Dear Friends,
Thank you for your prayers and strong interest in our ministries. I'm writing this casual update, between ouf official newsletters, to the 16 of you who expressed more interest in hearing from us. I hope you are doing well, and staying cool in the hot American summer. I'm enjoying the cooler rainy season here, since the Thai summer ended in May.
Right now, I'm in Chonburi Mission Center with a team of 7 college and high school students from my home church, Torrance Good Shepherd Church (TGSC, Rev. Nathan Kim). Pastor Lee J. Yi is leading them. We're having a great time getting to know each other, and they're really blessing our neighborhood by teaching English in the local elementary school; they've also dedicated most of the evenings to playing with the 37 orphans in the center. And, Pastor Lee will bless me by lecturing at the seminary tomorrow morning, so I can take a break and just translate. But, pray for them, since about 4 of them are sick from something they ate at a streetside restaurant last Saturday. My family and I've never been sick from food, and neither has the previous 4 teams I hosted. So, I'm humbled a bit, and will take more precautions from now on.
The teams from Redeemer Presbyterian (Rev. James Han) and Harvest Community (Rev. Jae W. Kim) came earlier this month, and we also had a great time. (See photo link 1, link 2.) They were an older group, and encouraged me a lot with their questions and a good listening ear. They focused their ministries in a Karen village and various urban ministries in Bangkok, including the slums and teaching English in the national police headquarters; they also visited The Well (a ministry for ex-prostitutes), Newsong Bangkok church, Tyrannus Publishing ministry (Rev. Joong-Shik Kim), Bangkok Refugee Center, and so on. The TGSC team will leave this Thursday, after vising Rahab's ministries and Night Light (ministries for ex-prostitutes). And, I will host my final team of the summer from New Life Community (Rev. Chris Lee) next week, August 5-12, who will divide their time between Chonburi Center and a Karen village.
So, I'm spending a lot of time with the 4 teams this (American) summer, but at the same time I've tried to maintain my weekly teaching duties. It's been tough, and I got sick early on; so I'll consider making changes for my ministry schedule for next year's summer. Joan (from Redeemer Presb) is staying on for 2.5 months volunteering as a nurse in Bangkok Refugee Center. She's off to a good start; and she's also subbing for me at OLC while I'm in Chonburi Province, and leading the English Bible studies on Thursday evenings. Sarah is also enjoying her Thursday afternoon teaching session. Eli in Chonburi Center is also doing very well, teaching English in two local schools and winning the hearts of all the orphans in the center. OLC had a retreat 2 weekends ago, and our whole family with Joan and Eli, and also Santosh and Christy-- Santosh's fiancee, had a very good time with the mostly non-Christian Thai group.
I also missed my 12th year wedding anniversary yesterday, but will try to remember to buy some flowers when I get back home to Bangkok later this week. My good wife is not angry, just a little depressed that she married a pastor in the middle of summer when the ministry schedule is the most hectic. She did bring the kids for a visit this past weekend, where they got to spend time with the team from Torrance and also play with the orphans. Lydia is growing very fast, and shocking people when I tell them that she's only 10. Timothy is also very social now, and makes a lot of friends everywhere he goes.
Please pray that the visiting teams will have a great learning experience here, and also for my family, that we will stay healthy and keep growing in Christ; pray also for my parents who are now in Chicago for the big mission conference for Korean missionaries; they will also visit my brother and his family in St. Louis. Finally, pray for OLC as we're looking for a place to continue meeting 3 times a week after August.
Thank you, and God bless!
Paul
