China: Bookstore Owner Sentenced

On June 10, a Chinese court sentenced Christian bookstore owner, 38 year-old, Shi Weihan, to three years in prison for “illegal business operations,” and fined him US$21,975 , according to China Aid Association.

Shi Weihan operated a legal bookstore and only sold books with the government’s approval. His Holy Spirit Trading Company printed Bibles and Christian literature and distributed then freely to local house churches.

Weihan was arrested in November 2007 for printing and distributing Bibles and other Christian literature. He was released in January 2008 due to insufficient evidence, but was arrested again in March and held indefinitely. China Aid reported his sentence will run from November 2007 to November 2010. Believers hope that Weihan will be allowed to appeal his sentence because of medical reasons. While in prison his diabetic condition has worsened.

Please pray for Shi Weihan. Pray for his release and for his health. Pray that he will be a constant light shining in the darkest places.

Missions World News

N. Korea (MNN) ― North Korea remained defiant in the face of international community condemnation by firing two more short-range missiles Tuesday after launching three on Monday, according to Reuters. More test launches are expected.

Spokesman for Open Doors USA Jerry Dykstra says this aggression emphasizes North Korea's importance on the military. "Right now there are 1.2 million people in the army of North Korea and a back-up force of 5 million of their population of 26-million." He says they're on a war footing right now.

Even though North Korea is focused on the outside, Christians aren't getting a pass. Dykstra says, "The average Christian now is under even more danger, if that's possible. There are spies everywhere. If they even see a Bible with a Christian, they are imprisoned."
The spread of Christianity is one of the greatest fears of North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il. "He feels that the fall of Eastern Europe, the fall of communism, was caused by Christians and that this could also happen in North Korea. That's why there's an increase in surveillance of house churches and Christians."

Meanwhile, North Korean church leaders have started a prayer campaign. "They're praying they can evangelize inside North Korea. And they really feel something is going to happen in North Korea. It may be the fall of the current regime, and they have to be ready," says Dykstra.
The North Korean society is extremely unstable. Believers see this as an opportunity to develop and reinforce their church organization.Open Doors' World Watch List has ranked North Korea as the Number One persecutor of Christians for seven years in a row. Last month, North Korea was re-designated by the U.S. State Department as one of eight "Countries of Particular Concern" for their severe religious freedom violations.North Korean believers are asking the church in the West to support them and keep them in special prayer because of their difficult situation. They are also spending additional time in prayer for each other. They are sensing that the day of opening of North Korea is near. They are actively getting ready for the changes the North Korean churches will face in the future, according to the report."Christians in North Korea are suffering terribly for their faith. Of the estimated 200,000 in political prison camps, an estimated 40,000 to 60,000 are Christians," says Open Doors USA President/CEO Carl Moeller. "Now with the firing of several missiles and the war footing, the scrutiny of believers has increased. "What an awesome testimony that Christians inside North Korea have started a prayer campaign for evangelizing the entire country. We need to keep them in our prayers as they risk their lives for their faith."A pastor inside North Korea writes: "We thank God there are so many people who are praying for our country. Your prayers strengthen the Christians in North Korea."

Hello from Moldova

I haven't posted for awhile. We have been very busy preparing for the arrival of the American group. Two men came Saturday night and are doing measuring and planning. The others are coming tonight. Things are going to get even busier with 30 Americans and and 15 Moldovans to feed at every meal starting tomorrow morning. So, I thought I would take this opportunity to update.We will leave the camp on Thursday morning at 1:30am, which will be 3:30pm Wednesday on the west coast. Our flight leaves Moldova at 5:05am to Frankfurt. We will probably not have internet access from Frankfurt. We will be in Frankfurt for 3.5 days and then will fly home and arrive at PHX Sunday night shortly after 6:00pm. It has been very nice being here and helping. It has been a lot of fun to be with Eric and Stephanie. This has been a very postive experience for both Skip and I. A learning experience, I might add. But, it is almost time to return home and resume our responsibilities there. Although we will be sad to leave here, we are just about ready to head back to the states and reunite with our family, church, friends and our dogs of course. :-)We will see most of you soon.Love,Skip and Sheryl

