WHAT CAN I DO?

How many times have you asked yourself that? Or maybe this question: How can God use me? Well, wonder no more. I want to share with you a very simple and profound way how God used a friend of ours.

About a year ago you saw Sheryl in our blog. She came to Thailand, alone, to spend her vacation doing something for God. We didn’t know Sheryl. She was coming to spend her time with Chuck and Janet. Change of plans. Janet had to go back to the States and for Sheryl, a married woman, to spend 2 weeks with a married man, Chuck—doesn’t look too good.

We have an extra room so she came and stayed with us. Guess who won? We did. We had a wonderful time with her and made a friendship that has been cemented together by God Himself. Sheryl had a great time here and continues to e-mail us to tell how much her life was changed just by coming.

Nui and the wild monkeys...

Here’s a secret for you. When you take a leap of faith like Sheryl did, you quickly learn that God wants to bless you more than you could ever imagine. You think you are on a work adventure, and you do work, but it turns out you are on a blessing adventure.

Here's Nui with Bam looking on.

A couple of months back, Sheryl e-mailed us and said she wanted to send a box full of goodies for the kids where Jackie volunteers. But there was a catch. She was going to get her 6th graders to help; pay the shipping to get the box over here (considerable) but we couldn’t tell the kids that the gifts didn’t come from us.

Thirsty? Bam has cold water for you.

Foon, right, is a builder. Leah and Nathan say we should adopt him. Hmm, I'd be 100 when he gets out of high school.

When you give, you get back 100 fold. Bam and Nui are taking good care of Bob (left).

Party time!

Mae, putting on the finishing touches of her creation.

So last week Jackie wrapped all the gifts and we put them in the back of our car and I got to go to work with her cause my school is on summer break (kind of). I brought the camera along cause I wanted to send the photos to Sheryl and her students to see the blessing we got. So, here are some of them for you to see too.

Jesus had this to say: Mat 10:42 Truly I tell you, whoever gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is a disciple will never lose his reward."

Sheryl and her students didn’t give cold water, but they sure made the day for these “little ones.” So if you are wondering if there’s anything YOU can do...the answer is yes. All it takes is a little bit of faith, some initiative and a willingness to give out cold water or maybe help a homeless guy or maybe even go somewhere overseas to paint an orphanage or play with the kids. Better yet, paint the kids--they like it. Jesus also said this: Mat 25:40 The king will answer them, 'Truly I tell you, in that you did it for one of the least important of these my brothers, you did it for me.'

FUN! We got to have fun. Here are some photos of a 5-day holiday we got to have because we were given the money to do it and ordered to use it on a holiday. Thank you, YWAM/Montana!
We went to the beach. Surprised? It was hot and beautiful.

Getting there was as much fun as being there. We rented this motorcycle for $7 a day and found all kinds of fun places to explore, including frightening traffic jams and beaches that were remote and beautiful. No waves but great snorkeling.

When riding motorcycles,
it's always wise to check out
the international traffic signs.
Who knows what might be
around that corner?

Here's a few of our fellow beach seekers.
We didn't stay here cause it was a bit too crowded.
There's a better beach just around the corner.

Finally...we are in the last couple of months of our time living in Thailand. As we are making the preparations to move , we are looking back first. Why? Because it’s too scary looking ahead! God brought us over here 4 years ago, gave us a nice

Phuket (southern Thailand) is a beautiful island and we sure enjoyed our time there.

house to live in, good ministries, new friends, met all our needs and even saved Jackie’s life when she had the heart attack. He has been so faithful to us.

Moving back is scarier than moving here. Sound strange? It does to me and I just said it. We are going back without jobs or a place to live (today as I write) and excited about what God wants to do to us next. Ha. His plans are good and His future for all of us is good. Please be praying that we make this transition smoothly and with minimal culture shock. Culture shock tends to slow things down and I can tell you that after 4 years away from America, we are in for a shock!

OK, that’s about it. One last “Thank You” until next month’s blog update. Thank you, Father, for taking such good care of us. Thanks for our friends too that have stood with us through a lot! Blessings...

Bob and Jackie

P.S. I'm not a perfectionist, but when things are a bit out of whack, like the captions, it drives me crazy. I published and republished this thing for a long time until I finally gave up and went to bed. The preview would show everything was in the right place, and then it published like this. I'm sorry. Write Blogger and complain. Ha.

Here Comes the Bride...

There are numerous, uncountable blessings we receive from our heavenly Father. We grow up, get married, have kids and the next thing you know, they are having their own kids. This time last year we were getting ready to fly to Florida for Nathan’s wedding that happened May 14^th. We were excited and really looking forward to such a celebration. And, we weren’t disappointed—our son and daughter know how to do a wedding.
Pornpimon (Bum) on the left when she was much younger. She's old now--23!

