We're Al and Edie, who are serving with ReachGlobal. We're engaged in Biblical and theological training for pastors around the world.
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
Thursday, March 29, 2012
Asian Adventures
We had a wonderful time meeting with the Lahu leaders. We had good discussions and were able to address many of their questions about starting a training program here for pastors among the Lahu churches. They had a lot of questions because they are not used to being asked to receive teaching and then to pass it on to others. They feel inferior to the American pastors and teachers who usually come. We want to assure them that with the Lord’s help they can do a great job. Our hope is to lay a foundation that will in the future spread to Lahu churches throughout SE Asia. Our current plan is to have an initial pastors conference in September and then start out training a few months later.
It is quite hot here, averaging in the mid 90’s during the day and a little cooler in the evening. Our room gets down to about 87 at night so sleeping is a challenge. The first night I did not sleep well and really struggled with the various meetings we had the next day. We travelled several hours and met with pastors in some rural churches and finally in a large city. Somehow the Lord sustained me as I was hardly coherent for much of the time. We did stay in a hotel, for about $13 last night and it had air conditioning, or at least it began with it, and the room stayed around 75 so we slept well. Tonight the room is at 89 at 8:30 pm so we have a ways to go.
One evening we had dinner at a small roadside restaurant with outdoor seating under a thatched roof. We enjoyed unique and wonderful Thai food. As we were finishing a cat jumped up a pole and reached up into the thatching to grab a rat. All this happened over my head and I was rooting for the cat to keep a hold on the rat. He did and all ended well. We were glad it happened after we finished rather than at the beginning of the meal. God is good to us, and to the cat; I cannot speak for the rat.
Al
It is quite hot here, averaging in the mid 90’s during the day and a little cooler in the evening. Our room gets down to about 87 at night so sleeping is a challenge. The first night I did not sleep well and really struggled with the various meetings we had the next day. We travelled several hours and met with pastors in some rural churches and finally in a large city. Somehow the Lord sustained me as I was hardly coherent for much of the time. We did stay in a hotel, for about $13 last night and it had air conditioning, or at least it began with it, and the room stayed around 75 so we slept well. Tonight the room is at 89 at 8:30 pm so we have a ways to go.
One evening we had dinner at a small roadside restaurant with outdoor seating under a thatched roof. We enjoyed unique and wonderful Thai food. As we were finishing a cat jumped up a pole and reached up into the thatching to grab a rat. All this happened over my head and I was rooting for the cat to keep a hold on the rat. He did and all ended well. We were glad it happened after we finished rather than at the beginning of the meal. God is good to us, and to the cat; I cannot speak for the rat.
Al
Friday, March 23, 2012
From Hong Kong to Chiang Mai
Our conference here in Hong Kong finishes tomorrow and we fly off to Chiang Mai, Thailand. It has been a great conference with about 20 national leaders from around the world attending. It has been fun to interact with them especially on training issues. I have been talking today with a leader from India about including training from a brother in Kenya into our training schedule. An Oriental Indian leader from NW India will also be attending one of our future training sessions. We are talking with the Kenyan about training in Haiti. That is just a sampling of the day’s discussions. Who knows what God will do with all this cooperation around the world.
We have been going out into Hong Kong in the evenings for our supper. We often ride the subway around town to various restaurants. Tonight we went to the American Chinese restaurant and it was the best I had ever eaten. Then we went to the laser show on Hong Kong bay. This is an incredible city. It also has a dark side as we walked by numerous prostitutes on the way from the subway to the restaurant. So sad.
Please pray for our time in Thailand as we build a relationship of trust with the Lahu leaders. We want to be culturally sensitive and genuine in our care for them. We will report on how it goes.
Al
We have been going out into Hong Kong in the evenings for our supper. We often ride the subway around town to various restaurants. Tonight we went to the American Chinese restaurant and it was the best I had ever eaten. Then we went to the laser show on Hong Kong bay. This is an incredible city. It also has a dark side as we walked by numerous prostitutes on the way from the subway to the restaurant. So sad.
Please pray for our time in Thailand as we build a relationship of trust with the Lahu leaders. We want to be culturally sensitive and genuine in our care for them. We will report on how it goes.
Al
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Pictures from Hong Kong
Photos: Fish market on Cheung Chau island, one of the ferries we traveled on, the landscape of the island, a market in Taipei.
Hong Kong
We’ve been on the road now for over a week and we are getting our first break to write. Our time in Taipei went very well. It was so good for us to see the Taguchi family. I mentored Jeff for a few years back in our time in Las Vegas. It was touching to see how much he attributed his work to that early relationship. It reminded me that even when you think your work is not that significant, it can be impacting to others with lasting results. Spending two days there also helped us adjust a bit to the time change before we started our training in Hong Kong.
