Dear
friends, April
14, 2012
A few weeks have passed since I
arrived home from my 3 week trip to S.E. Asia. My life is getting back to
normal, and now I’d like to let you know how it went…
We went, we taught, & saw God do amazing
things!
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| The view out our kitchen window right before I left. |
I arrived in the capital of this SE Asian country and was met at the airport by my new Asian family. I had met one of their sons at a class Greg taught here in WA in January! This son, Miki, heard me mention my trip, and told me he had family living near the J. airport, and now they are my family too! I LOVE Kiki, Merry and Mika! How gracious and generous they were to take care of me. They invited Sunday School teacher friends over and I got to do an abbreviated lesson for them. Here are my new 14 best friends watching me eat black pepper beef. It was very good. This group wants to host a training for their network in the capital. We shall see! BTW (by the way), the fruits they treated me to were amazing! Mangosteen, rombuton, etc., but I somehow avoided tasting durian on this trip. They can’t believe I have never eaten it!
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| My new extended family! I love these people! |
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| The 14 teachers I met with impromtu. |
Wendy-Poppins was right on time!
I went to the first city and got
started with the first training. 37 students greeted me and all went as
planned. I did fine on my own until Wendy arrived at lunch time. Thanks for
praying! Our students in the 1st location were fun and musical and a
little crazy! If we even mentioned
something that they could think of a song to, they would pop up and start
singing! They were eager and absorbed everything! It was a joy to teach them!
The
host pastor has embraced the 1 for 50 vision for this region of the country. He
has already assembled a team of 3 to begin training others so that there will
be at least 1 trained children’s worker for every 50 children. They figured out
that they need to train 20,000 children’s workers. 59 received certificates at
our training including the host pastor who is pictured with Wendy and me below
receiving his.
John
(above left) was our translator. He was excellent. He was grateful for your
prayers. Translators work hard! It was extremely HOT! As the oscillating fan
moved while I taught, so did I! While
Wendy and I took turns teaching, John had to keep going the entire time. Here
is one of my fun students-Darwin. I am wearing a gift from our hosts. This fabric
is made by their people group. Wendy and I had to dance for it during church,
however!
Why Wendy "Poppins?" I will
start by saying that Wendy was the best roommate EVER! We got along great. She
is an excellent teacher and fellow teammate. We hope we get to train together
again someday. Well, all I had to do was to mention something I wish I had
brought, and out of her bag it would come! Not to mention training supplies
like 15 lbs. of candy, several hundred pipe cleaners, a box of 100 markers,
etc. She grew up in Hong Kong before moving to NYC. So add to Wendy’s
“Poppins-esque” persona, Chinese remedies (in her suitcase!), Chinese wisdom
and her accent that sometimes confused John- like “sneakers” sounding like “Snickers!”
Priceless! Wendy and I became a mosquito hunting team extraordinaire and had LOTS of fun together! When we shared a room, she was happy for me to be there since the mosquitos and other bugs considered me the "other white meat" and left her alone!
Below is one of our
lessons on the heart of a teacher. And below is me eating my first frog. And yes, it
tastes like chicken! First, the challenge-then not so sure- Hmmm-Conquered! Our
fun & amazing 1st training done.
#2: 1 for 50 Leaders Vision Casting Event
Kimberle
and her daughter Jamie joined us on the 12th as scheduled. Jamie,
16, didn’t feel well when they arrived, and Wendy and I took turns staying up with her during the
night so Kimberle could sleep. Most of the upcoming meetings were on Kimberle’s
shoulders and we wanted her to get her sleep. It was a long night for Jamie!
Kimberle got word from home during the night that a strep test sent away to the
lab for Jamie, was positive after all. The rapid office test had been negative.
They had brought the medicine just in case. She began taking it and recovered
over the next few days. She only missed one day.
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| Jamie feeling better |
A Miracle!
One week before this event, our hosts had only 7 people signed up to come. They wondered if they should cancel it but didn’t know how to do that. So they trusted the Lord & you all prayed…94 SHOWED UP! See the room full in the top picture? They represented scores of ministries and Christian non-profits in that country. This photo is of us with our hosts. These ladies worked tirelessly! They made name tags, certificates, fed everyone lunches and snacks, and collected and distributed everyone’s information for networking afterward. They were fun and took great care of us as well. They are in a key position to be servant leaders for their country’s 1 for 50.
