Home safely and thankful

After a quick two-week trip to Texas, we arrived home in Woodstock, GA yesterday.    From just south of Dallas to Corpus Christi, TX, Ron reported to some of the congregations that support our work.   As we had opportunity, we met with individual supporters in each location also.   We could not see everyone on this fast-paced trip, but we were very happy to see many people we had not seen in three or more years.  Due to Covid-19, we could not make visits in previous years.     We were happy to see many wonderful supporters and friends on this good trip.

We drove several thousand miles.   I have not completed our mileage log.  I don't have an exact total of miles driven, but it was a lot.  We are thankful we had no incident that delayed us.   We did not even see an accident while traveling.   Ron did the majority of the driving and did an excellent job.   I relieved him for an hour, here and there, to let him rest a while.  I can't drive after dark, and I am too stressed to drive through large cities, but in between cities, I provided Ron with some rest.    Due to our 12 years of living in and Ron driving an RV, I have not had a great amount of driving experience in a long time.

In Texas, the speed limit is usually 75 mph even on side roads that are almost like county roads.  But they are straight, and you can see for miles.    They have wide shoulders on the roads and if you see a fast-moving truck behind you, it is common to pull over onto the shoulder and let the vehicle pass.  Everything may be bigger in Texas, but everything is also faster.    If you see a pick-up truck coming, you can be sure they will be traveling about 10 miles over the speed limit, no matter what the limit is.  Even on the interstates, the speed us usually 75 and speeders are weaving in and out of traffic at speeds exceeding 80 mph.   With such heavy traffic and so many speeders, we feel very blessed to have made this trip safely.   We have State Farm Insurance and a monitor on the windshield so we can get a discount for safe driving so we maintained the speed limit (or below) and stayed in the right lane as much as we could to avoid irritating fast-moving drivers.

With this trip, we completed our reporting on the SAS work for 2022.    We have about 10 days to catch up from the trip, complete some of the computer work we could not do on the trip, wash clothing, repack for the five-month trip to Asia and prepare the house to leave.  

Thank you to all of our supporters and friends who follow our work and support the cause to provide a safe home, an education and spiritual teaching to vulnerable girls who live in poverty and have no hope for a good future.

I will continue posting to my blog and hope to provide pictures of our trip to Thailand and visits to our safe houses in other countries if we have opportunity to visit them.

May God bless each of you!   Thank you for your prayers for us, our family, the workers and girls we care for in Asia.

Feeling very blessed!

After the stress of last week, this week seems very calm and easy.    We drove to the Mayo Clinic on Monday last week since there was the threat of Hurricane Ian on the horizon.    This hospital must be the most cooperative of any hospital in the world.    Ron's appointments were actually on Thursday, the day the hurricane was predicted to arrive in Jacksonville.  They moved his appointments up to get the testing done on Tuesday and Wednesday.   We finished at 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday and there was already wind and rain coming into Jacksonville.   Ron was not able to see a doctor to go over the reports but, hopefully, he can have a conference call to go over the results of the reports.   We drove back to Woodstock on Wednesday.   

For several days, Hurricane Ian was predicted to go into Tampa Bay.  We were very nervous as Tatum lives in Tampa and Leigh Ann in Clearwater.    On Tuesday, Leigh Ann was ordered to evacuate so she went to Tatum's condo as it is not in a flood zone and no evacuations were recommended in that area.    The storm turned and came into land about 100 miles south of them at Ft. Myers.    There was no damage to our girls' condos, and they escaped the worst of this horrible storm.   

Ron's sister, in a retirement community in Fort Myers. made it through the storm also.    They were without power a couple of days afterwards, but she is doing fine.    Her daughter, further south, only had minor damage to their home.    We all feel very blessed for their safety but have deep sympathy for the loss of lives and destruction of property in the path of this strong storm.   

We returned to Woodstock for one day's work and left on Friday morning for Texas.   We drove to Vicksburg, MS the first day and on to Waxahachie, TX on Saturday.    

We spent the weekend in the home of Billy and Tammy Moran.   Billy is an elder at the Brown Street church of Christ.   They are wonderful hosts, providing us with good accommodations and a wonderful visit.     After Ron's sermon on Sunday, we had lunch with Billy and Tammy, David (another elder) and Carol Fittz and Mitch (a deacon) and his wife and son.    Ron reported to the Northside church of Christ on Sunday night.    Tammy prepared a wonderful "breakfast food" supper for us Sunday night and we played a game before retiring for the night.