Life Can Be Challenging

We are half way around the world. When our daughter's have difficulties we can do little from Moldova. However we can pray. Two weeks ago Jennifer found out she doesn't have a contract for next year for her job. In other words, she doesn't have a job. She also needs some expensive dental work done. We have been emailing back and forth. To be honest, her situation shook me up at first. We are not there to help. Emailing has helped and praying has definitely helped.Then we got an email yesterday that Joy and Tony (our daughter and grandson) were in a car accident in Northern California on Monday. They are both alright. Tony is absolutely fine. Joy is sore and is in some pain. That news shook us both up. I cried for awhile last night even though everything was over and done. I couldn't help it. We worry about our children no matter how old they are. Joy's car was totaled and the "kids" had to go get another one. They took care of it and we were not there if they needed to consult us. I am sure it is a growing experience for them as well as us. We like to be there for our "kids."Thankfully the Lord is always there for all of us, no matter where we are located. He never leaves us nor forsakes us. He doesn't need a plane ticket to come to help us. I am thankful we serve a God who loves us and cares about every detail of our lives. Thank you Lord!

Sunday

Sunday we went to the church in the village again. It was not a holiday this week and there were 22 people in attendance. It was all in Romanian so we understood little, but that is ok. There was one song we understood and sang it in English while it was sung in Romanian. Cool that God understood both. It is very special to worship God in two languages at once. It is indescribable.After church we went to a Greek restaurant in the Mall in Chisinau. That was a very pleasant experience. We all had a good time. Then we ran a couple of errands and went to the Metro. The Metro is like Sam's Club in the U.S. I needed to exchange U.S. currency into Moldovan Lei. For some reason I was very nervous. Stephanie went with me. They told me that whatever the lady says she will be asking if you want the whole thing exchanged. We all figured she would talk to me in Romanian. So, I was surprised when she spoke to me in English. If the money is not in good shape they will not exchange it. I was concerned because we forgot to bring brand new bills. Within a few seconds she handed me Lei and that was all there was to it. So, I was nervous and shaking for nothing. It figures! :-) So, now I have exchanged money, whoo hoo!We came home, had home made pizza and watched a movie. It was a very pleasant day.Today Skip is tiling again and I am doing more puddying with wood dough. We got more yesterday. I also made some home made macaroni and cheese for dinner tonight for Eric and Stephanie and us. We will eat that in a couple of hours. The noodles are different here, not as firm. The cheese is different too. It is soft and very tasty. Should be interesting.Sheryl

Life in Moldova

Skip has been busy laying tile in one of the bathrooms. I have been busy putting wood dough on doors and door frames for two days. I am almost finished, but we ran out of wood dough. We will get some wood dough next week. The window guys have replaced all the windows in the administration building. They look very nice. Four new doors were put in today also. Much is being accomplished. Skip and his helper, Igor, cleaned out the shop the other day to prepare it for the group of Americans that are coming in a week and a half. There will be a couple of men using the shop to make furniture for the school.Something interesting. Here there are birds which we call Coo Coo birds. We don't know what they are actually called, but we call them Coo Coo birds. Honestly they sound just like a Coo Coo clock. The first time I heard one, I thought it was a Coo Coo clock downstairs. But, it was a bird outside. Skip counts the Coo Coos and says there is no such thing as "54 O'clock." :-) Then Skip and the little Romanian girl downstairs go around saying coo coo, coo coo to each other. Words that they can communicate to one another and understand each other. It is cute to hear them. She is 4 years old and her name is Edita. She talks to us in Romanian and thinks we understand her. We don't. We were reading a Romanian book to her with animals in it. I was saying the animals in English and she would repeat them. Skip and I were very impressed with her pronunciation. Better than our Romanian pronunciation.Well, that is all for now.Sheryl

Grocery Shopping

Today we went grocery shopping. We went to the Bizarr first, then two different stores. Something as simple as shopping to us, is difficult here. The Bizarr had tiny booths all over a large area. You look around and try and find the best price. There is fruit and vegetables, meats, cheeses, hardward, kitchen supplies, etc. You just have to look around. Not everyone sells things for the same price. One lady was sitting selling domestic chicken eggs. Stephanie bought 20 eggs from her. The lady had one cracked open so you could see the inside. You don't buy things here in dozens, but 10's. The stores were much different than we are used to. There were things we had on the list that we couldn't buy because they were not available. The Metro is like a Sams Club. One of the ladies there watched me like a hawk and followed me because I looked out of place. Eric was watching her too to see if she would talk to me or bother me. She didn't. I stuck close to Eric and Stephanie, but I did look around. It was an interesting experience.BTW, the house that was purchased for the church for $2,000.00 dollars was purchased about 9-10 years ago. Now it would cost $30,000.00 dollars. There is no bathroom at the church, just an outhouse. When things settle down I may get some pictures down loaded.The camp where we are staying is just beautiful. It is green and lush. Not like the brown Arizona dessert. We are liking it here. Skip is busy working on the bathrooms in the administration building. They all need different types of work performed. Walls and tile, etc. I made more cookies today for the 29 Americans that will come in a couple of weeks. Cooking food here is more difficult. EVERYTHING is made from scratch. Some ingredients are not available, so you improvise. Building is the same way. If Skip doesn't have a tool he needs, he makes it or improvises. Getting things done takes so much more time. I am not complaining. I am explaining. That is the way life is here. It is different for us, but we are flexible, no problem. Skip is great at improvising. It is one of his greatest strengths. So, we are busy doing various things to serve the Lord here. Having 29 Americans to feed for 10 days is a huge job. I am helping Stephanie prepare for that task. Measurements, groceries, desserts, etc. I am enjoying myself. Stephanie and I get along well and work well together. It is fun. The Lord is blessing us and we are enjoying serving the Lord.TTFN,Sheryl

