Ron is home!

Ron left home October 30, 2021 and arrived home February 11, 2022.    It seems even longer than that to both of us.  He got in at 11:00 p.m. last night.  It was so late, he took an Uber taxi home rather than stay in a hotel.   He arrived home about 12:30 p.m. and went to bed right away.    

He slept until about 6:30 a.m.   I prepared a blueberry breakfast casserole yesterday so I went to bake it.  We had bacon and banana slices with the casserole (which has lots of eggs) and it was very delicious.   I have not had a good breakfast like this since he left.    

He has been unpacking and putting things away.   I have started a load of laundry as coming home always means there's a suitcase full of dirty clothes.

I have prepared enough food for the weekend so we will have some time to relax and he can rest all he needs to.   It will take a few days to get adjusted to the time change and the climate.

I cut camellia blooms and daffodils this morning and prepared a beautiful bouquet for the bathroom to remind us that spring is nearly here.

The past week has been warm and nice (nights down in the 30's but days in the 60's.    We have another weekend cold front arriving Sunday afternoon and cold air lingering through Tuesday.   Then we have rain toward the end of this coming week.

Our friend, Ellen Mao, from San Jose, California will arrive for a visit on February 22nd.   More later about our plans for her visit.

We are so thankful Ron was able to make the trip to Thailand and accomplish all he set out to do.  He was disappointed he could not go to Nepal, Laos or the Philippines on this trip.   He is about exhausted and really needed to come back home.    He will feel rested again soon.

Thanks to everyone who kept Ron and me in your prayers during this time.

Have a happy Valentine's Day everyone.    We love you all.

Ron's journey home has begun

Ron left the safe house in Mukdahan, Thailand at 4:30 p.m.  (4:30 a.m. Wednesday morning, their time).  He will travel in an airport shuttle van for 3 hours to reach the closest small airport.   The flight from there will take him to Bangkok.    Hopefully, he made a flight today and will arrive at a hotel before too late tonight.  He needs a few nights of rest so this will give him some time to be prepared for the many hours he will be in flight before reaching the U.S.    

The internet service at the safe house was not connected consistently to work on the international flights.  From the hotel in Bangkok, he will work on the reservations and be on the next available flight.  I don't know how soon that will be because I have no idea of the number of passengers that are traveling during these perilous times.    He will probably have to have a COVID test within 72 hours before boarding an international flight.    

He is flying Japan Air (which he says is a wonderful airline) and will most likely fly from Bangkok to Narita, Japan and then to Los Angles with a connecting flight to Dallas and then to Atlanta.   He may be overnight in Dallas one night.   

I will post again when I know his travel exact arrangements and when he will arrive home.   

Thank you for praying for his safety and health as he comes in contact with many people as he travels.  

Coming Home and other good news!

Ron completed the renovations that needed to be done at the safe house in Mukdahan, Thailand.  He treated the girls and house parents to pizza and ice cream on Friday night.   He was hoping to get a VISA approval to go to Laos to visit workers there but it does not seem likely that it will work out.  Laos has just opened their borders and VISAs are not easily obtained at this time.

Schools all over Nepal are closed due to an increase in COVID so Ron cannot go there on this trip.   He would love to see our family in the Philippines but a trip there is not possible now.   Ron is actually exhausted from the work from the past three months so he really needs to get back to the U.S. and rest.

Ron will start working on the flight changes to return home ASAP.    Hopefully, he can go back to Bangkok, rest a few days and be on his way home by next week.    When I have specific dates of his flight, I will post again.

Ron is ordering spring-like weather to be here when he arrives home.   While I expect warmer days, it will still seem cold to Ron after being in a tropical climate since the first of November.   I told him he can stay in bed until noon every day and I will provide room service.   The afternoon sun comes in the bedroom window and it will feel warm to him. 

They had a wonderful day of worship in the newly renovated tent at Casa Esperanza of Angels in the Philippines on Sunday.   Their post on Facebook of the services was a wonderful video of the three older boys (now Christians) serving the Lord's Supper to everyone.   There was a large crowd with all of the children and staff and the singing was beautiful (in English).   

I got the first email from Ranjit (our worker in Nepal) this morning since he got sick with Covid many months ago.    He has been seriously ill in Nepal and India hospitals.   He said he is feeling much better and starting to work again.   He hopes to begin visiting the safe houses soon.    We have been blessed to have Sagar (director of the Himalayan Bible School) assume Ranjit's work while he's been sick.   Sagar has done an excellent job and we are very grateful for his loving efforts to help.   We are very thankful that Ranjit is on the way to recovery and good health again.

