Heading Out

Here we go again. We prepare to head out in the morning (Sunday the 30th). We will go to an area that is new for us. We do have several students that live in the area, so we will have some warm welcomes. We will also visit a T orphanage in the area. Speaking of, our girl is doing well. We will travel to see her in October. Her grandmother is home, and she is helping to care for her before school starts back. Our summer has been busy. When we get back, we have a bit of gtime before Trish and I head out for a meeting and the kids start school. They will begin the international school on the 17th. Yarp for our travels and return. We do want to spend time together as a family and relax as well
I thought I knew how to relax - it was my major in college - but I think I need lessons from this guy:


He really knows how it's done!

Spurgeon said it.

Abhorring Theology
It’s not as though God needs you for anything or that He cannot convert anyone with you evangelizing. God is not “frustrated” with those that can’t come to Him, because you won’t go out and evangelize. If God wanted to make the rocks raise up and praise Him, He could (and will). This image depicts the reprobate going to hell because of YOU; but let me tell you right now that out of God’s providential will and choice He is in control of the glorified and the reprobate. But let us not be confused that this implication of sovereignty means that you have no responsibility. You are to seek the glory of God in all you do, submit to the Lordship of Christ Jesus, and deny yourself. As my friend Matt Martin stated, “by not walking in the power of the Spirit we selfishly seek after our own glory and not the glory of the Most High.”
“Have you no wish for others to be saved? Then you are not saved yourself. Be sure of that.”Charles H. Spurgeon

Trip Time - Part III

Well, we just arrived back from this last one, and it was a joy to be with the sister we'll call Rain. She came to help us "scout the land"
before she brought back a group of brothers and sisters (students) in a few weeks to go and tell the Guiqiong people the good news. You may remember that we had traveled to this place May '05 as a family, and that Mike and some guys went last December to give them some "Christmas presents", J films, radios, little books. This is an area where we have had open invitation from the village government leaders to share, but we have had difficulty finding a group willing to go in and do just that. SO we were THRILLED when our sister said "yes."
We were pretty amazed that the people remembered our family from last May, especially asking where our daughter was. We were invited to their festival and treated very warmly by two wives of village leaders. In other villages in the area, we were invited by grandmothers to come and have tea. In yet another village we were entertained by four little girls as they sang and danced Chinese and Tibetan songs for us. It was a delightful time.
The neatest thing that we saw was that we had open invitation everywhere. Why? WE believe it was because of Father's timing, because of an obedient servant in Rain to delight people with her laughter and love, and, because of people pr-ing. Rain really hit it off with 5 college-age young people- 2 nomads, one girl for the bigger city outside her area, and three from the main village. They know Whom she believes in, and are ready to hear the stories when she returns.
She has been invited to the nomads' village, which made our hearts soar, because when friends went to this place last year, the reception was not as favorable.
We do not attach pictures to this note, but a list: along with Rain, we are asking that you lift the following names up as they prepare to go to the G people and share the stories of the One True God. His Word never returns void. We have seen the power of pr in other areas, we are asking Him, expecting Him, anticipating Him to show up in this area.
We look forward to sharing His results with you. Maybe even a picture!
To Him belong the Guiqiong! To Him belong all the praise and glory, both now and forevermore!
All For His Glory- Mike and Trish, Anna and Kenan Our brothers and sisters- Rain, Sophia, Sophie, Violet, Yager, Joshua, Willie, Vincent, Leo, David, Brill, and Leon.

