An Incredible Story

Last month I had the great opportunity to attend a  student conference.  It was held in a city about 15 hrs away.  The bus trip is a story itself.  We got started at midnight, after waiting 2 hours on the side of the road for the bus to get there.  We rode a cramped bus for over 17 hours!  I used to think “road trips” were cool.  Getting old is changing my mind.  The conference was great, and spiritually challenging as well.  One benefit was meeting lots of new friends.  I want to tell some of the stories of the friends I made. I’ll start with my friend Lau.  We spent one of our lunch breaks talking. Here’s his story:  Lau grew up in a Hindu family, about 100 miles from where we live.  They were devout Hindus and worshipped the Hindu gods.  But God was going to break into their lives in a miraculous way.  A couple of years ago his older sister became a believer.  She was very excited and telling the whole family how God had done a miracle in her life and she was now a follower of Jesus. Lau and the others dismissed it as a coincidence and even ridiculed her, but she remained steadfast in her faith, sharing with her family all that Jesus was doing in her life.  And then God did another miracle in her life, answering her prayers for healing for someone.  That got her family’s attention.  Lau commented that he was searching, because there was something missing in his life, but he didn’t know what.  His sister convinced him to start attending a Bible study.  He began to realize in his heart that Jesus was the only true and living God.  He opened up his heart to Him and became a follower about 1 year ago.  One by one, all of his family became believers as well.  Next they shared with their extended family and relatives, with many of them becoming believers as well.  God brought about so many changes in his family.  He said they gathered together all their idols and gods, took them outside, and burned them all.  He said his family used to struggle financially because they had to pay so much money for Hindu festivals, pujas, and things related to their worship of the gods.  After they cut all of that out of their lives, they had so much more disposable income.  Then he told me something that made me laugh.  He said they had one room in their house that was used as an altar to the Hindu gods, where they kept all their idols.  After getting rid of all that, he smiled and told me that they converted it into a computer room.  Wow!  Who would’ve thought?  Now Lau and his family have opened their home for a Bible study and prayer time each week.  People from their community come to their home whenever they need a miracle because they are realizing that their God is powerful and actually answers prayers.  Lau is learning and growing in his new faith. He definitely encouraged me at the conference. Pray for him and his family, that God would use them as transforming agents of His love in their community and his college.

My friend Ajay – the shoeshine boy

Walking down one of the main streets of our city, you always meet beggars, vendors, and just people everywhere.  Sometimes you become numb to the sights and sounds.  You tune people out.  You walk right on by, just like in Monk & Neagle’s song, “The 21st Time.”  Someone always wants to shine my shoes, even when I’m just wearing slip on sandals.  Walking out of a restaurant this past Sunday with my family, I ran into Ajay, the shoeshine boy.  I had seen him before, but I remembered seeing him on a video clip that one of our summer students, Giles, had taken.  I thought to myself, that’s Ajay, the boy in the video clip.  I told Melissa and the kids to walk on and I would catch up to them after Ajay shined my shoes with his little brother.  It didn’t take them long to shine my sandals   I told him I knew his name, and reminded him of his “encounter” with Giles and the other guys.  He remembered, of course.  We talked for a moment, I gave him some money, and left. I thought a lot about Ajay and prayed for him.  Really sharp kid.  R

Ajay - the shoe shine boy

emember to pray for him and literally millions of others, like him, trying to get by.  God hasn’t forgotten them.  But have we forgotten.  I’m guilty….for the 21st time.

Expedition08 – Phil and Alison

Alison’s Adventures

Expedition 08 was a life changing experience for me.  When I first heard about Expedition, I was excited and wanted to go, but I didn’t really give it a lot of thought.  As the trip got closer, I started to get more excited and I felt like it was the right thing to do.  While there, I got closer and closer to God which was really cool, and I knew that I needed that time, especially after the year I had at West Monroe High School. During the trip I was convinced that I was supposed to be there, and I was glad that God gave me the opportunity to go on the trip. The trip was a great time of learning to be a servant. Another benefit was that God gave me some really good friends that could help me deal with many things that had happened over the last year in the States.  Now I feel that I am growing closer to God, which I am absolutely loving, and have set a goal to read the Bible all the way through starting August 1, 2008. One exciting thing during the week was that I celebrated my 15th birthday on Wednesday night of the trip. It was a really special time for me.  That day had been my second day at the farm.  I got back from the farm and the whole group took me out to dinner at a Thai restaurant. After that, we all went bowling.

