Wooster Grace to hear from Steven & Deb Wise

Deb & Steven

On Sunday, August 7 Wooster Grace welcomes Steven & Deb Wise to share. Steven & Deb will be introduced in our Sunday services and give presentations in two ABFs and one evening bible study.

The times on Sunday, August 7 include, but are not limited to:

• 8:30 Kids Praise Room 316
• 9:00 Berean ABF Room 140
• 11:00 Internationals ABF Room 425
• 6:00PM Bible Study Room 334

The Wise's serve with GBIM in the capital city of Phnom Penh, Cambodia. I trust you can come and listen to what God is doing through them to help start new churches in SE Asia. 

last blog until the USA

if we are asked, "Where were you Friday morning at 10:00 am?", we would have to say, "Well we were in both San Francisco and Seoul at the same time." Yes we actually get to "re-do" Friday.  Live it twice. Get an extra day. We will begin traveling further away from Friday only to be back in it. Crazy to think about isn't it! What if we could realy relive a day? Ever had one of those days? Well with God's grace we don't get to relive a day, but we can live today as if yesterday never happened. Yes that is right. When we mess it up with sin, and come to repentence, God wipes the slate clean.  We are new. Isn't that wonderful! I am so thankful that God is the kind of God He is, aren't you?!

This trip has been an incredible experience to have as a family. It has been really wonderful to see God working in the hearts of our kids all the while challenging us. If any of you are thinking of going as a family or with a family member or two, we would love to share more with you.

There is one more thing I want to share with you that I have heard over and over again on this trip. It is something from the children.  It is so important for us to keep going to see them. When we say to them we love them and never show up again or communicate with them, they doubt our love. Remember they all deal with abandament issues. But when we come back, we reassure them of our love for them and of God's love for them. We are family to them now. And I couldn't be happier than be that for them. Please pray for all of our kids. They really do pray for you. They don't just say it. They do it. So please join me in commitment to be as faithful in praying for them.

It has been an honor to represent all of our sponsors and our church on this trip.

See you all Sunday!

Jeana

HARLEYS ON THEIR WAY TO OHIO!!!!

Talked to Jeana via text about an hour ago. They have boarded the plane headed to Soul, South Korea, where they will have a nine hour layover. The big news and praise is that their luggage (all of it!) was checked all the way to Columbus without a problem. Thanks for praying! And keep praying that all the pieces will make it to all 5 planes and arrive with them!

Thanks for caring and praying for the Harleys. Make sure you catch them in the hallways this Sunday, even if they look a little tired... :)

Pastor Ivanildo C. Trindade

Update from Jim & Stephanie in Haiti

Bonswa!
We are doing well. Internet wasn't good for most of our trip. They got a new router today. :) Facebook on my phone seems to work the best....but that depends too on connectivity.

We have been encouraged by what we have seen and our discussions with Greg. Barshaw of Connect2Ministries in Haiti.  So much to do here!

We thank everyone for their prayers. The tropical storm Emily disipated, but much prayer still needed for all those in the tent cities!!! Yet CNN shares that TS Emily has been downgraded to a tropical depression. All watches and warnings have been canceled (@cnnlive).

We saw a couple churches in Cap Haitian and an orphanage. We already saw three churches in PAP and two orphanages. We were to see three more churches today, but postponed because of the weather. Please pray we can do this tomorrow (Fri Aug 5). 

Blessings!

From Connect2Ministries

Sunday, July 31 with the Harley's in Thailand

Sharing in worship @ Asia's Hope Doi Soket

Sunday was another great day, very busy, but wonderful. We started out the day at church with the Asia's Hope kids here in Doi Saket. Nathan, Zac and Val had spent last evening practicing with the worship team.  Nathan and Zac were invited to play guitar and drums with them. Then Val joined the boys along with David, Tutu's son (on keyboard), for special music.

