Jennifer Tibbetts

Dear Friends,

I can't believe it - Nuansee and I fly to Thailand in 13 days - and I'm feeling overwhelmed.  I tested positive for Covid last week, and I even have the documentation to prove it -  which will help me at some Asian airports to avoid being tested or if I test positive :)  I'm feeling much better, but still considerably fatigued and somewhat brain foggy.  Please pray that my body will completely heal and that I can finish getting ready to go to Asia as well as also keep up on all the other work I need to do.

I am excited to meet up with Puu in Lopburi (university student in 1997 who studied the Bible with me).  Puu never became a Christian.  Recently, she and her husband divorced and Puu moved back home to live with her parents and her two primary school aged daughters.  Please pray that Puu will come to Christ.  Also, I have asked Pui to come up from South Thailand to see me while I'm in Bangkok.  Pui (a friend of Puu's who was in the same Bible study group) made a profession of faith in 1998 and really seemed to grow, leading worship at church and leading small groups.  But a few years later, she did a university internship in Phuket (yes, where the tsunami hit a few years later) and she met a Buddhist guy and fell in love and the rest is history.  They married and Pui seemingly left her faith behind.  We had a number of conversations about this over the years, but unfortunately Pui has never showed interest in putting God first in her life.  I hope to be able to visit with her this trip, but Pui just started a new job and she's not sure that she can take the time off to come see me.  Please pray for my meetups with Puu and Pui.

So, this email is primarily to ask you to pray for me to have wisdom and strength to fully get ready to go to Asia, and not forget any important details.  I can see how this trip will be so important to reconnect or meet people in person and to further the care of our precious 950 missionary kids all over Asia.

Puu

Pui

With much thanks and depending on you to pray to the Only One who can make things happen.

Jennifer

PS In the interest of keeping this short since I just wrote one of my "epistle" prayer letters recently, I'll put this in the PS with some answers to prayer from the last letter for anyone who is interested in reading this far :)  

First, the dinner in the Cambodian village went so well.  Thanks for praying.  Only 4 church members were able to join me as the other couple had a work emergency, but we had a great time touring around Awm's and Nuansee's gardens and greeting some of the other Cambodian villagers and eating an AMAZING dinner.  It meant so much to Nuansee and Awm to have these church folks enter into their lives and see them flourish in their natural setting.  When English isn't your first language, people tend to think of you as rather "less than", but having opportunities like this can open people's eyes to seeing these people are really very capable even though they aren't fluent English speakers :)  I haven't heard any negative reaction from the Cambodian village about our visit which I'm sure has been completely overshadowed by Hurricane Ian hitting 4.5 days later!!  Some in the village lost roofs and had some pretty major damage.  Awm had made his roof secure and thus weathered the storm just fine.  Nuansee told me of a tree that fell and missed their truck by inches - God's blessing!  They lost some bamboo that he grows to sell, and had no electricity for 5 days, but now things are back to normal - thankfully.

[On a side note, it was an intense time for Scott and I as well.  Hurricane Ian brought a lot of flooding to our back yard and huge tree branches down and a number of 60-80 foot trees fell that rim our property and protect us from traffic noise from the busy road we live off of.  However, our little missionary/Christian worker village NEVER lost power when 2.9 million people in Florida did!  So thankful - especially as some retirees in this village use oxygen or need electricity urgently for other purposes.  Scott and I had visited Sanibel Island 3 days before the Hurricane and then we stayed in Bonita Springs for the 2 days before (to belatedly celebrate our 32nd anniversary).  It's so sad now to think of how devastated those regions are.  We are so grateful that God sandwiched this vacation in for us just before the hurricane hit and we had time to get home and batten down the hatches before it got bad.  Our home had no inside damage.  Some in the village had minor damage.]

[Another note, for any of you who might be familiar with the Christian & Missionary Alliance (the missions sending agency/denomination) - my parents served as missionaries with C&MA at Dalat School in Malaysia when I was ages 4-8 and we attended C&MA churches once we returned to he US in 1978. Scott and I both attended C&MA colleges. There is a retirement village for C&MA missionaries, pastors and other workers that was at the epicenter of Hurricane Ian.  With approximately 2,500 residents and more than 1,200 employees, Shell Point is the largest single-site continuing care retirement community in the state of Florida.  Shell Point Retirement Community reports that approximately 200 resident units in low-lying areas remain temporarily uninhabitable, not because of structural damage but due to the 6­–7- foot storm surge that left anywhere from a few inches to two feet of water in these properties.  No loss of life or injuries occurred, and no structural or roof loss was sustained amid Ian’s hurricane-force winds. Many people had cars in the parking lots, and now those cars are full of water.  Residents are currently sheltering in a building that is 88 degrees and there is no water for showers.  Up to 40 people are sharing non-flushable toilets!  As many as can are finding temporary places to stay elsewhere.  Please pray for these precious men and women of God who are suffering at this time.  May God also use their lives to help the people of the Fort Myers area who are traumatized and despairing in the days and weeks ahead as people begin to process this disaster.]

Second, Victoria was able to raise enough finances to start working with me at 5 hours per week, starting yesterday - praise God!  I am praying that she will be able to raise enough support to work 10 hours per week (or more) and relieve me of much of the admin work in my job.

Third, this past Monday was the 1st anniversary of Liz's death (the mom of the 6, 9 and 17 year old kids that daughter Alysha nannies for).  Alysha texted me that day that she was feeling really sad, missing Liz and also missing her baby as Alysha miscarried 4 months ago.  Please pray that God would enable her and Jacob to get pregnant soon.  She and Jacob have a fun trip planned to celebrate their anniversary Oct 16.  Thankfully, Alysha was feeling "lighter" yesterday after getting past the commemoration of Liz's passing with the kids.

Thanks for rejoicing with me in these answers to prayer!