It was a bit of a challenge to find our way from the airport to the island in the Hong Kong bay where our training took place. We rode a train, navigated through a major mall, and finally rode a ferry 45 minutes to the island. Then we wound through the village and up a steep hill to the retreat center dragging our three suitcases, briefcases and tired bodies along. We were thankful for the good night’s sleep and the beautiful surroundings.
The training went very well the first day. All but one of the ReachGlobal leaders who had registered showed up, and all embraced the training and were enthusiastic about how they might use it in various places in Asia and elsewhere. We think significant opportunities will come from all this, and we built some great relationships during the time as well. The second day was more challenging. One of the participants reached down to get something from his suitcase and his back immediately went into terrible spasms. I have never seen anyone in so much agony so quickly. He even started to go into shock. The camp nurse came and helped and then called an ambulance. The interesting thing is that there are no vehicles on the island except small ambulances and even they could not come all the way up to the camp. The attendants took him on a stretcher down to the ambulance and then they flew him by helicopter to the Hong Kong. He just was released today, 4 days later but must still lay flat for several more before he is flown home later this week. All of that basically ended the training but fortunately we had covered the majority on the first day.
We rode two ferries and a subway to get to our hotel in Hong Kong for the Lead Team meeting we are attending. Rolling the suitcases down the hill from the retreat center was almost as difficult as going up, really taxing our legs. I ended up having to carry a lot of luggage for us and another woman up a long flight of stairs out of the subway and have really been feeling it for the past several days. We have walked a lot around the city in the evenings going to dinner, etc. and both of us are quite sore. We need to get in better shape. Easier said...
Our meetings are going well and we are networking well on training issues. I am proud to say that our ReachGlobal staff is top notch with wonderful people serving the Lord wholeheartedly. We feel really blessed to be a part of this global missions effort. We have several more days of training and then set off for Chiang Mai, Thailand to establish the groundwork for training Lahu pastors there. We will blog as we are able. Thanks for standing with us as we travel and serve the Lord.
Al
It was a bit of a challenge to find our way from the airport to the island in the Hong Kong bay where our training took place. We rode a train, navigated through a major mall, and finally rode a ferry 45 minutes to the island. Then we wound through the village and up a steep hill to the retreat center dragging our three suitcases, briefcases and tired bodies along. We were thankful for the good night’s sleep and the beautiful surroundings.
The training went very well the first day. All but one of the ReachGlobal leaders who had registered showed up, and all embraced the training and were enthusiastic about how they might use it in various places in Asia and elsewhere. We think significant opportunities will come from all this, and we built some great relationships during the time as well. The second day was more challenging. One of the participants reached down to get something from his suitcase and his back immediately went into terrible spasms. I have never seen anyone in so much agony so quickly. He even started to go into shock. The camp nurse came and helped and then called an ambulance. The interesting thing is that there are no vehicles on the island except small ambulances and even they could not come all the way up to the camp. The attendants took him on a stretcher down to the ambulance and then they flew him by helicopter to the Hong Kong. He just was released today, 4 days later but must still lay flat for several more before he is flown home later this week. All of that basically ended the training but fortunately we had covered the majority on the first day.
We rode two ferries and a subway to get to our hotel in Hong Kong for the Lead Team meeting we are attending. Rolling the suitcases down the hill from the retreat center was almost as difficult as going up, really taxing our legs. I ended up having to carry a lot of luggage for us and another woman up a long flight of stairs out of the subway and have really been feeling it for the past several days. We have walked a lot around the city in the evenings going to dinner, etc. and both of us are quite sore. We need to get in better shape. Easier said...
Our meetings are going well and we are networking well on training issues. I am proud to say that our ReachGlobal staff is top notch with wonderful people serving the Lord wholeheartedly. We feel really blessed to be a part of this global missions effort. We have several more days of training and then set off for Chiang Mai, Thailand to establish the groundwork for training Lahu pastors there. We will blog as we are able. Thanks for standing with us as we travel and serve the Lord.
Al
Saturday, January 7, 2012
Interesting India
I apologize for not communicating sooner. Our hotel is under construction and the wi-fi is not very dependable. There are 4 floors in the hotel with rooms and most only have one room per floor that is useable. The rooms are nice but the hallways, etc. are all in one state or another of demolition or remodel. Our team is scattered out over all the floors, using the only useable rooms. We are the only guests at this time.
The conference is going well. We have close to 300 people we are teaching. It is such a blessing to work with them. We start early in the morning and go steady until dinner time around 6 pm. There is preaching in the morning, then we split up and present seminars all afternoon. After dinner the team goes back to the hotel and I stay and work with the master trainers and leaders preparing them for the major training effort we are planning to begin in June. These men, about 25 in all, are an absolute delight to work with, very motivated and sharp. I get back to the hotel about 10 pm so it makes for a long day.