We have been working with Immigration (Homeland Security) for about a year to bring Philip (Zhang Shoujiang),  his wife and daughter to the U.S. to work with SAS.   We met them about two years ago right after Philip graduated from the Memphis School of Preaching.   This past week, after much correspondence with Immigration, he has finally been approved to come March 1, 2022.   They plan to move to Houston, TX where they have either family or friends.    Once he arrives and gets settled, Ron will begin to train Philip in all aspects of our work.    We need him on-board to begin taking some of the load off of Ron's shoulders.   

I will be posting more about Philip and his family in future posts.  

We are so thankful for the many good events happening and providing us a way to have a good and successful New Year!

Prayers are appreciated for the girls in our care,  the children in the Philippines, the staff with both mission works, for Ron and me, Christians everywhere, and our nation as we anticipate war in Ukraine soon!   We could spend a lot of time in prayer for so many concerns, but I know God knows our every need and HE is faithful to be with us in all circumstances.

Have a great week, everyone!  

Progress

Ron arrived at the safe house in Mukdahan, Thailand last Friday and began assessing the work he needed to do at this safe house.   He found things the contractor did not finish after we left there two years ago.  He also found things that needed to be done, i.e. a water pump that needed to be replaced and other things.   It was too hot for him to sleep in the guest room so he got them to install an air conditioner so the room can be used for other workers when they visit there in the future.  He ordered materials and got workers to do the actual work and he is busy every day overseeing it.  He expects to be there another week but he said he could actually work there for a couple of months before it would be like he would want it to be.   I constantly remind him that their standards are not necessarily our standards.   For example, they have  moved their kitchen outside under a shed.  While it would be difficult for us, the heat of an inside kitchen makes it ideal for them to cook outside.  This is a common system in Thailand.  It is not as sanitary as it would be inside.    Many Asians have lived their entire lives without fridges so they see no need to refrigerate leftover food soon after a meal is finished.  They contend with flies which we cannot tolerate.  They have washed dishes in river water or just cold tap water and they see no need for hot water and soap.   It is hard to provide changes for people who have done it a different way all of their lives.    Ron wants every safe house to be up to our standards but it is not always possible or practical.

Ron is still waiting to see if he can get a VISA and go to visit workers in Laos for a week before he comes back to the U.S.    He wants to go, but he is also eager to come home since he left at the end of October.   I think he is getting weary at this point in his trip; three months of "camping" after being spoiled by me at home. 

In the Philippines, they are busy restoring what typhoon Odette destroyed.   The canvas is going up on the frame to restore the tent they use for worship and school classrooms.    

It is a very large (and heavy) piece so you can see why they could not remove it before the typhoon hit.

They have replaced the gates to the property and restored the concrete block wall that fell.  The property is secure again for the children to be safe.  

The children had a good Christmas right after the storm.   They helped clean up the flooded houses and enjoyed their presents (which had been purchased beforehand) even though they had no power.  They played games and had a wonderful time.   

Each month, they have a birthday party for the children having birthdays that month.  These children have not had such a joyful occasion on their birthday before so they are shown how special they are and how happy everyone is for their lives.

Leaving Chiang Mai

Ron is finishing up his work in Chiang Mai.    The training of the house parents has been completed to the best of his ability using a cellphone to translate.   They have much to learn but it will be an on-the-job learning experience.   

Ron will be leaving on Friday to go to Mukdahan to visit the safe house we built there two years ago.    

When he leaves there in early February, he will try to go to Vientiane, Laos to visit  our workers there.   It is too hard for him to attempt trips to Nepal and the Philippines.   He hopes to return home by the end of February.  

I will post more as I have details of his travels to the other locations.

Have a good week, everyone and may God bless you.

January 16, 2022

Today, we are half-way through January, 2022.   The U.S.  has a major winter storm covering a large portion of the country today.   This storm brought a lot of snow to the southern U.S.  It has been raining and snowing off and on all day today with very strong winds.    We have no accumulation of snow in Woodstock, GA but many areas have been affected with power outages.   We have trees leaning from the strong wind.  The wind is not so strong now so the trees  may stand until Ron gets back home from Thailand and can get them cut down.    

The good news is they look like they will fall between the shed and the RV and are not leaning the other direction toward our neighbor's fence.   

