Enroute to Singapore
Dear Friends,
As I write this, I am on flight #7, enroute to Singapore. Thank you so much for praying for me. It has been amazing to see how God has so sweetly provided for and cared for me and Nuansee so far.
My sweet husband drew up a calendar of this trip and I am attaching it here if you want to follow my travels.
18-20 October Travel from
Florida to northeast Thailand (Buriram) to bring Nuansee to her
family who she hasn’t seen in 22 years
21 October Travel back to Bangkok
22 October Travel to Singapore
- Overnight with Rita Teh, former co-worker (and her two sons)
- Dinner with Arunee and Sue who were in our dorm in Chiang Mai as well as Penpen who was in the other dorm and Paul, one of Joshua’s closest friends
23 October Church and then to OMF’s International Center
24-28 October Leadership Training Consultation where I’ll participate as a new Leader for mentorship and growth; also connecting with my team members who are based in Singapore including my boss, the Intl Coordinator for Personnel, meeting up with Anna who is in the pipeline to be our new Orientation Course KidZone (kids program) coordinator in SIngapore
29-31 October Siem Reap Cambodia to encourage some missionary families and visit a school there
31 Oct – 4 November more visits around Cambodia including Phnom Penh, visiting schools and families, sharing about parenting, bringing resources, etc.
4-6 November fly to Bangkok and travel to Lopburi where we worked for 8 years; visit with Thai friends, both Christian and Buddhist; attend Prasiri Church (which we helped plant in 1998)
6-8 November in Bangkok visiting Thai friends and missionaries and visiting a school for our MKs
8-10 November in Laos – 2 places with missionary co-workers and TCK Advisors, field leaders
10-12 November in Vietnam – more missionary families, etc.
12-17 November in Chiang Mai – missionary families and leaders of 3 different fields; connecting with International Child Safety Officer who works with me, planning for TCK Advisor/CSO consultation in May 2023
17-22 November back to northeast Thailand (Buriram) to spend time with Nuansee and her family; hope to share Christ; attend Elephant Roundup Celebration
23 November home!
So – 4 of our 5 flights to northeast Thailand from Florida were right on time, and the last one got us there just half hour late. I didn’t sleep much. A bit of a tussle getting Nuansee’s two large suitcases (she wanted to bring lots of presents to family, etc.) through all the airports, and helping her navigate all of the airport systems, especially when her hearing aid batteries ran out of juice and then I had to shout at her in order for her to understand me. Needless to say, I was very glad to deliver Nuansee to her family’s care. 😊
Please pray for Nuansee. She pulled a muscle in her chest a few days before we left and she has been experiencing a lot of pain. She also hopes to get her new dentures adjusted in Thailand so they fit her better. Most of all please pray that God will use Nuansee to shine His light into the hearts of her family and friends in Buriram.
Nuansee is staying with her younger sister Ram and husband Yut as well as a nephew (all of whom are older than me). They are Buddhist and have lots of idols and “sacred” objects. They have been very kind and hospitable. The first night, we were both awake at 2 am and Nuansee wanted to call her housemate Awm in Florida to let him know we had arrived safely – so we did!
I flew back to Bangkok on Friday and had an amazing talk with the taxi driver on the way to OMF”s guesthouse. He started off by asking “Do good people go to Heaven?” I said, “No, because we can never be good enough to cancel out our sins…” and the conversation went from there! He asked some great questions and has obviously thought things through. May God reveal Himself to this man and set him free.
Friday evening I thought I’d get my toenails done (very cheap in Thailand – under $8). One of the OMF Thai office workers kindly took me to the shop on her motorcycle and another one who was shopping in the market drove me home – I could have traveled using public transport, but appreciated these sweet kisses from God in their care. As I sat on the back of Lydia’s motorcycle, she told me that as a girl, she was uninterested in Christianity. When Lydia was about 18, she met a missionary named Jenny. Lydia wanted to get to know Jenny in order to practice her English so she willingly attended church with Jenny. Lydia was often troubled by evil spirits and spent much time doing Buddhist meditation to try to escape the evil spirits, to no avail. One day, Lydia asked Jenny if Jesus could help her with the evil spirits. Jenny said, “Just pray in Jesus’ Name and the spirits will leave you!” Lydia was skeptical – how could just praying to Jesus help her when she had spent hours in Buddhist meditation and that hadn’t worked? But she was desperate so Lydia prayed, “God, if you make the spirits stop bothering me, I will follow you all my life!” And the she asked Jesus to free her from the spirits – they immediately left her along and NEVER bothered her again! Hallelujah! Since then Lydia has walked with God and continues to grow in Him – a beautiful story. I prayed over Lydia that she and her husband might have children as they have been waiting over 5 years. May God graciously answer this prayer as well.
This morning at breakfast in the guesthome, I sat with SIM’s Korean Director who was visiting one of his missionaries in Thailand. We exchanged contact info as his wife works with TCKs and I would like to share resources with her and also get more resources from her in Korean for our Korean missionaries. A sweet connection.
Again I was awake for an hour or so in the middle of the (jet lag) so I am tired. Trusting that God will strengthen me to enjoy the special dinner with Arunee, Sue, Penpen and Paul this evening – all adult TCKs (missionary kids) who grew up in Thailand and are now in late 20s, early 30s. Also, looking forward to connecting with Rita and her boys.
Meanwhile, I have SO much work to catch up on. I’ve gotten really behind over the past few weeks due to all the preparations needed for this trip. Emails are backlogged, projects are stalled. Plus I have so many more appointments to schedule with people I need to connect with along this trip.
Please pray for me to have clarity and ability to focus and set aside times to work on these things in the midst of the busyness of taking part in the Consultation this week, and connecting with people in Singapore. People from all over the world will be at the Consultation and there will be much opportunity for networking and sharing.
I am SO grateful for your partnership with me in this journey. It’s way too big for me and I feel quite overwhelmed at times. More and more aware that I am desperate for God’s help and care and wisdom and peace and love…
He loves me and He loves you – so much!! He hesed loves us – hesed is the Hebrew word for love used over 248x in the Old Testament speaking of God’s attachment to us, His choice to be in relationship with us, to love us. I have been studying Ann Voskamp’s Waymaker and it is so encouraging and makes me cry – a lot!
Love,
Jennifer
Pictured - before our first flight and Nuansee reunited with her sister Ram after 22 years (!)