Above
is me sharing my pet sheep with the participants. Oh horrors! One
was missing! (Don’t worry- they found him!) I also had fun telling the turnip
story and they made me participate in a dance contest to a children’s worship
song. I think they perceived me as being funny or something! Go figure! Femmy was our translator this time and was excellent! She was terrified but did a sensational job.
Highlights and Praises!
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| An activity to help everyone understand teamwork and networking. |
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| Participants collecting each other's resources and contact information. |
The
goals were to see the Lord awaken these leaders to the cause/dream of reaching
& discipling the children of their nation. That is what 1 for 50 is all
about. We talk about various aspects of getting that job done. Each ministry
represented at the meeting brought its own strengths and weaknesses to the task.
They considered how they could work together sharing resources. They wrote
these on pieces of paper which they posted around the room. Then they went
around the room and gathered each other’s information. They became more and
more excited as they realized this could really happen! It was happening! They
prayed, played and connected with each other. They committed to share the 1 for
50 vision with others. Our dream became a reality. Thank you
for praying for this event! This was HUGE! Kidzana was invited
back to do trainings for many networks. One big one is already scheduled for
the end of Oct. I may be going back! Please pray
that the Lord works out the details if I should go.
The man above became blind in
an accident at age 25, and shared his testimony and ministry with us. He has started a
home/school for blind children. So touching and inspirational! And you were there with me!
Training #3
We flew to our 3rd
training location on the 15th, and by that time, I felt strep
starting. I began taking antibiotics and slept all the next day. Because there
were 3 of us to train, Wendy was able to take over for me. Wendy and Kimberle
also took antibiotics for strep but weren’t laid up from it. God was good. We
also didn’t get sick from mosquito bites, although we got quite a few.
This group was from many areas
including a worker from another country who plans to take the 1 for 50 vision
back to that country- and so it spreads.
We enjoyed also meeting 2 men
from the Book of Hope ministry. One is the country leader. So much personality!
Others were groups of Sunday School teachers from all over that region.
One thing we do while teaching
methods of sharing the Gospel is to use a piñata. One funny thing that happened
at this training was that this lady thought this bush was the piñata and beat
the leaves right off of it!
This time our translator was Mega. The
electricity went on and off during our days there, and the A/C along with it. She
was a trooper. She had to go all day and did a great job.
Last but not least…
We took 2 flights, then drove for 5
hours in this vehicle. Let’s just say that we were pretty far out in rural area
after driving on lots of windy roads and a stop at the equator on the way! (See
the picture on the left) When we got
there we were greeted by 120 eager students. They were S.S. teachers from 10
different parts of that region.
Again, these people were
delightful! -beautiful, kind, funny and eager to learn. We used games to
illustrate the principles we were teaching, and they were ALWAYS a hit! The
people of this country LOVE games! By doing so we also taught them some new
games to use in their ministries.
I enjoy teaching a lesson on how to
use object lessons. I give them many examples and we all laughed pretty hard
when instead of talking into the microphone, I started to talk into a
flashlight! As part of another object lesson, I took a bite out of an apple
before trying to give it to Jamie. That time she wouldn’t take it like I needed
her to, and I didn’t know why. She whispered to me that it hadn’t been washed,
right after I took a bite of it! I could just imagine the amoebas entering my
body, and almost choked. All of this in front of 120 students! We laughed so
hard we cried! Our students thought it was funny too!
This
group of 3 & their mentor/head teacher, took the object lesson challenge
and made these object lessons to give to us, making a copy for themselves too.
So well done! Here I am holding microphones up to my computer speakers so we
could show a video with sound.
We drove back to the airport, and
5 flights, and 40+ hours later, I was back home as scheduled. I have enjoyed
sharing the experience with you. I asked you to come with me in prayer, and I believe you did! God
did amazing things! We trained over 300 people
who will now be training children and other teachers. I hope this gives you at
least some idea of what the trip was like. Without you, I could not have gone
and been part of this amazing ministry. My trip to Thailand for the Global
Children’s Ministry -GCM Equip conference (globalchildrensministry.org) is at
the end of May. I need to go to help do networking for Kidzana and 1 for 50. A
conversation at a similar conference last year opened the door to the country I
just returned from. Relationships are the key. I am a relationship person.
Again the shoe fits me & I feel like the Lord wants me to put it on. Want
to go to Thailand with me, too?
Until
all the children of all nations know Him!
Nancy
Fritz