My motto is to look for the good in every situation.  It will cost us to have the trees cut but it could be much worse.   We have big oak trees at the back of the house near the deck and  it is always a concern that they will fall on the house.  At least the bedrooms are at the other side of the house and there are no trees that could fall on these rooms while we are sleeping.  

Good news from Thailand.    Ron, Patinya (the church of Christ minister from Bangkok) and our house father met with the Thai government to get approval for the safe house in Chiang Mei.   The operation of the safe house is approved and we can begin to bring in girls to live at the new home.    

The little girl mentioned in the last post will not be coming.   An aunt stepped in the situation and will not let her relocate to live at the house.  It happens many times that a relative who never cares for a child, decides to come forward and object.   She doesn't really care for the little girl or she would have already been helping her.   Sometimes, the people are ignorant and do not understand why anyone would help a little girl without some strings attached.   They even think people might want to sell her.  Maybe in time, she will learn about the home and let her come later.   I think they have identified five other girls who need a home  Three of them are sisters without parents.   I don't know the particulars but I will post about them when I have more information. 

More good news on this day.   Three souls were baptized and added to the church in Nepal.   I don't think they are girls we sponsor but local ministers taught and baptized two girls and a boy this Sunday.   

This looks like a man-made baptistry rather than just a stream but I'm not sure.   I do know it is cold in Nepal and this young girl must be very cold with a wet dress.   How many Americans could we convert to being baptized on a cold day, in a cold, dirty stream?   It amazes me that the faith of these people is so strong they are unconcerned about the discomfort of the season and place but are committed to putting their Lord on in baptism without hesitation.

Ronald and Gigi have cleaned up most everything at the orphanage in the Philippines since Typhoon Odette hit on December 17, one month ago.   They are now replacing the front gates, the road to the property, the wall and tent structure.    The children are all doing well and very happy.   They know they are blessed.

We are all blessed.   I hope everyone will remain in good health and miss being sick (or at least very sick) due to Omicron.   On a lighter note, here's a test for COVID that might bring a smile to your face.

God bless my faithful readers of this blog!

It is downhill now

Ron thinks his time away from home is more than half-way completed.    He is living in the house with the house parents.   Ron is in the bedroom downstairs and there are five bedrooms upstairs.   He gave the house parents money to buy food on Monday when they moved in.   He eats simple but different meals from the house parents, although the house mother has offered to prepare his meals.  The main food for any Asian is rice and Ron does not want to eat rice unless he has to as he feels it has no nutritional value but high caloric content.

Ron says the house parents have no real work experience but they are very loving and kind-hearted and eager to learn to do the work with girls.    He feels they are grasping a basic understanding very well and they will grow with the work and do well, caring for the girls.

The first girl, Mee, eleven years old, is supposed to arrive on Friday of this week.   I understand her parents are in prison and she lives with an old grandmother who is an alcoholic.   She has to sleep with an older brother so she needs a safe environment and better living conditions.  The house parents know Mee so that will give her more security coming to the safe house to live.   

Ron will review the procedure for adding new girls and show them how to complete the forms we need  to assign Mee a sponsor.   Our translator, Phet, in Vientiane, Laos knows Thai so she will help with the translating.  There is one member of the church that knows English well and the house parents can consult with her for help also.  They know only a little English.   Ron is using his phone to translate as he instructs them on how to establish house rules and operate an orderly safe house for girls.

Ron expects to be there about two more weeks.   After that, he will travel to Mukdahan, Thailand.  

He built this two-story safe house there in 2020 but we had to leave before it was totally finished.  They completed one section of it for the girls we already had but when the pandemic hit Asia, the work did not continue.   The house parents and 9 girls live there but they have not been able to add more girls.   Portions of the house are not finished.  Ron will spend a week there to determine what more needs to be done to complete the building.  

The new Omicron virus has only begun to appear in Asia.   There are a few cases in Thailand, detected as tourists have arrived from other countries.   At this time, borders between Thailand and Laos are open but that could change any day as this virus spreads.  

Ron hopes to leave Mukdahan by the end of January and travel to Vientiane, Laos to meet with workers there.    

He will begin to seek airline reservations for returning home.   If this is possible, he may be back in the U.S. before the end of February.    

The work is going extremely well.   Ron is very pleased with the new safe house and eager to visit the other locations and return home.    Well, almost eager.   He is eager to get home but does not look forward to cold weather when he arrives in February or early March.   He has soaked up the warm weather and enjoyed it very much.    

Thank you for your continued interest in our work, for your prayers and support.   Have a very blessed New Year.