A “smashing” success

We love our Wednesday night services!  It’s the only time when all staff, missionaries, bible school students and children come together to worship and learn the word of God together.  For the past year, we have been learning about different family values of ZOE.  This past week, Les taught everyone about stewardship/taking care of your property and he incorporated fun with the word of God.   He divided everyone up in teams and made different challenges to help us to remember how to take care of the things that God has given to us.

Les teaching with our interpreter

He threatened that the losing team would get whipped cream in the face…and boy, was our team sweating because we were one of the bottom teams!  But at the end of the night, when Les asked everyone if he should be “Merciful” or “No Mercy” for the losing teams, everyone cried “MERCY!”.  Instead, Les willingly took the punishment for us.  With giggles, we all watched Les get it with whipped cream in his face.  That night was indeed, a “SMASHING” success!!

Ready...Get Set...

...GO!!!

Leaving a Legacy

ZOE gets a lot of visitors every year…wonderful, sweet, lovely people.  People who have a heart for missons and/or for the children of ZOE.  Its so much fun to meet the vast array of people who come by – some for just a short visit, and some who stay for a couple of weeks, such as our short term missions teams.

But we recently had a small group from Bellevue, Washington who I wanted to mention:  Pastor Wayne Ogimachi (Lighthouse Christian Church), Pastor Joe and Rita Yoshihara (Cornerstone Christian Fellowship), and Rita Takizawa (Cornerstone Christian Fellowship).  Close friends of one of our fellow ZOE missionaries, they were stopping by on their way home from an incredible missions trip to Vietnam.  It was a lot of fun to eat and “talk story” – we never get tired of hearing the amazing things that God does on missions trips to other countries.

L to R: Pastor Wayne, Patti, Rita and Pastor Joe. We took them to our land and building project on this day.

But one thing that touched my heart so much was what Pastor Wayne Ogimachi had shared with me on the last day they were here.  I remembered him from when I was young, growing up at San Fernando Valley Holiness Church in Southern California…I was pretty young.  He told me that my parents had impacted his life in several ways – my parents were his youth advisors when he was going to the youth group.  They were also his Sunday School teachers at different times – and he accepted the Lord at camp during the year that my mom was his teacher.  He said they both had a great impact on him but he would always remember what my dad did for his dad.  You see, Wayne’s dad was very against Christianity but he said my dad reached out to his dad and somehow got him to agreed to read the bible every week together…and apparently, they did it for awhile.  He was so amazed at the sight of seeing them reading the bible together at their home.

It brought tears to my eyes to hear that story.  My parents never demanded the limelight…oh, they preferred being in the background.  They were easy going …serious about the things of God but fun-loving…introverts at heart but knew the importance of being a part of people’s lives…and they loved and cared about people…because Jesus loved people.  So, even after both of their deaths, it never ceases to amaze me, how many people have come up to us to tell us how much my parents impacted them.   People who needed to be loved and cared for, maybe helped in their marriage, homeless with no where to go, pregnant and single, or just needing wise counsel…people who needed someone to speak into their lives and make a difference.   With 4 kids, I don’t know how they had time, but they made time, when it came to others.   It touched my heart when Pastor Wayne said that that my parents had a part of him being in ministry today.  Boy – I know that I can say that they definitely had a influence on why I am here on the mission field today – 3 of the 4 sisters are missionaries, and the other sister is deeply involved in church ministry – and we would all agree that our parents were our greatest influence.

It makes me think…what kind of legacy we will be leaving for Garrett someday?   We pray that what we do and say TODAY will have a meaningful impact on people’s tomorrow’s.  I thank the Lord for the great examples that my parents were to me.  I miss them greatly, but I know they are in heaven right now…smiling.

Welcoming our new missionary

Recently, we welcomed our new ZOE missionary, Michelle Brekhus, from Washington!  We brought our kids, staff and bible school students to the airport to greet her.   It was an amazing sight.  When she emerged into our sights, we broke out in claps and cheers!  People in the airport were asking us, “Who is she?” – thinking she was a star or someone famous because of our crowd!  Of course, we at ZOE think of her as a star!

Welcome Michelle to our family!!