Phil’s Perspective

I want to thank everyone for their prayer and financial support. I couldn’t have done it without you. This week has really changed my life.  Our theme this week was, “It is not about me, it is about God.” I thought this was like a no-brainer, but this turned out to be harder to live out then I thought. Our day off was supposed to start Wednesday morning, but a lot of the team wanted to finish our work on the clinic completely before we took time off. I though to myself, “But I want the day off.” Then I realized what I was doing and I was like, “Phil, get with it. It isn’t about you. about all week?” I quickly dropped that thought. The next day when we did start our day off, we got to see two patients that we were working around, go home.  I also learned about becoming a leader for Christ. This was the focus of our devotional book all week. I guess those things weren’t quite the no-brainer I thought they were. Well, we started our trip in Bangkok, Thailand on the18th of July. After meeting the team, we took the overnight train from Bangkok to Ubon, Thailand. Then we rode in pick-up trucks to the border of Thailand and our host country. We crossed the border with no hassles and met up with our contact in the country. After lunch we split into two groups. My group went straight to the farm.  The farm was an experience. We lived in tin shacks, about 18 inches off the ground, with thatch roofs and wooden planks for floors. There was no electricity or running water. The “toilet” was an outhouse with no door and a smelly hole in the ground. No joke. We bathed in a nearby stream with onlookers. The second and third day we worked in the fields. We hoed the weeds, spread limestone powder to neutralize the soil, and planted coffee. It rained every day, which kept it semi-cool.  On Monday we said goodbye to the farm and headed back to town. The next two days, we worked at a clinic where we cleaned and painted. The clinic looked like it had not been cleaned since the day it was built. That night we went bowling and celebrated Alison’s birthday.  On Thursday our team split into four groups. These groups went to four locations and “dropped” literature, which is totally illegal in the country.  Each person had five bags and the groups decided how to drop them. This was my favorite day. I was pretty good at dropping. When we were done we all met up at the bus station and headed back to Ubon, Thailand. The next evening we got back on the overnight train to Bangkok, and followed that up with

an evening flight back to India.

Trekking

The plan was to drive out to some old ruins and hike around in the mountains with a bunch of guys. Being the monsoon season that it is, most chickened out, but five of us decided to go for it anyways. I had my doubts. “Who wants to go hiking in the rain,” I thought to myself. As it turns out, I did. We all did. It was a ton of fun. See the “wet” pictures from my flickr album below. I’m glad my camera is waterproof and shock resistent because it got soaked, dropped in streams of water, etc. We saw some ruins carved out of the rocks in the side of a mountain. After taking it in, we decided to just go off on our own and hike through the mountains. We saw more waterfalls in one day than I have seen in the last 10 years combined. It was awesome. I’m glad Phil and I got to go, together with our friends Josh, Matt, and Roshan. The hot tea, known as “chai” here, tasted great when we reached the bottom, after hiking for about 3 and a half hours. The next day I was reminded, by my body, that I’m not as young as I used to be, but it was still worth it.

A Tribute to Melissa

I met Melissa back during the summer of 1984, while we worked on staff at Glorieta Conf. Ctr. in New Mexico.  We’ve been married for 22 wonderful years.  She is the most special person in the world to me.  Back in July we had the opportunity to spend 3 wonderful days together in Bangkok, where we celebrated her birthday.  We enjoyed the day together, and then as a special treat, went on a dinner cruise on the river.  It was a neat experience.

I’m writing this now as we approach our 22nd wedding anniversary on Aug. 9.  I am so thankful to God for giving me such a wonderful, godly, wise, sweet, beautiful wife, friend, partner, and mother of our 3 children.  Melissa, you are the real treasure in my life.  I love you!

meeting Tim T. in Thailand

One of the interesting things about working in South Asia is the need to leave the country every 6 months, due to our visa requirements.  It actually is a great thing because we usually are ready for a much needed break, and it also gives us the opportunity to hang out with “like-minded” folks.  We usually go to Thailand. We came to Thailand, not needing a break since we just got back to South Asia, but anticipating a great time with friends and colleagues.  We were surprised by a special guest, Tim T., the heisman winning quarterback of the Florida Gators.  It was a great experience to hear this young man share his story and the lessons of life he has learned thus far.  Those who know me know that I am a big LSU fan, but I’m giving him a “pass” since he also grew up as a child of missionary parents.  He was a humble guy, honest, and ready to share his faith.  Phil and Alison enjoyed catching some passes from him, along with the other MK’s.  I’m thankful that a guy like him made time for our kids, sharing his life with them, and letting them see a real life example of how to stand for your faith in the public arena. Tim, you’re the man, and we’ll be rooting for you, except when you play LSU.  It’s only for 60 minutes, anyways

Melanie’s Graduation Day!

Today is the big day. Melanie graduates from West Monroe High School. We are so proud of Melanie. We are proud of her accomplishments. But more than that, we are proud of who she is as a person. For those of us who are parents, time really flies with our kids. Its like one day to the next, and boom, they’re off! It’s a bittersweet day. It marks an accomplishment and new chapter in Melanie’s life. It also reminds us of the upcoming separation (1 week) that will be difficult to swallow. Life is like that for those of us who serve overseas. There comes that day when we have to celebrate our children, while saying goodbye. Melanie, we love you very much and we’re proud of your academic accomplishments. But we’re going to miss you when we leave. We know God has great things in store for you as you move on to Ouachita Baptist University this fall. Enjoy the summer. Work hard. Stay in touch. Always know that we are your biggest supporters and are praying for you each step of your new journey. Congratulations, Melanie!

Back to South Asia

It seems like we just arrived in the US last summer, although it was only 10 months ago. We’ve enjoyed some time away from the South Asia. It has been a joy to speak in churches, sharing what God is doing. The kids are about to finish the school year. We’ve eaten lots of hamburgers, steaks, pork chops, and food like that, as we get ready to live in a mostly vegetarian society again. We have enjoyed time with our families. We’ve cherished moments visiting with old friends, and new ones! We’ve driven and flown many miles. We’ve experienced times of worship, prayer, Bible study, good sermons, and fellowship. We’ve reflected on God’s call on our lives. The kingdom beckons. We are ready to get back to “life in South Asia.”