Spring Is Close

Hey... Hurray... Yippee!!! I caught my first sighting of green grass today. Yes, this year's new growth. Wow, it made me want to sing and dance. I had tossed my mop heads and rags out onto the sidewalk of Dorm #3 while I swept the entrance runner. (Dorm #3 is my housekeeping responsibility until the end of March). When I went to pick up my dirty rags, I noticed it. Fresh, green, new growth grass.


This winter has felt almost unbearably long, so today's discovery made my day. Earlier in the day I had been blessed when new friends we've become acquainted with here in Montana were sharing their vision for what they believe God is calling them to. Their expressions of faith in God, trust in His provision and promises, etc. made for a spiritually uplifting time. And now this new sign of spring, this sign of hope, well........I'm ecstatic!!!

Missing dear friends!!!

I've been feeling particularly lonely for the dear old friends we've left back in the Silver Valley. I find myself having "blue" days, but when I try to figure out why, all I can come up with is that I'm having a hard time saying good-bye to the Silver Valley and all our friends. (These are my dear Zoe girls).

You may say, "What's the problem? You left Kellogg last May. Why are you just now getting so lonesome for everyone?" I think the reason is this: Up until now it's been go, go, go, with very little opportunity to reflect on my losses. And now that we are turning our attentions to new people, to new avenues of ministry, etc. I think there's a part of me that is resisting change. The other day as we were driving through Kalispell, I felt sad. Part of me didn't want to start all over in a new place. That particular day I had to admit I didn't even want to try to make new friends, or get to know a new geographical region. I just wanted to go home.
(More precious friends from back home)

Thankfully, the comforting presence of the Holy Spirit has come to my rescue. I cried out to the Lord and He heard my prayer. He reminded my of a strategy that would get my eyes off myself. 'Cause that's what it was. I was feeling sorry for myself. I was feeling isolated. I had lost my sense of "belonging," of "being known and valued." The Lord challenged me to reach out to others, even in the midst of feeling like I was invisible to others.

Wow, What a difference it has made! Within a day of submitting to God in this, things started to change. No, I haven't forgotten or abandoned my dear old friends, but God has ignited a desire within my soul to make new friends--to take new people into my heart, to invest in them, to love and accept them.

The two friends you see here, I sorely miss. What a blessing and spiritual boost they were to me. How I miss our times together! But again, I have so much to be thankful for. Lord willing, I will see them both when we visit the Silver Valley this Thursday. Kelly will attempt to "fix" my hair. And, boy, does it need it. And I'll get to spend time with Jamie at the Silver Valley Ministerial Fellowship.

Like I said, within a day, things started to turn around. As I began reaching out to others: sitting by someone who was sitting alone in the cafeteria, inviting a young mother in for a chat, praying with a gal from another culture who is struggling with the way Americans do things, etc. all of a sudden I experienced the blessing of feeling needed, feeling appreciated, and feeling like I belong.

This whole experience reminds me of the song we used to teach in Pioneer Girl's Club: "Make new friends, but keep the old. One is silver and the others is gold."

Christmas with the Grandkids!

Hey Everyone, do you recognize these handsome guys? If you haven't seen Angela in a while, or her family, you may not. This is Will. He just turned 11 last week.
And this is Jackie (Ang's oldest son). I can hardly believe he is 15 now. Grandkids sure have a way of growing up on you, don't they?

Wow, look at this beautiful group of Fleming grandkids: (from oldest to youngest) Zach, Deanna, Jacinda (all belong to John & Kim), then Emily and Noah (belong to Steven and Christel).

The girls are ready to dive in to the goodies, but they wait with graceful patientce for the go-ahead.

This video includes John, Kim, Deanna and Jacinda at the wave pool in Abbotsford. I have a great picture of Zach and Noah, but it's on it's side and I can't get it to stay right side up once I post it here.

Working With YWAM/RSN in Montana

Arthur and I in last week's staff meeting. The picture below shows you the team we work with here in Montana. Each Wednesday morning we meet together to discuss and strategise. Then on Friday's we dedicate the full morning to intercede for the many pastors, pastor's wives, churches and ministries that God is connecting us with in the Pacific Northwest and Western Canada, as well as in the countries of India, Nepal, Ukraine and Thailand.

The Local Church Equipping and RSN (Rural Shepherds Network) teams

that we are a part of.

