Update on our work...cold weather coming for Christmas Day!

Today will be our last day to have a warm afternoon.   It is supposed to reach 60 degrees so I will finish my leaf raking in the front yard and Ron will complete some painting on the RV.   He needs warm weather to paint and this may be our last warm day until spring.    Snow may fall in the North Georgia mountains but not here in Woodstock.   It will just be very cold through the weekend.

Leigh Ann and Tatum sent us a honey baked ham and we are surely enjoying it.   I made Ron a favorite apple cake.   It fell apart when turning it out but it is still very delicious with a little whipped cream or ice cream.   I will prepare some vegetables and salad to complete our meal treats this week.    

I posted my picture on FaceBook showing my hair naturally gray now.   With over 100 approvals, I will leave it alone and not go back to hair color.   I don't feel any older but surely looking it!     

Our granddaughter moved into a new condo on Tuesday and had her 28th birthday yesterday.  She and Leigh Ann love Florida.   They have had a couple of cool weeks but its still warmer than any day we have seen since September.    They are very blessed with steady jobs and new homes they love so we are happy for them.

Things are going well in the Philippine work.   

Three of the older children have become Christians now.  We are very proud of the example these young people will set for the other children.    A younger girl asked Gigi:  "Ma'am, are you a Christian?"   When Gigi said yes, she said, "I want to be just like you when I grow up."    We set an example for young people, whether good or bad. 

A few nights ago, a tropical storm passed right over the city of Tanjay.    Ronald woke up at 3 a.m. and realized that there was flooding going on so he woke Gigi and she began getting anything off the floor of the laundry house where they are living.  Ronald said he ran out barefooted to the houses to be sure the children were O.K.   Then he proceeded to move the two vehicles to the highest point of the property.  They ended up with 6-8" of water inside where they live but lost very little.  Gigi worked tirelessly getting everything moved to tables and countertops.   What they lost can easily be replaced.   None of the other buildings were flooded since they are at higher elevation.   It was a long 12-hour clean up but they feel very blessed because it could have been much worse.

They had a big holiday party which included a lot of food and games on the 22nd. They selected three gifts for each child of equal value so every child will feel they have been treated fairly.   In the Philippines, it is traditional to open one gift at midnight so the children will get to do this and then go back to bed.   When they awake, they will have two more gifts to open. They will all have a big meal together that day.  One night, they will take the children in the van around the city and look at the Christmas lights/decorations.  They have never had a holiday like this, so I know it will be a very special holiday for these children.   Ronald and Gigi will be sure this is all done in a secular way without any religious significance about Christmas being Christ's birthday.    The children will continue to learn the truth of HIS Word.

Last week, a young Filipino couple celebrated their 5th anniversary by coming to the orphanage and presenting the children with t-shirts, balloons, toys and lunch.   There is more and more awareness and help coming from the Filipino community as they build good-will among the residents of this city.  

In the second house they built for SAS, they just added a 3rd girl who is 14.  She wanders around the neighbor- hood without supervision so she is at high risk for something bad happening to her.   We will eventually have 22-24 teenage girls in that house who are at high risk for trafficking.    I have sponsors for the three girls already.   Ronald and Gigi have located good house parents for these girls but they will continue to oversee this SAS work on their campus.  

Ronald and Gigi are very devoted to this work and are doing a wonderful job.   Check out their activities on Facebook at Casa Esperanza of Angels.     

Workers in  Nepal have completed their visits to each safe house, distributing blankets, warm mattress pads and winter clothing (jackets) to all of the girls. The major portion of this expense was donated through Carole Booker's effort to secure a gift donation from Westbury Church of Christ in Houston, TX.  The girls were very happy to receive warm bedding and new winter clothing.    

Workers in Laos have distributed rice and supplies to plant gardens to the Christian villages along the Mekong River.   

We have been supplying rice and some other supplies to Christian families in Nepal and Laos for months due to the COVID-19 pandemic which prevented people from working and earning enough to provide for their own food.    

With 2020 coming quickly to an end, we are waiting to get the vaccination so we have less chance of getting COVID-19.   When it is available for seniors, I will go first in case I have side effects.   With 6,600 new cases in Georgia just yesterday, we feel the need to stay inside away from crowds and not take a risk.

We wish all of our family, friends and supporters of our mission work, a very Merry Christmas holiday and a blessed New Year!

With much love and appreciation from Ron and Pat Brown.

As the old year comes to a close...we count our blessings.

