When it rains, it pours

We thought the saying “when it rains, it pours” is all about the weather. It came to our mind because it rained non-stop for seventeen days here in Baguio City. This is where we are staying while we are here in the Philippines. It is a city located on top of the mountains. 

But we learned later that this phrase is an American idiom which means a bad thing happens. Followed by other bad things within a short span of time. It happened to us. Narlin had shingles and then broke her ring finger. She also felt the side effects of the vaccine. I (Joey) suffered from inner ear infections, toothache/gum infections. Then accidentally banged my head on the low beam of the overpass stairs that caused a big lump on top of my head. It was a painful month for us.

But thankful to the Lord for His healing and despite pains, His joy is our strength. We went on serving the Lord through our church. Narlin with her online Bible study groups and Sunday School for the youth and children’s classes. I am preaching in our church worship services and teaching adult Sunday School class.

We hope to do more ministry in our church while we are waiting for God’s time to travel back. We are preparing to meet the requirements to travel. These are the insurance, visa, vaccine certificates.  Joey will have the PET-CT scan in November. After this,  we are hoping we are ready to go.

The pandemic has been hard for us being lockdown here and for the children in Mae Sai. The Delta variant forced the school to hold their classes online. They  are attending their classes at home.

As you already know, we are renting a house that has seen better days. It is falling apart and having twelve children makes the process faster. The house needs a lot of tender loving care. When we were around, we do the work of repair and maintenance ourselves. It is a beautiful house with enough space and rooms for our needs. It is near the town and the school. The rent is relatively cheap. God has provided this suitable house for us.

Everything is good until something is broken. Jillian called and informed us that the kitchen door was falling. They also did not electricity for three days because of a short circuit. The electrician could not find the problem. So, he had to do electrical rewiring. We thank the Lord for keeping the children safe from any incidents like fire caused by faulty wirings. We are thankful to the Lord for providing the fund for the electrical work.

We are missing significant events while we are away. For the last two years, the children are celebrating their birthdays without us. It makes us miss them more.

Thank you so much for your continued support and prayers. You help us and the children go through these difficult times.

Prayer Concerns

• Please pray for the safety of the children against Covid and other diseases. Muey, one of the girls got sick of flu. She is well now. Pray that they learn on their online classes.
• Pray for us as we minister to the church that we helped started thirty years ago. The church suffers from the pandemic. Please pray that through our ministries, we can encourage other church members.
• Pray for Jillian who take care of the children. Pray for her health, patience, and strength. Please pray also for Pastor Chang who help look after them and teach them the Bible.
• Please continue to pray for us as we prepare to go back to Thailand. We are doing our best to meet the travel requirements like visa, health certificates, and insurance. Pray for provisions for air fares, and other travel expenses.
• Pray that Joey’s healing. He will have his PET-CT scan for this year in November. We are praying that the cancer cells, tumors, nodes are totally eradicated. Pray that the oncologist will declare him cancer free already.
• Please include in your prayers the situation in Myanmar, Afghanistan and Haiti. May God’s will be done in these countries.

Thank you for your love and prayers.

While Waiting

For the first time in fifteen years, Narlin and I had celebrated our birthdays for two consecutive years here in the Philippines. We are sure we will celebrate in Thailand next year. We are hoping that the travel restriction will be lifted.

But God has a purpose for our extended stay here in the Philippines. The first reason, He let us stay here is so that we can minister to our own family. After recovering from paranoid schizophrenia, skin disease, and foot injury, my mother become weak. She needs a place and full-time care. She stays in our temporary house we rented, and we look after her.

We had a lot of experience taking care of orphaned children. Now we are grateful to God for giving us the opportunity to give back to our mother in her old age. It is also a learning experience for us how to take care of the elderly which is also a possible ministry that we can do in the future.

Narlin leading the online prayer time with the ladies in the church.

Joey sharing the word of God in our church’s worship service.

We have the opportunity to take care of our mother during her time of sickness.

Another reason that God to spend the lockdown here is to help our local church. Joey is now preaching regularly at least once a month and teaching Sunday School for adults. Narlin is helping with the women’s ministry and teaching Sunday School for the youth. She also has four online Bible Studies. We do things to encourage our church members to be more involved in the church ministries and activities.

We are happy to continue our ministry in Thailand through the internet. The school opens again on the first of June. Because of your continued support and prayers, God provided for their school fees, supplies and new sets of uniforms. Jillian is taking care of the daily needs of the children we are sending the funds through her bank account.

Our children leading the worship and playing in the band in our church back home in Thailand.

Prayer Concerns

We are thankful for using you, our partners supporting our children’s needs. As you already know, we are preparing for the big move in the next school term. The four older girls will go to the university. They will study in Chiang Rai City which is about an hour away from Mae Sai. They have to stay in a dorm. Jillian wants to look after them. She will find teaching job in the city to be with the girls. We need to be home to arrange this. Please pray.

Please pray for our need to raise fund for our travel needs to go back to Thailand. This includes air fare, visa expenses, and insurance premium cost 100,000 USD for COVID medication coverage required by the Thai government. We roughly need 7,000 USD. Better still, we are praying that this insurance requirement will no longer be required. We might not need this amount before the end of this year.

Pray for our health. My (Joey) latest blood test shows that my creatinine level is back to normal. That is a big improvement. My creatinine level is remained high for the over two years since my right kidney was removed. But my C-reactive protein (CRP) is high. My oncologist told me that I have inflammation caused by infection from unknown reasons. She ordered a repeat CRP blood test again next week.

Please pray for our ministry with our Nanay (our mother) and with our church. Please pray for protection against COVID as we travel every weekend to work with our church. Pray that God will give us wisdom and strength in doing His ministry.

I know vaccine is a big religious issue for some Christians in the US, but it is not so in Philippines, Thailand, and most countries. We will have our second dose of COVID vaccine on July 6. This is for personal health reasons. I am a cancer survivor and hypertensive. If we want to continue with our ministry in Thailand, we must be vaccinated. Please pray for us.

Thank you so much for your love, support, and prayers. Thank you for believing in us and what we are doing. We pray that God will bless you more and more.