Dear Partners in ministry,
We’d been feeling a bit jaded, never having any down time so we decided a weekend away would be the trick. We finished classes on Saturday at 4 .30 and were off at 5.00. We went to a place just 50 miles away and found a nice guest house that evening. The next day we headed off to a national park. When our car couldn’t make it in because of the wet dirt roads we walked in, enjoying the quiet and the relatively untouched surroundings. On the Monday we drove to another area and found another Nat. Park, but rain stopped any real exploration. We determined to do the trip again in the dry season. On the way home we lingered in the regional city of Nan, discovered a couple of parks and had dinner before heading home. We got home just before 8 and had hardly put our gear away when we heard our neighbors calling “Nup Dok Mai Noi”, (come and count flowers). Very quickly we had four ladies on the porch counting flowers.
Flowers - we seem to have a house full of flowers, we have been getting the ladies in our area to make small flowers for a craft shop in Australia. It is seasonal work and seems to come at a good time for our folk. Last month was the rice-planting season and folk needed cash for fuel to plow the fields and buy fertilizer. We had enough flowers to make that some were able to save a little and do something interesting with it. One lady who came saved enough to buy a piglet. This piglet is of good stock and will hopefully produce other piglets in the future which will be an income for the family. The piglet’s name is naturally, “Flower”.
Yes it has rained and the rice is in. Thank you for your prayers. Folk here say the rains were late but now seem happy with the amount of water they have for farming. Larry was able to go out a few times and wallow in the mud with friends. Jan was able to find enough other work as to have good excuses not to go.
I like living in the country; there is something wonderfully unpretentious about life! I have just come home from a wedding. The wedding was held across a number of yards and in the home of the bride’s family. Tents were set up and I sat with some neighbors under the house, where we chatted and ate lunch, 15 yards in one direction was the stage, 10 yards in another was a pigpen. The chickens wandered aimlessly pecking around and dogs were scavenging for bones as they were tossed under the tables. Food appeared from across the street and was only slightly diluted by the rain. After the formalities, which included the public counting of the bride price, everyone had an opportunity to grab a mike, get up on stage and sing their favorite song, the good, the bad and the indifferent. It is definitely one of those occasions when “a good time was had by all” can be said.
May we all know the joy of living with Jesus and sharing Him with others.
Thank-you again, for your partnership
Love
Jan and Larry
P.S. We have been watching the news and the reports about the devastation from Hurricane Katrina along the Gulf Coast. After our experiences with the Tsunami we can understand the impact of natural disasters. We join you in prayer for these who have lost so much.
Prayer points
Give thanks to God for the rain and pray for a good harvest.
Give thanks for the flower project and pray that the relationships with the 20 families involved may bloom into something beautiful for the Kingdom of God.
Pray for 3 interns as they prepare to come for a 2 month practical experience, they arrive on the 25th of Sept.
Give thanks for the relationships we have through teaching, the flower project and living in the village. Pray with us that through our “words and deeds” we will see people come to know Jesus.