Church

Today we went to church in the local village. It is one of the churchs that Eric started. They meet in a house purchased for $2,000.00. The attendance was lower today due to a holiday. Eric preached in English and Keith, another missionary, translated into Romanian. Keith and his wife Marla have 5 children. The children were excited to speak to someone in English. So, while there was singing for a 1/2 hour I took their 3 youngest children, ages 8, 6, and 4 out for an impromtu Sunday School lesson in English. We all had fun. We sang in English too. They were sweet kids and it was a blessing to be with them. Then we joined the adults for the preaching. It was nice. We had a good service. One of their boys picked a flower and gave it to me after church. I think I want to bring him home. :-)This afternoon Edward, the camp director is going to give Skip and I on a tour. We are looking forward to that. Edward and his wife have a 4 year old daughter and are expecting another child in just over a month. They are sweet servants of the Lord.TTFN,Sheryl

Hi from Moldova

Hi,Everything is going well. My asthma is doing fine, Praise the Lord. Skip is busy working on some bathrooms in the administration building. The camp we are at is green, beautiful and peaceful. It looks somewhat like Washington State. Although the trees are not as big. There are rolling green hillls. The weather is in the 60's in the daytime and 30's at night. We have been very comfortable. It is on 25 acres with 10 buildings. The buildings are sub-standard by American standards. They are just over 20 years old but look like they are 50 years old to Skip. Yesterday Skip went shopping in Chisinau, the capital of Moldova. They went for toilets, sinks and sheetrock. Skip said it was quite an experience. There isn't one store to go to. They had to go to many different stores to get what they needed. He said the whole city was like a 29 mile Home Depot. It was challenging telling a Romanian/Russian speaking translator what he needed with nails, and supplies, etc. They had lunch at McDonalds in Chisinau. Skip liked the frys better here and in Frankfurt than in the United States. It took 2/3 of a day just to pick up supplies.Meanwhile I took pictures of the camp, made another applesauce cake and assisted Stephanie with other small jobs. Today we planted some plants, checked out supplies and cooking ware etc. It is a big job to have 28 American's coming in three weeks. They have to be housed and fed. Skip is working on the bathrooms where they will be housed. Stephanie and I are working on the food and tea for while they are here. The American group comes in the day before we leave. They will be here to do more construction on the buildings in prepartion for the Bible school to start in September. There is so much that needs to be done. The Americans will be staying in the administration building. The bathrooms have to be finished, Skip is working on those. New windows will be put in next week. Also, radiators, for heat are being installed. Indoor/Outdoor carpet will be laid down too. Then Stephanie and I will do caulking and stuff and painting needs to be done. It will be very nice when it is complete.Tomorrow we are going to the local village church. It will be all in Romanian. So, Skip and I will not be able to understand it.Tuesday we are going to the bazaar to do some shopping.So, there is an update from Moldova.Love,Sheryl

For more pics and stories

Thought I would give you Drea's blogspot for more pics and stories of our journey. I case you didn't know about it here it is:

http://thielestidbits.blogspot.com/

Back to the Sea Side

We have made it back to BK successfully. Thank you for your prayers. The journey back took about 5 1/2 hours by taxi, (Mercedes Benz). Our taxi driver was a good man. It seemed that he and I made a connection. For some reason when we reached our destination and said our goodbye's, he embraced my hand with passion and gave me a different smile than the norm. One that said so much to me. I enjoyed him and our time together. Lord, I pray for this man, that he saw You and because of that, seeks to see You again. Pray with me that the Lord will continue to use this man to bring His people to and fro. That he will continue to see Jesus' image displayed to him and that he will long to know Him as a result.

