To Thailand and Singapore?
Dear Friends,
Welcome to some new folks who are just joining this prayer letter list! I am so grateful that I can share prayer requests with you all and know that you will pray. The biggest prayer request I have at the moment is the need for God to provide the right person or persons to take on the roles of Educational Support and OC Kidzone Coordinator for OMF. The Educational Support is someone who will come alongside homeschooling (and national school attending) missionary families and encourage them, help them find resources as needed, point them to SAFE - Services in Asia for Family Education - which provides Experts for Special Needs students and preparation for university in the passport country https://safeasia.org/welcome/. The Educational Support person will keep lists of those who are homeschooling/national schooling and make sure they are on track, that their kids don't get behind and that they do assessments to make sure they can return to passport country for university in due time. Some kids attending national school need to do supplementary schooling in their native languages so they can eventually take academic courses in their passport countries. Academic language is very different than spoken language used in the home.
The OC KidZone Coordinator runs the kids program in Singapore during Orientation Course - a 3.5 week program held three times per year for missionaries heading out to the field as they get to know the international directors and prepare for service. This 3.5 week program for the kids helps them prepare for the major transitions that are happening in their lives. The OC Kidzone Coordinator helps to recruit and train short-term workers who work with the kids during these programs. We have short-term worker recruitment programs in many of our homesides and these folks work with the OC KidZone Coordinator. There are prepared lessons available for the OC KidZone Coordinator.
Please pray with me that God will bring just the right people into each of these roles. We have been holding Orientation Course virtually since July 2020. We are excited that our first in person OC since then will be held in Singapore this November which makes the need for someone to fill the OC KidZone Coordinator role even more pressing. Our Father knows the needs of these precious kids and their families. Thank God with me that God will provide all that is needed according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus!
Alysha and Jacob were disappointed and sad to discover that their pregnancy turned out to be a blighted ovum - the fetus never formed. Please pray with us that God will give them a child in His time. Meanwhile, Katelyn and Nathan are eagerly anticipating the birth of Ellis Oak who is due on August 30. Please pray for a safe and healthy delivery.
We are excited to be seeing Matthew, Joshua/Megan/Natalie (age 5)/Michael and Jacob/Alysha from July 28-August 1 in Norfolk, Virginia. This will be the first time everyone but me will meet baby Michael who is 6 months old. Joshua's family is preparing to leave for a two year stint in Guam on September 5. This will finish out his Navy career. Joshua will be working on containing/preventing radioactive waste on submarines. Please pray for a special family time. (Rachel and Graham are not joining us because Graham (age 18 months) does not travel well. Nathan and Katelyn can't join either since she is near delivery.)
I am so grateful that 26 TCK/MK Advisors and others in OMF who took the debrief training had great Zoom meetings together last week to discuss how we can begin doing debriefing with our missionary kids and their families. I am doing another (shorter) debrief training in September as well as working on a debrief training eModule for parents so they can be debriefing/processing with their own kids. It is my dream to see many TCKs well-debriefed so they don't carry a lot of unprocessed grief into adulthood which can cause a great deal of mental and physical health problems as well as detachment in relationships (with parents, spouses, kids, etc.) and anger/bitterness toward God. Please pray with me in these new initiatives and that the TCK Advisors will have courage to begin debriefing TCKs even though they feel nervous about starting.
Scott has been sensing for awhile that God may be moving him into a new job, but where and when? Please pray with us for God's specific leading and/or contentment to stay where he is. There have been some hard incidents in his work lately. Pray that God will give Scott wisdom to reply in a kind, godly, firm way as necessary. Scott is thankful that he got to preach for the first time in one year this past Sunday at our church. Also, he will be teaching a 6 week class on Ephesians for our Adult Sunday School beginning August 7. It's a joy for Scott to use his teaching/preaching gifts!
I'm so thankful for the encouragement of facilitating a Women's Bible study. We've met for almost 1.5 years - having studied through the book of Mark and now working on James. This group of women have told me that I'm making a difference in their lives. I pray so, and pray that all of us will be fruitful in sharing the love of Jesus and His Word with others.
My sweet Thai friend Nuansee and Cambodian friend Awm have continued to come faithfully to church every week. Nuansee has begun tithing - I see her growing in the Lord and trusting Him for His provision. Awm has not yet given his life to God, but he listens regularly to his Khmer New Testament and has watched the Jesus Film and other Christian videos in Khmer. Please pray for Awm's salvation, and that he will put all ungodly beliefs aside.
A friend and I've been working with Nuansee and Awm to help them get long neglected dental work and dentures, hearing aids for Nuansee, long overdue pension and Social Security benefits from Nuansee's former husband who passed away, etc. Nuansee now has dentures, but they need to be redone because they are too big and slip out of her mouth. Please pray that they will be done correctly and that Awm will have good dentures made soon as all of his teeth have been pulled and gum surgery has been completed.
A miracle happened last week. On June 1, Nuansee began receiving the monthly pension she should have been receiving from her former husband's work which is a big help as they live well below the poverty line, but she was due a huge back payment of over 10 years of pension payments. Last Thursday, we realized that she had received the pension check and we found it in her unopened mail. We went to the bank to deposit it and this week she should have access to these funds. We were both thrilled! It was a joy to hear Nuansee begin spontaneously praising God for His provision and blessing.
This means that Nuansee now has the funds to visit her remaining family (2 siblings still alive out of 14) in Thailand. She has not been in Thailand for over 15 years!! I plan to take her (as she finds it too difficult to travel alone at age 76) in October/November. We will probably be in Asia for about 5 weeks and I will do OMF work as well while I am there. A gift from God! My supervisor would like me to attend a Leadership Consultation in Singapore October 23-27. However, since I am not Covid vaccinated, I don't think I can get into Singapore. Please pray with me if God would have me attend. I am also thinking through how I can connect with various people in Asia - perhaps they can come to Thailand to see me (as I can get into Thailand without a vaccination). For example, my supervisor wants to meet with me and our relatively new International Child Safety Officer to do some planning about how to further Child Safety in our organization. I am also concerned about our Philippines and Indonesia fields as they don't really have TCK Advisors in place to care for their missionary children.
Another special event last month was when I took Nuansee to meet her nephew and niece (her former husband's niece and nephew) that Nuansee had raised when they were little. Their mentally ill mother pushed Nuansee out of the family and they have been estranged for years and didn't know how to find each other. The internet helped us connect! Please pray for Laura and especially Dale who do not know the Lord. Dale is in a bad way emotionally/mentally and they both need Jesus.
Quick updates -
* Victoria still has a lot of partnership development to do. She has recently been at Mayo Clinic hoping to get some help with her health.
* Megan is working with me on developing training TCKs and has just finished a two week TCK re-entry camp for TCKs in the US.
* We had a wonderful VBS with about 50 kids attending! The kids loved the songs and games we led.
* God continues to bless us over and over with His love and goodness. I'm sure He is blessing you too - send me some stories!
Please also send prayer requests and I will pray.
With grateful appreciation for you,
Jennifer (and Scott and family)