May the color red of Valentine’s Day remind us of the blood of Christ that was willingly spilled to demonstrate God’s passionate love for us.

John 3:16-17 – For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.

Photo Credit: https://www.instagram.com/anyting/

We are invited to minister to 116 kids in Myanmar (formerly called Burma). Richard and I will teach kids ages 5-13 years old on how to paint using watercolor.

We will leave Bangkok on November 16th, travel by bus to Sangkhlaburi Region for more than 400km approximately 7 hours ride. It will be a 4-day event from 10am to 4pm.

Please pray with us, that we will be able to share Jesus’ love effectively during the even. Also pray for our safety as we cross the border.

Thank you!

July 13, 2019
Devotional Reflections

This mornings’ words of meditation from the bible is timely with my thoughts as I woke up this morning.

I was thinking about all these things that I have been working hard for, roof over my head, clothes to cover my body, food for my hungry stomach, even vehicles for transportation.

But who created people who built these homes that I lived in and the clothes to cover my body and vehicles. The plants and animals for my food did not just come out of nowhere. It was God who was the beginning of all these.

Yes, I would need the help of these things, but I still need God to keep these coming to me, or else they will all just be gone in a flash. Even I would be gone from all of these and wouldn’t know where I will end up in if not for the assurance from God’s words in the Bible.

We were due to go out of Thailand to process our volunteer visa. We have a letter from our volunteer visa sponsor TEAA, confident of our US passport, we can take it to the embassy, they’ll give us a one year visa renewable every year. Sounds straightforward & easy, right?

Well, our journey to Savannakhet, Laos, eastern border of Thailand is far from it. The travel agency first of all doesn’t have a system whatsoever, one goes by gut feel which person who you would speak with in a room filled with people, if perchance you get a reliable one, it will only take you a few tries before you finish the one page form.

The owner who has the big adding machine in front gave us a much higher price the day of our departure, probably she was distracted because she was speaking to her manicurist in between her conversation with Richard. This was the start of a very humbling & helpless experience.

They gave us a few minutes when our names were called to get on the 14 seater van which will take us to our 14 hour destination. The ride was rough, though my seat has more legroom, still sleeping seated isn’t the most comfortable. We arrived at the border at 4:00am. One by one all the vans are arriving, I counted 7, we were told to come out of our vans & wait.

But first our driver asked for our passports & documents, approximately 90 of us, both Asian & Caucasians alike, just waited around (sit wherever you can, like steps or railings)in the big parking space, while 5 guys were intensely looking at our passports & documents AGAIN. No one told us what’s happening or what they’re doing.

After roughly an hour of checking our documents, they started out calling out names, my name was called first, Richard’s papers are nowhere to be found, after a few minutes it showed up.

The borders are easy breezy, our guy talk to the officer first then a “shake hand”. Upon entering Savannakhet, Laos, we were all herded to the Thai Embassy where all our documents will be reviewed & processed to get whatever visa we applied for. We were in line at around 8:30am, we didn’t finish till 1pm. This was just the submission of documents.

We came back the next day to pick up our passports. Everyone are in line again, this time it’s a little faster, we only have to wait for about two hours at 2:00 in sunny afternoon.

The whole time I have this heavy feeling, murmuring, complaining… but when I was reminded my purpose of being here…“for we are aliens & strangers in your sight” I started started talking to people. One young guy in his twenties traveled for 3 days straight to get a visa. This is his last chance before his visa expires, after which he has to pay an exorbitant penalty. I’ve spoken with a lot of men & women who do this every two months, because they can only get a “tourist” visa and a couple said this is like a “vacation” for them every two months. I shared with them our story and the love of Jesus Christ, prayerfully they will find their purpose in life too in this strange land to make all of this worth their while.

Sitting here in this 16 hours flight from Los Angeles to Thailand on this mission trip, I can’t help but wonder when the next on board meal will be served, while munching on some little serving of snack.  Oh poor me, I want to have more than this little food that I am enjoying right now.  I cannot wait until my next full meal. 

And then I  got to think, how about some poor person  who does not have any food to eat right now, who may not even know where to get it.  How much more difficult is his or her situation might be at this moment compared to mine. Is my situation that sad compared to that other person? Is not his or her situation more pitiful than mine right now? 

What if that other person has not even had any food to eat since yesterday.  Surely God would be more concerned of his or her present need than mine right now.  I should think more about them and pray for them. 

Some times there would be other people that I should think about right now than myself.  I may not be able to provide for their present need at the moment but at least I can give their situation more thought.   I can at least ask God to send help to that other person. 

Surely that person needs some attention right now.  And just as I am meditating on this the stewardess handed me food.  Lord you are also thinking about me.  I praise and thank almighty God for this precious lesson in my walk with Him.  Surely His great love is on everybody. 

To God be the glory always! 

Other things might seem worth the time, energy and resources in this world. But God would like to think more of you, me and all the other people, even those we do not know.

Let’s take time to care for everyone, no matter who they are as if God is telling us so.

Seven years ago, we were part of a short term mission trip to Thailand and Cambodia.  There we saw how the Lord moved in the midst of 400 plus students who were expecting to learn English, but instead they had an encounter with Jesus.  Immediately we have decided that we will be back to continue this work in this part of the world.  And this is NOW.

WHO are we?  We are just simple folks, no missions degree, what we have are hearts for the lost.  Willing to spend the rest of our lives to walk the talk, to GO!

WHY are we doing this?  In Matthew 28; 19-20, it says, “Go, therefore & make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, teach them to obey everything I have commanded you.  And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age”.  This is our mandate as followers of the Lord. Richard just retired from secular job early this year and I, Julie will soon hang up her  license as a realtor. And what better way to spend our retirement years from secular jobs than to serve the Lord full time.    

WHERE are we going?  At present we are being called to Thailand, where 96.4% of the population is Buddhist and less than 1% Christian, so harvest is so plentiful.  We will be a helping hand to Pastor Jonathan Bautista, a Filipino missionary pastor married to a local, and who helped start a church, “Ruamjai Nai Prakrit Church Assembly of God”, in the city of Bangkok.  And as God’s missionaries go, we may be ministering His Word to any part of the world.

WHAT will we do?  Learning English is a big deal in Thailand, so we will use this to create relationships amongst the locals by helping them learn the language.  We are equipped to teach sports, like tennis, pickle ball, and arts / crafts as another way to make connections with them.  We had this sort of experience during a short trip in Bangkok last year to meet with Pastor Jonathan and who had introduced us to this outreach that the church had been doing and are still presently doing. And these are great avenues to engage the youth in the villages.  We will be involved also with ongoing music concert ministry where they go to local markets and sing Christian Thai songs where bystanders respond to the call to accept Jesus Christ in their lives.

Our vision is to spend every cent of donation that we will be receiving in this work and live off our personal lives from our retirement income as well as some savings.  And we thank everyone who will be a part of our support through giving financially and spiritually with their prayers.  And we thank the Lord and glorify His Name in all these achievements and opportunities.