There have been a couple of interesting developments as we have gone through the week. Because there are so many people a large tent was constructed outside to accommodate everyone for the preaching and for seminar space in the afternoons. Just across the road, about 100 feet away, a major rail line runs through the city. There are probably 60 to 70 trains that go by every day. It can get a little noisy. One afternoon when I was conducting a seminar in the tent, about 12 trains went by in the 3 hours. They blow their horn right as they pass to move people off the tracks ahead. In addition, we have about 100 kids from the slums at the conference and they meet across the yard in another tent. They can be a bit noisy as well so it makes for an interesting teaching time.
The city is doing major work on the sewer lines around the training center so the road is all torn up. During the day they make slow progress digging a trench and laying sewer pipe. After the workers leave for the day all the squatters who have makeshift houses along the road dig their own lines and hook up water and sewer to their homes. You wonder how any of it works. Yesterday, somehow related to all that work, the sewer backed up and water ran all under the tent making it unusable. We had to move everyone inside the center, cramming all 300 into a relatively small space. It was cozy with many sitting on the floor, but no one complained as they sat through three sermons with one half hour break. A few even had little kids with them and they did fine as well.
I really enjoy the ride home at night in a three wheeled motorcycle taxi. The exquisite chaos of the Indian traffic never ceases to amaze me. There are many more vehicles on the road than anywhere I have ever been. Thousands of taxis, motorcycles, bicycles, cars, trucks, buses, people on foot, camel drawn carts, etc., etc. And that is not mentioning the many dogs and cows as well. There are only about two stop lights in this area and everyone ignores one of them. Still all in all the traffic moves very efficiently, more so than in America. There are no traffic jams and few short delays. I cannot explain it but it is a wonderment.
I have only two more days here now. I will try to update you again as I am able. Thanks for your prayers.
Al
The conference is going well. We have close to 300 people we are teaching. It is such a blessing to work with them. We start early in the morning and go steady until dinner time around 6 pm. There is preaching in the morning, then we split up and present seminars all afternoon. After dinner the team goes back to the hotel and I stay and work with the master trainers and leaders preparing them for the major training effort we are planning to begin in June. These men, about 25 in all, are an absolute delight to work with, very motivated and sharp. I get back to the hotel about 10 pm so it makes for a long day.
There have been a couple of interesting developments as we have gone through the week. Because there are so many people a large tent was constructed outside to accommodate everyone for the preaching and for seminar space in the afternoons. Just across the road, about 100 feet away, a major rail line runs through the city. There are probably 60 to 70 trains that go by every day. It can get a little noisy. One afternoon when I was conducting a seminar in the tent, about 12 trains went by in the 3 hours. They blow their horn right as they pass to move people off the tracks ahead. In addition, we have about 100 kids from the slums at the conference and they meet across the yard in another tent. They can be a bit noisy as well so it makes for an interesting teaching time.
The city is doing major work on the sewer lines around the training center so the road is all torn up. During the day they make slow progress digging a trench and laying sewer pipe. After the workers leave for the day all the squatters who have makeshift houses along the road dig their own lines and hook up water and sewer to their homes. You wonder how any of it works. Yesterday, somehow related to all that work, the sewer backed up and water ran all under the tent making it unusable. We had to move everyone inside the center, cramming all 300 into a relatively small space. It was cozy with many sitting on the floor, but no one complained as they sat through three sermons with one half hour break. A few even had little kids with them and they did fine as well.
I really enjoy the ride home at night in a three wheeled motorcycle taxi. The exquisite chaos of the Indian traffic never ceases to amaze me. There are many more vehicles on the road than anywhere I have ever been. Thousands of taxis, motorcycles, bicycles, cars, trucks, buses, people on foot, camel drawn carts, etc., etc. And that is not mentioning the many dogs and cows as well. There are only about two stop lights in this area and everyone ignores one of them. Still all in all the traffic moves very efficiently, more so than in America. There are no traffic jams and few short delays. I cannot explain it but it is a wonderment.
I have only two more days here now. I will try to update you again as I am able. Thanks for your prayers.
Al
Monday, January 2, 2012
2012 Trip to India
I arrived in Mumbai, India last night at 11:30 pm and went to bed around 1 am. Then I was up at 6:30 am to fly on to Ahmedabad for the next week. I will be preaching at their annual pastors conference twice on Luke 18 and 19, giving a two part seminar on the nature of man and working with the leaders and master trainers in the evenings to prepare them for the beginning of our training program in June. Pastors from all over India will begin arriving tomorrow, as well as the team from Valley Church in Des Moines, IA. Pray for us that this will be a productive and encouraging time for the pastors here.
Al
Al
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