Who Will Go?

Throughout the world, God continues to stir the hearts of men and women to share his Good News.  Those who hear His question, “Whom shall I send? And Who will go for us?"  And answer with a resounding, “Here I am. Send me!”  Isaiah 6:8

Joseph and Abumisheu (Abu) are one such couple: passionate to share Jesus with their people group and train them as disciples in the Word. Not just believers - but disciples, followers of Jesus. March found us travelling from India to Northern Thailand to reconnect and spend a week in fellowship and ministry.  It was our first trip back since 2019, due to travel restrictions and extra costs during and post-Covid.

We were the first missionaries of any nationality to visit Joseph's home village.  What a joy to worship with believers from the Akha people group. 

The Akha people live in China, Laos, Vietnam, Thailand and Myanmar (formerly Burma). One of the six tribes recognized by the Thai government as a hill tribe or mountain people group, they originated in Yunnan province of Southwest China several centuries ago.

The differences between us are impossible to ignore. Our ethnicity, language, physical appearance, dress, and food are completely different. Yet even when everything is different - the Spirit of God joins our hearts. 

There is one body and one Spirit ... one Lord, one faith ... one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. Ephesians 4:4-6 ESV

Just across the border in Myanmar is a Children’s Home where up to 20 village children live so they can attend the state school. The pastor and his wife who run this home take care of all the children’s needs, and teach them about Jesus and the Bible. During school breaks they return to their villages to spend time with their families.  

A few of the children came across the border to
 share lunch at KFC – a huge treat for them. 
Never underestimate the thrill of choosing your own soda flavor.

Did I mention the coffee?

The village of  Doi Chang is nestled in the hills of  Chiang Rai district, perfect coffee growing country. Many Akha families have coffee farms, where the parents grow and harvest the beans, while the younger generation open coffee shops onsite or in towns and cities throughout Thailand.  Eco Lodges built on the coffee farms are popular with tourists during high season.  

Abu introduced us to many of her friends and their delicious brews - yes, it was a highly caffeinated week!  

We spent a few days on the gulf of Thailand enjoying the ocean and returned to India ready for the next season of ministry.

May you embrace all that God has for you during this season of life whatever it looks like, lean into Him, commit your ways to him, trust His plan.  

The Journey Continues ~ Gary and Pat

Akha food is fresh and delicious with a lot of
homegrown organic vegetables in richly flavored broths.

Faithful God

One of my favorite songs is "Goodness of  God".  The words of the chorus resonate with my heart and bring me to tears: 

All my life You have been faithful

All my life You have been so, so good

With every breath that I am able

I will sing of the goodness of God.

In October, I celebrated a milestone birthday.  Looking back over 60 years of this amazing life God has blessed me with, I am overwhelmed with His great faithfulness. 

There have been challenges, heartache, disappointments and loss of loved ones. There have been victories, joys, precious relationships, and great adventures with God.  Each of you reading this is part of my great adventure.  However our lives have connected, whenever and wherever our paths crossed, thank you for being part of my life.

INDIA 2023

The journey continues as we prepare for our first overseas mission trip in three years - India 2023!  Gary and I will be travelling to India on January 23, 2023 for four months of ministry.  Airplane tickets have been purchased - which makes it official.

It's a blessing to stay in contact with our ministry partners and see the fruit of their labors for the Lord during our three years in the states.

God's Word is being preached, people are giving their hearts to Jesus and being baptized in water, children are being tutored in school work, and taught about Jesus; the love of Jesus is shown through food distributions, eye clinics, and in towns and villages. 

During this season of Thanksgiving and throughout the year, Gary and I want you to know how grateful we are for you. Your love, prayers, support, every encouraging word - are precious to us. 

May you experience the faithfulness of God in every area of your life. The Journey Continues ~ Pat

Here are just a few photos from our partners in Cambodia, Sri Lanka, Thailand,  Myanmar and  India. 

Are you shopping online this year? You can support Greater Works at no extra cost to you - by shopping at Smile.Amazon.com and choosing Greater Works Unlimited as your charity.  Amazon donates a portion of their profits!  

The easiest way to get started is: a) log into your Amazon account as usual. b) click this link and follow it through to support Greater Works Unlimited.  This setting will be part of your account until you change it.

Our Epic Four Month Adventure - Summarized

It's been just over a month since we returned from our Epic Mission Adventure - it took over a week to adjust to the 15 hour time difference and sleep through the night!  I mean who really wants to eat dinner at 3 a.m.?