This year, on May 15^th, another blessing is coming into our lives: Pornpimon Noinamkum is getting married. Wondering what on earth a Pornpimon could be? Well, it’s none other than “Bum,” our Thai daughter (that’s her claim at least and we are glad to have her). About 3 years ago I had a teacher’s assistant named Glynn and he was in the right place at the right time cause Bum was my student then. There was obviously some sparks flying cause they will be married. After Glynn’s time as an assistant was up, he went home, made some money and raised a little support and came back over here and enrolled in school. He’ll be a 3^rd year student next semester.

Here's what Bum looks like now. A lot older and for sure crazier.

Jackie and I are really happy about all of this. It’s kind of like our going away gift I suppose. To see what God has done in Bum’s life the last 3 years has been incredible. She’s working on staff at the church and regularly translates for English speakers coming through and helping teams too. She’s really smart, though she says she’s a buffalo. Smart. Very cute and loves God—Glynn wins! Glynn is a man we’re really proud of too. He’s gone through a lot to live over here and go to school. It isn’t easy to be a full-time student and live on support and be involved in ministry. He’s done very well.

My last paid day of work is April 19^th so we were planning on being out of here as quick as we could to save money but then the wedding blessing exploded in front of all of us so we will be here until May 22^nd. Bum’s parents want Jackie and I to be something or other in this event so we get to go to their house, about 7 hours from here, with Bum and Glynn and do something in relation to the engagement. Marriage over here is kind of like what you read about in American history books: You gotta pay a dowry (they don’t want farm animals—they want cash!) and go through a few rituals before you get the daughter. So, we’ll be going over in April to help (if we actually can). Then we’ll go back in May for the 1^st wedding, which is a traditional Thai wedding.

There they go, Glen and Bum on the way to Birmingham, AL.

Herein lies the challenge. Bum’s parents insist on this type of wedding or it’s no deal. So, in a Thai traditional wedding you have lots of Buddhist-type things going on you have to navigate your way through. We are praying that God will change Bum’s parent’s hearts and allow us some freedom to kind of Christianize it. I don’t have a problem with the Monk praying a blessing over them. However, some of the other stuff is kind of strange and Bum’s really uncomfortable with it, but wants to honor her parents. So, please join us in praying. We are thinking that perhaps God could use this to minister to the parents and bring them to salvation. 2.5 years ago they disowned Bum but now she’s their #1 daughter and has led her middle sister to Christ. Seeing the parents come to Christ would just be so awesome. Please pray for that to happen. There are no Christians in Bum’s village.

The 2^nd marriage ceremony won’t be until December and that will be in the church and is the one Bum considers the real thing. We'll miss that one, which makes us very sad. Glynn and Bum are in America right now with Glynn’s parents in Birmingham, Nathan’s birth town by the way, visiting his family and church and they will have an “official” engagement party there.

Hope Prayer Update: Hope came home from the hospital in a cast that kept her sort of immobile. Unfortunately, the medical care here in our town is a bit sketchy at times and the bone setting didn’t actually work. So Hope has been taken to another hospital 3 hours from here and they will reset the femur and probably put her in traction for a couple of weeks. Or, if they are unable to deal with the problem, Hope will be taken to Bangkok where the health care is world class. Please keep praying for this little one. We were very fortunate that an American doctor “happened” by a couple of days ago and after looking at Hope took her to the hospital for more x-rays and discovered how wrong everything was. God blessed Hope. Pray now for more blessing and healing.

We are slowly winding down, though we still have about 3 months before we leave. Please ask God for His mercy as we try and separate ourselves from Thailand. Besides being home (2^nd longest place we’ve ever lived!), Thailand has a part of our hearts that will hurt to be removed. And, we gotta get ourselves and our household junk back to the States. We called a shipping company and they told us $2800 would do it, no problem. We laughed. So we are looking for boxes and are slowly putting stuff in them and will put them in the mail. It’s about a 3 month transit for the mail to get there via surface and each box is $90 so please pray they actually get to Leah’s apartment. She’s the collector of our junk! Often things kind of get “lost.” It would be cool if ours actually gets there.

Ever wonder what's going on in the mind of a cat? Probably nothing. But this one that moved to our house with her kittens a couple of years ago must not like her picture being taken.

So that's about all the news from our part of Thailand. Actually, there's more, but this thing is long engough and we just wanted to get the news about our "daughter" getting married out to the world--at least that part of the world that we know. Thanks for sharing with us your emails and stories. We love to hear from you and we also love praying for those in need. Be sure and let us know of any prayer requests. There's nothing better'n spending time with Father giving thanks and making intercession. Blessings to you all...