We left Monday for Temple, TX.    We have a dinner appointment tonight, a lunch appointment tomorrow and a report to another congregation tomorrow night.    We will drive south and be in the Corpus Christi area this weekend.    We hope to see a few other supporters that attend congregations that we will not get to report to on this trip.  We will return to Woodstock next week.     It will take another two days to drive from south Texas back to Woodstock, GA.     

The trip is still scheduled for us to leave on October 30 for Thailand.   Ron has us booked on a 15-l/2- hour flight from Atlanta to Qatar leaving Sunday night about 8:30 p.m. on 10/30.     We have a room booked in the Qatar airport hotel and then we will take a flight to Bangkok the next day.     I was happy to see that Qatar Airlines is rated #1 with Singapore Airlines #2.    Ron flew to Thailand last year on Japan Airlines and he was very pleased with that airline.   

We are working in the hotel rooms during the day as we travel.   We are getting enough rest, so we are doing well.

Again, thanks for reading my blogs and keeping up with us.   

We are thankful and very blessed to have the ability to continue this work a while longer as the Lord is willing.

No change in plans ahead

We are continuing to catch up with our computer work and things that need to be done at the house in preparation for our upcoming trips.    I have been putting more hours into my computer work.  As September ends the 3rd quarter of the year, more reports come from workers in Asia to finish the reporting about the girls for their sponsors.    

We had to close one safe house in Laos   We had problems with the house parents for some time and it became apparent they were not teaching the girls properly and they refused to give reports for the girls or allow our worker from Vientiane to visit to talk with the girls.     At the end of the school term, we discontinued our support to this safe house.   They own the house so we could not fire them and move in other house parents.    I had to reassign the sponsors to girls who needed a sponsor in other safe houses.  

Wendy and Philip, the couple that arrived from Shanghai, China in June, continue to learn and help with the SAS work.   They have been taking driving lessons and will get their licenses in October.    Wendy will assume the load of work from Nepal when we leave for Thailand, so she is learning to review and edit reports.     Philip is working closely under Ron's supervision to develop his workload.    Their daughter, Deborah, is doing well in her schooling at Columbia Christian Academy in Columbia, TN.

What a beautiful week we have enjoyed with cool nights and warm days.    Leaves are beginning to fall so I have spent one hour a day raking leaves in the front yard.   It is wonderful to be outside and feel the warm sun and get a little exercise.    The nights will continue in the 60's in North Georgia, but the daytime temperature will return to the low 90's next week.    Fall is here but I guess the return of the football season proves that.

Our schedule is still the same as in my last blog for our trip to the Mayo Clinic and to Texas.   We are closely watching the tropical weather coming from Africa in hopes no hurricanes will develop at the time we need to be in Jacksonville, FL and travel along I-10 toward Texas.

Our son and daughter both have September birthdays.    We regret that we cannot be with either of them on their special days.   Ronald and Gigi also have an anniversary on the 23rd.   Although we are able to keep in touch regularly by email and chatlines, we miss them a lot and wish we could see them more often.   Our granddaughter, Tatum, is also doing well and we miss her a lot.    We are grateful for their well-being and good lives.

Thank you, my dear friends, for following our lives and work in Asia.   I hope to have some interesting posts and pictures from Thailand in November through March.    Don't forget to pray for our safety and health.   THANKS!!!

Adventures planned for October!

September has started off with cooler weather, some rain and a lot of work for us to handle.   We are doing well and keeping busy.    

We are at home until September 28th.    We will travel to Jacksonville, FL so Ron can have a physical at the Mayo Clinic on September 29h.   When he finishes the testing and appointments, we will head toward Texas.   We will drive as far as we can until we stop for the night and pick up the driving again the next morning.  

Ron is scheduled to speak on Sunday morning, October 2nd at the Brown Street church of Christ in Waxahachie, TX, just south of Dallas.   On Sunday night, October 2nd, he will report to the Northside church of Christ in Waxahachie.   