So much transpired during our four month adventure in Southeast Asia and India - that we were given two Wednesday evening services to share with our home church, Meadows Fellowship, here in Las Vegas.

The videos of our presentations have been uploaded to our YouTube Channel.  We invite you to experience our adventure through photos and our narrative.

Click here to go directly to Part 1 on YouTube

Click here to go directly to Part 2 on YouTube

Wherever you are on your life adventure, our prayer is that  you follow the heart of God wherever it takes you.

The Journey Continues - Pat

What an Amazing Journey!

Where in the World - Myanmar & Sri Lanka

The calendar pages are turning, and we are already halfway through our mission trip.  What a great adventure it has been so far.

Myanmar had a few unexpected challenges and changes in our plans - yet fruitful times of fellowship and ministry as we embraced God's plans in spite of our personal disappointment.  We shared some of the adventure in this report: 48 Hours in a Myanmar Village.

A short trip to the city of Chiang Rai in Northern Thailand turned into one of the most fun and heartwarming trips.  Check out the detailed report on our blog "The Road to Chiang Rai".

Sri Lanka is one of our favorite countries - with a strong eye clinic work, and fruitful ministry partnerships.  We're working on a couple reports of our time there.

Take a moment and watch our most recent video update.  We have so much we want to share, the first version of this video was five minutes long!  Somehow we edited it down to two minutes.

Enjoy this brief update on our travels.

Video not showing up? Click this Link

The journey continues - watch for reports on both Sri Lanka and Cambodia.  Then we're off to India.

May your Journey with God bring you closer to His heart.  ~ Pat

Bus Ride

Myanmar Village Church

Waiting Patiently - Sri Lanka Eye Clinic

The Road to Chiang Rai ---

The road to Chiang Rai - is under construction!

We booked our seats for the three-hour ride from Chiang Mai,Thailand to Chiang Rai, Thailand.  The VIP Green Bus was clean with comfy seats.  Due to the winding mountain road, using the small bathroom at the back of the bus was an adventure reserved for the truly desperate.  

Heavy rain and detours slowed us down even though construction crews were shut down for Thailand's Memorial Day in honor of the Passing of His Majesty the Late King.

   

When we finally arrived safely at Chiang Rai bus terminal #1, we were met by Beau (บิว) (pronounced as in Beau-ti-ful), her husband Joseph and their 1 1/2-year-old daughter Zo-E! (emphasis on the long 'E'). Our good friend Mike Kerychuk had introduced us through Facebook and suggested we meet them during our time in Thailand. 

What an amazing 48 hours we spent with them. Both Beau and Joseph are Thai citizens of the Akha tribe.  Despite the language barrier our hearts were knit together as they shared their heart for the Akha people who live in the mountainous regions of Thailand, Myanmar, Laos, Northeast India and the Yunnan province of China.

They reach out to the Akha people in several ways – pastoring a village church, outreaches to remote villages and children’s homes; running a dormitory for 12 students so they can attend the government school that is far from their village home.  Students are provided with room and board, tutoring, music lessons and Bible classes.

Our first stop was the Golden Triangle Park, the point in northern Thailand where the Ruak and Mekong rivers converge and you can look across into Laos and Myanmar.  The governments of the Golden Triangle (Thailand, Burma and Laos) continue to work to replace opium fields with coffee farms. 

As a bonus adventure, they took us to Beau's home village of Doi Chang, a popular tourist destination famous for coffee.  Beau's extended family are coffee growers.  We toured Doi Chang Coffee Farm, sampled various roasts, and stayed at the adjoining guest rooms while enjoying the cool mountain air and gorgeous scenery.  

  

Beau’s family warmly welcomed us into their home and served us a traditional Akha meal of locally grown organic vegetables, fried fish, rice, a tomato dipping sauce much like fresh salsa, sticky rice with peanuts, fresh fruit (longan and rambutan) and tea.  It was delicious and abundant. 

   

What a joy it was to meet these dedicated servants of Jesus and partner with them as they bring His light and love to their people.   “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”  John 1:5 NIV.

The Journey Continues ~ Pat

Where in the World - Thailand

Welcome to Chiang Mai Thailand.    It's the largest city in Northern Thailand - 2 hours by plane from the capital city of Bangkok.   We've been here for about two weeks now. Settling in and adjusting to the 15 hour time difference. We found an English speaking church and are reconnecting with missionary friends.  We are also enjoying Thai street food.

