyed them.    Dip them in beaten egg and then in cornmeal and fry in hot oil for 2-3 minutes on each side until crispy and enjoy!

We had a few hot days in the 90's but another cool front came through yesterday bringing early morning temperatures down to as low as 59 degrees.   A tropical storm near Mexico expected to come up in the Gulf may bring us thunderstorms and heavy rain by Sunday or Monday.     It is the season for hurricanes so we will follow their paths closely as Leigh Ann and Tatum are living in the Tampa/Clearwater, FL area now.   There will be more tropical storms and typhoons in the Philippine islands so we will also track those storms, praying that everyone will be safe at Casa Esperanza of Angels' orphanage in Tanjay.

Although their island is not shutdown, Ronald and Gigi still cannot travel due to COVID-19 conditions in the rest of the Philippines.    They have a few cases on their island and they limit the people who can come on campus to try to keep everyone safe.   

We continue to send funds for workers to buy food for Christian families in Nepal and Laos.   Many are beginning to suffer from lack of work and funds to feed themselves with the long shutdown of the countries.    We are grateful for all the people who have donated to this relief work.   Generous donations have fed a lot of poor people and we know they are very grateful.

Thank you for following my blog, keeping up with our work and our lives.  We are grateful for friends, family and supporters wherever you live.   May you stay safe, healthy and blessed by God.    

Shutdown in Nepal and Laos continues

Please remember the people in these countries in your prayers.   The country of Laos has been in shutdown mode for more than a month.  Our girls are safe at home studying their books, doing their crafts, such as macrame, sewing and embroidery, gardening and keeping up with their chores at home.   Nepal has recently shutdown for the 2nd time this year.  Girls are all in the safe houses, studying, learning to cook, playing games and reading their Bibles.   Our workers keep us well-informed by staying in touch by cellphone with the ministers overseeing the girls.  Workers cannot travel to the various safe house due to restrictions on travel.   Only essential ambulances and food delivery trucks are allowed on the roads.   Our relief work to feed the people will be on hold until workers can travel to distribute sacks of rice again.    

 India on Wednesday reported more coronavirus deaths in a single day than any other country at any time during the pandemic, while infections continued to spread through vast rural areas with weak health systems.   The Health Ministry reported a record 4,529 deaths in the past 24 hours, driving India's confirmed fatalities to 283,248. It also reported 267,334 new infections, as daily cases remained below 300,000 for the third consecutive day. The numbers are almost certainly undercounts.  The previous record for most daily deaths from the coronavirus was set on Jan. 12 in the United States, when 4,475 people died, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

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.