Christmas holidays are fast approaching.    In spite of 2020 being a difficult year, where did the time go?  Maybe it is speeding away because of our old age but each week surely seems to rush by.   We have been in good health other than Ron's usual allergies that bother him.    We are not going out except for groceries.   We went to the store at 5:30 a.m. this morning and only saw a few customers and some Kroger workers stocking shelves or filling on-line orders.  

We had four beautiful warm afternoons last week so we got a lot more outside work done.   I had the front yard raked and then a couple of days later, it was covered with leaves again.    It is much too cold this week to get outside so I will watch for another warm day ahead to clean it up again.   Most trees are bare so the falling leaves will soon come to an end.   Each time I raked I thought about how falling leaves are like dirty dishes.   Before you can clean up one batch, another is ready to be done.   We surely love these trees in the summer when it keeps the house so cool.   

Today, Tatum, our granddaughter in Florida, is closing on her first home, a condo.   She has been in Florida for the past year just renting a small house.   Her job seems secure and she loves living in the Tampa/Clearwater area so she wants to invest in a home now.   We are very proud of her for saving her money and being such a responsible person.    Leigh Ann is using the rest of her 2020 vacation days to help Tatum move so they will not be coming here for the holidays.

With concerns about the COVID-19 virus and how our nation will go forward under President Biden, we just pray for the best as we move into a new year.    With God on our side, with our souls safe in His care, whatever happens in the future, will be O.K.    We will continue to try to take care of ourselves and keep praying for and thanking Him for our blessings.   They are numerous and we are a very blessed people.

A few months ago, Angelo was baptized.   He is the oldest boy at Casa Esperanza of Angels in Tanjay, Negros Oriental, Philippines   

Two young souls were added to His kingdom this past Sunday.    Arlene Grace and Arvin were baptized into Christ after a one-on-one study with one of the house fathers.  We are very proud of these young people who are learning the Bible and making the decision to become Christians. 

With these new Christians and the house parents, the number of Christians is now 10.  

Wishing everyone a safe, healthy and happy Christmas holiday.   Best wishes for a HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Troublesome times are here...

December arrived in North Georgia with a blast of cold weather from Canada.   We have had most nights below freezing this week.    Ron wishes he was in Thailand.    He has dry eyes now (my dry eyes started in the summer of 1990) and as temperature affects the humidity, it causes more pain in dry eyes.  Ron does not want heat because the humidity lowers the warmer it is inside the house.   He is working in a cold room but then suffering with cold feet and cold hands with no heat but a humidifier putting out moisture. When it is warm enough to be comfortable, his eyes are scratchy and blurry.   I have fought this battle so I know the feeling but I prefer warmth and dry eyes.    Over the years, my eyes have become less painful so nerve damage must have occurred to give me some relief.

We enjoyed a nice Thanksgiving dinner and left overs for a couple of days.   It is sad not to get to spent holidays with family members but we have not had that pleasure very often since we went into the mission work.    Usually, wherever we are on Thanksgiving, I have invited someone to share the meal with us.   But, not this year.   With the virus raging in Georgia, we stayed home alone and still felt very thankful.

Many of the schools have reopened in Nepal and girls are returning to school.    Some are limited to a few days a week and some have access to internet and are taking high school classes on-line.   We got reports this week from Nepal of the great poverty among Christians in some villages.   Our girls all come from such backgrounds but living in the safe houses, they have food and clothing and no worry about their opportunity to finish their education.   I had reports on two girls that went back to their homes and this is very disturbing to us.   One wanted to help her mother so I know some of the girls are concerned about their families back home but the other one just did not want to study any more.  Maybe being shut down and unable to go to school for a long time, caused this girl to just give up her chances for an education.    An important lesson we need to teach our children is NEVER GIVE UP!

Ron has been busy raising funds to feed the poor Christians and loads of 30 kg bags of rice have been distributed to many families.    If you want to help with this relief work or see the pictures of these poor people and how they live, write to Ron at ronbrown20@gmail.com.  After seeing these pictures, I refuse to complain about anything.   I do not know how they even survive the living conditions in the Himalayan mountains with no proper shelter, clothing, blankets or food.   

We are learning of more people we know who have survived or passed away with the COVID-19 virus.  Apparently, it will be bad in the U.S for many months to come.   We were eagerly hoping the vaccination would help end the pandemic but I read yesterday that it's effectiveness is about 3 months.  Before everyone can be vaccinated, and the pandemic eradicated, it may still be around to affect those who got the vaccination more than three months earlier.   Am I incorrect in this thinking?     It also takes up to a month to be effective once you get the first shot.    In any event, we are staying close to home and taking every precaution when we go buy groceries or run necessary errands.