Myanmar is our next stop - we will be conducting a Bible camp in a remote mountain village with Anna and Khai Pi and their adorable son.  They have asked us to teach on the Kingdom of God.  There will be an eye clinic, Sunday services, and nightly fellowship - can't wait for the last night when they roast a pig!

Then we fly directly to Sri Lanka for 10 days of eye clinics and revival meetings.  It's going to be a busy and fruitful month.

Your love and prayers and generous support is so vital, and so encouraging to us.

The Journey continues ~ Pat

Here's a brief video update - hot off the press!
Video not showing? click this link.

Thai Street Food

Thai Street

Sunday Greetings from Thailand

What a glorious Sunday we've had here in Chiang Mai Thailand.

The easiest way to get around the city is with a ride-share app called "Grab".  Similar to Uber or Lyft in America.  The app automatically translates your ride requests into Thai!  What a great use of technology.

Our driver dropped us off at "House of Praise" for Sunday morning service.  As we walked in we met another missionary that we had planned to connect with while here.  What a God-coincidence to have us choose their home church to attend today.  We shared a coffee after service and made plans for lunch later in the week.

After walking to a nearby mall to pick up groceries and have lunch we 'Grabbed' a ride back to our condo.

It's been a restful day - looking forward to the week ahead.

The Journey Continues ~ Pat

WHEW! We made it!

The tiny plane on United Airlines' Flight Sky Map screen slowly traces our path across the Pacific Ocean.  We sleep, eat, drink water (trying to stay hydrated), watch a movie or two, and eventually land at our next destination. Catch another flight and do it again!

Early Morning Las Vegas Departure

It is almost midnight when we arrive in Bangkok Thailand. One more flight to go! The last layover seems the longest. Curled up in the darkened waiting area, we sleep a little. When the Air Asia counter opens at 4:30 a.m. we check our bags and find a coffee shop.

Finally after four flights; 39 hours; 14 time zones: we arrive safely in Chiang Mai Thailand, our home base for the next 2 months. (The last 2 months of this trip we will base in India).

Street Food Carts

There is a sense of 'being at home' as we explore a profusion of street food carts and choose an afternoon snack of Thai ice tea and banana roti (similar to a stuffed crepe). Then it's time to sleep off the jet lag.

A lifetime of praying, seeking God, planning and dreaming and we have literally stepped into our destiny.

Our hearts are grateful - to you for your loving, prayerful support. To God - for using us to share His love and salvation.

The Journey Continues ~ Pat   

Banana Roti & Thai Ice Tea  

Abundant Blooms

Safe Travels

Apologies for the delay in postings of our travel progress.

 We had some technical glitches, but I think we're back in business. 

To catch up:

We arrived safely at our base in Moratuwa, Sri Lanka on Thursday, 12 October 2017,

after roughly  35 hours en route, 

with airport stops along the way in:

Tokyo, Japan

Departure line, more than halfway boarded!

Bangkok, Thailand

Colombo, Sri Lanka

After taking it easy the rest of Thursday, we then set off down the road Friday morning towards our first clinic base. But more on that tomorrow - mid-morning Montana time is well  past my bedtime 11.5 hours ahead in Sri Lanka!

Packing and Preparing

Eye glasses are sorted, labelled and packaged. Suitcases are almost ready to zip shut.  Tickets are purchased, passports current, visas secured.

And yet I find the most important preparation is inside of  my heart. 

Each time  I hear the worship song "Build My Life" on the radio, at church it challenges my heart.  

What am I building my life on. What am I filling my heart with.

Open up my eyes in wonder

Show me who you are

Fill me with your heart and

Lead me in your love to those around me

The lyrics challenge my heart and renew my resolve to fully allow the immeasurable love of Jesus to fill my heart and lead me. To not be lead by my personal desires, or societies expectations.

As we prepare to journey to Thailand and India this week, we appreciate your love, your prayers, your support.  Our prayer for you is that regardless of where you find yourself in life - that your eyes would be open to the wonder of our awesome God, and this would be your prayer:

I will build my life upon your love

It is a firm foundation

I will put my trust in your alone

And I will not be shaken

Build My Life - Listen  

Build My Life - Lyrics

Join us on the Journey - Pat

Homeward: Bangkok, Thailand, to Tokyo, Japan

First off, from the Sri Lanka home front, the brief word from Pat is that they served 38 people at Monday's eye clinic at Adara Sevana, the school in Moratuwa. What a wonderful impact and relationship building opportunity in the local neighbourhood! (Even the resident pug puppy is excited! No, really - that's an excited face - you'll have to trust me on this.)