That next week, we hope to have lunch with an elder of the Groesbeck church of Christ and then travel on to Temple, TX.   We hope to give a report in Temple and meet with a few supporters.    Then we will travel on to South Texas.   

On Sunday, October 9th, Ron will give a report at the Portland church of Christ and on Sunday night, report to the Woodsboro church of Christ.  We hope to have time to visit with some other supporters and return to Woodstock, GA by the middle of that week. 

When we get back to Georgia, we will have a little over two weeks to prepare for our travels to Thailand.   We are both going this year but leaving the house for five months is not easy.    My good neighbors will look after things and check on the house to be sure everything is O.K.  They will pay the lawn service for us as we had to hire someone to remove leaves in the front yard for three months.  They are not sure how many weeks their service will be needed from October to the middle of December.    

I will leave the house clean.  It will get dusty but at least we will come home to an orderly house.  Ron does not plan to come back to the U.S. until March or April.   

I think our flight will take us to Dallas, Narita, Japan and to Bangkok.   This journey will be more than 24 hours.   We will probably stay in Bangkok one night and travel the next day to our intended destination. 

Our next safe house will be in Udon, Thail, Thailand, not far from the Laos border.   A house has been found that we can purchase and remodel to use for another safe house for girls.   Ron will not know the extent of the work to be done until we arrive there.   He wants to oversee the work and make the decisions on what needs to be done.   If the house is suitable for us to furnish part of it and live there while renovations are underway, that would be the easiest and cheapest solution to our accommodations.   If not, we will be in a hotel or rented room somewhere close by the site. 

We have friends in Fort Smith, AR who have gone to visit the church family in Udon for more than 20 years.   I don't know how many Christians are there.  Our friends really love these people and enjoy going there.   I understand that a couple has already agreed to be the house parents for this safe house.  Ron will interview them and train the house parents that are selected on what we expect of them to care for the girls and prepare reports.      

At some point in time, when this work is accomplished, we will visit the safe house in Chiang Mai that Ron established last year.  The son of my former boss in Atlanta, and his family, are living in Chiang Mai for a year.  They have two of their own biological children and two adopted children from China.   They hoped to spend a year in China for the children to experience life there but due to Covid and the restrictions to get into China, they went to Chiang Mai.    We look forward to seeing them when we visit our safe house there.   

We will go into Laos to spend some time with our workers there.   I'm not sure if we will get to Mukdahan, Thailand or to Nepal on this trip.   

On our way home, we will stop over in the Philippines to visit the orphanage and see Ronald and Gigi.  We hope we won't be in lock down there as we were in 2020 due to Covid.   

Ronald and Gigi hope to get home in the spring for a short visit but that may not be possible for two reasons.   They are losing the house parents in the girls' house at the end of their contract in December.  Whoever they hire to replace them will be new employees and need training.   They do not have adequate support to leave the orphanage for a long time.  Due to the island being isolated for two years because of Covid, Gigi's green card needs to be activated again.  They are not sure which immigration office would be the most understanding so they may try to go through Guam or Hawaii to get her active status again.   It will depend on the immigration agent they get whether they approve it, fine them or turn them away.   Any of this is possible.  

The hardest part of the international trip for me is to leave home and get ready to go.   There is so much to take care of before we leave.   Although I am usually excited to go, I am always exhausted when I leave on the flight.   It is not easy to have a place to do my computer work from there and I can't take everything I need.   Then at the end of the trip, we are ready to leave and come home but we face the return flight that brings jet lag.   I feel like I have the flu for about a week when we get home.  It is not easy to overcome.   As we are now in our 80's, I think it gets harder and harder with each trip.  

I pray for and ask for your prayers for our safety and health for this long journey.    While they have good medical facilities in Bangkok, we will be far away from those hospitals and doctors.   One of the reasons I need to go this year is to be sure Ron stays in good health and be with him.   I don't want him having a bad fall or illness there alone.    Yes, we have workers and Christians to help but in case of illness, I really need to be with him.   I am not concerned about myself because I trust Ron to take good care of me.

I will post to this blog often while on this journey.    I want everyone to know that we are doing well and not worry about us.   I cannot write everyone as I would like to so I can refer everyone to the blog to keep up with us.   Please do not think I am too busy to receive your emails if you want to write to me.  My email addresses are patbrown10@gmail.com and patbrown1022@yahoo.com.    I do not use the Yahoo account often but check it periodically.