Please pray for Grace International School

Garrett goes to the most amazing school, Grace International School.  We’ve blogged about his school before, saying how it has been a blessing to our family from the 1st day we put him in Kindergarten.  But right now, we ask that you join us in prayer and support for his school.  Please watch the video below:

Grace International School in Chiang Mai, Thailand, offers affordable, high quality education to the children of Christian workers in Southeast Asia.  One-third of the world’s population, more than two billion people, live within a three hour plane flight from Chiang Mai, making it a strategic location.  Grace has been in existence for 10 years and has served more than 1,500 students from more than 20 countries.  The ministry of GIS enables hundreds of missionaries to minister in SE Asia.

A recent lawsuit brought against Grace International School has jeopardized the future use of the current school facilities.  This suit was filed by the Nittibukon, a neighborhood association legally recognized by the government, charging that GIS had purchased the current property and facilities illegally.

When Grace purchased the property, all papers were properly filed in government offices and the title deeds were legally transferred to the school.  All proper due diligence was taken to ensure the legality of the purchase.  Due to the enactment of a recent law regarding consumer protection, the Nittibukon claimed what they believe is their right to have the property given to them.

In August, 2009, the court ruled against Grace International School, requiring the school to:

• Abandon the facility and turn the land deeds over to them
• Restore the facilities to their original condition
• Pay a fine in excess of  $140,000

Grace will appeal this decision and is working to pursue a just resolution in this case.  Should the appeals courts not rule in our favor, GIS will be forced to vacate the facilities in the next year. It is therefore vitally urgent that the school acquire/obtain a new facility. However, regardless of the outcome of the lawsuit, it is clear that GIS needs to relocate in order to continue to grow in the coming years.  The current facility is bursting at the seams and admittance of new students has been limited/restricted.

We ask for your prayers!  Please pray for God’s provision for GIS, as well as wisdom for school administrators as they guide the school during this challenging time.  GIS must raise $10 million dollars to purchase property and build a new campus. But we serve a GREAT GOD who goes before us!  We are thankful for God’s provision these last ten years, and we look forward to seeing how God will provide for the coming years.

Home Sweet Home

Home is not a place but it’s about people.

America is our home…recently, we had come back to rest and fundraise.   And can I just say that we had the best time EVER…it was probably one of our most memorable trips!   We love coming back to America- we practically kissed the ground when we landed!  What a great time we had – ooohing and awwing at how many changes have taken place, eating familiar food, trying new foods, drinking Dr. Peppers, loving the drive-thru coffee shops, minature golfing, hiking, going to the Dodger game for $1.50 per ticket, slowly cruising every aisle in the grocery stores, Costco, Target and Super Walmart and of course, sharing about what we do at ZOE…all of it was so much fun!

Garrett's and Les' first Dodger game!

Garrett loved going miniature golfing

Hiking at Placerita Canyon with Auntie Joy

Going to see the movie "G-Force" in 3D with the cousins!

Les speaking about ZOE at Wintersburg's Adult Class

Garrett and Lynne sharing at Catalyst Community Church - he was nervous but he did GREAT!

BUT!…our time spent with PEOPLE is what we valued the most!  We can live without the conveniences and other stuff, but the relationships with people…they are SO dear to us.  We TREASURED our moments we had with family, friends and the special people we met at the different churches we visited – whether it was a few minutes of catching up or sharing our hearts over a meal.  You don’t realize what you miss until you don’t have it for awhile.  We missed YOU!

We were able to spend quality time with my sister, Auntie Joy, who is a missionary in Japan. We spent the entire month of August together!

Friends since Jr. High, we had the priviledge of hearing Rev. Rick Chuman give his last sermon before he becoming the JEMS Director (pictured here with his sweet wife, Kathy)

Spending time with the Shiroma family after church at Wintersburg

Visiting our adorable and sweet relatives in Fresno

Sharing a meal with Grace and Nana

Having lunch with Pauline Nishida, who does amazing work with Campus Crusade

Mona and Susan are long time childhood friends. Thanks also to Susan and her entire mini-church that put on a spectacular event for us at Catalyst Community Church! Just wish I took a picture of her whole group - we love you guys!!

Les spending time with the Chan Family and friends

[BLOG DISCLAIMER:  If you don't see your picture, its not because we don't love you but its because we didn't have a camera to capture the moment with you!!!  We could kick ourselves for not being prepared...we apologize...]

