June 2022
Being back in my “Old Kentucky Home” the past few couple of months has been great! We have been able to finish up some projects here at the house that we ran out of time to before we left. We now have a fully functioning bathroom/shower in our upstairs bathroom, all of our outlets in the house work, but best of all …. I HAVE A LAUNDRY ROOM!! No more laundromat for me!! I will say if you want some drama and entertainment, it can be found at the laundromat! The ladies and facilities at Mom’s Laundry in Frankfort were great, but I certainly am appreciative that I don’t have to visit them anymore! However, if you do find yourself in need of laundry services, I would highly recommend them! They also have a drop-off service, which I was very grateful for when our family had Covid and no functioning washer or dryer!!
I have also spoken to a couple of different groups this summer about our times spent in Thailand. It was such a blessing to see these young children engaged in learning about the lives of others across the world. They all asked some really great questions and I enjoyed talking with them. I will share the funniest comment I received with you though. I was talking about going back to Thailand and one of the kids raised his hand for a question. Keep in mind - all of the questions up to this point had been about the food, the houses, weather, etc. but we had gotten on the subject of how much cheaper things costs in Thailand than they do here in the US. So, you can imagine how surprised I was when he says, “Why would you waste all that money to go back?” It was the perfect opportunity to tell these kids that sharing Jesus with those who do not know Him doesn’t have a price tag.
If you recall, our friend and Christian brother, Daniel, was trying to get his wife and two children safely out of Myanmar and into Thailand. I am pleased to say that his family arrived in Thailand shortly after we arrived back in Kentucky. Thanks to many of you, we have been able to help provide housing for his family while they are getting set up with work and education visas. We also left the car we purchased for them to use and Daniel has made some repairs to it for us, so it will be ready for our return. They will be enrolling their two children in an international school for the upcoming school year. This has been an answered prayer for Daniel - he has wanted a quality education for his children for some time and is grateful they will have the opportunity to receive this!
The construction has continued on the clinic in the jungle as much as possible through the rainy season. Garrick showed me videos just today of a new problem they were dealing with. They were digging a toilet retention pit - better described as a “poop hole” in my opinion. The pit they had has filled, so they had to work on a new one. As you can imagine, that probably isn’t a very pleasant job. Garrick and I were discussing different ideas … composting toilets, ways to let one “poop hole” rest, etc. It’s hard to implement processes that work in our climate and location in the jungle. You have the unforgiving heat, relentless rains during the rainy season, etc. If you are a “poop hole” expert and have any suggestions or ideas, please feel free to share with us!!
As far as “what’s next?” for us, because that question gets asked frequently. We do have plans to return to Thailand in the fall of this year. We learned many things on our last trip and feel much better prepared for our next. We have a better understanding of the geography and where we need to live, we have a church home to return to in Thailand and hopefully become more involved in, and a better understanding of travelling to and from the jungle. We would love to be able to out together team projects and hosts those in the future - who knows - maybe I can pull those plans together before we leave! Some of the plans for our next trip are continuing to work with the construction/engineering teams in the jungle with various projects. I also have some leads to various organizations that work with children’s homes, trafficked individuals, and education that I hope to see come into play more on our next trip.
Please stay tuned for more updates and opportunities to help! If you think you may be interested in coming to Thailand for a couple of weeks to join us in things we have going on, please email me! I would love to share some of these experiences with you all! And would love to see you sharing Jesus with some of those less fortunate! My email address is kellyjo@chaoscreek.org.
Until next time…..
