Monday, January 17, 2011

taking care of the trees


Another week at Philokalia

Its been an interesting week here at Philokalia.

We have been discussing about how difficult is has been to keep up with the plants and trees that have been planted. Its a big job keeping everything watered and weeded.(we are in dry season now) We came up with a plan to have individuals and families choose the trees and plants they want to be responsible for, and then they will be watering and weeding these trees all year. This was announced during announcement time on Sunday during the service. After church found individuals and families claiming their sections, weeding and watering their trees with much enthusiasm. This will help our community to feel ownership of the land, and play a big part in its success in the future.

Today Jerry and Prawit are going out to find someone to dig our well at the land so our water supply will be plentiful as we begin to add housing and families living at the center.

Our Saa Paper project continues to work on spring designs and making gift bags for spring and summer. Update on Cartoon.... Cartoon has done well after her burn, and there is no infection.

Muay is a young girl from a near by village that comes to help the saa paper group after she comes home from school. She showed me some of her designs on Sunday.They are pretty good for her first try. She is 13 years old, and has been coming to the Sunday services since we moved out near her home. She loves working with the saa paper also. Please pray for Muay as she hears the Good News for the first time.

We are still experiencing cool weather, and there are a lot of colds and flu going around. We had good attendance on Sunday, but a few are still home getting over their illnesses. Especially pray for Iet. She has been having stomach problems for the past 2 months.

Thanks again for your interest in Philokalia. If there is information you would like, or a subject matter you would like me to address on this site, please make your request known!

Sunday, January 9, 2011

The weather has been really strange for this time of year, and has caused a lot of sickness. It is warmer than usual, overcast and humid, and the sky has a weird cast to it. Lots of people are sick. Thai people always blame sickness on the change in weather, but this time I think they are close to the mark!
That said, we had a nice turnout Sunday for our worship service. We had five out sick, with various stomach and cold issues, but we had four visitors who are not regulars, attend... which was nice.

Please pray for Cartoon. She is the 2 year old granddaughter of Oley, one of our Saa paper workers. She received 3rd degree burns on her hand Sunday evening when her mother was boiling water to bathe her. Cartoon stayed over night in the hospital Sunday evening but we hope to hear news this evening that she has been released.

The saa paper group are busy designing new cards and bags for our Spring line. We hope to mail a box to the States by the end of January to make them available by the end of February. By the way, if you would like to order hand made cards or gift bags, write to Adele at spurgina@hotmail.com. We have some nice Valentine cards!

We had our planning meeting for the year this morning. To be continued tomorrow morning. The plans for this coming year are shaping up nicely, and we are excited about the possibilities ahead of us.

Thank you for your interest and support. If you have any questions or would like to make any comments about the work, please respond!!! God Bless!!!

Thursday, January 6, 2011

This week has been a slow week at the Center. The meeting for planning for the year which was scheduled for this week has been canceled because of various happenings and situations.

Wednesday we attended the funeral for Helen Morse. Helen was a dear friend whom I have enjoyed for many years. She was always helpful to me as a young new missionary. I shall miss her!

Surin's grandfather passed away last week also,, and he went home to be with his family and attend the funeral.

Prawit came down with a horrible cold, and has not been able to function much this week.

The meeting has been canceled until Monday, with hopes that we will all be back to normal by then.

Jerry has been busy learning a program to use for our financial reports and accounting, hopefully making it easier for Prawit to use to keep all the records straight. It is slow work, but he is getting it done.