We will finish up our last few days here on the sea side and then head home. We thank you for taking this journey with us. We pray that your heart burns for the nations. Continue to pray for these people and continue to pray that God will raise up harvesters to harvest these people He longs for. We love you, my brothers and sisters. May, "The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you; the LORD turn his face toward you and give you peace."

Heading back

The place we stayed on the Silk Road

Looking out from our room to the center courtyard

Local housing on our journey back

Here we go!

Today we are on our way back down to the sea side. We will break up our journey back by stopping in a bigger tourist town on the Silk Road. This is exciting for me. It reminds me of God's amazing love for all peoples. Malachi 1:11 says, "My name will be great among the nations, from the rising to the setting of the sun. In every place incense and pure offerings will be brought to my name, because my name will be great among the nations," says the LORD Almighty." and in Ezekial 5 He says, "Thus says the Lord GOD: ‘This is Jerusalem; I have set her in the midst of the nations and the countries all around her." Jerusalem sat right in the middle of the Silk Road, right in the middle of where many came for many nations to trade. How wise our God is. He set His people right in the path of the lost people of this world. May we always be aware of the people that cross our path. Maybe the Lord has you in a place for His strategic purposess. So that you can be His ambassador. How awesome! Yet how usless if we don't live ready and aware. Let's live for Him. Always prepared to give an answer for the hope that we have. Pray for our journey back and continue to pray that the incense of praise and the pure offerings of peoples lives will happen right here in this land, Amen!

He Guides My Path!

Our new friends

Our new friends house in the village

Drea with the ladies during the celebration

Bryan is honored when asked to dance in their celebration

Their national soup. It was delicious!

