October 20, 2007

Dear Family and Friends,

            Sean got a call from Home of Joy orphanage today “Can you get rid of a snake for us?”
            On a regular basis, when we find snakes in our yard we catch them, write down what type they are, and release them away from people. Unless they are really poisonous, in that case, “off with their heads.”
            Sean’s been catching snakes since the early 1980’s so it was no surprise to him that Kathleen called and needed his removal services.
            He found the (non-venomous) Kukri (rat snake), with lots of personality, hiding behind some water bottles in the laundry room. After trapping it, he brought it out for a show and tell for the 8 or so orphans. At first they were afraid of it, but after sitting with them for a while and letting them pet it they grew more relaxed. Sean was able to take some time explaining in Thai about how snakes behave, what to watch out for and why non-poisonous ones are nice to have around.
            Then he drove off to a field where he released it. Just another ordinary day in beautiful Thailand.

In early September Sean’s mom Ellen came for a brief 3 week visit. She spent a lot of time singing Samantha to sleep and giving us a chance to get stuff done. We wish she could have stayed longer but she had to get back to start a DTS out of YWAM Tampa.

Ellen with Samantha

Later that month, Sean preached at a seminar in Huay Bong Village (one of City Gate’s daughter churches). Sean taught on Hearing the Voice of God. They were happy to miss a day of work in the fields in order to spend a few hours focusing on spiritual things.

Elder at HuayBong Church (with his child)

For a while now Sean has been working hard to prepare for a new mission school called SOFM (School of Frontier Missions). After some cancellations we decided that the school should be postponed until next year. This means that we are freed up to visit Australia for a whole month. We are excited to be able to attend the wedding of Anne’s best friend Nicole Martin, and we will finally be able to introduce Samantha to her Aussie rellies. This will hopefully also be a chance to connect with some churches.

The postponement of the SOFM has given Sean time to engage in one of his passions. On Wednesday evenings, Sean has been hanging out with MK’s (Missionary Kids) at XTTV - a program run by Freedom Films Productions. His role is to mentor them and help as an acting coach. His experience is more in theater than movies but he seems to be doing a good job anyway. They are a lot of fun to hang out with and they appreciate that he is an MK from Chiang Mai as well.

Lahu Girls from Huay Bong

This month our good friends, neighbours and co-workers at City Gate Church, James and Jill Peddie returned to the States. A couple of years ago Jill was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma cancer. After a couple of months she was miraculously healed and was even able to have a son in January of this year (after being told it was not possible). Last month, during a routine checkup, doctors detected a large cancerous mass around her heart. They have decided that even if she is healed again they will not return to Thailand. It is discouraging to lose such great friends. We will miss them a lot. Please pray for Jill’s complete healing. We know that with God ALL things are possible.

James and Jill (&William) with
Tik and Boonme (&Grace)

One day Sean was carrying a large stack of boxes from the Peddie’s house. Jill observed that he was rocking all those boxes back and forth. After five months of rocking the baby to sleep, Sean is not sure when he’ll grow out of the habit of rocking non-living things (everything – even in animate objects -) to sleep.

Samantha is getting cuter by the day – it’s so much fun to watch her grow and gain new skills. Sean records her voice so that he can ask her later what she meant. “Stop recording me daddy,” is probably what she’s saying.

Samantha Smiling

Anne’s time is pretty much taken up with caring for her, and she hasn’t had much opportunity for ministry in the last 5 months. It’s been difficult to drop ministry ‘cold turkey’ after being so involved over the years. And Sean has found it difficult to keep up without his ‘secretary’ and ministry partner to keep him on top of things ;-) But He is an awesome Daddy, and is so proud of his little Princess.
We have posted some videos of Samantha on YouTube.

Samantha teaching Anne how to crawl

At the beginning of October a drunk driver crashed his motorbike through our fence. To read more about what happened click here:
Two weeks later the guy came back and welded our fence back together again.

Mototbike crash

We are working hard to prepare for a large mission conference in April 2008. Please visit the website and be praying for us and the rest of the FMRLT team as we plan and work out the logistics.

Can we come to the camp too?

Please keep us in your prayers. All three of us have been sick this week.  Sean has the flu, Samantha has a cold and fever, and Anne is doing the best of the three with a slight cold. Samantha has been doing great.  We know she is miserable, but she still manages to smile and coo in between the fussiness.

I don't like being sick

Thanks for your love, prayers and support.

Sean & Anne

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