MAKING GOD

Our church wants to spread the Word of God, ignite a mission movement, be involved daily in God's mission, and share the Word of Jesus Christ through our work, actions and deeds.

Jeremy Shears, former member of ILC now living in Pennsauken NJ, is an SMP vicar at Martin Luther Chapel. What is an SMP vicar? SMP stands for Specific Ministry Pastor, a pastor who is tasked with fulfilling a specific pastoral role in a congregational or missional context. This role might include mission pastor, elder-care pastor, youth pastor or whatever other mission need which might be appropriate for the local setting. In the SMP program vicars are placed in service while receiving their seminary education remotely; the length of the training program is four years of intense study. This program is an exciting new step in LCMS’s attempt to spur mission development in the 21^st century.

Jeremy was placed as a vicar at MLC last fall and is actively serving in this new role; he maintains a full-time job for support while he completes his seminary education and ministry training. In his SMP role, Jeremy is responsible for mission development at Martin Luther Chapel. He plans programs to reach out to local community residents (mostly urban, working-class), to minister to school families of Martin Luther Christian Scholl, and to assimilate new members into the larger church body. Some recent events included a church picnic, which was open to the community; a one-day Christmas VBS; a free seminar on home-buying.

Jeremy and his wife Amanda and their three kids, Aurelia, Juliana and Michael are thankful to ILC for their wonderful experience there as members. Also, they are thankful for the prayerful support of those who pray for them. The Church of God extends beyond time and space, so that all of God’s people are truly one in Him! Through the work of the saints, in whatever their various roles, the work of God is well done

In 2008, as part of our continued support of LCMS Thailand Missionary Pastor Robert Hedtke, Island Lutheran Church sent a mission team of four members to Thailand. Our Mission Team had a wonderful experience this past October. Please read their daily " Thailand Mission Team Journal" on the lower portion of this page.

Pastor Hedtke is retiring as a missionary to Thailand and returning home to the United States in March, 2009. However, the Thailand mission needs your support and prayers now, more than ever. Please pray for their new leadership and continuing program.

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Hi!

I am happy to tell you that some of the families in the slum community have begun the rebuilding process! This is good news, but it comes at a price - most of these families have had to borrow money at a very high interest rate to be able to start this process. However, when asked, they say that they feel there is no other option - the rainy season will start next month and they really must have a home before that. Additionally, since most of the people who lost their homes were families (at least four people living in one home) - they are feeling the burden of those with whom they are temporarily staying. They say that they cannot expect their family and friends to house a large number of people for a long period of time. Therefore it is exciting that homes are being rebuilt, but there is definitely going to be a long-term negative outcome in the attempt to repay these high loans.

I can share some very great news in that the money that you have generously given has definitely assisted many of these families in their rebuilding process. Throughout the past few weeks, pretty much every family has come to us asking for some form of assistance. We have been able to provide a little money to them to help buy building supplies - like wood and plywood - as the families have asked. We at the daycare have been greatly blessed by you - your gifts and your prayers and your donations have gone a long way. Thank you for this! Please continue to pray for us as we continue to work with the families, and as I continue to hope for opportunities to share the Gospel with these families. Please also pray that the families are able to continue the process within their budget and that they are able to find good work so that they can repay these loans.

I have attached a few pictures so you can see the building process of some of the homes. Know that your contributions went to buying some of the building materials. Thank you so much!!! God has greatly blessed me and the daycare community with such a prayerful and giving family of supporters!

In Him,

Sarah

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Kathy White and Dave Jording leave at 6:45am from Savannah airport, fly to Atlanta, to Los Angeles, to Seoul, South Korea and finally arriving in Bangkok around midnight Monday evening or in reality Tuesday morning.

Friday, October 24th:

Today we rode by van from Chiang Rai to Chiang Mai and checked into the International YMCA. When we arrived, Pastor Prajak, leader of the Mae Rim Hmong Student Center, was waiting to meet us. After a quick lunch we loaded into the back of his truck for the 30 minute ride to the student center. What an adventure that was! We arrived at the student center and went right to work painting the inside and outside of the boys' dormitory and kitchen area. We worked side-by-side with the boys, and sometimes right below them as they worked atop a bamboo ladder. As the day passed into late afternoon, the young girls and some of the boys began preparing a meal for us all to share - juicy watermelon, the sweetest pineapple, purple "dragon" fruit, "veggies", chicken and of course RICE!! Painting with the students and sharing a meal with them and Pastor Prajak was very gratifying but the most inspiring part of the day came as it began to get dark and we all gathered in the open-walled worship area. Pastor Prajak welcomed us all and prayed with us. Then all of the students went up front and sang two of the most beautiful songs we've ever heard as a young boy played guitar. Following each song one of the girls explained the message of Jesus Christ of which they had sung. Then it was our turn! Pastor Prajak invited us to come forward and give our testimonies of how we came to be here with them in Thailand., We spoke of the call of the Holy Spirit to be the hands and feet of God to help them and to encourage them in their Christian faith. We even sang an impromptu song for them "Our God is an Awesome God". They all stood and joined in as we sang and taught them hand motions to go with the song. Following our "concert" we gave out gifts (wooden cross necklaces, 'Walking with Jesus' bracelets, and ILC pens) to the very grateful students, who we found out had given up their holiday time from school to come back to the student center to spend the day with us. We are the ones who were most grateful for the uplifting experience. To see the conditions in which the students live is quite humbling. Just as we stepped out of the worship area, the skies opened up and it began to pour. . . . so we enjoyed God's blessing of a DRY place to sit and wait for our ride home. Just a few minutes sooner and we would have been on our way back to the YMCA in the back of the open bed of the pickup truck again. . . .BUT . . . God's timing is always perfect so we were spared "a drenching" and rode all huddled together in the back of a small "sang tao", a two-row COVERED pickup truck. A fitting ending to an eventful day!

Saturday, October 25th:

This morning we got up and met Pastor Prajak downstairs for breakfast. Then we all loaded into the back of a much larger "sang tao" and headed to visit four different Hmong villages way, way, way up many winding jungle-lined roads to the top of a spectacular mountain. At the first village we gave out stickers to village children we met along the way. We visited Pastor Prajak's Maesamai Church which was quite nice compared to many of the facilities we have seen thus far. It even had wooden pews and tiled flooring. Pastor Prajak took us to visit one of the villagers, an 89 year old Christian lady named Jong, who lives in a rather large wooden structure with rutted dirt flooring. She turned on the one overhead light as we entered and we sat together with her and she asked if we would pray for her. Pastor Hedtke led us in prayer as our ever present and helpful guide and interpreter, Dang, translated. That was quite a moving experience to know that God was in that place and working His mighty power! The rest of our journey was quite a "rollicking" adventure in the back of that truck! We were bounced to and fro but wouldn't have traded one single moment of meeting the people or seeing God's magnificent creation in those breathtaking mountain views.

Looking forward to the dawning of a new day as we head back to Bangkok and start working with the Bang Na Children's Center located in the slums of Bangkok.

Monday, October 27th:

Very busy day...

Arrived in Bangkok from Chaing Mai Sunday night. Today we traveled to downtown Bangkok to the sum area of Bang Na. There we visited some of their homes. The children at the daycare sang songs for us in English. We started painting in one of the classrooms. The children were so sweet and they loved to learn our songs as we sang painting. Tomorrow we go back to paint some more areas in the daycare.

It has been a long day . . . .will share more with you tomorrow.

We met Dang early in the morning for our 1 hour trip down to Bang Na daycare. Upon our arrival we were swarmed by the children as we got out of the van. We were met with hugs, smiles and gifts of pictures they had made for us out of the construction paper we brought for them.

The slum area in Bang Na is about the size of two football fields and is home to about 2000 people. Most of their homes are small raised metal shacks with simple concrete paths between them. No inside plumbing. The entire area was built over standing water for fire prevention, but this causes other issues of bugs and sicknesses. We toured four of the children’s homes and saw firsthand the conditions in which these children must live.

The daycare is a haven for the children of the slum area. It serves about 60 children ages 1-6. The staff also nurtures and provides resources to the children as they continue on into elementary and high school. Living at the Daycare 7 days a week, the staff has committed their lives and time to the care and spiritual well-being of the community. Worship services are conducted every Sunday morning at the daycare.

We shared songs and a Bible lesson (by Dave the “teacher”) on the parable of the lost sheep. We worked with the older children on teaching them the songs so they could continue to teach the little ones. Before we started painting we spent some time working on English worksheets with the older students. They really appreciated the support and one-on-one attention.

We went back to the classroom to finish the painting that we started the day before. We also began painting the exterior hallway area. We added white, cream, purple, light pink and hot pink to the pallet! We sang with the kids as we painted and shared time with the children all day long. What a joy!!!!!!

With tearful goodbyes, we received hugs and kisses and “I love you” from all of them. It was so hard to go, we wanted to take everyone of them home with us.

We are preparing for our trip home. Looking forward to seeing friends and family, but more importantly to share the stories and experiences of how God works through all people. We realize the impact of our simple presence here means so much to the people and that God truly works through us. Sharing our time, our effort and the love of Jesus in a place so distant and different to us, God broke down the barriers of language and culture. We saw firsthand the love and power of Jesus.

In Service to our Lord,

The Thailand Mission Team

Kathy, Dave, Cathy and Greg