Christmas 2005 News

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.