Thailand Update

We arrived back home late last night and I am repacking today to head to Budapest tomorrow.  Words cannot describe how amazing our trip was to Thailand.  Thank you so much for your prayers and support.

We got to see kids who had grown up in our project as refugee children now become teachers in that same school.  We got to take clean water to a community that had never had it before.  Kim got to use her physical therapy training to help a boy that could barely walk regain his range of motion. We got to go to church and worship the same God in multiple languages.

I have posted many pictures and stories from throughout our trip on Facebook.  If you are not on Facebook, I will be working on a video when I get back from Romania in July.  For now, click the button below for a short video I took of us singing with the kids to give you an idea of who we are ministering to.

After the song we did a skit of Jonah and the whale. They asked me to be the whale. Not sure if I should be honored or offended. LOL

Moving Ahead

Last week at a conference, a pastor shared a quote from Theodore Roosevelt that was an encouragement to me, and I hope it is to you as well.  As a family, we strive to do what the Lord has called us to do. There are ups & downs, victories & defeats, confirmations & doubts.  We are no different than any of you.  This summer we will begin a journey that takes us to Thailand, Hungary, Romania, and Guatemala.  We covet your prayers, and serve on your behalf.

At the end of the day, I want to be strong and courageous as David instructed Solomon in 1 Chronicles 28:20, and I pray that for you as well. We count it an honor to run this race with each of you, and are humbled by your support of our mission work.

Theodore Roosevelt: “It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”

Be encouraged, God has even greater works for each of you.

KDKR Interview

It was such a blessing to be interviewed by KDKR radio. (91.3 in DFW)  I cannot thank them enough for giving us that opportunity.  I had people contact me afterwards telling me how exciting it was to hear us on the radio.  However, there were some that said they were not able to listen and wanted to.  Fortunately, KDKR gave me a copy of the interview that I can share with people.  Here is a link for you to listen to it at your leisure if you missed it.  It lasts 26 minutes.

https://soundcloud.com/ryan-jones-352/kdkr-5-17-2014

Also, most of our support and connections come from people that know us and recommend or connect us to their friends, church, etc.  So, if you know someone that you’ve wanted to tell about our mission work, this is a great opportunity to share with them this interview.  It will help them know more about what we do.

Thank you so much for your connections.  You are opening many doors for us to minister around the world.

Survey Says…

So, how many people can you fit into a 12 person passenger van?  Well, in the case of MaeSot, Thailand…51!  Congratulations to Eric Ginther and Ross Jones for getting it correct.  I did not clarify if it was total people or just kids.  My fault.  So, they were able to correctly guess the number of kids.

In case you didn’t see the video, you can watch it here:

I received a lot of feedback from people, but one of the best emails I got back was this response.  “That is amazing!!  But, you know what’s even more amazing to me? How HAPPY they all seem to be even after being so crowded.”

How very true. I guess the real question is, how many Americans can we fit in a van before we get the first complaint?   I am reminded all of the time on trips of how many things I take for granted in this great country.  We are blessed and it is a great privilege and honor for our family to serve people around the world.

I pray the Lord blesses each of you for your support.