Yesterday (Monday) was the best day ever!! We hit the gold mine of the people we came here to get to know. By Gods grace, I wrote you and told you that we met some Americans. They told us about a village about 25 min. from where we were that is an “A” village (A is the people we hoped to find.) Yesterday they were holding a big celebration, so we ventured out by taxi in hopes of …???Once we were there we came in contact with another Peac* Corp. lady Amy. She and another volunteer had lunch with us and were kind enough to answer all of our questions the best she knew how. She has only been in this village for 3 months, but knows enough of the language to get around. While up in the mountains we have not had a translator, but again with Gods grace, we have been able to communicate one way or another. To hear someone speak English was a strange sound. We have also learned several phrases and key words to communicate.In the village the people speak two languages, most only speak their heart language, but some learned people speak their heart language and the trade language. So, it would be important to learn the heart language if one were to live here, although you would have to start with the trade language, for when you left the village, because it is not remotely close with the other, ( just a side note).Amy asked us if we would like to come with her to the town celebration where they were eating and getting ready for some native dancing. YES!! This was truly a village, like none I have ever seen. The houses were made from stone, there is a stream running down the center of town, which is used for washing. They have gates on either side of the main street to keep the cows out, not the chickens. They grow lots of fruits and Hazel nuts. They would like to be able to sell their cows, but only do maybe once a year. The cows, have no meat on them, they are just skin and bones.We were introduced to a 16 year old girl, named Manah who was sort of the MC for the festivities. She invited us back for the “National Soup”, which they make often. So off we go to eat again, we certainly don’t lack food here. The people here are community people (my type) and love to eat, drink cay, and talk. The soup (which is pictured) is YUM!! It is made of homeny and some other type of grain, and lamb, and I don’t know what else. You garnish it with some coarse salt and sumac, mixed with other spices.We drew a lot of attention of course, but also from an unexpected place; the Government Officials of this village! This man sat down next to Bry and poured out his heart to him in his language of course, and Amy roughly translated. He basically said “We hear have all heard of America, but you ask an American and they have never heard of us”. True. “We had other non profit workers here and with out a word they left, they didn’t finish their project and they didn’t say good-bye.” “How are you going to get to know us if you don’t come and stay”. “We want to know you; you are welcome in our town”.He was right, what he said was true. We don’t know this place, not even when we look on the map, does the name sound familiar. (Ro. 10:14 ?) The real sad thing is, is that the workers there with the Peac* Corp. are not followers of Isa. Most of them are agnostic!! But Muslims don’t understand this word. So the workers, to avoid explanation, call them selves Christ*ans!!!! This is from their own mouths. We asked them, and then witnessed it with our own two eyes!! Now, these are nice people and they are doing great things, but they have NO Light. They are falsely representing the Light, stating that they come in the name of Isa!!! Not only is this blasphemous, but it is wrong. They have the right motives, but nothing to back them up. And WE, THE ONES WITH THE LIGHT, DO NOT GO!!! I am not accusing, I am just astonished that this happens. They are motivated by what?? World Peace?? We are motivated by Isa, and STILL REMAIN in our comfort zones.We are all not called to GO, but we are all called to GO in one way shape or form. There are 5 ways we can participate that are vital: GO, SEND, MOBIZE, PRAY, WELCOME! I thought that this was a perfect demonic plan of the evil one, send someone who does good, but has NO Light, then the body will think that there is already something happening there and will divert their attention some place else!After we ate, the dancing began. The people crowded around in big circle. We were way at the back where we could not see, but were ushered right to the front. A couple of older ladies offered that we share the rug they were sitting on, it was so sweet, so we all squished in. There was a young man on key boards playing native music, and the Mayor of the village started the dancing, the rest of the government officials joined him. Then the official dancers in costumes danced, there were 3 total. Then a few young men were invited to dance and they had a sort of manly dance off, with other men their age. The whole time the older ladies were egging me on, but I needed to be the professional photographer. HOWEVER, Bry popped up and gave the Native dance a try!! That was awesome. If you look closely in the pictures I took of him you can see others are taking pictures too!! The ladies I was sitting with were so excited to see him up there, he is so…brave.Of course I made friends with the little old ladies and the kids. But we ended up being invited to the house of The History Teacher. He spoke great broken English, far better than we could speak his tongue. He was quite shy, but wanted to talk and learn and ask questions. NOW, just a reminder that this is a completely unengaged people (the people we set out to meet) we are talking about, that are Muslim. He invited us to his home!! His house was deep in the village and we sat over Cay (Chai). The even greater thing was that this was not orchestrated by us!!We talked and talked, about political things, prop*ganda and beliefs. We talked about difference in cultures and how things work in America vs. this village. We talked about school and what this particular people needs, or where they would like to grow. They would love people like us to teach English in their village. Or just to work along side of and learn about the culture. In this culture, they don’t let you leave easily, so we stayed for dinner and desert. We were way out in the country and our host didn’t have a car, so we almost stayed the night too! He really wanted us too, but he found a friend with a car that was willing to drive us into town and back to our hotel.One of the highlights for me was when the father introduced all of his family. He was a strong religious man. His sons were named Islam, Ramadan, and Miriam (another name for Mary, mother of Jesus). Once our new friend, asked if we had any questions for him, and Emily said yes, “I really love the name you named your children, especially your daughter. You named her after Jesus’ mother, and I love Jesus very much”. He agreed with her comment. However, Bry said once to him that we had a lot in common and his response was that we were still very different. Many strongholds were broken this night. Many questions answered just by us being there. It was a great honor to be in their home and make contact. We plan on writing Amy so that she can keep in contact with them for us.I get so excited to see God at work in His nations. He doesn’t need us to accomplish his purpose. He will use whom ever he chooses to accomplish His will. A donkey, us, you, and non-believing P*eace Corp. volunteers. We would not have been invited had it not been for Amy and her friends. I will pray that she and her friends will find the Light while there, so that they can shine!Is. 6:8 is a great vs. for this. May it be our prayer.

Sunday -- A Day Of Rest

Its a day of rest today. A day to contemplate all our great God is and does. My goal origanlly was to go further up north to continue our survey of the land and connect with the people we seek. But we decided as a team to rest on this day and enjoy the land we are in without any agenda today. Good idea. Much needed to refresh our brains and spirit. I was reminded here that there is a very real spiritual battle that wages over us everyday we are here. The enemy is very aware of our goals. We would be wise to stay fervently in prayer at all times. I can understand the phrase much better now when He said, "I send you out as sheep amoung wolves". I have often wondered here that if I could see the spiritual world around me, what would I see. It may be better that I don't. But definitly very aware of it. This land is covered by a cloud of deception and darkness. And what is darkness but a word we us to explain the absence of light. Darkness really does not exist or you could make darkness darker. Darkness is the absence of light. Pray that He will send His light to shine in this land and shatter the darkness here. That the veil of deception will be lifted and that the people will hear and see the truth.

It still boogles my mind that we have been sent out with a banner of boldness and now here we sit clear across the world by oursleves in a region far from any people we could use for our assistance. We have no translator and no guide. We have come humble and week that He might be strong. And He is! The Lord is our guide and translator. You see, if we had a translator, then it would be that person engaging and not us. We wouldn't have an accurate understanding of how accepting the people are to us. But coming this way has opened the door to relationship building. It has been amazing to be so relient upon our Lord to lead the way. May we be this way in all we do. And may we not lose this behavior when we get back home.