Garrett made so many new friends in America, while getting re-acquainted with the old friends and spending precious time with family.  He loved it all.  In fact, every church we went to visit, he would always say afterwards, “Man, I sure wish we could come back here all the time” (no kidding!).   The love that was poured upon him was overwhelming and touching to see.  He had the time of his life.  The night before we were to leave America, his heart was broken knowing he had to say good-bye.  My heart broke for him as well.  The only thing I could do was to pray for God to heal his heart.  I know that being a missionary has its sacrifices…but for a 9 year old, things like this can be really hard to deal with.

Cousins and best of friends! Thanks Freitas family for making this trip so memorable!

Corey and Garrett - 2 peas in a pod!

It's on! Troy and Garrett

A bunch of friends gave Garrett a fun-filled surprise 9th birthday party!

Garrett swimming with friends during a hot summer night

Friends for life

But let me tell you how GOOD our God is!  Let me tell you that there is NO GREATER PLACE TO BE than in God’s PERFECT will for your life.  When we got back to Thailand, it took a few days to feel normal due to the jet lag.  But it wasn’t until I was sitting in church, sitting next to some of our ZOE family and worshiping the Lord together…it was at that moment did I realize that…I WAS home!  I felt so much peace in my heart.  It felt so good.  But how could that be?  Where was home – America or Thailand?  I realized at that moment, that its not the place, but the people.  America will always be our home.  But, you see, God has also called our family to Thailand to fight human trafficking and to change this beautiful nation with the gospel of Jesus Christ…and its because of the relationships that we have developed with our ZOE family, our church and at school…its those relationships that has made Thailand our home as well.

When church ended, I was so excited to pick up Garrett from the children’s church classroom.  I wanted to tell him to hang in there because God will help him through the adjustment, as He just showed to me.  But before I could share anything, he excitedly exclaimed, “Mom – I had a great time in church…I think this is the best church EVER!  I LOVE being back in Thailand!”

Suddenly, like a flood, there was an OVERWHELMING peace that warmed my heart at that moment…Home sweet home.

A, B, C…1,2,3

When we first arrived here about 4.5 years ago, we could only smile and “wai” at our Thai staff and kids – all communication was handled by interpreters.  But now, I am pleased to say that most of our Thai staff can somewhat communicate directly with us…not because we have learned the Thai language but because they are now pretty good at speaking English – for most of them, its now their 3rd language!  We, missionaries, keep trying to learn Thai, but honestly, its been easier to help them learn English.

English test day

For a year and half now, I’ve been also teaching our little ones conversational English every week.  We always try to think of ways on how we can give a head start for our kids in the children’s home.  If we can teach our kids how to speak English, it will open a gateway to obtaining a better job since English plays a big part of doing business in Thailand.   The English classes are modeled after my sister’s successful ministry of teaching English in Japan.  We call it “J.O.Y. Club” which stands for JESUS, OTHERS, YOU and the kids and I have a blast.  We practice speaking English using both visual and audio aids.  That includes using games, songs and CANDY!  Every time they come and participate in class, they are given a 10-dollar J.O.Y. Club bill.  When they save 10 bills, they can shop at our J.O.Y. club store, which is full of cool and unusual American candy.

"May I have 10 dollars please?"

Some of the "cool" American candy in the store

Working hard

They also get rewarded for coming on a consistent basis with a sticker for their sticker chart.  When the chart is complete, they can enter their name into a drawing, once a quarter.  I pick 2-4 lucky winners to go out to do a fun “American-style” activity.  In the past, we have eaten Happy Meals at McDonald’s, which was interesting because they didn’t really enjoy eating hamburgers, but they were grateful at the experience.  Since our kids never have the opportunity to go to the movies (they usually rent movies at home), I’ve also taken them to the theatre to eat popcorn and watch American kid movies, like “Kung Fu Panda” and “Bolt” on the BIG screen!

Receiving their stickers for their sticker chart

Playing a game with numbers and colors

So recently, I was at a lost on what BIG AND FUN adventure I wanted to plan for them next.  So I decided to let them vote.  Surprisingly, the boys all pleaded to come to our house to play video games!   The girls also voted that they wanted to come to our house as well to learn how to bake some sweets and watch a video.   I was more than happy to accomodate them…saves me on traveling as well as money.   So, in our drawing 2 weeks ago, we picked names of 4 boys to come over to our house last weekend.  They were full of excitement and anticipation the entire week before.   I must say that our son Garrett did a great job being their host for the day.  We all had a lot of fun, playing games, eating snacks, laughing and just being with each other.  Its neat to really see that Thai kids are no different from American kids…kids are kids no matter where you are!

