Community Service - Trash pick up on the Centennial Trail

When we were at Upper Columbia Conference campmeeting at UCA, our Junior Class did a community service outreach project by picking up trash. We had a one hour bus ride to the Centennial Trail next to the Spokane River. It was a lot of fun. I hope there is a Pathfinder honor for this, because boy did we pick up a lot of trash!

We picked nearly 20 bags in all. We did not just stay on the bike path, we went everywhere off the trail and in the woods so that's were we found all kinds of trash!

Here is a list of things we found;

• pipes
• beer bottles
• aluminum cans
  
• car parts
• pliers
• trash
  
• and lots more cool looking stuff

After we finished that we went back on the bus.

One difference I learned about is the type of clothes to wear. When you do this you type of community service you have to wear long pants because of ticks, but in Thailand I've not seen any ticks, but instead you have to watch out for the leaches along some of the jungle walking paths!

I saw one kid wearing shorts and I saw a little tiny tick on his leg and I saw it. I told him that he had a "hitch hiker" on his leg. He saw it and flicked the tick off.

Questions for my blog readers:

1. Are you a liter bug? Do you throw trash on the ground?
2. How are you helping your community? Tell me your story!
   

A Sad Day

Today, my brother and I found out that our third cat, Junior had died. He went into the ground - with my other pets. What I mean is that he's dead.

I might be crying, and maybe you are crying too! I'm crying because I'm sad and missing Junior, because he was my Christmas kitten. (See my blog post My Dear Little Christmas Kitten)

I look forward to Jesus coming again. Why? Because death will be history, and I will see my cat again in the Earth made new!

Questions for my blog readers:

1. Have you ever had a pet die?
   


2. How did you feel? Write back and tell me.
   

Why Promote Missions?

Each year our family comes home to the USA to visit family and friends. We share what God is doing through our church planting work in Thailand.


We go to churches and campmeetings and share. 




Q. Why do we share?

A. Because the church members invest in our mission, and all other overseas missions through their mission offerings.  We say thanks to all those who give!  

A. We also share because more missionaries are needed!

Questions for my blog readers:

1. How do you support missionaries?
2. How do you promote missions?

Write back and tell me your ideas!

UCC Campmeeting Report Day 1

This week our family is attending the campmeeting at Upper Columbia Academy.

We have a booth to promote the work of Adventist Mission - overseas missions, and to give a report of our work and the needs in Thailand.

One of the ways that I helped get ready to promote missions this year is by designing bookmarks. We printed three different styles to give out - 1,200 of each one! Stop by our booth and pick one up!

Questions for my blog readers:
1. How do you promote overseas missions?
2. Have you ever designed a bookmark?

Write back and share!

Finding Snake Skin

One day some of my friends came over after school. We were building a fort, and we needed some logs to make benches and tables for our fort. So I asked my brother to bring some logs over to our fort.

These were huge logs from the tree that fell down in front of our house. 

When he moved one logs, he yelled, "Look! Come and see this!" We ran over and looked and there was a snake skin.

I got to pick up one piece of the skin. It was brown, and dry and about one foot long.

Questions for my blog readers:

1. Have you found a piece of snake skin?

2. Where did you find the snake skin?

Write & tell me your story!

Thanks! :-)

Dragon Fruit

One of the fruits in Thailand is dragon fruit. It has another name, pitaya.  It comes in several colors - white and dark plum color.  It has little tiny seeds that you can eat.

The taste is very mild.  It tastes better when it is cold. 

 

Guess how it grows?  It grows on a cactus. 

To learn more about this fruit, go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pitaya

Questions for my blog readers:

1. Have you ever tasted dragon fruit?  How would you describe its taste?
2. What's your favorite fruit?

 Write and tell me!

Family Favorites Reading List, part 3 - Animal Stories

In this series of posts entitled, Family Favorites Reading List, we share some of the books we've read and enjoyed together as a family.  Here are some of the animal stories that we have enjoyed for this week's post,

"Because of Winn-Dixie," by Kate Di Camillo
Opal acquires her pet dog in the most unlikely place…a grocery store! Make sure you read the book before you watch the movie.  We were inspired by this story, and thus we named our cats - Tesco & Lotus, after a local grocery store here in Bangkok!

"The Summer of Riley," by Eve Bunting
The devotion that a boy has for his dog and what he does to save him from certain death one very special summer.

"Tornado," by Betsy Byars
 

Read Pete's favorite tale of how he got his favorite pet.

 

"Summer of the Sharks," by Sally Streib
The underwater adventure story of Eric and Susan on a remote island paradise in the Bahamas for a coral reef restoration project!
http://www.adventistbookcenter.com/Detail.tpl?sku=0816321264
ISBN: 0816321264

"Lass," by Roland Gebauer, Illustrated by Cheri Bladholm
Lass, a pure-bred Border collie, is rescued from her unhappy life in the city and taken to a sheep ranch. There Lass learns about trust, obedience, and faithfulness under the patient guidance of her new master. A heartwarming true story that illustrates the unconditional love that God has for each one of us.

 

Questions for our blog readers:

1. Tell us about your favorite animal story book? 
2. What is it?  Why do you like it? Write back and tell us this book!

Family Favorites Reading List, part 2 Stories From the Under Ground Church

In the last post, Family Favorites Reading List, part 1, we gave a list of some of the books we read and enjoyed together as a family.  In this blog, we want to share stories from the Under Ground Church.  

There are many places around the world that do not have freedom of religion, and so Christians are persecuted by these governments for worshiping God, having a Holy Bible, or sharing their faith.  These are some of their inspiring stories of their faith under persecution. 

The Man Who Couldn't Be Killed: An Incredible Story of Faith and Courage During China's Cultural Revolution by Stanley Maxwell

Order your copy of this great book online at Alibris, or Amazon.

The Heavenly Man: The Remarkable True Story of Chinese Christian Brother Yun by Paul Hattaway

Order your copy of this great book online at Alibris, or Amazon. 

Singing through the Night: Courageous Stories of Faith from Women in the Persecuted Church by Anneke Companjen

Order your copy of this great book online at Alibris, or Amazon.  
 

God's Smuggler by Brother Andrew

Order your copy of this great book online at Alibris, or Amazon.

Questions for our blog readers:

1. What is your favorite story book about the underground church? 
2. What is the story about? 
3. Why do you like it?  Write back and let us know!