Quite a week

It's the end of one of those weeks....Ruthie and I went in two different directions--she to Chiang Mai, I to Udon and then Roi Et, northeast Thailand.

In Udon I took two of the staff from our fish hatchery / nursery to the Issaan Aquatics Farm to learn more about the process of collecting, incubating, and then reverse-sexing baby tilapia fish.  I spent most of one morning in the ponds learning, again, how to differentiate male/female tilapia (something I learned, what--almost 20 years ago).

 It was strange and poignant to spend the night in Udon again--the place has changed incredibly!  It is a booming city with all kinds of factories and businesses operating there.  Twenty years ago it had the feel of a ghost town, just recovering from the Vietnam war--shuttered bars and wide, empty streets.  No longer!

It has been great to spend more time with the staff there and with Jim Gustaftson in my last couple of trips there.  We are grateful for their help in this new phase of our lives and ministry in Laos.

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Roi Et!  I always get a boost from the team in this lower Issaan region.  They are all self-supporting, bi-vocational ministers,  carrying on the work of church planting, leadership training, and church enablement.  The fish farm is going great guns under the management of one of their key members, Siang.  He rents the ponds, thus contributing to the overall budget, while carrying on a successful business.  He chose the following as his logo for his company and took 3 tries to get it passed by local authorities.  Note what's in the fish!

I also had time with Kristi Byford who is finishing up her Thai language studies in a few months and has decided to join the Thai team in Roi Et to enhance their ministries and outreach into the communities.  Below she shares her decision with the team there.

Cheryl Santello, a newly-arrived short-termer from Alpine Camp in SoCal, also shared her vision to assist in developing both the facilities and the programs of the two Covenant camps in Thailand.  She brings more than 15 years experience in camping to the task, along with a lot of energy and enthusiasm.  Here, Dr. Paul DeNeui (who served in Roi Et for more than 10 years and is currently teaching at the Covenant Seminary in Chicago) translates for her.  Paul also taught one of his favorite subjects--"Who Are We, in the Covenant?", affirming the priesthood of the believers and passing the mike to many in the audience...

Finally, Ruthie and I met at the airport in Udon and returned to Vientiane.  I was anxious to get out to the fish farm to see the progress.  Indeed, it really is taking shape!  The large building behind me will house many fish tanks in which we hope to do our spawning.

Roi Et Rop Muang Center

Khamphan (Daeng) Sudcha, the Thailand Covenant Church President, has dreamed and strategized for years about the need to have a larger, more urban, church and training center in the lower Issaan area. While the Covenant in Roi Et has a "center" of sorts in the camp ground that has been established and is being regularly used, that camp is located 20 km outside the city of Roi Et. At one point the leadership rented a house in the city to serve as a church. It was filled with people, a younger demographic than is typical in rural villages. But the landlord raised the rent. It was too crowded. So, they discontinued renting.

President Sudcha's vision is to build a church/training center on the growing edge of Roi Et city. A piece of land will be purchased or rented. Educational programs focused on the community will be anchored, it is hoped, by Covenant expat personnel. A short-term, intensive, model of training, perhaps in concert with the North Park Center for World Christian Studies, will be used to supplement Biblical training acquired elsewhere by a new generation of Covenant leaders.

That's the vision.  It has been Peter's joy to work with Pastor Daeng to brainstorm, clarify, and finally write a project to see this vision get off the ground. Please pray that it will become a reality and our churches in Issaan will be strengthened to carry the vision forward.

A Country Setting

Holes in the Roof, the Floor, and Everywhere

God has given us a large house just outside the little town of Chiang Khong. Located just 500 meters from our factory site, it is a beautiful country setting—mountains in the background, an irrigation canal running nearby, and a monstrous yard full of lychee trees (which are in fruit!). We feel truly blessed.

The house itself has hardwood floors made from large rose-wood planks that, no doubt, floated across the Mekong in wilder, less-regulated days. Our 3 bedrooms are full. We are blessed to have Alan and Janet Bemo living with us for a few months; Wessel Huisjes may stay a bit longer as he works on getting permission from the Lao government to marry Ut who pops across from Laos a couple of times a week to study English with Janet (and see Wessel!)

Anyway, as my daughter, Erin, would say, this house does have issues. Mainly it’s a problem of holes and leaks. First--a roof that channeled buckets of rainwater into Ruthie’s office during the first 3 rains of the season. New galvanized tin valleys and flashing solved that problem. Then every bathroom had worn-out, leaky plastic pipes. I replaced them one by one. Finally, the beautiful rosewood floor has major dry rot and termite problems, with several significant holes and spongy boards threatening to not spring back. Ruthie climbed up a ladder in Wessel’s room and ended up sprawled on the floor when one of the ladder legs went clear through. But what’s the bottom line on this place? This house, this place God has given us is meeting the needs for three families at this time. And I can already tell it’s going to be a memorable place of blessing. Thank you, Lord.