It’s officially June. In May, we purchased one way tickets to Chiang Mai, Thailand, so will be headed out the last week of July. It’s all becoming too real.
We’ve been purging and slimming down our possessions. Our home is doing a gradual disappearing act: today a table vanishes, a bunch of chairs are gone another day, then the TV and armoire is moved out…our home now echos. It is cleansing and sad at the same time. Our goal is to slim down enough so that we can temporarily move downstairs with Lori’s brother, Newton, and have upstairs rented out.
We had our first two coffee hours to share about ZOE International, both attended by friends that we have not seen in a long time. We were encouraged by their interest and support in what we will be doing and blessed by their praying over us.
We also had several special get-togethers and meals with dear friends. These times have been such a gift to us since we realize we will soon be thousands of miles away from them.
We’ve been busy with activity normally associated with moving to another country but then there were the…odd…occurrences.
For three days in a row our home was literally infested with flies. We NEVER had this problem before. We were dispatching them bunches at a time: 3 here, another 5 there, then yet another 4. Over those three days we counted over 30 flies flushed down the toilet or lying dead in the wastebasket. For the life of us we couldn’t find the source of the flies! We had the house locked down (Lori despises bugs and is really good at keeping them out) and it felt like they were magically appearing. Lori asked family to pray and then the manifestations 🙂 stopped.
I also had to deal with 4 straight weeks of recurring cold sores, something that I rarely get. A week or so one would heal and then another would start. The cold sores were interfering with my work since I had to talk a lot during this time, training my replacement and teaching five different days of classes.
(Lori) On Simpson’s last day of of teaching class, they made him don a Superman shirt and cape. These were given in recognition of how he often would come to the aid of colleagues when they are facing difficult situations. Being the good sport that he is, he proceeded to teach the 2 hour class in this outfit. I do have photos but have been forbidden to post them. As I sat through his class, I was filled with more appreciation for all he does and who he is. I am blessed to be his wife and am so glad we are on this journey together.
On an evening late in May, we were expecting to go to dinner with a couple and their two friends. It had been on our calendar for quite a while and we were looking forward to a quiet, mellow evening with them. But that couple (our close friends) had duped us because, as we pulled into the driveway, we were greeted by a very large group of our church and work Ohana (family). SURPRISE! (see photo) It was all part of a nefarious plan concocted by our Pastor and various other individuals that we will leave unnamed. As Simpson and I prefer more anonymous settings, we were pretty much in shock for the entire evening. As we reflect on that night, we are humbled, thankful and overwhelmed by the love and care poured out on us by our friends. People took the time to plan this surprise fundraising dinner for us and our friends took time out of their busy schedules to be there that evening. I pretty much cried the whole night.
As of this writing, we have reached 45% of the funds we need to raise for ZOE from monthly donors. We appreciate any gift you or others can make towards this work to end human trafficking.
God’s goodness continues to amaze us and we want to thank each of you for partnering with us as we make our way to Chiang Mai and ZOE International (gozoe.org).
