All this year Mike has continued
to work as the 'Operations Director' for World Outreach, a job that he enjoys
but spends too much time doing. The problem is that he is always thinking of
better ways to do things, and so the job expands to overfill available time. He
is trying to get a final grip on things as the paint drops off the house, and
the garden continues to grow even when it isn't attended to.
In February, normally a quieter
time for the UK office, Mike
and Janet went to Thailand
to see some of the World Outreach projects.
We began in Bangkok
meeting up with Patricia Green the founder of Rahab Ministries who operate
among prostitutes in Patpong, the red-light district of Bangkok. By daytime the area looked
innocuous, but in the late afternoon as the stalls come out onto the street in
readiness for the night market, we no longer wanted to be in the area.
We also visited the Good News
team who, working from a three-floor townhouse in as suburb of Bangkok, run a bible
correspondence course for 100,000 Buddhist Thai schoolchildren. They publish
their own material and also go into schools all around the country taking
assemblies, and placing Christian literature in school libraries. They have
also worked among children affected by the tsunami, encouraging them to play
and to laugh again.
From Bangkok we travelled to Chiang Mae in the
north-west of the country. Chiang Mae is home to the largest concentration of Christian
missionaries in Asia, because of it's proximity to Burma,
Cambodia, Laos and, of course, China.
From there we visited two
Children's Hostels for hill tribes run by World Outreach, one in Doi Sacket,
and one in Mae Chaem where we happened on the annual festival and enjoyed the
flower-covered floats as they came through the town, with youngsters playing
all kinds of instruments, and dressed in traditional tribal costumes.
We also met up with the
Brellenthins who run another Children’s' Home in Chiang Mai, and the McKnight’s
who also live there.
Our last few days we spent down at
Hua Hin at the Juniper Tree, a rest house for missionaries in need of
recuperation. Unfortunately, by that time, we were both under the weather and
couldn't wait to catch the flight home.
During our time in Thailand we
were very impressed with the quality and dedication of the missionaries we
spent time with and the quality of the job that thy were doing.
At Easter, we joined our church at
Moorlands Bible
College near Bournemouth for our
traditional Easter house-party, a time of exercise in the New
Forest, visiting National Trust piles, and eating well. About half our party were from overseas and we had an excellent time.
In June we collected Ben from Coventry at the end of his
first year studying German and French and playing computer games. By general
consensus it was agreed to call it quits and Ben began an intensive process of
job hunting. He was told everywhere he looked that they needed someone with
experience - at least not the experience that he had, so it was with
considerable relief that he finally landed a job in a call-centre in central
Reading answering the phone to elderly people who were interested in the 'Stay
Warm' scheme to cap the cost of their electricity and gas supply. He has stuck
this humble pursuit and won a number of rewards for good results.
In August we made our annual
pilgrimage to Devon to participate in the
conference that is held in the grounds of Rora House each year. Mike was
particularly encouraged to follow through on a series of creationist talks by
Arthur Jones, and, having now read more widely rejoices in believing that the
account of creation in Genesis is literal and that the days were days as we
know them now. A great weight has slipped from his mind and a quantity of other
biblical truth is also beginning to slot into place.
At the end of August, Mike had
his 60th birthday, a time to reflect on the goodness of God over the years, and
to seek to ensure that whatever time is left should be lived to His glory.
Tim continues to work in Basingstoke at Computer 2000 which buys computer parts
and software from manufacturers and sells on a low margin to the likes of PC
World and E-Buyer. He normally leaves the house at 7am and doesn't return until
7pm, so it's a long day, and he works hard. Mike asked him one evening if he
was undervalued, and he replied that he would work hard whether they paid him
well or not. A good attitude we think.