All went well for my afternoon and overnight in Bangkok - well, overnight meaning another 3:20 AM wake up for a 7 AM ish flight. (Sadly, growing up in the '80s has propelled into my head the snippet of song lyric, "one night in Bangkok makes a hard man humble...". Another childhood moment courtesy of my older brother's radio station choices.)

The Thong Ta Resort hotel was a lovely, calming place to rest for the duration. And their staff has some serious folding skills to create towel ninjas!  I was also heartened to see evidence of a fruitful local Gideon's group in the well-thumbed bedside New Testament. 

Venturing outside the hotel grounds, I got a massage to help work out a few travel kinks, 

and ate some smashing noodle and wonton soups from a street vendor, with a little help ordering from a very kind local customer sitting near the cart. Later, I managed to order all by myself - with much pointing and gestures on both sides off the conversation! - the second bowl for takeaway, which included some of the duck you see hanging from the cart window. Very tender and yum! And in case anyone is fretting, yes, it was safe; I had Gary's assurance. The takeaway packaging process was interesting, partly because it was done in about 20 seconds: broth ladeled into a plastic bag then secured with an elastic; wontons, noodles, greens, and duck portioned out in a plastic bowl then flipped into waxed paper, folded up and secured with a second elastic; all popped in a thin plastic bag atop a styrofoam bowl, plus chopsticks and seasoning pack - presto! 

After the charming chaos of Sri Lanka, Bangkok seemed almost a tad pale in comparison. The orderly traffic flow, all staying within the correct lines, felt almost a waste of good driving space. 

However, taking a bit of a walk, I definitely noticed Bangkok has its own slightly calmer charms, including this lovely businesswoman (another new Facebook friend IF I were on Facebook), who sold to me some Thai snacks to take home for Tom, my husband. She lives outside of the city and works as a middleman, coming into Bangkok weekly to sell traditional snacks that others have made and packaged, carrying the basketed pole across her shoulders. Here's hoping, for Tom's sake, that the packaging is official enough to make it thru customs in Denver. 

I'd hoped for a longer walk in Bangkok, since the front desk assured me the neighborhood was very safe, but air quality was not the best to be trekking about. I  can understand why many local people wore basic filter masks over their nose and mouth. But since it was far less intense than the forest fire pollution we've had in Montana, I still ventured a short stroll. 

It's rather fascinating to think that I left Bangkok at 7:10 AM Tuesday morning, and will arrive home in Montana at 4:30 Tuesday afternoon, since at my departure time it was just 5:10 PM in Montana - on Monday evening.

I've just arrived at Tokyo Narita Airport - hooray! - so can fire off this post.

Now for the trek the gate for my last connecting flight, to Denver, Colorado, USA. More to come once I clear customs there! - Cyndy

Homeward : Columbo To Bangkok

And I'm off! Safely and successfully thru security - although I did get asked to open my carryon bag. It was slightly amusing trying to explain the pump up neck contraption (medically advised due to on-going auto accident recuperation). Thank you Dr. S.!

I'll admit, I did get a little teary on take-off, watching the buildings and landscape of Sri Lanka grow smaller. But that's because I'm a bit of a sap. Of course, I will miss Pat and Gary - I especially cherish any time I can get with my sisters. But I will also miss the gracious and inspiring new friends of Sri Lanka; I'm very grateful for the opportunity to work alongside and amongst them in very straightforward and useful activities. It's been a very satisfying two weeks. 

I'm definitely a fan of Sri Lankan Air. Seriously, three delectable main dish choices for a 3 hour flight?! After a bit of agonizing, I decided on the milk rice, chicken curry, and seeni sambal. Is this not just too perfect?! (I remembered this time to take off the lid before the photo. And yes, that is a little pack of real silverware. All this just for the hoi polloi like me! Crazy.)

Food aside, the airline staff are astonishingly polite. Case in point:  the security check guard actually zipped my suitcase back up, after replacing my weird little neck thing.

And I'm guessing I won't see this considerate little sign in any western airline restroom. (Sorry, Pat - I couldn't resist.)

Well, it's hello Bangkok for me. Just waiting for luggage at carousel 17 - I paid attention this time to the announcement. (Note to self: moving luggage carousel track in peripheral vision, while typing on cell, produces the same kind of 'vertigo' as when the car next to you at the stop light moves.)

Just snagged my bag and am off to customs and then the lovely hotel. There will be more to come - from dual sources! TTFN! - Cyndy