Marsha's Blog

 We’re still in Changmai this week, heading up the Japanese church here while the pastor takes a much-needed break back in Japan. We were buying food yesterday, vaguely aware that we needed to ‘stock up’ in case the threatening revolution got worse.  Suddenly there was a loud announcement and we could  understand just enough Thai to realise they were saying we  had ten minutes to exit the store. What we didn’t realise  was that in light of the events in Bangkok, there was now a 7PM curfew on all the country. As we drove home, we could see the smoke from fires burning throughout the city of Changmai. Not Bangkok, but the city in the far north where   we thought we were safe. This has been a week to remember. As an American, I’m   not used to being truly frightened by the government, but this week gave me a taste of what it’s like to literally not know what will  happen next to the place you call home or the people you love.  Although we had, as we mentioned last week, safely moved to th

 Last week Tony preached in what has been our “home away from home” church for the last couple of decades, Holly Brook Baptist, near Tyler, Texas. Tony’s parents called it home, and then after Mom passed away it was for Dad a real family place for the next 16 years until he joined her.  A good many of the folks we’ve known there over the years have moved on to Glory, leaving widows, widowers and kids, but all are comforted by the assurance that one of these days we’ll see a reunion like never before. We've been all over Texas for almost a month now, and regret that we still didn't get to see all of you.  It seems all those “Texas is sooo big…” stories are true! Many family members and friends made sacrifices to see us, taking time off from their busy schedules, driving long distances to meet us halfway, etc. One couple even invited us to come stay in their house for a week …… while they were away for a conference! To all of you: we just can’t thank you enough. If we missed you,

 (Note to Reader: This is another in our series of“River Crossings” blogs, written while we were in Thailand (2009-2011). Enjoy!)  I   think I’m flattered. A few weeks ago, I mentioned that if you wanted to know more about this kidnap drama we’ve been chronicling, you could Google this certain name and see what the bad guys were saying about our friend’s parents. Well, to my surprise, several hours later, a friend in Australia messaged us to say that OUR blog was in the number two place on Google's list of 8 pages.That means (I think) that our blog had been deluged with hits,  placing it in the number  one slot of interest. Normally, I would say that was a good thing, but since that particular blog was mostly our opinions about those “other guys” who were out to kidnap our friend,  I began to think that  maybe it was time to back off awhile. As my mother used to say to my dad when they needed to talk privately, “There are too many ears in the cornfield here”.After looking at our op

  Hello Everybody, Hope you had a wonderful 4th of July and are ready for another great Sunday. I also hope you're enjoying my weekly blog, which at the moment is a collection of excerpts from the book, "River Crossings".  Today I wanted to send along a personal insert with a video clip from the church service we went to a couple of Sundays ago.  The pastor is Dr. Jonathan Hayashi, one of three full time Christian ministers who call a lady named Yukiko  "Mom". You may remember that Yukiko was the very first person we led to the Lord, baptised and performed her wedding in Japan, all around  40 years ago. By a chance meeting with Jonathan, he asked us to come to his church and share a bit of her story.  Clicking on the link below will take you to the Facebook page of Northern Hills Baptist Church. The whole service of June 25th was fantastic and worth watching, but if you just have time to catch a glimpse of us, push the time bar and the bottom of the screen to th

 This week, we saw something interesting while riding the train here in Bangkok. Quite often, you’ll see a teeny little sign above some of the seats on the train that say, “Please give this    seat to a monk”. Well, a monk got on the train and headed toward the middle of the car. Almost immediately, somebody JUMPED up and offered him a seat. Then the ‘dance’ began. As the monk sat down, the people on either side also exploded out of their seats up as if there were springs underneath them, now giving the monk THREE seats on a crowded train. Then at the next stop, some guy with more nerve than me (I don’t think he was Thai), sat down next to the monk, completely ignoring him but still leaving an empty seat on the other side of the holy man. At the next stop, a lady carrying a baby got on. The guy who didn’t mind sitting next to a monk got up and offered her his seat. She smiled and sat down. Now it was the monk’s turn. He SHOT up out of his seat and stood till the next stop. So you say,