Please continue to pray for our workers, our girls and our son's work in the Philippines.    We have been blessed to be able to continue our work at the same level.    Ron talked with an elder in one congregation and he said all the mission works they support are on hold.  Missionaries cannot do their work in the foreign countries due to the virus, and those who came home cannot get VISAs to go back to the mission field.

Troublesome times are definitely here, but God is in control and things will eventually change.    I am reading The Narrated Bible in Chronological Order with commentaries by F. LaGard Smith.   When reading about the wanderings in the wilderness for 40 years, I cannot help but realize that God allows things to happen to the people He loves.   I am grateful that I did not live during those days.   We are so blessed to be living under Christ's New Testament era.  Life is surely easier for us now than in those days.   

God bless you all!

Tomorrow is Turkey Day!

How many of you know where you were or what you were doing on this Thanksgiving Day 30 years ago?  Today, I went to the basement to look through a box of cookbooks, hoping to find a specific one I used many years ago.    

I found a small pink notebook and inside I had written about my La Petite Boulangerie (My small bakery).   We were living on an island in the Caribbean, a French territory called Saint Barthelemy (St. Bart), about 15 miles from St. Martin (a Dutch and French island).     My little notebook recorded on 11/25/1990 that I began baking and selling my goods on that day.  

Ron was trying to start a new congregation but to meet people, he rented a small plane and several days a week, he flew to other islands to pick up fruits and vegetables to bring back to St. Bart to sell to restaurants and to the public.  He rented a small building not far from our rental house, added some refrigerators, placed tables around the room and displayed the many things be brought back from other islands in the Caribbean.   He opened it to the public from 12:00 to 3:00 P.M. several days a week.   At 4:00 he loaded up our van and took orders to restaurants all over the island.    He brought back conch and other specific items as requested by the restaurant owners.   It was a little income for us but mostly it was a way to get to know the people on the island in hopes of teaching some of them the gospel.  It was a Catholic island and French people, many speaking a creole French, so it was difficult for Americans to be accepted by the locals.  Our small business helped a lot in that way but we did not convert anyone in the 2-l/2 years we lived there.   We mostly had tourists attending our services.

My little bakery began to give me something to do and items to sell at Ron's little market each day.   I started baking right after breakfast each morning (7:30 a.m. and baked until noon).  I covered flat boxes with contact paper and filled it with small loaf-size cellophane wrapped loaves of bread and cakes, zip-lock bags of cookies, fried pies and muffins. I labeled what each was and the price on small sticker-type labels.  Everything was sold each day.    I began to get requests for special cakes and I baked those extra items and put the person's name on the item so it would not be sold to anyone else. 

I got special orders for pizzas, which was surprising because there were some really good pizza restaurants on the island.  People came by the house to pick them up as they were just out of the oven so they would be fresh and hot.  It was usually a family heading to the beach and wanted a pizza for lunch.   A couple of guys (homosexuals) from New York had a rental house close to us and they came by the house often to pick up sacks of muffins that I baked special at their requests.   They owned a Hermes shop in New York (so they told me) and if  you know of that designer of scarves and accessories, you know what an expensive shop they owned.  They were really friendly and nice.   It was a safe island with no crime and I was never afraid there.  

I continued my small bakery until we began to pack to leave the island to go to Montreal, Quebec, Canada.   My last entry in the book is dated June 4, 1991.   Converting the income from the French franc to U.S. dollars, I recorded:

November - December $939.00

January $999.00

February  $1,166.00

March  $807.00

April  $100.00

May $472.00

 Also, 50 pizzas baked in 6 months (50 x $10).    

Total amount sold, excluding pizzas was $4,513 (we considered l/2 profit after buying the ingredients).

The remarkable thing about this small business endeavor is that I was coming down with an autoimmune disease unknown to me and most others, including doctors.  It is called Sjogren's Syndrome.   My first symptom was dry eyes.   I have no moisture/tears to this day.  My eyes were hurting so badly that the baking was my way to keep my mind off my pain for at least l/2 of each day.   It is a very long story to explain the progress of the disease and what I went through for several more years.   It is the reason we left St. Barts and went to Canada.    I needed testing, medications and doctors to relieve my pain.   Ron had an opportunity to work with a church that needed us badly so we made the decision to move.   We lived in Montreal for the next seven years (1991 - 1998) and worked with people speaking five different languages in this one congregation. We moved to Nashville, TN and began the

mission work in China in 1998.   

I just thought I would reminisce about what was happening with me 30 years ago tomorrow.  God has blessed our years and work and we have many things to be thankful for on this special day to reflect on past and present blessings.

Wishing all a happy Thanksgiving.   Thank you again for following our work.  God bless you!

Wishing everyone a happy Thanksgiving holiday!

