July 2023 Update
Well, it’s been said if you want to make God laugh, tell Him your plans! We’re pretty sure He’s been chuckling these last few weeks as we’ve had to make a series of “course adjustments.”
I think I’ve mentioned that Peter’s knee has been problematic enough we resolved to go to Chiang Mai (a larger city in Thailand) to consult a surgeon about robotic knee replacement. Peter’s research (probably conducted on 20-year-olds…do I sound skeptical?) assured us he’d be “up and running” in a month or so… an irresistible temptation for this Eternal Optimist with a lot of missions to do in a body struggling to keep up. But when that door shut irrevocably (no robotic surgery available in Chiang Mai, no Siree) we realized the LORD, for whom this was no surprise, had other ideas.
The rainy season has arrived! It has washed the filthy air clean once again and prepared the land for rice planting. The downside is stagnant puddles everywhere breed mosquitos that carry dengue, Zika, and malaria. We've already had a bout of dengue, thankfully very mild, and routinely take anti-malaria medicine. To hear the rain, listen here: https://youtube.com/shorts/P_7XWv6tPpA?feature=SharePlay
As we were in Chiang Mai for the knee consult, we seized the opportunity to go to a dentist who is Boston trained (we hadn’t been in Thailand 10 minutes before fillings began falling out) and speaks awesome English: there’s something about having a drill in your mouth that requires precise communication! Now, I tell you what; the hygienist took her work seriously! It was certainly NOT a once-over-the-top-lightly experience…but an invasive, painful, and bloody encounter. We’re now “deeply clean” for the foreseeable future with little lasting damage except to our psyches.
Despite failing teeth and a faulty knee, we thank heavens for the gray hair that gives us at least the “aura” of wisdom and experience! It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see how burned out these missionaries are, how weary of doing good, how frustrated about circumstances, and…sometimes…how angry with God that so many innocent people are hurt or exploited. It is our privilege to help them look UP again, balance their spirits, rest in the LORD, reprioritize, regenerate, and renew. Missionary wives have it particularly hard here; isolated by language, customs, and culture, usually in charge of everything to do with kids, prey to fears for their husbands, exhausted by demands, inequities, and injustices…with no end in sight.
So, about these “adjustments”: we’ve told you about the teams coming across from M______ and the difficulties (OK, near impossibilities) they faced getting here. They are house church leaders often with large networks of micro-churches among the IDPs (internally displaced people) or in villages, who need encouragement, rest, and good spiritual food. But to get here, they must navigate war zones and the risks are becoming too great. One large group from the R_____State (insert here the name of the most persecuted people group on the planet) was attempting to make the journey when the government imposed nighttime travel restrictions. As their journey, largely on foot, couldn’t be accomplished in a day, and we had insufficient funds to house them all at night, they had to turn back. Their leader, however, decided to press on, figuring he’d be trained and take the information back to his group. Even though he made it to Thailand, he was kidnapped and held for ransom. After a difficult two weeks and payment of funds, he was released. It was sobering for all concerned; the decision was made to wait until it is feasible to send trainers from Thailand to M______ before resuming such training.
Given these challenges, we wrapped up the remaining training sessions with our dearly loved Karen students in MaeSot, packed up our (considerable) luggage, said goodbye to our communal kitchen (sigh!) and dear friends at our complex (along with the cat,) and piled back onto the GreenBus for yet another trip to MaeSai. Since arriving, we’ve had three 11-hour trips between MaeSai and MaeSot, two 5-hour return trips to Chiang Mai (with another one scheduled), and a day-trip detour to Laos for the visa extension. I’m thinking we should be eligible for Frequent Rider points!
A bonus in MaeSai is we have better internet. It must be admitted that technologically Peter and I are barely hanging on. In the States there IS help available (at the price of eye-rolling, gentle sighs, and patient smiles from our ridiculously competent children,) but here, in the wilds of the mission field, the Vaughans are on their own. The other day, Peter sent a message…I don’t remember the contents but it was certainly somber, maybe even dire…and inadvertently hit something (“I hit NOTHING, I tell you, NOTHING!!!”) that resulted in it being surrounded by hearts of various sizes, in ludicrous contradiction to the tone of the message. No amount of scrambling (and, sadly, recriminations… “You HAD to have done SOMETHING!!!”) could undue/retract/eradicate the offending message, so we had to phone the understandably perplexed recipient (who is computer competent and wondered if we’d been hacked) and grovel. Oh, the angst! Seriously, I think this is a metaphor for missionary life in Asia. The big things you think are going to curdle your cream don’t…and then minutia like this jumps up, bites you on the backside, and reduces you to babbling.
During the month of June in the Dominican Republic, Pastor Jaime, who recently received his Master’s Degree in Theology, continued to conduct discipleship training and oversaw the growth of 7 Haitian churches planted since December, all congregations now numbering over 50 and baptizing weekly. One of those baptized was the head builder of the chapel who came to know Christ through a miraculous act of leniency after he was arrested as illegal and should have been deported. The chapel completed last year is in almost constant use for pastors’ conferences…Haitians have never had training before… as well as for children’s Bible classes. Pastor Jaime is in the throes of building a mission house where teams will stay when visiting and ministering in the Dominican. Please pray for God’s provision and protection over his building teams.
Many will remember Emily, our sweet translator in the DR, who is a Second-Generation Discipleship Trainer, conducting training with a small group in her own home church in Wisconsin…a perfect example of a disciple who trains other disciples to make disciples.
Across the border, our recently recovered Children’s Rescue Home pastor (the one with SLE) has successfully relocated her kids to a larger town on the border where her children will have access to government schools as well as internet that will facilitate the instruction of the older students. However, her isolated mountain compound has not yet sold, tying up considerable funds. She needs to build a separate building for her 25 boys. Please pray for the sale of the compound, provision for a new building, protection, and health for her.
And here in MaeSai, the graduates of our last Discipleship Training are conducting their own training courses, here in Thailand in Bible schools, in churches in Pakistan, with groups in Cambodia, across the border with various Hill Tribes, and even for groups coming on mission trips who understand God's vision but who lack specific skills. The pictures and videos they’ve sent back to us are so, so encouraging! They continue to establish small home churches and teach believers the commands of Christ.
And so we finish out June grateful for SO many blessings; for the rain that has washed the pollution out of the air and prepared the land to grow rice; for the friendship of missionaries here who are always ready to help; for the support, love, and encouragement from you at home; for protection, favor, and healing; and for the incredible opportunity to partner with our LORD in His Great Commission.
Many are the plans in a person's heart, but it is the LORD's purpose that prevails. Proverbs 19:21