Home Thoughts From Abroad

My schedule is completely booked, the CHE manual is developed, revised and bound, the certificates are printed, and – with the help of our TWR Philippines team – the logistics are all in place.  Early tomorrow morning Steve will drive me to the airport to catch a plane to Manila where I will meet up the the rest of the training team for some last minute planning for ministry training. All of us are so looking forward to doing a week long Community Health Evangelism Training of Trainers  (TOT1) for which we have been planning since November.

CHE training is not new to the Philippines.  It has been used there very successfuly for more than twenty years and Carlos and Rebecca, our lead facilitators are very experienced Philippino CHE practitioners.  Dr Su Min will  be there as well to bring his unique creativity, experience and knowledge to the team.  A TOT1 is a pretty intense week but the participatory style of learning makes it lots of fun and keeps participants actively involved.  We are grateful for dedicated and supportive friends from our home church who are funding this training for the TWR Philippines team and would appreciate your prayers for the relationships that will be built and the potential for ongoing partnerships that would connect our team with people who are actively involved at a community level.

After a week of training I will make my way back to Manila to catch the next plane; not back to Malaysia, but rather on to Cambodia for the annual Regional CHE Working Group meetings.  Although the timing is going to be a stretch coming right after an intense week of ministry, it is always encouraging and stimulating to hear reports of the CHE activities in the Asia- Pacific region.  The focus this year is on Women’s and Children’s issues and projects so the meetings will be followed by two days of workshops looking at utilizing CHE with these groups.

As soon as this meeting is done in mid-February I will make a quick three day weekend trip back to KL to connect with things here and then head out again, this time to Thailand for the Christian Medical Dental Association Continuing Education Conference.  This is a great oppportuntiy not only to attend some very educational seminars but to network with others who are ministring in the medical field in the region. Our Cambodia project will be presented at this conference as a potential model for medical missions and as a way to encourage a holistic approach to medical  initiatives.

I arrive home on March first after all of these meetings and by then I will need a time of rest and opportunity spend some time with the partner that God blessed me with on our journey. In spite of the activity and excitement, it is always difficult for us to be apart as we both meet the challenges of our work without the support of the other.  God has been gracious in blessing us with both a ministry and a ministry partner, but we do not wish to take this for granted. Our ministry is only as strong as our marriage; that is the ground on which God is able to work through us in the lives of others. As always, we covet your prayers.