The Lord has blessed us with a lovely home to "house-sit" for a couple months. I love it! It's so nice to have some privacy again, after living in a 12x12 dorm room with the restrooms down the hall. Thank you for your prayers. On Friday night we enjoyed having guests over for the first time in 9 months. I've really missed that!! But, Lord willing, now that we have some room again, we can have company, entertain guests, do Bible studies, etc. etc. My secret hope is that our kids and grandkids will be able to find their way to this part of Montana sometime this year.

Am I That Dedicated?

I am trying to revive our blog. It's harder to keep the postings current than I thought it would be. Once we got into Myanmar (October) and were urged to be very careful about our communications (so as not to put our friends and fellow-workers at risk), the wind went out of my sails and I've had a hard time getting back into the flow of communicating via the blog.

It feels similar to a project I took on a few years back. I decided to write a personal Christmas letter to each of our kids, their spouses, and the grandkids each year. I was building a new family tradition...... Yippee!!! Well, I did alright for a few years. I looked forward with great excitment to writing those letters every Christmas. But then, sure enough, one year I got behind on the project and knew I couldn't get them all done in time. I forged ahead, however, even though I knew some would arrive late that year.

I was disappointed with myself. I had started out with such good intentions. But in the process of that next year I became discouraged concerning the whole idea. My zeal began to wane, putting my start date for the following Christmas even farther behind than before. I tried to encourage myself, saying that if I couldn't get them done for Christmas, it was okay, I would just turn them into New Year's letters. But something happens psychologically, at least for me, when I start slipping on the job, and especially if I get feeling too far behind. I end up telling myself that the letters didn't matter to anyone anyway, so why was I even trying to make it a yearly tradition. I convinced myself that it was okay to bag the idea.

That's kind of how I've felt about this whole blogging thing. I don't like letting people down, even myself. None of the kids have ever asked why the letters stopped, or quizzed me about what happened to their Christmas letter. No one is beating me up about it. Except me. If I could make a long-term committment out of some of the great ideas I've had, I think I'd be amazed at the fruit God would produce in my life.

I'm not sure I want to rekindle the blog if I can't be faithful to keeping it current and interesting. Like I said, it's much harder to keep up with than I thought it would be. Faithful blogging takes dedication and determination. Am I up for that, over the long-haul, I wonder?

Hello Everyone, just wanted to show everyone our new Grandson, Daniel, he is two years old and Kim and John are expecting to bring him home in the next year (or so).

Goodbye to Thailand, Hello to X

We've already started saying our good-byes to all the dear Christians we've met in Thailand. We were especially blessed to get to know, and spend time with, Pastor Gampon and his wife Miriam (and their 3 beautiful children). And Nong, the gal who runs the coffee shop and has prepared all our meals; it will be so hard to say good-bye to her. She has been so good to us all, serving us far beyond what was expected.

We will be here at City Gate Church for 3 more days. Tomorrow will be our last Sunday with the people here. They are putting on a big party for us in the afternoon. Nong told us about it this afternoon, but we're not supposed to tell the rest of the team because they want it to be a surprise. After church there will be a special Thai potluck (she named the meal, but I can't remember what it's called). Then there will be traditional Thai dancing before we have an afternoon "coffee time" together. The children from the orphanage called "Home of Joy" will also be in church so our team will be doing "Children's Church" again.

Arthur and I are making our final decisions for packing our suitcase for Myanmar: will we get our clothes laundered or do them again in our own bucket; what printed material will we throw away (anything that talks about our upcoming plans and arrangements must be tossed for sure); what gifts do we want to buy yet to take home; etc.

We are booked into the Panda Hotel our first night in Rangoon. Online it looks and sounds very luxurious (remember we are "tourists"). After that we cannot say as yet where we will be. One thing I do know, if we have never yet learned how to be flexible, God is certainly setting up the opportunity to learn it now. It will truly be a life of "giving no thought for tomorrow, for tomorrow has enough trouble of its own."

I'm not sure when we will get another opportunity to blog, so let me remind you of our love, of our on-going prayers for all our beloved family and friends, and of the love God has for you. You matter greatly to His kingdom and His eternal purposes. Keep walking in the light. Walk in every bit of light that you have. Remember, God is always at work. Look around, listen to Him speak, and see where you can fit into what He is doing.

May God's grace and peace be with you,
Art & Doris