This is an important time of the year for most of us.   While it may be because of the good food we enjoy, it means much more than just enjoying a good meal.   For many, it will be a sad time because families cannot be together.   It may be sad because a family member's place is left empty because they have passed away.  It may be even harder for some people this year with COVID-19 interrupting all of our lives.    My hope is that all of my followers, friends, family and supporters of our mission work are well and thankful for our many blessings.  Hard times just mean that we hunker down, keep our faith and continue to move forward until things get better.    

Thankfulness should be in the hearts of everyone.   God blesses us even when we are not deserving or appreciative.    We often overlook the many good things in our lives when things do not go our way.  Even winter brings on the blues and we grumble.   I was thinking this morning as it is very cold in North Georgia, how thankful I am that I did not live during the pioneer days when life was one disaster after another.   If you are old enough to remember "The Little House on the Prairie" you know what I mean.  Many of our mothers and grandmothers lived through very hard times compared to what we go through these days.

Solomon in his wisdom, reminds us that to everything there is a season and a time for us to rejoice and a time to be sad.    

When I think of those who have lost jobs, worried about how they will live and support their families, our worries are minor.   Just focus on your blessings, as I try to do, and be thankful.   God is with us and who can be against us?   

In the Philippines, our son and daughter-in-law's orphanage is caring for children who would be wandering the streets looking for food.   Our girls in the safe houses in Thailand, Nepal and Laos would be living in shacks during the cold winter and have nothing more than a bowl of rice each day.   Some are so poor they go into the forest to look for food just as the animals have to do to survive.   What hope do these people have?   Where is their joy and thankfulness?

Reflecting on these things, I just want to wish everyone a very HAPPY THANKSGIVING and encourage you to be THANKFUL.

Thank you to all who help with our mission work to provide a better life for others and give them a hope of Heaven.

God bless you all.

November - what can I say that is good about it so far?

Forgive me for rambling in this post because there have been so many things happening lately.   Some good and some things not so good.   

We had the remnants of a tropical storm hit early one morning with 55 mph winds for four hours.    When it was light enough to see outside, it looked like a war zone with tree limbs down everywhere.   No trees fell and all limbs were small enough to remove easily but I have spent two weeks just picking up limbs.  We lost power for a short time and were blessed much more than the people of Louisiana who were without power for up to a week in some areas.   Our yard again looks like the pictures I posted in the last blog segment after many hours of hard work.       

The election was a disturbing mess and continues to be unsettled.   Georgia will go through a recount but they were still counting ballots today.   President Trump was right to predict the mail-in ballots would create a huge problem.    There were many irregularities and yet I doubt it is enough to change the outcome.    We did lose sleep two night as we anxiously listened for the results.    There is nothing more we can do but pray for our leaders and our nation.    

I sprained my foot on Saturday afternoon.     I worked hard in the yard most of the day and came in to rest in my easy chair.   After checking emails and reading the news, I got up to go take a shower.   I managed to put my computer on the small table in my office before I had a very hard fall.   My right foot had gone to sleep but I did not feel it.    It gave way and I fell, hitting my head on my office chair and making a big noise.   Ron was in his office and heard it so he rushed in to help me up.   I could not get up because my foot was sprained.   We got my tennis shoe off and put an ice pack on it.   I managed to pull up enough to get to a bed and with ibuprofen and the ice pack, I got some relief in about an hour.  Now, two days later, my foot is swollen and black across the top and on both sides of the ankle.   I can walk without much pain but it will take a while to heel.

The saying I saw on Facebook comes to mind...."Is that promise my mother made to slap me to the next year still open?"    2020 has been a year none of us will forget.    Often, when Ron asks when something happened, I have to remember how old our kids were or where we were living at the time to figure it out.  I don't think we will forgot anything that we have experienced in 2020 and yet there are blessings galore.   We must remember to count them when things are not going exactly as we wish.     

Ron is trying to get an appointment to have his painful shoulder checked but with the pandemic, a simple doctor appointment is not simple.    I need two more dental appointments and with things happening, it is hard to know when to schedule them and I really rather not go out with the pandemic raging again anyway.

We lost a friend in Texas to cancer last week and today Leigh Ann (our daughter) lost a friend of 35 years to brain cancer.    A couple of weeks ago, a friend in Alabama lost her husband with a stroke.  Life is precious and even when we have the many ups and downs, we still should be thankful for each day of life.   Don't forget to tell those you love how much you love them each day.    

On a cheerful note, my niece in Oxford, Mississippi became a grandmother this week and they are so delighted to welcome Lewis into the world.    

