Mien Tribe Special Performance at Faithful Heart

A Cute Christmas Elf!

Sharing hope---even an introduction and prayer in Thai!

A special music piece at Mien Mission Church

Sarah, Hannah, and Paula (left to right) taking pictures for me at FHF Christmas

Faithful Heart Family celebrating together

Fair warning, this post is overloaded (much like our entire month of December).  But we loved December 2016, and hope you will enjoy catching up with us on all that has been happening in Thailand.  We would love to hear from you too!  There is something difficult about being apart at Christmas from so many excellent and worthy hobbits (aka: friends and friends like you!).

I have been thinking more about what makes society as a whole function as I observe a very different, yet very similar society here in Thailand.  As a Christian, I am convinced the relative peace and happiness of life for so many is the result of God's kind influence, in thousands and maybe millions of different ways.  That doesn't mean that everything good in God's world has a sticker on it, clearly identifying it as "Christian" like a overcautious bookstore.  What it does mean, is that anywhere we find goodness, faithfulness, fairness, and plain-old, work well done, we are getting glimpses of God's good influence.  We can and should praise it, wherever we find it, whether it professes to be Christian or not, because it is good and all good eventually leads back to God (who is the source of all good).  And this is where I come to my theory on the fabric of society:

What holds society together is the faithfulness of ordinary people.

Community Service Project with FHF

Sweat Equity in our neighborhood

The Thai people are incredible farmers--check out those grapes!

And some serious mountain lettuce!  Mary, Anne--what do you think?

My boots kept filling with water...from my sweat.

It is the farmer who plants, waters, and harvests quality food for people to eat.  It is the lady in the market who shows up every day, works hard to make sure her fruit and vegetables are fresh and well presented and charges fair prices, so people have access to the food the farmer grew.   It is the construction worker who does the work right, doesn't cut corners or inflate charges.  The teacher who invests in their students no matter how much they get paid or thanked.  It is the mechanic who does honest, quality work at reasonable prices.

My favorite mechanic, who also happens to be my Grandpa, passed away just before Christmas (You can read his obituary here) .  I love my Grandpa for many reasons.  I love him because he would sit me on his lap and tell me war stories from when he was a paratrooper in World War II.  I love him because he secretly gave me a propane torch when I was 12, and would have given me an old parachute, if my mom hadn't stopped him.  I love him because he taught me to walk on my hands and loved to hear my stories of cliff jumping and general wildness.  We were two of a kind and we understood each other in a way others just couldn't.

Arlie Miller (aka Grandpa)

But I also admire and try to imitate my Grandpa.  I admire him because he never refused to help someone who needed his help.  I admire him because he cared for a brother who robbed him. Because he lovingly cared for his wife who suffered from MS for over 30 years.  Because he discovered that happiness has nothing to do with how much you have, but how much you give.

For 93 years my Grandpa was faithful.

He was a faithful worker, a faithful husband, a faithful father, a faithful friend, and a faithful neighbor.  My heart aches as I write this, but his death is no tragedy, it is the triumph of a life well lived.  A saint he was not, but a good man--no one can deny.  I will weep because I love and miss the man.  But I am defiant because he ran a good race, he finished it well, and he kept his faith---he loved his God and his neighbor well.  Ellwood City, Pennsylvania lost some of it's 'glue' this Christmas.  'A faithful man who can find?'  We found one and now we lost one.

Audrey and some ladies at a retreat

Kingdom of God Church Retreat

Trying out a few jokes in Thai---mixed results

KOG Friends

As we celebrate Christmas here with our kids, I remember that most of God's work, maybe even His best work, goes largely unnoticed.  That means I need to lose the secret desire to be noticed and applauded (a very real, unfortunate part of my heart) and do like my Grandpa: be faithful in today.  A friend I respect who has lived in Thailand for 30 years told me last week when people ask him how running an auto shop makes the world a better place--he says,

"Well, their are 16 men who work here who are becoming better men, and that is no small thing."  

Sixteen men who will never sell their daughters to prostitution.  Sixteen men who are learning to love their wives, encourage their kids, and always do their repair work with excellence and honesty.  The future fabric of a peaceful and prosperous Thai society.

When I look at our kids at Faithful Heart, I am reminded of a sobering and exciting reality: they have incredible potential for good or evil.  Just as everyone of us does.  We work and celebrate, not that everyone of them may be famous, but that every one of them might be faithful--to God and their neighbors.  That whatever they do, and wherever they live, they will strengthen the good fabric of whatever society they are a part of.

Our kids handing out presents to ill children at a local hospital--so fun to be a part of!

The girls are in the Christmas spirit!

Some happy and surprised kids and their family members

So much room for kindness at your local hospital---just ask who needs a visit--you can do this!

Ezra brings such joy and delight, and with so little effort on his part!  (Remember you too are a child of a Father who delights just because you are here!)  We are so glad Ezra is part of our family.  We attended at least 5 large Christmas celebrations this year.  One at Faithful Heart, one at our International Church, another on Christmas day, another with my parents (and some friends who had no family here), and lastly at a Thai church on Christmas day, where I had been asked to speak.  Our joy was deep, even as we missed our family and friends celebrating in the US.

Shirley and Pring doing serious wrapping!

Audrey, Ezra, and Eva in the mountains

Beautiful Poppies (not for drug use) ;)

Stunning!

Mong and Nice, some of our incredible staff parents at Faithful Heart and Ezra's buddies

Dad time rocks!

Thai number 9, to honor the deceased King, Rama the 9th