Trip Time - Part II

Kind of a continuation of the first trip, one of the groups finished their trip by picking the Mom of our beloved brother G, a Queyu T whom we have grown to love very deeply and gotten to know pretty well since we first met him in June of 2005. G's Mom had become very sick and placed in the hospital closest to their village. Her family was told that it was a gallbladder problem, but that she was too old for surgery. G felt, and we agreed, that she would get a better diagnosis and possibly better outlook if she could come to our city for assessment. Our groups were going through village in the way back in, so we picked up "Amah", a beautiful 70 year old woman whom we had grown close to over the course of visiting G's family in their village.
You may remember that G is a former monk- recently we had discovered that he actually had been proclaimed a living Buddha. He had not been home for over 7 years, something that had troubled Amah's heart as well as G's.
We felt the weight of brining this woman to the city, not only because we were concerned what the doctors would find, but also very aware that an amazing reunion would finally take place. The two personal things that had been said to us kept turning over in our minds: Amah: "I know that my son is so longer a monk. I know that he believes in J. Tell my son that when he tells me himself in MY dialect that I will believe, too." G: When my Mom come to the city, she will know J, and the Father will heal her." SO she arrived, many people pr-ed for and with her, and then her son "came back to her." We were not present for the reunion, (rightfully so), but the next morning when picking Amah up to take her to the hospital for yet another test, she couldn't be happier. And when her son ran outside to join us, it was difficult to tell who had more joy written on their face.
Surgery was set, family back together, and it was time for our second trip. We had a great new friend from a Missouri club join our team for a trip to check out options for pig farms. Too long to explain, but the opportunity for people to hear the good news are sometimes necessarily creative. The good thing is, most of these opportunities can also benefit the community. SO Adam, the expert on pigs, and farming, and a whole lot of other things, traveled with us to check things out. While we were in G's village, we got word that Amah's surgery, although far more extensive than had been expected, had gone well. G was relieved, and so were the family members that we were able to report to. Adam's assessment was that G's village was the PERFECT location to begin a pig farming project, and we headed home.
When we arrived back, he met with G, heard G's vision of his desire to begin the ch--ch in his village and take it to all T's, and that part of his vision included having a pig farm enterprise to train people so that they could go to other areas and tell others, first about Father, and second about pigs, we were SO moved. G has really been seeking Father about all of this for a long time. For him to express it so clearly and boldly was a true testimony of the Father's incredible goodness. But the next thing that came out of his mouth we were truly unprepared for. G shared that his Mom had already believed! Why we were so surprised? It was the Father's timing, it was the obedience of the son, it was the heartfelt pr-ers of many people. So fast, so powerful, SO HIM.
To Him belong all the praise! To Him belong Amah! Please pray for her as she recuperates (she will be in the city at least three more weeks), please pr for G as he waits on the Father concerning going back to his village and beginning the ch--ch. Please pr that the pig farm will be successful to aide the community, but will not be a stumbling block and merely produce "rice believers". Father's wisdom alone are needed.
All For His Glory- Mike and Trish, Anna and Kenan

