Advocate’s Reach (A New Normal)
What a crazy time we are in: a pandemic, political upheaval, economic uncertainty, separation of communities, unrest and disunity. Three years ago we were looking forward to participating in leadership and Christian family training sessions in Cambodia and Myanmar as well as the continuation of the same in Thailand and Laos. Instead, borders are closed, Thailand is in a partial state of lockdown and ministry as we knew it has come to an abrupt stop. Despite all of this, we feel a certain amount of excitement as God has called us to prayer and with prayer, our greatest weapon, comes blessing and change. We pray in faith for the wind of change to come upon Thailand as the Holy Spirit moves upon this nation of 70 million people, the overwhelming majority of whom do not know their Creator. Although there is great sorrow and tremendous fear all around us we look to the “new thing” that God is preparing to do (Isaiah 43:19).
Update:
The Home of Blessing: As the boys returned to the home after their school break our youngest boy, Pon, tested positive for COVID 19. He was sent to the hospital for two weeks and all the boys along with the house parents were sent to a quarantine facility. We are thankful that no one else became sick and although Pon was in the hospital his only symptom was a fever, although the boys would all agree that being inside a small room 24/7 was making them all quite sick of each other.
Leadership training: Although the country and borders being close we do have some contact with our former students through the internet – we are thankful for this means of continuing relationships.
The FARMS rotating loan program: The program continues to expand with two new programs opening up in Myanmar and southern L**s. This means we have a total of five programs going in SE Asia at present. The problem we have now is communication with the various places.
Visa: After four months of negotiating immigration finally gave us a yearly retirement visa. This is a great relief. This means we can relax and move on in our lives. There was a time we were actually thinking about alternative living options. After thirty-plus years here in Thailand a move would have been an extreme transition. We are thankful for all who prayed with us for this visa.
USA: We had thought we would be traveling back to the US over the summer but again due to COVID19 all domestic air travel is closed down so we feel it is better to stay put until things settle down a bit. Our plan now is to wait until next February and stay until April.