Our missionary friend sent us her recent newsletter. Despite being in her late sixties, God is using her to minister to people who are suffering from COVID-19 19. Her faith encourages us. She is an example of a person who serves the Lord in her old age.
But there are those for health reasons could not like my mother. She was faithful and active with Women Missionary Union (WMU) and prayer ministry. Now, she is old and sickly.
This reminds us that we should take care of the elderly especially the ones in our own family. Our favorite Bible verse talks about caring for the orphans and elderly widows too. Perhaps it is a ministry that God is preparing us to do in the future.
Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.
-James 1:27
While we are still here, we will be taking care of my mother. She lived with my sister for sixteen years. She was hospitalized twice. First for mental health. It was caused by many factors. She suffers from skin disease (fungi) all over her body, foot injury, and isolation. She could not sleep for a week. She started seeing strange people and having memory lapse. The doctor diagnosed her with paranoid schizophrenia. She stayed in the hospital for five days.
A week later, her injured little toe in the right foot was not healing. We brought her to the hospital thinking that the doctor would only treat the infection. Instead the doctor confined her to the hospital and amputated her right little toe. She stayed in the hospital for a week. We are thankful for those who pray for her healing and provision for the hospital expenses.
When she got well, she chose to stay with us. After a year, when we go back to Thailand, she will move to our ancestral home to live with my youngest brother.
This is one of our ministries while waiting for God’s timing for us to return to Thailand.
Prayer and Thanksgiving
- We thank the Lord for healing and provisions. Provisions for the hospital fees and medications both for my mother and me. Please continue to pray for our healing.
- We thank the Lord for providing us an inexpensive used car. We cannot afford a brand-new car and we are not eligible for a car loan because we do not have a “real” job. We know that we need to spend a little more to make the car run better. But it is something we can afford with your help.
- We thank the Lord for the opportunity to minister to our home church. We are hoping to hold a retreat and training for the deacons and church officers. We plan to visit the families we ministered more than a decade ago who are not going to church anymore. We are looking forward to encouraging them to go back to the church and disciple their children.
- We thank the Lord for our children in Thailand. Your support help sustain their everyday needs and their schooling. We get in touch with them through video call in Facebook Messenger. We are thankful for this technology.
- We thank the Lord for Jillian who look after them. Our Pastor, Chi Chang is leading them in a Bible Study once a week. He was also training them to share the gospel.
- We thank the Lord for Jared and Jillian helpins us with our expenses here in the Philippines.
Thank you for keeping us in your thoughts and prayers. Thank you for your partnership in God’s work and ministry in Thailand.
Missions Beyond Borders 