Hi-ho, Hi-ho, it’s off to school we go….

Summer time is officially over in Thailand…and now, its back to school for our ZOE kids…as well as for our bible school.

NEWS FLASH!  Our preschool and elementary kids are now attending a Christian school called Mars Hills Academy. Woohoo!  Its a relatively new school, which is a project of a local Christian foundation.  They offer a preschool as well as classes for K-12 grades.   Right now, they are in the process of seeking full Thai school certification.   Although last year, we had our ZOE kids at a one of the best private schools in the city, but it was always a struggle because of the conflicts of beliefs, being in a Buddhist school.  They would leave for school at 7am and didn’t come home until 5-5:30 pm…5 days a week – Wow! That was so hard for our kids to be there so much and trying NOT to be influenced!  But now, not only will our little kids receive a great education, but they will also be in a strong Christian environment that we have long since prayed for!  When I asked a houseparent what the kids thought of their new school, she said, “Aww – they are SO HAPPY!”   We thank God for His faithfulness.

Some of our kids in their classroom

Our younger kids playing at school

We have also officially began a new school year with our bible school.  After a month of interviewing about 50 candidates, we are excited that we now have 24 new bible students into our ZOE Ministry School.   There are a few who speak English well, but most, do not.  Therefore, its been fun to try to get to know them nevertheless.  As Les told our staff and missionaries, “You only have one chance to make an great first impression!  Let’s make sure that these new bible school students KNOW that they are loved and welcomed into our ZOE family!”  So, between my  little Thai and their little English and becoming an expert at Charades, we sometimes are able to communicate.   After all these years of being here and STILL not knowing the language, there is one thing that I have learned – even if its a “Sawaadeeka (hello)” and a smile, you can tell that they APPRECIATE any effort.  You see…love never fails…

New bible school students introducing themselves

Summer fun!

For most of you reading this…summer time is probably just about to begin.   You probably have already started to think about where to go on vacation or what you are going to do with the kids.  Garrett attends an international school that is American-based, so his summer break officially begins at the end of this month.  I keep on thinking that we need to have some kind of game plan on how to fill his days.  Well, thankfully, Garrett is pretty easy going…he’ll just go with the flow…he will just be HAPPY to be out of school!  But we do have plans on coming back to the U.S. in August-September.  Its been 2 years since we’ve been able to come back for a visit, so we are REALLLLLY looking forward to it.

But for our ZOE kids and all of Thailand, summer just came to an end last week.  Our kids had 2 months off (March/April) but they didn’t just sit around…no! no! no!  Quite the opposite – it was filled with fun activities like bible camp, games, fishing, crafts, talent shows, waterfalls, movies rentals, the zoo, camp out in the front yard, swimming and a special trip to the mountain villages.  WOW!  Even I don’t remember my summers being that much fun when I was a kid, but because of the generosity of some dear people in America…plus the hard work and sweat (literally!) from AMAZING individuals at ZOE, our kids had an memorable summer break!  We hope and pray that yours will be too!

Our ZOE boys love to hip-hop dance! At camp, all the kids got to participate in a talent show. Very cute!

Playing games at ZOE.

Swimming in the river at the village

ZOE kids at the zoo. Check out how low those railings are…so dangerous! Thankfully, its not the tiger pit!

Fishing at a nearby man-made lake. Look at the homemade bamboo fishing poles and a piece of fishing string attached to the end - that was our fishing poles but they were very effective in catching fish!

Garrett with one of his ZOE buddies. Garrett's school happened to be closed for this week, so he was able to go fishing with all of the ZOE kids - he was so excited because he had never gone fishing in his life! On this day, he caught many fish with his little bamboo pole. This is him with his very first fish!

And they lived happily ever after…

Who doesn’t love a good ending to a story?  I know that I do!  Well, we just came back from an amazing child rescue trip and let me tell you, we couldn’t have asked for a better ending if we wrote it ourselves!  Let me tell you the story…

For Les and myself, our daily responsibilities usually do not include child rescue trips.  At ZOE, we have a team that is well-trained to investigate stories of children who are endangered of being trafficked.  However, for this particular trip, our child rescue team had asked if Les and I could go with them.  They had found a woman who had willingly signed up with “agent” to work at a massage parlor in Singapore.  This was a obvious case of human trafficking, but the lady said she wanted to go.  The team felt that they needed someone older, who she would respect, to talk her out of going.  Les fit the profile, especially with the full head of grey hair!  They also requested that I go with him, as a husband and wife team, to bring more credibility to the situation as we talked with this woman.  We’ll tell you the full story in our newsletter, so to keep a long story short, we prayed and asked many people to be praying for us because we knew the difficult situation it would be.  As Les, myself and the team met with her for about 2 hours, her heart changed.  Les did a fantastic job sharing, not only the danger of the whole situation, but also shared the love of Jesus to her.  It was a powerful time!  Not only did she decided to accept Jesus into her heart, but she also decided NOT to go to Singapore!!!  Oh…we were all in tears!!!

