Community Shot #1

Hung out with this group of ruffians today for a bit.  Tried the sour mango with ground salty fish paste on it they were selling.  Disgusting.  But good fellowship.

Sports Day at CCS

Had some fun with the kids at the Cuatro Christian School on Sports Day in the last week of school.  Here are some pictures.

Initiation: Two Teams at Once!

Last week marked a milestone for me (Russ), as I got the opportunity to host my first team(s) ever.  Let me tell ya, handling one team can be a handful, two teams though.. well that's just plain fun.

Me with the TCIS crew.

My duties here consist of handling all of the logistical details connected with hosting a team.  So before the teams got here, I was emailing with them about what they'd do, getting their rides to and from the airport set up, getting their housing ready, connecting them to our Children's Home and the church next door, making sure they had all the equipment they needed, etc.  I picked up the first team, Taejon Christian International School from (appropriately) South Korea.  They worked hard all week running a Vacation Bible School for our Children's Home kids, helping build a home in the community for one of our workers, repainting the basketball court next door, and also jumping into the construction that our other team was working on.  We were very blessed to have such a great group of high schoolers join us in the efforts to build up the Kingdom of God.

Here's a little slideshow of some of the things the TCIS team did.

Most of the ICS Hong Kong group.

The other first team I had the chance to host was from International Christian School in Hong Kong.  This team came with a singular goal: to build the third floor of a multipurpose building at the back of the YMC (our ministry center).  The first floor is an automotive and electrical training center, the second floor is a library for our school, and the third floor will become the office space that KIM has needed to keep our efforts centralized and unified.  It is such a blessing to have that space built, as it will aid in our ability to create a team space where we can have meetings and see our ideas, maps, calendars, etc. on the walls.  They came with funds and servants' hearts and worked all week at hauling materials up three flights of steps and mixing/pouring cement.  They were a great group that comes more than once a year, and we plan to see them back again in 2011.

A slideshow of ICS Hong Kong's efforts

Giving the Charge

As a missionary, you get asked to do a lot of things you wouldn't normally do.  It's normal to walk into a church as a foreigner and be warned five minutes before the sermon that you're the one giving it.  Just the other week, we had a team here and one of the guys from the team was asked to speak at a Homecoming dance.  When they got there, they also called up his buddy who had not prepared a thing to say.  Good stuff.

Well, I got my chance not too long ago.  I was asked to give the charge at a graduation at Cuatro Christian School, the school run by Kids International Ministries.  This wasn't any ordinary graduation, no.  I was honored to be the guest speaker at a prep-class graduation.  Prep is a grade here between Kindergarten and 1st grade that prepares the student for elementary school.

Luckily, they gave me a few days to prepare.  On the day, I got up and delivered a charge about how God likes to use little people to do big things (ie. Joseph, Gideon, and David), and how God would work through them if they try their hardest and always keep their eyes on Him.  It was a good experience for me to see the formalities of this culture and to interact with the kids and their parents.  This graduation was a huge deal to a lot of parents who never thought they'd see their kids even go to school.

Delivering the speech of a lifetime.

Kim Courtright (director of our school), handing me an honorary certificate for being the guest speaker.  They also gave me the flower arrangement around my neck to wear while I spoke.  Very formal!

Update on Jess's job

In our latest newsletter, we mentioned that Jess had taken on the responsibility of maintaining child sponsorships within the organization.  That has changed.

After much thought, discussion, and reflection, we've decided that taking on a responsibility like that could result in some negative consequences.  Jess is a fantastic wife and mother as it is, however, as all you moms and wives out there know, it can be a stressful job in and of itself.  Add onto that the fact that we've just moved to a different country, live in a new apartment (that's scarcely furnished), started a new financial situation, begun in a new organization, and are raising a toddler now.  Needless to say, being a mom is an important and full-time job.  We felt that taking on another responsibility would be to the detriment of both her motherhood (and wifehood) and the child sponsorship program.  So, we called it off.

Don't worry though, the show must go on, and the child sponsorship program will be taken care of in other ways.  Thanks for praying for us and for her.  God led us to what we feel to be a wise decision that we made from the onset and that we're going to stick to.  Jess will be the best wife and mom she can possibly be!

Bleller Leller and Goodbye

Micaiah is getting so big! Here's a little video of her latest development.