Trip Time - Part I

Dear Friends,
Back from our third trip out, and having a moment to take a breather.
Actually the Father has afforded us a breather by canceling our fourth trip, which was to be a follow-up trip to a place we visited in May. His timing is perfect, so we are glad to obey. Our bodies are tired and a little compromised (Mike, Kenan and I have had a touch of giarrdea from this last trip), and we are missing Anna, who is in another city helping a friend with three very beautiful children. We will be reunited this Friday and prepare for our last trip out before the kids start school. We leave this Sunday.
From our first trip we wanted to share with you that Grace was
AMAZING- a good group, many returnees, and some great new faces. The trip this year compared to last year was- EFFORTLESS. Last year we were all in the same boat, going to places we had never been, walking in faith that He would lead us- yet that walking in faith didn't come easily for anyone.
Last year it was NECESSARY to be in the Father's school of faith and to learn together.
THIS year, we found a team that, at least for the returnees, knew what to expect and how to walk. And they had not only prepared themselves well, but had also prepared the others well, too. When the Father is is control, things become EFFORTLESS. By that I don't mean there aren't bad days, misunderstandings, the normal things that happen when people are in too small a vehicle on a very bumpy road, stomachs are churning from new experiences with food and culture- it is SO easy to get in the flesh here! What I DO mean is when a group of people EXPECT the Father to show up and want to be obedient to His voice, HE makes all things possible, smooth- it is out of His hand that things become EFFORTLESS.
So I write to say, in this first installment, that the group that broke into three groups and did the Father's business did MUCH for His Kingdom and the Kingdom to come amongst His people, particularly amongst the Zhaba and the Queyu. We found where people were and were not, we found new village leaders and government officials that we will need to have a future relationship with, we found old friends who needed encouragement, new friends that needed His love, and brothers and sisters that were at varying levels of obedience, disobedience, misunderstanding, and clarity of what the Gosp. really meant.
One particular story came out of a brother (a man) who was being asked the 4 questions that we ask our family members as they prepare for
"swimming": 1. "Do you know that you have already believed in J, and received Him? 2. Do you believe that He has already forgiven you of all of your sins? 3. Are you willing in front of all of these people to say that you have decided to follow Him and will never turn back? 4. When they mock you, persecute you, beat you, grab you and throw you into prison, and perhaps kill you, are you still willing to believe in Him and never turn back?" You can only imagine that as our partner got to the last question and our brother answered an emphatic "yes" and exclaimed "I will die for Him!" how his two friends who had been looking on and listening erupted with disbelief and anger. Yet, our sister was very calm and turned to the two men, and began to share the stories with them. It seemed "effortless" as one man began to cry and the other hung onto every word, and in a very short while, they were saying that they, too, wanted to believe. Before they pr-ed, our sister invited one of the men's wives and daughter to pr as well. The man's 8 year old son had previously (Oct.'05) believed. The man who was crying was the owner of the house where we always stay, the place where over 24 people had already said "yes" to the one true God. His wife and daughter were in the room, already believers (Oct.'05 and June '05, respectively), when he, his friend, and his friend's wife and daughter all gave their lives to Him.
Praise to Him! As we sat there, we realized we were in the midst of two WHOLE families that now believed. AMAZING. Why? First of all, because the Father said it was time. Second, because a brother, one of their own, boldly proclaimed that J is Lord. You may remember his story- the one whose son had seen demons and could not sleep, but after believing in J his son has never seen demons again. That brother KNOWS that power of the risen One! And third, because people came, and more people prayed, expecting, believing that the Father is going to do what He has promised He would do.
To Him belong all the people. To Him belong all the nations!
All For His Glory- Mike and Trish

Sampa

Sampa is a staple of the people's diet here. It consists of barley, butter and either hot tea or hot milk tea. Adding sugar and walnuts is an option. You mix it together in your bowl - as Kenan is doing - and then form little ball shapes of dough which you eat. It is a breakfast tradition and some of our students even ate multiple times a day as it is cheap and nutritious. Recently, we had a former student visit with us. Not having sampa on hand, I fixed her instant oatmeal - which we have plenty of thanks to Grandma Miller and the Knights. I added a little brown sugar and she was very pleased. After 2 days of this, I thought I'd give her a shot at grits. One of my personal favorites. When she was finished, she said, "Teacher Mike, I liked the oatmeal, but I really like this!" A true southerner at heart!

Right now, we have Gesang and his mom staying with us. She recently had surgery and is recovering from over 90 gallstones. Until she came, she had never been more than 30 minutes ouside of her Tibetan village. And the way the roads are, 30 minutes is not very far. Gesang, Homey G, has been tending to her, which means fixing her sampa. We have shown him our fine collection of instant oatmeal and grits. I'll let you know how much she enjoys these next week.

T Kidz are great!

Our family

Here are some recent - summer 2006 - pictures of us out and about.

















Here are some recent - summer 2006 - pictures of us out and about.

Gotta love those pigs!

We also had Adam, from Missouri, come out and help us. We want to help our people for guiuding them in raising pigs. Adam was a huge help.

Time with Grace

Climbing mountains and making friends.


Sharing the story - love speaks in any language. Light by HIM, with help from Tony and Neal.







Taking every opportunity to build bridges.

Grace paid us a visit recently. We all had loads of stuff to do. Visits to the Hotel Pubairong, passing out school supplies, doing follow-up and swimmings, hiking to unknown locales, playing basketball, Tibeatan dancing, making balloon animals and really enjoying and lifting up the people here.

Introduction

Welcome to our spot. Our desire is to share with you our passion for the nations, especially the Qiangic Speaking T's. Most of you know our work, so what we will be doing is giving updates and sharing news and pictures.