But wait…there’s more!  On this same trip, in the same village, we were going with our team to pick up a little 4 year old orphaned boy.  His parents died and left him and his older sister by themselves. They were both targeted as high risk children, but the relative only wanted to give us the boy because he wanted to use the little girl as a source of income.  Because of legal reason, our hands were tied.  BUT, we knew that many people had been praying for us on this trip and we knew that only God can change the hardest of hearts.  To our complete joy and amazement, the relative had a change of heart that day we came.  We are happy to report that both of those children are safely and lovingly cared for in our children’s home today!

Sister and brother with baby chicks on their head! Unfortunately, we can't show you their cute little faces because we need to protect their identity because they are still minors.

Don’t you just love a happy ending?  We couldn’t have asked for a better one than this.  We give God all the glory and honor!   God is so faithful when facing the impossible!   He’s simply…AMAZING!

Hat’s off to our graduates…it’s not an end, but a beginning!

This is our ZOE Ministry School Graduating Class of 2552 (that's 2009 for us, Americans), with Lynne and Les (that's him behind my head!)

Our 3rd year ZOE Internship Graduates with Les and the Harts (ZOE founders)

At the beginning of this month, we proudly graduated 19 students from our 2-year ZOE Bible School and 5 students from our 3rd year ZOE Internship program.  The excitement and joy on their faces was priceless as they walked in front of their friends and family to receive their diplomas.   There were a few times that tears came to my eyes because I know the hard work they had to put in to make it to this day.  Its hard to see them go because they have become dear to our hearts at ZOE.  But we know that God has great plans for them all

A typical schedule for the bible school students includes waking up at 5:00am for individual prayer/bible time, 7:00am breakfast; 8:30am Praise and Worship; 9:00-4:00pm they are taking classes in bible, business, English and vocational schools.  On Saturdays, they are either on an outreach to outlying areas or they are required to help around the children’s home.  Sundays are their days off after church.  It’s a packed 2 years for them!!

Les has been fully enjoying teaching business to the bible school students.   Not only do they learn business principles such as marketing, management, operations, but they also learn how to handle their personal finances, leadership, time management, goal setting and hands-on project management skills.  We incorporate business into the bible school curriculum because we know that no matter what area they choose to be in, having the knowledge of business principles is important.  If they choose to be in ministry, its important for them to have a business foundation to run their ministry effectively.  If they choose to go into business, what a great opportunity for them to share the gospel in the “marketplace” with a great foundation of the word of God!

Les addressing the graduates and audience during the ceremony

Being able to mentor people in the area of business and leadership has always been Les’ passion and desire.  He absolutely loves it.  During one of his class times, he was challenging the students to change their thinking about themselves.  He wanted them to see how VALUABLE they are to God and how God sees their life as beautiful and full of potential and spent the whole class time building them up.  You see, if they start thinking differently about what they see in themselves, it will determine their successful outcome in their life.  Well, 2 students came up to him later in tears, so touched by the words he spoke to the class.  They shared that no one in their life had EVER done that.   Growing up, no one ever believed in them and only spoke negative words over their life (“you’re worthless – you’ll never do anything in life”).  For the 1st time in their life, they heard what God had to say about them and it was like cool, refreshing water being pour onto their dry and thirsty souls.  Today, they are both on staff at ZOE and are the most faithful and hardest workers we have ever seen.  They both feel that one day, God will lead them back to Burma to start a children’s home and bible school there.  We praise God that He brought them both to ZOE!

Les (with an interpreter) teaching his business class

We are happy to say that four of the newly graduated ministry school students made it into our 3rd year internship program and two other graduates were hired directly onto staff at ZOE.  But God has called each one of them to do great things in this world – and they WILL change their world around them…just wait and see!