So we rest today and we will enjoy a local Football game, (Soccer). Tommorrow we will continue our task. We love you all. Have a great Sunday and continue to pray for this battle.

Happy New Year

Today is Saturday, there are two posts for today because I didn’t have enough time update last night. We have already had a full day, and it is only 3pm. We got up had our usual breakfast then off on a bus ride along the city. We wanted to go to the bizarre, which we finally found via the long route.

I first want to say I LOVE IT HERE!! It is so awesome and we have had great interaction with all sorts of people. We of course drew a lot of attention. But, away from my friend Emily, I didn’t stand out as much. I began to encounter little old ladies (who, I attract to anyway) and they just assumed I was one of them. One lady was so tickled to find that I was an American that she just started to laugh and tell her friends that I looked like them, maybe French or Russian too. You maybe wondering how I know what she was saying, well the truth of it all is that I don’t, but I can understand and pick out enough words that I can get the jest. I thought this was great fun. I love the little grandmas with their sweet head covings and little worn faces. Once we left that store, she gave me a hug, and just laughed and laughed with her friends. That is how we make connections, just by being ourselves and putting ourselves in places we may have never gone before.

The next lady I ran into thought the same thing. Her and her daughter ran the store, and I was talking to them with the little I know thus far. When she asked me something I didn’t know, I told her I was speaking English. Oh that was a crack up. They hurried and told each other that they thought I was one of them. I began to look at some scarves to buy she gave me a discount, I think because I was trying so hard to use there words. Then the mama looked at me and told her daughter I was a Chr*sti*an. WHAT!! I was so excited, the lady came to me and gave me a big hug while patting me. Oh Lord, we ask for the nations!!

The craziest thing of all was at the bizarre there was a row of Chinese people selling things, just like the locals. I stopped to ask them if they were one of these people, and they answered no Chinese. But the crazy thing is they don’t speak Chinese, only the native tongue here. I pulled out some of my very limited and horribly pronounced Chinese and they didn’t respond, they just shook their heads like I don’t know.
We stopped to buy some apples from some ladies and they wouldn’t take our money, even though we insisted, they insisted harder. Then one of the men came over and asked us if would like to take his picture, OF COURSE we would, what an opportunity and besides that I loved his hat!!

After much fun and shopping we were off to my favorite place to eat. This guy speaks Russian and thanks to C~5 I know enough to say hi and thank you. We asked for the same meal we had the first time and he hooked us up. I can’t think of any place better to eat, other then this place. By far the BEST in this little town, and the city in my opinion, I don’t know what he does to that lamb, but it is finger licking good!!

We wished him Happy New Year, and that is all it takes her to be best friends. This is so much fun, Lord we do ask for the nations.

This place needs the Helper and the Comforter. Please pray just that. My heart breaks for my new friends, that don’t walk in light, only darkness. Oh, how we ask for the nations.


Yeni illiniz mubarek!!

Happy new year!!