Ronald (our son who has the orphanage in the Philippines) wrote that they have a new boy 10 years old.  When I want to feel sorry for myself, I remember children that have gone through so much more than I will ever experience.   This little boy's mother died of cancer.   There is no mention of a father.  He was living with his grandmother but going around to neighbors begging for food.   They are very poor and have nothing.   Can we put ourselves into the plight of this grandmother or that little boy?    How blessed we are and how ungrateful we are to complain about things.    

Some  years ago while we were working in China, I remember thinking of those mothers that abandoned their babies. It was different from uncaring mothers aborting their unborn babies.    These mothers were so desperate they would leave their babies in the cover of night, wrapped tightly in old clothes and lay them near a place where someone would find them,   How many of these women cried their entire lives for the children they were not allowed to keep?   What pain they must have had.    How happy could you be wondering if your child lived and was cared for? 

Our work in Asia continues without any problems.   None of our girls or workers are sick.    Many have suffered in Laos from recent flooding.  Ron will report by newsletter when he gets a report from our workers and how they have been able to help Christians who lost homes and needed food.   Today, I read where a typhoon is hitting Viet Nam and Cambodia with severe flooding.   It is a constant problem for poor people from Nicaragua last week to these people this week in Asia to suffer losses.   When we realize that 80% of the world's population lives in poverty and are continually enduring storms and earthquakes, we should thank God every day for our many blessings in America.   

Keep your focus on life and what is really important and don't let trivial things get you down and ruin your day.   My daughter, Leigh Ann, has posted on the Facebook page something like this:  "Live each day as if was your last."    Cherish each day you wake up and each night when you can lie down in a comfortable bed, safe and without hunger.

I am sorry I got carried away with my focus on us not being appreciative enough.   But it is a lesson we all need to think about.    

With love to all of my friends and family...and to those who care about us and our work that I do not even know very well...May God bless you. 

No news is good news as October comes to a close

 It is difficult to find anything interesting to post when we stay home all the time and our days are rather routine.   After 10 years of travel in the RV, relocating every two or three weeks, I am enjoying staying in one place in a house but it may get really boring before the winter is over.    

Ron continues to work on the RV repairs and touch up painting on pretty days after he answers his emails.  We need to get the RVs sold and he is diligent in working toward that end.   The American Dream that was donated to us a year ago has been in a shop for repairs that Rou could not do.   It is now ready for us to pick up but Ron has not found a dealer to sell the RVs so we will bring it back to our driveway on Friday.   He should complete the work on the Tiffin RV we own in another week and then we will clean them up and find someone to sell them for us.

The work has been really hard for Ron because he has one bad shoulder and continuous back pain from having a problem in 2004 that resulted in a disk being destroyed by e-coli in his upper back.   He will be relieved to be free of the RV maintenance when we can get these RV's sold.

On nice days, I am working a few hours in the yard to get some physical exercise.    I rake leaves in the driveway and walkway and pick up sticks all over the front and back yard.   The trees are wonderful in the summer, providing shade and keeping the house very cool,

but in the fall we have the dead limbs falling along with "raining" leaves.   The neighbors next door are helping me with the front yard leaves since they have a mower that picks up the leaves very quickly.   We will leave the backyard "natural" but we are burning the dead limbs that fall.   

We are anxious for the election to be over but we don't expect things to settle down and be peaceful.  There are rumors that Georgia is the #1 state to have riots and trouble if President Trump wins the election.    These groups that are no different from terrorists, state that they will target the rural and suburb areas since these are where people live who vote Republican and start a civil war.    The city of Atlanta has had riots during the summer months due to racial violence with shootings and the police.    We will avoid the city until we know things are calm.    We have no need to go into Atlanta except to go through the city to get to my dentist for a couple more appointments.

Our work is going well except the border between Laos and Thailand is still closed.    We can't add more girls to the house in Mukdahan, Thailand until our worker in Laos can go there to search for vulnerable girls in need of a home and education.     Three of our girls in Nepal have been reported to have the virus.   The son of the local minister came in to teach a Bible class and reported ill a few days later and then three of the girls got sick.  We are waiting for a report about them and any other girls who may have contracted the virus.     Schools are still closed in Nepal.   The girls can go to their schools three days a week to pick up assignments and do their work from the safe house.    Most of our safe houses have a garden nearby so the girls get out of the house to work in the garden but stay close by home.   

We are happy to send reports about our work to anyone and we welcome your emails.    Ron's email is ronbrown20@gmail.com and mine is patbrown10@gmail.com.    Thanks to everyone for being interested in our work and providing us with so much encouragement to continue the work.   God has blessed us with wonderful sponsors and continued good health.     God bless you all.