Dear Partners in Ministry,

Money, money, money
We could have earned a dollar fifty each this morning digging ditches for 2½ hours, then we could have blown a dollar on a bottle of Pepsi.  Easy come easy go?  Well not exactly, but I have been thinking about the value of money a little bit lately, trying to put myself in my neighbor’s shoes.  Laboring in the fields or ditch digging earns 150 baht a day (30 baht=$1).  Petrol for the motor bike—3 liters for 142 baht—keeps a person on the road for a week; pork is 160 baht a kilo; rice, 40 baht a kilo;  eggs, 50 baht for 10.  Prices seem to go up exponentially in comparison to the going daily rate for labor. We wonder how our neighbors survive! 

Keep it healthy
We worked on a couple of village projects alongside our neighbors.  Every household provided one day’s labor for free.  We had teaching commitments and could only help a little. Even so, we were sore that night. The first project was to get the village drainage system working well, reducing mosquito breeding areas in the wet season and thereby reducing mosquito-borne diseases.

Keep it clean
The ladies’ auxiliary in our village has a little income-generating project going—they put purified water in cups and seal them.  The cups are sold and used at local events.  The public health department wants the building being used to be surrounded by cement paths and screened in.  The profits barely pay the ladies for their time, so we have been helping with materials to keep this project going. The villagers who weren’t digging ditches were pouring cement.

Keep them fed
As prices go up we have been especially conscious of people on low incomes struggling to make ends meet, particularly those families who care for invalids. We have been, again, grateful for your generosity, because it has helped us provide a few little extras as we go around.  We often bulk buy eggs and give them away in lots of 6 or 10.  We also have our fish and chicken projects going again.

Keep them going
We have also been able to help a small business get off the ground.  Government workers are salaried and often have a little extra income.  (Not everyone here is living hand-to-mouth.) One of the local ladies, who doesn’t have any land to farm, was “gifted” the machinery to make coffee and other drinks.  She has started a little business up near the hospital and other government facilities but had no money for tables and chairs.  We were able to help her get started, and now passing customers have a place to sit as they wait or drink.  Yes, I will admit to being one who stops, sits and sips.  It’s a great place to share with friends in an informal setting

We want to thank you again for your support that comes to us in many and varied ways.  God is using you to spread his Kingdom as you enable us and the ministry here.

In Jesus and for His Kingdom,

Larry and Jan

Prayer and Praise

• Praise God for new visas and work permits.  It happened a bit later than we had thought, but it happened, and we are grateful to have another year here.

• Praise God for opportunities to work alongside our neighbors to show that we and God care about them.

• Praise God for people like you, who help us put some substance to the love of God with practical help, a table, stools, eggs, cement, rock and sand.

• Pray for Inn; she has recently had some problems with breathing and spent some time in the hospital. Praise God for her willingness to serve.  She is ready and raring to go teach.

• Praise God that the school year is off to a good start.

• Pray for us as we help facilitate a visa and work permit for Dema and his family.  There are a lot of hoops to jump through this month.

• Pray for us and Muana as we continue to work on the lesson plans.

Upcoming Events

• June 6     Jan has a meeting in Bangkok

• June 8-9  We will both attend a meeting with mission reps in Chiang Mai.

• June 19  Leadership Training Session in Ban Luang

 If you would like to support this ministry you can do it through the IM web page at www.internationalministries.org/missionaries/76