Novrus

Today we celebrated the eve of Novrus, quite exciting and tiresome. We woke up really early and what we have learned so far, is that NO ONE wakes early, smart people I say. They are to bed late, and late to rise. Nothing is open and no one is on the street before 8am. Maybe we could learn from that.
We started with breakfast at our hotel. Then off to the internet, which I am sure you have seen. Then off to find the Gazette, finally successful. We get a lot of stares here, so we must really stick out. Emily and I are the most modestly dressed…funny huh considering the religion observed here. Hardly anyone covers their heads, (sometimes we do because it is cold) and they even serve alcohol in the stores and restaurants! So it is much different than we thought. I am pretty sure that the people here are just afraid of us as we are of them, because once the ice is broke, they are so kind and inviting.
After a mini tour and prayer walk, we were off to lunch at the park where the festivities would be held. It was so beautiful. God has painted such beautiful place for us to visit. We are right at the base of the mountain, so it is still cold, but not too bad. Again we had a great lunch with the exception of one kind of meat. We put it in our mouth, chewed a bit, and all of us wanted to eject it, but didn’t. I think it was like ground lamb liver and left over pieces with onions and some other things. It was the first NOT GOOD thing I have eaten.
We made a few friends by wishing them a happy holiday in their language, including the police officer. After lunch the girls headed to take a short nap. The boys headed to find the college professor that teaches English here. On the way, they ran into another an American looking man and asked, “Do you speak English”? They didn’t expect the American accent to answer back, “Yes!! I do.” It turns out the man was from Sweden and said that he was just passing through while touring all of Asia, mmm…….curious, I would say.
On the way to find the English teacher they stopped at the tourist info office which was closed. There was a door open near by so they decided to stop there not noticing it was the Ministry for the n*tion*l sec*rity office. Bry wanted to know what it would take to become English teachers here. They begin to question Bry heavily, what did he mean and why. Finally they realized that he was just saying that it was beautiful here and if he wanted to retire here, could he?? Once they figured out they thought they would call the chancellor to answer his questions, but Bry assured them he didn’t need to talk to them.
After all was said and done everyone was happy and Bry thinks that they were just trying to solve his problem. Lots of excitement.
After our nap, we went back to the park and waited for things to start. So many people came out to celebrate. Again we drew lots of attention. Children were especially curious. We met a cute little girl with C~2’s personality. She would stroll by, pretending she didn’t want anything, picking at the leaves in the grass. Finally we said hello to her and that was all she needed. She began to ask questions and soon, all sorts of family members were all around us. It was so cute. Once she said “I love you”. For about 2 hours we were surrounded by people and children, all wondering why we were here. We found that there are English teachers in the area that are with the P*ac* Cor*. They have taught some of their students very well. Sooner or later we were invited to our friend’s house for more celebration, hopefully we will go tomorrow.
Our brains are fried now, it is a lot of work trying to decipher all the words that are being thrown at you, but lots of fun at the same time.
So, my sweet friends, thank you for your comments, we love to hear from all of you. Thanks for your encouraging words. Thanks for caring for our kids. We love you sweet children. Can’t wait to be home with you soon.
Today’s Lesson: The whole earth is filled with His glory. We need to be a part of it!! Misconceptions of other nations are not good. They are just like you and I and in desperate need of being found!!
Love
The Thieles

The Journey Begins

Our journey begins when we arrived at the airport at 10:30 am Saturday morning. At check in, we meet up with our friends Tim and Emily. Check our bags went through security and found our gate. We were quite early due to it being an international flight. As we sat and conversated about our plans I noticed that it was 12:15. We should have been boarding by now. Yet, there was no one at our gate. I looked around to find an attendant and there was none anywhere. The only thing there was, was a small display that said we were an hour behind. That’s not good. Our layover in Dallas was only an hour and a half. Finally our plane came in and we were off to Dallas to meet Bev and catch our next flight. When we landed on the runway we call Bev and find out that they are boarding while we are landing and we are in the back of the plane. Knowing we had to run for it, I ripped the map off the airport out of the magazine. We took off as soon as we got out and ran as fast as we could. By half way we were all dying. My shine muscles were burning and felt like they were ready to tear with every new step, but knew we had to keep going if we were going to make it. Finally turn the corner for our next gate and the door is closed. They pulled out 5 minutes before we got there.

Not a problem. If we got the next flight, we would still have an hour layover in London, catch up with Bev and be right on track. Well…one small problem. Because it was not our original flight, we wouldn’t be sitting together. In fact, I would be sitting in the middle seat, in the very back of the plane, in-between to big Siberian Cops. That however, turned out to be the least of our problems when we discovered that once again the plane was late. Not only late, but broken. They had to get a new plane. Finally left at 12:30 am and knew we missed our flight to BK and Bev was now on her way alone. When we got to London, they scheduled us on the next flight out to Bk by way of Istbl. We got to the gate and guess what???? Yes, our flight was an hour late with only an hour lay-over in Istbl. Not only that, but our bags were never sent from A/A. So here we go again. We land in Istbl and Tim and Emily are in the very back of the plane, last seat again. We finally get off and run to our gate. Half way I see the sign says the gate is closed. I shout out to the others, “the gates closed”, when a nicely dressed attendant hears me. He says,”Where are you going?” “BK!” we all reply. And he proceeds to run with us, suit and all, to our next gate. He even helps Tim by pulling his bag. Don’t mind the fact that I have my laptop, both cameras and Emily’s bag and an extra 75 pounds!!!

We made the flight. So now that we are landing at 5:30am instead of 10pm. There will be no one to pick us up at the airport. But God is good. You see, this whole time there has been another couple going thru the whole thing with us since Dallas. He works for an place that we are connected to and speaks both English and the local language. He helps us get a cab and we made it perfectly to our arranged apartment. And guess who was waiting for us…..Bev.
Yes, God is good and we can trust that He is in control. He has a plan that will be far better then what we could derive. And far more memorable.

That they may see!

