Just Awesome

Peacekeeping

Boi Manual, Cadence’s national director in the Philippines, began investing into the lives of 12 PNP (Philippine National Police) officers about 13 years ago while they were at the Academy. These men are now all high-ranking officers and are in significant places of influence within the National Police leadership.

One of these men, a Col. and deputy commander of the Makati police station (Metro Manila), has invited Boi to be a regular part of his on-going professional development training program.

It is one of these training times that I was invited to share some material we have been developing in the area of Peacemaking. I spoke for two days to a select number of officers on this subject. The basic theme of this material is that in order to be a peacemaker for others you must first have peace inside. Where does this kind of peace come from? What is the source of all conflict? How can we serve others by helping them achieve this peace?

These men know that we are a Christian organization so we were able to share straight with them the source of true peace while still providing them with good conflict resolution and intervention training.

One-Eyed Monk

It all began with a one-eyed Monk and a lost wallet.

Wanted to share this fun story with you as another indication of how wonderful our Lord is.

A couple of weeks ago my partner, Ron Wilson, was driving his wife’s car to the repair shop around the corner from his house. After paying for the repairs he set his wallet on top of the car, (you know what’s coming), got in, and drove off. About an hour later he gets a call from a local police station telling him that they had a Monk there trying to find the owner of the wallet. 

Turns out that this Monk resides at the Wat (Buddhist temple) near Ron’s house and had come along right after he had drove off and discovered the wallet on the ground. Because Ron’s driver’s license indicates that his home is in a near by town the Monk made his way down to the police station there. The police phoned Ron and asked him to come down and retrieve his wallet.

When Ron arrived he met the Monk and received his wallet back. (not a Baht was 

missing from over 10,000- about $300) Ron gave the Monk a ride back to his Wat and told him he would come and visit him there sometime and bring him a gift. (a very traditional way of giving thanks)

A Wat is a place for religious teaching as well as worship so an idea was hatched to see if we could come and teach about the Christmas story. The Monk was very open to this and invited us to come and teach the local children. He invited the village families to send their children to hear about the Christian Christmas! We put together gift bags and to hand out as presents after I taught on the gift of God to the world in the person of Jesus.

The Christmas story was well received by the children and the Monk was very thankful for our coming. 

We all felt very privileged to represent the Lord in that place and we pray for those that heard that they would all receive the greatest gift of all.

Seanet 2008

SEANET
This past week I attended the 10th annual SEANET (South East Asia Network) conference here in Chiang Mai. This conference brings pastors and mission agencies from around the Buddhist world together to network, cross-talk, and pray for the 1 billion Buddhists in this region.

One of the exciting aspects of this conference is that it provides an opportunity for pastors in specific countries to come together on neutral ground to discuss strategies and to pool their resources. The country of Myanmar, for example, had only 2 attendees last year, but this year they had 14!

They have now developed networks that includes many denominations and are seeking to invite organizations to partner with them. As of yesterday we are now an invited partner with them! It is really amazing how the Lord has brought this about in this country that is still in massive turmoil.

Last year, pastor Sam Abraham from India, asked us to consider coming to cast vision for reaching the military and police in his state. He is from Dharamsala, the current home of the Dali Lama on the Tibetan border. We were not able to work out dates last year to come but began praying the Lord would open doors for this year and He has answered. Ron and I will be heading there in April to be with Sam and another pastor from Chenni, in the south near Tamil.

These opportunities are too good to miss and we believe the Lord orchestrated them for this time. So you can imagine what my travel schedule is going to look like.
We covet your prayers in these next months as I travel much to many countries. (dates are posted below)

Paul’s Travel
Jan    19-23           Cambodia
Feb    6-17             Philippines
Mar    3-10             Cambodia
April   1-4               Myanmar
April/May   23-2      India  

Decoration Time

I am blessed with a wonderful woman who loves beauty and has a gift for creating it. This is especially true at Christmas.

Latest Family Photo

Hard to believe that its almost Christmas when the weather has been so beautiful here in Chiang Mai. I was playing soccer yesterday and got a little sunburned. We are really looking forward to this season as the kids grandparents will be visiting us bringing all sorts of goodies from the states.

I am now learning to read and write in Thai which is a huge step in unlocking the code of the language. I am already finding myself sounding out words on signs and in newspapers. I feel a little like a secret agent breaking a code.

We are very thankful for how the Lord has taken care of us this year and how He continues to move among the military and police of South East Asia.