I hope to have time to post a few more times to this blog before we leave on October 26th.   Thank you for following our "adventures" as we do our best to continue to do the Lord's work while we are able. 

If you saw our passport pictures, you would not think we are able to even go to the grocery store!  😊

September is almost here!

Summer has gone fast.   That is an indication of being too busy.   I had many things to accomplish but not much has gotten done.   Traveling to give supporters some report about our work, after two years of staying home due to Covid, has taken up some of our time.   As the mission work increases, so does our work to keep it going.   We care for over 300 girls from the age of 8 to 20 to provide an education and a better life.   

Ron is planning the next trip to Thailand for November.    Workers in Laos have located a building/house in Udon, Thailand that can be renovated to become a safe house.    We will travel there and get the work underway.   Ron does not know the extent of the work that needs to be done nor the time it will take.  After one night in Bangkok, we will probably go to Udon first to get that work underway.   Depending on the scope of the work and the timing, we will surely visit the safe house Ron established on his last trip in Chiang Mai, Thailand.   

We will visit with Phet and Hong, our workers in Laos this time.   Ron was not able to go into Laos last year as the border was still closed to outsiders due to Covid.    Udon is across the border from Laos so Hong may be over this safe house to be sure things are running well there after we leave.

We plan to go to the Philippines to see Ronald and Gigi.   This may be the last stop we make before returning back to Georgia in the spring.   We certainly look forward to our visit there.   Their family has grown from about 6 kids to 28 since our visit to see them in March 2020.   After two years of homeschooling, the public schools have opened in the Philippines, but the schedule is different for various grades and that is creating transportation problems getting children back and forth when they have children from kindergarten to high school.   The children will face many difficulties and challenges as many of them have not been in public school at all.   This will increase the challenges the workers at CEA face also.    

Thanks again for keeping up with us.   More updates to follow soon. 

  

Home Again!

We arrived at home last night from our three-week trip.   The last two days were mostly driving.   We left Greenville, TX before 8 a.m. on Monday and arrived in Many, LA in time to have lunch with supporters. We drove on and reached our Super 8 hotel in Meridian, MS about 9 p.m.   We slept a little late but were on the road by 9 a.m. Tuesday morning.    I started out driving but within an hour, we were in a dead stop on the interstate with cars and big trucks backed up for miles ahead.   We were just inside the Alabama line when we came to a complete stop.   Ron tried to call to find out the expected time of delay but had to leave a message.  I texted Leigh Ann (our daughter) and she did some searching and said it was a car on fire at the next exit and it would be an extensive delay.    After a while, cars began turning around and going backward down the grassy media.   The man in the car next to us in the other lane came over and said they heard it would be a 4-6 hour wait.   We had been parked for more than an hour already.   He said he would back in front of us and turn around and we could follow him back to the exit.   We did this and found that cars located a spot a short distance away where they could go across and get back on I-20 heading back toward Meridian.   We followed and got off at the next exit and went across to a highway paralleling the interstate.     When we got much further ahead, we got back on only to see smoke and lights ahead.  This must have been a 2nd accident because it was a trailer truck on fire and nearly consumed with the fire.   Its load of steel or something like that was on the right side of the road behind the overturned truck on fire.    The left lane was open and we safely got past it.  It was disturbing to think the driver may have died in this accident as the truck turned over on the driver's side.   It seems to happen when trucks are overloaded or their load shifts from not being secured properly.

With a couple of stops to change drivers, get gas and a quick sandwich and drink at Buc-ee's, we drove the full day to reach home about 7:30 p.m.

We drove almost 3,000 miles in three weeks, visiting about 13 congregations or individual supporters.  Our visits were enjoyable.   

The only other accident we saw was in Springfield, MO a couple of weeks ago.  On the other side of the interstate, a camper was overturned.   It was pulled apart from the SUV which was also overturned.   I think it had just happened as there was no one in sight and traffic was still approaching.   No other vehicle was involved so the camper must not have been secured properly or it fishtailed and caused the overturned situation.

We feel tired today, but we have much computer work to catch up.   I am taking breaks to unpack, wash clothing and get things back in order at home.   Maybe by the weekend, we will be able to rest a little more.