I am sitting here at 12:36 am Friday night, hours before our trip and ponder the many things that God might do while we are there. I can't help but to think of Romans 15 and to reflect upon the passion that Paul had for the many who needed to hear. Listen to what he says.
"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit." Lord may we overflow with hope for your children by the power of your Holy Spirit. "I myself am convinced, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness, complete in knowledge and competent to instruct one another. I have written you quite boldly on some points, as if to remind you of them again, because of the grace God gave me to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles with the priestly duty of proclaiming the gospel of God, so that the Gentiles might become an offering acceptable to God, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.
Therefore I glory in Christ Jesus in my service to God. I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me in leading the Gentiles to obey God by what I have said and done— by the power of signs and miracles, through the power of the Spirit. So from Jerusalem all the way around to Illyricum, I have fully proclaimed the gospel of Christ. It has always been my ambition to preach the gospel where Christ was not known, so that I would not be building on someone else's foundation. Rather, as it is written:
"Those who were not told about him will see,and those who have not heard will understand.""
May we be as bold as Paul and may the Lord go before us and prepare the people. May they have dreams and visions and await our arrival. May the light shatter the darkness that has been surrounding these people. Continue to pray for the people that we may engage. For His love to be given and His gospel to be spread.

Meymaneh update.

Forgive me on the length of time it took me to update you all an Meymaneh. Let me start by saying that God is good. I take joy in knowing that we are not called to pursuade anyone into recieveing the gift of Jesus. We are called to obedience through the preaching of the gospel. God will draw unto himself his people. He does not need us. However, He choses to use you and I for this task. What an honor we have. I went back to the Mall with a New Testament Bible and a book written by a Muslim man who had found Christ. I showed Him in his Quran where it spoke of Jesus being the Word of God. He said, "Yes, that is correct. Jesus is the Word of God." I then showed him that the Gospel of John starts with this same statement and that this Gospel will describe what being the Word of God means. He said he, "looked forward to reading both the Bible and the book." And then he said something that shocked me and once again revealed to me all that we are missing around us everday. He said, "I will read them and then would like to get together with you in a week to discuss what I have read." I didn't have to ask him. It was his desire. I am amazed at how God reaches out to His people and honored that I get to be a part of it. I can't help but to think of Keith Green's song, Asleep in the light, where he says, "Bless me Lord, Bless me Lord, you know it's all I ever hear. No one hurts, no one aches, no one even sheds one tear. But He cries, He weeps, He pleads and He cares for your needs. And you just lay back and keep soaking it in." We must get out of this self-centered mindset. May we never be comfortable with where we are at. Let God use you and you will see love like you've never seen. Keep praying for Meymaneh. That the Holy Spirit will speak to him and that God would continue to draw him to Himself. By the way, the song is one listed below. I encourage you to listen to it.

What I could've missed!

Had an interesting day today. My wife and I took some of our kids and friends to the Mall so they could spend their Christmas money. While there we meet a man named Meymaneh from Turkey. My wife, Andrea, always ready, thought wisely to ask where he was from. Interestingly, that's really all it took. With a little question, Meymaneh opened up. He told us how he, his wife and brother came to America to study and earn a degree. Within in a couple more months, they would be finished with school here and head back to their home country. In the process of our conversation, I asked him if he was a follower of Isa-Mesih, (Jesus). He said yes, but that he didn't fulling understand it all. Yet, he is very interested and is searching for truth. He desires to know more.

This truley amazes me. We could live our lives in the comfortability of our own thought-made kiosks and miss all that is around us. We could of throughly enjoyed our day at the Mall lounging around without one ounce of effort to make our Lord a part of it, and for the most part, that would be the norm. We can have our morning devotions, pray over every meal, listen to Christian Radio wherever we go and enjoy our many bible studies and still miss out on all that we could be doing to bring glory to God. We could have, (and usually are) missed out on Meymaneh.

What is it all for anyway? What are our morning devotions for? What is all our bible studies for, all this knowledge gaining for? Is it just for us? So that we can be comfortable knowing?
No, no, no. May it not be so! May it be for Him! The One and Only True God! May it be to bring Him glory. That others may know. We must open our eyes and break down our thought-made kiosks. We have an Eternity Past and more God and we continue to try and put him in a box made up of our selfish culture and lazy personal habits. We must see Him as He is and live our lives as if He is Lord over it. We must begin to realize what's at stake. We must begin to care.
The story ends with Drea and I encouraging Meymaneh to read the Gosepel of John. He told us both he would, so tommorrow I will be driving back in hopes to give him a bible. Please pray for Meymaneh and his family.

"These are the words of him who holds the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead. Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your deeds complete in the sight of my God. Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; obey it, and repent. But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you.