Dear Friends,

It is hard to believe, but our year in the US is nearly finished.A week from Monday, June 9th, we'll be on our way back to Thailand to begin another 4-year term.It has been a good year, but we also look forward to returning to Thailand to renew our work and relationships there.

A recent highlight of our year was taking the kids' week of Spring Break to visit relatives and family sites.We called it our "Roots Tour." It was a quick swing, touching in 5 states, covering both Marcia's and Duane's sides of the family.The diversity among our relatives is striking.Among our relatives there are the highly educated and those with little formal schooling.There are those very much southern and those very much northern.There are those very rural and those very urban.But no matter where we went and who we visited, we were welcome and we felt "at home."It just feels good to be from this group of people and to count them as our family.

It reminded me of the first few verses of Hebrews 12 where the writer talks of being surrounded by "such a great cloud of witnesses" and that these witnesses will help us throw off everything that might hinder, and the "sin that entangles" us so that we can "run with perseverance the race that is set before us."Of course, the writer was referring to his Jewish ancestors that had been listed in Hebrews 11.But I feel our own families are also part of a "great cloud of witnesses" that likewise provide strength and encouragement to run the course of this coming new term and the challenges and opportunities the next few years will bring.

We feel the same about our church family.Over the past year we have had the opportunity to visit 90 locations in 11 states.Like our "Roots Tour" of relatives, there was a lot of diversity among the churches and places we visited.The churches were large and small, country and urban.The services were contemporary, traditional, and blended.The people were young and old, retired and working.But in each church, we found people who loved the Lord and were working for Him, carrying out a variety of ministries.Also like our tour of relatives, no matter where we went and who we visited, we felt welcome and at home.It feels very good to call you our church family and we feel that you too are part of this "great cloud of witnesses" that will surround us, provide us with strength and encourage us to "run with perseverance the race" that God has in mind for us in the coming term.We are very grateful for you all and happy that we could visit so many.Maybe the next time we're in the US, we can see more of you and get to know you better.

Originally, we wanted to stop in Hong Kong along the way back to Thailand.But with SARS concerns, we're now just going straight through from Ohio to Bangkok.It is about a 24-hour trip, covering 12 time zones.We'll have brief layovers in Detroit and Tokyo making for about 20 hours in the air.If all goes according to plan, we'll arrive in Bangkok about midnight on June 10.There are meetings and things to attend to as soon as we land so we'll hit the ground "running" (though after the long flight and time changes I doubt we'll run at a very fast pace).We'll stay in Bangkok a few days, then head to our Chiang Mai home on June 14.

For your information, our contact information for Thailand will be:

E-mail:thebinks@pobox.comorfellosec@loxinfo.co.th

Thanks again for being so supportive of us while we've been here in the US.We'll appreciate your prayers now as we re-adjust to being back in Thailand.

Yours in Christ,

Duane & Marcia Binkley