The G.R.O.W. family

As soon as we returned from lunch, Faa picked us up to spend a couple more hours with the GROW kids.  On Sunday, the kids all take their Thirty-One bags with their names on them to church.  Two of the new girls didn't have their own bag yet; because the rest of the kids received their bags before the new girls arrived in the home.  So Faa explained that to them when the new girls asked, "why don't I have a bag with my name on it."  Then we showed up with their bags.  They were so excited. Thank you Sarah!  We played "hillbilly golf", soccer, water balloons and and bean bag toss.  Lots of smiles, lots of fun!

For Sunday evening worship, we went to the college ladies Bible Study group.  I should mention that it started raining before we arrived.  They meet under an aluminum roof.  And it rained hard.  So we had to sing really loud to even hear each other.  Then the gal leading the group had to almost yell for anyone to hear. 

Tim sharing with Mike translating

After several worship songs and a song by our kids, Tim and I had the opportunity to share with the ladies.  I felt God putting on my heart to share that even though there are many languages, there are two voices, the voice of lies and the voice of Truth. I shared examples from the Bible of Timothy who was told he was too young, of Esther who was only a woman, and the woman at the well who had a sinful and shameful past.  Then I talked about what the voice of Truth has to say.  Paul tells Timothy to not let anyone look down on his youth but to be an example.   Esther ended up saving her people. Jesus talked to the woman at the well and she ended up telling everyone in her village about Jesus and many came to Christ. I shared other things the voice of Truth says as well as how do we hear the voice of Truth when the voice of lies is also talking to us.  I wanted to both challenge and encourage these women.  I told them that one day I want to hear stories of how God has used them for His kingdom. Tim shared about how God was preparing each one of them for what He has for them to do.

Still raining, we took a covered river boat ride and spent some and more time with Tutu, her son, David, and Pastor Mike who helps Asia's Hope here in Thailand.  He was also our translator for their Bible study.

We head out to the airport Monday to take Faa on a little vacation for a couple of days in Pucket.  She will be coming to the States soon and she will be working very hard.  She works very hard here too, so we wanted to minister to her by letting her get away and relax for a few days.  Then on Thursday, we will begin our journey home, arriving Saturday afternoon.

I will try to make one more entry or so before we leave though!  Thanks to everyone following us and praying for us.  Pray for luggage issues we may have at the airport today and when we leave Bangkok.  We are praying that we can get our luggage checked all the way to Ohio even though we have separate tickets.  This would save us a lot of money we would have to pay for luggage fees once we get to the States. Please pray!!!!

Love you all, Jeana

Crazy faces

Jeana shares her heart

Pa & Ami receive their bags

Harley's visit Grace Place Thailand & G.R.O.W.

Thailand Greetings

Hey Everybody.  Wow, we had a great time with the kids this week. We headed up to Grace Place: Thailand on Thursday.  We spent the afternoon and evening playing with the kids and having a great time.  They greeted us as we pulled up.  They were all in a line waving American flags.  They are so cute.

Lots of hugs awaited us and we were happy to give those out to each child over and over again. One of the first things we did after arriving was go over to Tutu's parents' house to see the pig that they just slaughtered for our dinner.  As we watched them weigh each piece, Val commented that it wasn't as bad as she thought it was going to be.  Yes, we are so far removed from this type of lifestyle where we need to kill our own food.  But it is still a reality here. Don't worry, I didn't include any pictures of that.

On Friday, Faa joined us to take us to her village.  This trip was such a joy as we had the opportunity to get to know her more by seeing where she grew up and how she lived and what she overcame.  Here sister -in-law prepared us an Akha lunch.  We had to laugh though because there were several dishes that she didn't know the English word for, so she just called it a green vegetable.  There were several of those! You know, same same but different. Same green color, different plant. She then took us around her village, to her church, to where her parents are buried, to the land she bought to eventually build a place where she can come and bring the children to see their parents. We also saw the Christian orphanage where she went to live after her mother died. Then we took a hike up into the "Unseen Thailand" to a beautiful waterfall.  It was a very hot hike, but the mist off of the waterfall was delightful.

