Happy News

One thing that has brought great joy to our hearts recently is the decision of Jim and Michelle, (our daughter and son-in-law) to join the ministry of Wycliffe Bible Translators. We are passionate about Bible translation! It’s our dream to see our world filled with disciples of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, and that can’t happen until people have God’s Word in a language they can understand. So we are thrilled that they are on their way! They are in the process of developing a team of ministry partners now, and they hope to move to their assignment in Papua New Guinea by August. Yeah! We are passionate about Bible translation, but we are also very passionate about Jim and Michelle and Baby Danny! We can really connect with the apostle John, who said "I could have no greater joy than to hear that my children are following the truth!" (III John 4)

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Meanwhile, Matthew is in his first year of law school at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. So far he really loves it. He does community service in a legal aid clinic in his spare time, helping people with immigration problems who cannot afford a lawyer. From the time he was a little boy we always said he would be a great lawyer because he loves to talk, and he loves to convince you to do things you thought you did not want to do! It seems he is on the way to finding his niche.

Trip to Thailand

Last month I went to Bangkok to visit some dear friends who were former students of ours.  I only stayed for two days, but as always, it was refreshing and encouraging. We had many things to talk about, and we could have just sat in their home and talked.  I would have been satisfied with that.  But they brought me to the King's Park, where I got to soak up some of the beauty and uniqueness of Thailand.

The people of Thailand dearly love their king.  And they love the beauty of nature.  The king is an avid photographer.  So in this park, you can see all these loves combined -- the people enjoying the beauty of nature in their king's park, and also enjoying the king's hobby. 

There is a museum in the middle of the park that is a tribute to the king, but unfortunately my battery died shortly after we arrived there. I learned a lot and even had the novelty of being interviewed by a group of Thai school children in the museum.

I think everyone in Thailand is a photographer!  So I had a lot of fun taking pictures of people taking pictures. But I also got a few shots of the beautiful flowers too.

My short time in Thailand was fun, educational, and inspiring. Proverbs 25:25 says "Like cold water to a weary soul is good news from a distant land."  Amen to that!  Especially when you have the fun of going to the distant land yourself to get the cold water!

After a Long Silence

One of my highlights as a teacher, always, is watching my students do what I taught them to do. This is one of the reasons I love to visit our alumni on the field. But occasionaly I get to see it while they are still in IGSL. In September-October I taught a 5-week class in our Partners in Ministry Program called "Choosing Life -- Trainers' Training". I had nine students from seven countries: Philippines, India, Vietnam, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Thailand. I created a 45-minute presentation called "Life Before Birth" that explains how a baby develops from conception to birth, and why abortion is wrong.
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I wanted to equip them to do the presentation in their own language, and to have enough background knowledge and confidence to be able to teach others. In order to get credit for the class, they had to do the presentation in their own language, for their own people, with me watching.
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It was really exciting to study about how life begins and how God develops a baby up till the moment of birth. We looked at the Biblical view of life from many different angles. All of us felt a sense of awe at how God created us and how precious we are to him.
. We looked at the statistics and laws about abortion around Asia. We also discovered that abortion is often done for the purpose of gender selection, resulting in millions of missing girls in India, China and other parts of Asia.
. And my students became passionate!! That was the amazing part. There is nothing more thrilling than seeing your students "get it," and I saw it happen. As they prepared their presentations in their own languages, they went far beyond what I expected. They all did an outstanding job.
. They weren't my students any more, they were teachers with a passion to equip others. It has been so awesome to see THEIR students become passionate about getting this message out.
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