Soon to be Missionaries to the U.S.

My buddies, Ting and Son, who are almost set to head to the U.S. in March. They'll be staying with Jason and observing/volunteering at his church, Wellspring Community Church in St. Joseph, Missouri. I am hoping they will also have the chance to visit Pleasant Valley and maybe even meet with my small group there. Jason works with adolescent drug users and Ting will have the chance to share his own story of drug use and God's redemptive grace. They really will be missionaries, which is so cool!

Ting... they played with talcum powder and water. The kids just love this guy. Heck, so do I!

Sontaya, with his Bear Bryant hat, keeping the kids entertained.

Fun times.

Someone stole Son's hat!

The real Ja Rurat

There are several entrances into the maze that is Ja Rurat community. I saw a new entrance today, on the back side of the place. Just outside, there is a small clearing where folks gather and you have just a bit of elbow room. In the background, you can see people gathered around a hole in the concrete wall. That IS the entrance to this side.

The entrance up close. It is no more than four feet tall, and it opens into the maze of pathways between all the homes.

Irony. This building and its advertisement towers over Ja Rurat, promoting something no one there will ever be able to afford.

On the opposite side of the clearing and past the highway overpass is the back side of the third slum area we serve. Until today, I had NO idea they were that close.

We visited the home of one of our kids today and spoke with her parents. The door behind her is the entrance to her home, which is about ten feet square.

This open, green, brackish water is everywhere in the community. There is no sewer system.

The pathways between the home are poured concrete in some places and just boards placed down in others. That same green water is running under most of these boards.

After I spoke with the kids today about prayer, one of them led us in a prayer of Thanksgiving.

Nok is my translator when I speak and she is great.

Got milk? It's a real treat to these kids, who seldom get it.

Slums 08-23

This Sunday started out in memorable fashion. At lunch after church, I visited with a guest from England. Her name is Joy and she had her adopted daughter Anna with her. Joy is vision impaired and has come for a month each year for fifteen years to volunteer at the school for the blind in Pattya. There she met little Anna.

Anna was in a group of children the school deemed 'unteachable,' and as such she was pretty much just warehoused. When Joy met her, she was not even potty trained. She could not speak and could not read Braille. Today, Anna speaks English AND Thai and is engaged and just a wonderful little girl. Joy brings her back to visit annually, so she maintains a sense of her Thai background. It was a treat to meet them!


Thirty nine kids at Ja Rurat this weekend. Down a bit, but it is a good thing when a down week is almost forty. Lord, send laborers!

Greg Brown and Pai with photographic proof that they helped do dishes!

Two of my very favorite people in all of Thailand, Ting and Sanit. Brother and sis. Ting is going to America in March to spend a couple of weeks with J.

Sontaya is going to America with Ting. In fact, he just got his passport last week!

Greg Brown shares a devotional after dinner in the slums at Bearing.

Lovely ladies. it is nice to have Izumi back from her home in Japan to visit.

Bamboo Pai!

08-16 Ja Rurat

Forty kids this week. And three adults to work with them. But a great time. As always.

My girl Fern showed up wearing a Kansas Jayhawks shirt. Yes, I said a KU shirt. I asked her where in the world she got it and she said she bought it. A KU shirt. I have to do something about this. My girl needs some Carolina gear!

My buddy Ohm helps hand out snacks.

Studying my "M"s.

Goodbye to a friend

I met Pranom in July of 2008. At the tine, he was already carrying HIV in his bloodstream, as the result of a period of marital infidelity several years back. He had long since repented and dedicated his life fully to Christ. Pranom was a man with a smile that could light up a room, and he was unashamed about either his current medical condition or his faith. In January, J and I hired him to drive us to the old capital of Ayutthaya in his taxi, and we spent the entire day together.



In recent weeks, he developed full blown AIDS and he quickly became very ill. Three weeks ago, the slum teams gathered at his apartment for a time of celebration of a life that had made a difference to many of us. We sang and shared memories and prayed together for our friend.

Pranom passed away gently yesterday afternoon. Today, after our time in the slums, the team gathered for his funeral. Some time back, his wife abandoned him, unable to handle the stress of the disease and the stigma that accompanied it. It was left to his older brother to make funeral arrangements. He is Buddhist, so he arranged the funeral in a temple. This was one unusual funeral. Pranom's Christian family gathered and sang worship songs together and the pastor of the church he was attending before his death (he had moved too far from Immanuel to continue there on a regular basis) spoke. Following that, Buddhist monks walked in and did the traditional chanting. Finally, the believers gathered once more before his casket and shared final thoughts and prayers.

Jesus said, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live." We celebrate the assurance that we'll one day enjoy being with our friend again, but for now, he will be missed.

49

Yep. Forty nine kids at Ja Rurat this week. Last year at this time, there were weeks when we might have five or six. Each week, the kids get a Bible lesson and we quiz them to make sure they understand. Each week, we work on memory verses. We are building a foundation we hope will pay off years from now.

My buddy Ohm with his little brother. Their father was released from prison last week. Judging from Ohm's reaction when I asked about him, I am not sure if that is a good thing or a bad thing.

Nok's friend helped out this week and brought surgical masks, which are very common with the threat of swine flu, for the kids to decorate.

Nok helps the kids color their masks.

Because I am something of a giant in their eyes, the kids love for me to pick them up and hold them high in the air. The line up each week ten or twelve deep, waiting their turn.

Little brothers.

More Khao Lak July '09

Seasheels from a small shop along the shore.
Ah Jan Anchala arranged a meeting with the district governor. While there, Noi gave him a Bible .
And Ah Jan Winit explained how to use it.

Singing deep and wide with some children at a home we visited.

On Tuesday, we crossed paths with a team of Canadian teenagers, in Thailand for a short term mission, working with a missionary couple from Phuket. We took a while to visit with each other.

Deep and wide with kids at a preschool we visited.

Ah Jan Vee and AH Jan Phetmony who was our host during the trip. She is a very special lady.

Nong, our church administrator, getting a glamour shot in.

The church where we stayed during our trip.