Worshipping God with all you got

On that night was spent in worship with our kids at Grace Place.  Nathan played guitar for the kids.  Then after worship, Zac had all the boys get up with him and imitate some crazy funny dance moves to some really fun music.  They girls laughed and laughed, and the boys had so much fun.  Then it was Val and the girls' turn.  She had some other fun dance moves that the girls followed.  Ok, they will never forget us now. We shared  a few words with the kids, brought greetings from all of their sponsors, then headed for bed.

The next morning, we headed out to be the kids as early as we could.  They were already waiting for us.  We played for awhile, teaching them some new games we brought.  Then we gave everyone small gifts.  They were so excited.  Then we filled some water balloons and the kids had their first ever water balloon fight.  We also took turns dumping buckets of water on them which was just as fun.  They loved it!

I am including a picture of Sutinun for the Roselers with a gift they sent, one for the Chapmans of Kanyarat (she loved her dress), and one of Wi-lia for Pastor Bob and Roxanne with the jewelry they sent.  Thanks to everyone from the kids.

"Ready, set, go!.."

Soaked after water fun

Kanyarat

Sutinun

Wi-la

With Sutida

Wiang Pa Pao Water System Install

More pictures from the Harley's in Thailand

Harley's in Thailand

Sorry we haven't written for awhile.  Our days start early, end late and are very full.  I will try to catch you up with what we have been doing in Thailand.  Tim brought an ultra violet light water filtration unit to install at the GROW home. So Tim worked on that also fixing the kitchen faucet since the water was down to dribbles.  That made Beam very happy.  We did have to get a new faucet for them though.

We decided to take the GROW kids to the zoo and aquarium.  None if them had ever been to the aquarium and two had never been to the zoo.  I tell you, it was more fun watching the kids watch the animals than it was for us to watch the animals.  Their faces were priceless specially in the underwater tunnel where the fish and sting rays swam over us. When we came to the place where you could reach into the water and touch the sharks and sting rays, the GROW kids weren't too sure about that.  But after some encouragement from our kids, they were able to do it. Again, priceless expressions on their faces.

Faa and I were able to do some shopping for GROW, so we will have many new things when we return.I have some really neat bamboo placemets and silk pillow covers and so much more. At one market as we were leaving, Faa saw tyhe mother of one of the girls at GROW.  She was selling scarves.  Faa had been trying to reach her but unable, so it was good we ran into her.  Faa explained to me that she had to pay her cousin 40Baht every day for a car she was using.  Some days she didn't make that selling her things.  So of course, I bought some things from her, 100Baht worth.  She was so happy. Sorry the picture is on Faa's camera. It was great to be able to help her out too.  And who would have imagined God using my ability and desire to shop as a ministry.  So cool!

Tutu wanted to spend the day yesterday introducing us to some of the exotic animals here.  SO we took some time yesterday to do that.  First we went to see the elephants.  That was amazing.  We watched them play soccer, basketball, paint and more.  We also took a ride. Val and I were on one elephant.  Val said she was ok with it until the trainer got off leaving us on it along. But we all returned safely.  Next we went to the tiger camp.  My favorite animal in the world!  I couldn't believe that I was actually petting a real tiger.  We were able to see the baby tigers 2-4 months old and a very large tiger.  Zac was too young to come into the big tiger pen, so he had to stay out.  Cool picture I took of Zac, it looks like he is the one in the cage and the tiger not. Tutu really wanted us to see the snake show.  We had tried to get out of that one, but we are glad we went. Other than getting real close with those things and being a little freaked out when the trainer swung the snake our way, it was a lot of fun!

 On Tuesday, we met two men Faa is considering for the GROW board in Thailand.  We had a great meeting with them with good questions on both sides.  There are some amazing people here doing amazing things! Last night, Faa took us to some property she is considering for GROW.  We walked the property as we listened to her dream and vision for GROW.  We prayed over the land too.

