travel

Ring of Fire

After we saw our Thailand team off we headed to Japan. We were met with an earthquake and a typhoon. Reaghan seriously thought I had snuck into her room and was shaking her bed not realizing it was an earthquake. I guess that’s going to happen when most of our time is spend in countries in the Ring of Fire. The team arrive the next day and we headed up to the mountains to work at a camp.

Every year this group comes and brings a team to help do renovations on a youth camp in the mountains several hours west of Tokyo. This year we replaced 30 year old carpet with new hardwood floors. Reaghan was my right hand helper too. In addition to the flooring, the team roofed an outdoor kitchen, worked on a rock climbing wall, and did a ton of cleaning. We had a big fellowship with Japanese churches around the Tokyo area and cleaned up the grounds with a chainsaw and a lot of helping hands. We headed back to Tokyo on Wednesday and the first campers showed up the next day. I know the kids really enjoyed the renovations at the camp. Before we sent them home we took the team on a tour of Tokyo and visited Mount Fuji. 

Once we sent the team home we headed to China to help with another camp of sorts. We landed in Beijing and met up with a team who was working with kids, teach English and take them to visit cultural sites. We made a lot of new friends along the way. We took a high speed train to Xi’an and met up with the kids there. Around English lessons and programs we took them to visit museums, historical palaces and the Terracotta Warriors. The kids loved it!

After finishing the camp in Xi’an we flew to Shanghai and met with a school and a couple who works with orphanages and special needs kids. We are preparing to help them engage the kids and assist with additional camps for special needs and autistic children in China. All in all, it was an amazing trip and the kids in China will have a special place in our heart for sure. 

We made it home and are moving our daughters back to college this week, as we speak. On Monday we are back on a plane as we take a medical team to Mongolia, then head to Thailand for a second team. We should make it home the end of September. I look forward to keeping you updated on those teams.

Mongolia, Hong Kong, Fiji, and unlikely trio

June has been quite the adventure. We were able to serve with a team from Harbor Church in Cape Cod in Asia. We started in Mongolia. We were able to work at our nutrition center in Ulaanbaatar for several days and go to church with some of the kids. Part of the team worked on constructing a new gate, new doors and building a set of monkey bars for the kids. Meanwhile the rest of the team did lessons, skits and crafts each day. On the last day they put on a carnival for the kids. The kids loved it, and it turns out Reaghan makes a really good shark. Getting to visit some homes and deliver water filters to families was a great experience as well.

Logistically, this trip was a challenge. There are no direct routes to Fiji. So, we had to get creative. It turns out there is a direct flight from Hong Kong to Fiji 3 times a week. As a result we had to figure out when the Mongolia to Hong Kong flights matched up with the Hong Kong to Fiji flights, which also had to match up with good days of the week to do ministry work with the kids on both ends. The bonus was, we got to give the team a crazy fast night tour of Hong Kong between the flights.

Once we landed in Fiji we hit the ground running. We worked at 2 different nutrition centers and a deaf hostel. There is only one deaf school on the main island, so if a child is deaf, they have to go there, but most of the families do not live anywhere near that town. As a result, they started a hostel for the kids to live at during the school year. Think of it as a boarding home. We got to put on a carnival for them as well and have a big cookout. They are away from home, and can be isolated from society, so we wanted to love on them as much as possible and show them how much the Lord loves them.

As I write this, I am sitting at the airport in Sydney on our way to Singapore, then Thailand for our next team. It will be all throttle and no brake from here on out. I was looking at the schedule and our family effectively has 1 day between now and August 7 where we are not working with someone or trying to travel to someone. Your prayers are coveted. Thank you for your support and continued encouragement for our family.

A Fall to Remember

I am having to combine two months into one update. From mid-October until now I have been overseas with teams. It has been an amazing fall between Guatemala, Thailand and Cambodia. We are home for this week for Thanksgiving and we are really excited to see our girls. Then, I’m off to China next week to finish out the year. 

We started in Guatemala where I had a team working at our orphanage, in a Mayan village and down on the coast. We were able to build stoves, wash feet and hair, and deliver food baskets in a Mayan village in Guatemala where we have a nutrition center. We also took the kids from our children’s home to the zoo and had a bonfire and cookout with them. Next came a large carnival and church service followed by several days on the coast where we released turtles and put on a VBS at several nutrition centers while delivering food and building stoves. From there I flew to South Carolina to speak at a church, then Kim and I headed to Cambodia and Thailand.

Our first team was only in Cambodia. They put on a VBS for a lot of kids at different nutrition centers. The theme was Jonah and they brought a giant shark suit as a prop. This turned into an epic game of sharks and minnows with the kids afterward. We were able to teach English in the school and love on kids in 4 different locations. 

Our last team spanned Thailand and Cambodia. We started in Thailand in a village on the Laos border working with the Lahu tribe. Part of the team taught English in several schools while others replaced windows on the church and the remaining people put on a medical clinic in the village. It was a challenge with all the different languages being spoken. Next, we travelled to Bangkok where we put on a carnival to promote Christmas services and medical clinic to serve the Pakistani and deaf communities. Next, it was on the Cambodia. We hosted a medical clinic at the hospital in Kampong Thom, which allowed a medical team from Phnom Penh to provide cancer screens. The remainder of the team put on a VBS for 4 groups of kids in 3 different locations. In all, this team required 8 flights, 6 hotels, 6 buses, 5 vans, 1 boat, 27 visas, 26 translators in 5 different languages for 2 countries to complete. It was a lot, but the Lord provided. We even saw one of our translators get led to the Lord!

Thank you for your prayers and support. Your generosity has enabled all of this to happen. I pray each of you has a Happy Thanksgiving!