We are thankful for a safe and healthy trip.    We appreciate your interest in us and our work and we especially covet your prayers for our health and safety.    

Traveling!

We left North GA on Tuesday, July 28.   We are on another trip to visit with supporters and congregations supporting our work.    When we got back from Asia in June 2020, Covid was spreading fast, and we could not continue our travels to report on the Asian work.   This summer is our first attempt to visit supporters.   Since we gave up the RV traveling two years ago, we are traveling by car.   We are staying in the homes of some supporters but Super 8 has become our home away from home for the past two weeks.

We traveled to Mayfield, KY and stayed two nights with our friend, John Richardson.   We traveled on to visit with elders in Paragould, AR.    We visited with a deacon overseeing missions at the church in Mountain Home, AR on July 30.    We drove south to visit with a long-time friend and supporter in Mountain View, AR.   

Our next stop was Springfield, MO.   We visited the Conway, MO church of Christ on Sunday, July 31st.   We went to Watermill church of Christ on Sunday night, July 31st.     

Ron had no other appointments set for the next seven days so he worked out a trip to Dallas.   We drove from Springfield to Oklahoma City, OK.   The trip the next day was directly south to Denton, TX, north of Dallas.   Along the way, we stopped and had lunch with friends in Sanger, TX and reported to the Sherman Drive church of Christ in Denton, TX on Wednesday night (August 3).   The past two days we have been very busy, meeting with Dr. John Bailey, who supports our work and with Greg Smith, supporter and director of Dr. Bailey's foundation.   The last appointment we had this afternoon was with Judy Yang, our accountant who lives in Flower Mound, TX.    She was one of the Chinese girls that lived with us in Sharpsburg, GA and worked with us from about 2007-2014 and the China Mission work.      She is married and has a precious little boy, Isaac, who will be four in November.   We have not seen Judy in about 8 years.   She has not changed but the time that passed has surely aged Ron and me.

We have been blessed with good health and safe travels so far.     We are sleeping well after spending a full day either traveling or visiting with people.    We have a few hours to work in the hotel, but we have very little free time with the tight schedule.   Since we arrived in TX, the heat is the most unbearable part of the trip.   It is 102-104 every day and does not cool down below 95 until after midnight.   They have not had any rain in more than 30 days.   The grass and shrubs are turning brown, and some trees are dying.   Wildfires are popping up in some areas.    The forecast has no rain in sight for another week or two.

Tomorrow (Saturday, July 6) we will drive from Denton to Greenville, TX.   We will stay two nights in the home of a friend and supporter.    We will visit the Creekside church of Christ in Greenville Sunday morning and have lunch with a group of friends there.   Sunday night, Ron will give a report to a small congregation a few miles south of Greenville (Weiland church of Christ).  

Monday, August 8, we will drive south to Many, LA to visit with supporters at the Toledo Bend church of Christ.   That will be our last visit on this trip.   We will return to North GA, passing through LA, MS, AL and on to Woodstock.   I have not checked the mileage but that is probably a two-day trip.    Ron is doing most of the driving but trying to limit the driving time to about 5-6 hours a day.  We have covered a lot of miles, but the trips have not been extremely difficult.    

I learned how to handle detailed navigation when we had the RV.  I watch the road atlas and the GPS and keep Ron well advised about the distance between turns/exits.    I assist in every way I can to keep us safe on the road.   A congresswoman died this week in Indiana when a car crossed the media and crashed head-on with her vehicle, killing the driver and everyone in her car.    I used to read or crochet when we traveled.   I think having four eyes watching for unsafe drivers passing on the wrong side, crossing the media or an accident ahead, gives us a little more peace of mind that we will have a safe trip.  Having asked for safe trips in our prayers is an even greater way to lessen anxiety.

As far as I know, once we arrive home, we will not leave again until the end of September.    That is not very far off.   Ron will have a physical at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, FL on September 29th.     He is on schedule to speak at the Brown church of Christ in Waxahachie, TX (south of Dallas) on October 2nd so we will drive from Jacksonville back to north TX after his check-up.   I will post again concerning his health and our trip as we head west again.

Thank you for keeping in touch with us.   We especially need and appreciate your prayers.