Today, we head out to get a few things for our kids at Grace Place: Thailand, then we head up to see them for a few days. We will also visit more possible property for GROW as well as Faa's village. Can't wait to see the kids though.  We hear they are excited to see us too!

Well I am sure I missed something, but you can always ask us about it when we get back! Love everybody!

Sunday, July 24 Evening

Sunday morning was a delight as we joined the Battambang homes for church services.  All the home participate in the service which is awesome. Savorn spoke since he drove up for the weekend. 

Afterwards Zac jumped up to the drums and the kids gathered around as he played.  Back to Grace Place we went for last minute massages and hugs from the kids. 

Final massage

We finally had to begin the process of saying goodbye. And believe me when I say process.  It only took 1/2 an hour this time to tear ourselves away from the crying children. This is the most difficult part of the trip for us because your heart just breaks and wants to stay and love on these kids some more. It would be easier to never come, some may say. A part of you is left behind, ripped out of your chest.  You are never again the same. But it is more than worth it. "At least we have more children to look forward to," says my kids. "It makes leaving a little bit easier."

We drove back to Phnom Penh, rode around in a tuk tuk with Pkeakdey, had pizza down by the river, started to pack for our trip tomorrow to Thailand. Tomorrow we see Faa and the GROW children and Tutu. And now, I say goodnight!

So hard to say goodbye

Gifts from Wooster Grace to Vannak & Home Directors

Sunday, July 24

Who is that on the menu from Apple Creek?

Well it is Sunday night here and a lot has happened this weekend.  We had such a wonderful time with the children at Grace Place: Battambang. They are all doing so well. I had to take a picture at the restaurant where we had breakfast because the Richardsons are on the front cover of the menu at a place coalled "Cold Night" 

After breakfast Saturday morning we headed out with Pkeakdey and her father again to visit three more possible children for the up and coming GROW Cambodia home. 

Two of the girls are 5 year old twins and the other is three. The girls looked like they were 3 years old because they don't get enough food to eat. Their father died in an accident and their mother has some mental illness that comes and goes.  The family eats when neighbors in their village give them some food like a tomato or something.  

GROW Cambodia orphan rescue candidates

We spent quite awhile talking with the mother and her friend whom she was staying with in Battambang while she brought her daughter to the hospital.  We gave the girls some beanie babies the Roselers gave us and the mother some money to buy some food for her daughters and self. She began to cry as I, Pheakdey and her father all handed her some cash. She was overwhelmed by the love we were sharing with her.

We then headed to Grace Place to pile all 40 kids, the staff and us into 2 vans.  Yep, that's a lot of people in a small space, but we did it! The kids had so much fun at the waterpark.  We pretty much had the entire place to ourselves.  For hours we went up stairs and down slides, played Keep a Way and splashed (see more photos below). 

After dropping the kids off, and changing, we met the staff of our home at a BBQ and buffet restaurant as way of thanking them for what they do for these children and to give them a night off..  At first we weren't sure we were going to eat at all because everything was raw (meat and fish).  Then we learned that we cook it at our table on these little grills in the middle of our tables. It was quite an experience. Vannak and another staff member kept bringing us new foods to try. You may not wish to know what all we ate, but it was pretty good, never mind we all felt a little queezy in the stomach and bowels later. Yikes. But better now!

We returned to play with the kids some more of course.  By this time my kids are wanting to stay here and never leave. It is that or hide 40 kids in our suitcases! We Skpyed with Pastor Ivanildo and the older kids who are doing very well in English, spoke with him.  I will say I do not think I will do that again because Nga began crying after speaking with him.  She held onto me for 15 minutes or so crying about how much she missed him and wanted him to come back.  This began a domino effect as about 5 other girls joined in holdiong on to me.  I was able to convince all but Nga to join the others dancing and having fun.  I passed Nga off to Tim and she help on to him most of the rest of the evening crying.

Sokha

Sokret