Trunk or Treat 2006 is Coming Soon!

We will be holding our 3rd annual Trunk-or-Treat community event on Sunday, October 29th at Alvey Elementary School. Check out the following video to find out more about what Trunk-or-Treat is all about:

So, to make Trunk-or-Treat 2006 a success, I need your trunk! Have fun with it and start putting together your creative ideas for trunk decorations. I will also need some help on the food side. We will be giving away free hot dogs and drinks and literature about Park Valley Church (our whole point of doing this). I will also need some help getting the 3 to 4 bounce-houses to Alvey and set up. Let me know if you want to be part of this awesome event. Email me at markbulk@comcast.net.

A Couple of Prayer Request from the Kensels

A lot is going on in Thailand. Please pray that the coup d'etat that just happened will be resolved quickly and calmly. It has been bloodless so far and the king has apparently endoursed it, but the situation could quickly turn volatile. The BBC has covered the story here. The lead into a page one story in the Wall Street Journal is below:

An apparent coup in Thailand raises serious questions about the stability of a key U.S. ally in Asia that until recently had served as an anchor of democracy and investment in the region.

Amid a tropical downpour late yesterday in Bangkok, tanks moved on key government offices and television stations in the Thai capital and seized command of the city while the country's caretaker prime minister, Thaksin Shinawatra, was traveling in New York. Government-run television stations said the armed forces and the police had taken control of the country, and a statement signed by the Thai army's commander in chief imposed martial law.

The seemingly bloodless coup, the outcome of which still is unclear, underscored longstanding questions about who runs Thailand, a country of 65 million people that is a favorite of Western tourists and companies despite its opaque governance. Thailand is known as a parliamentary democracy, and early this decade Mr. Thaksin became the first civilian prime minister to complete his term.

I was chatting with my sister this morning and yesterday on Skype and she mentioned that they are going to be forced to find a new place soon. Below are a few snippets from our IM conversation (pasted in for convenience). Please pray for a house for the Kensels:

dkensel1 says: we are looking at houses trying to find a place to move to as our landlord wants to sell the land
dkensel1 says: well, we think we could but it would be difficult, also they want to tear our house down and use the wood someplace else (it is worth A LOT) and have us live in the newer place that they figure costs 2-3 million with the land, we were never interested in buying but that price is so high as to be pretty impossible
dkensel1 says: we just want to rent, more freedom, [...] etc
dkensel1 says: we saw a house we had tried to rent 6 years ago, it still has no one in it, but the neighbor says the owners aren't interested in renting
dkensel1 says: it will not be easy (humanly speaking) to find a place
dkensel1 says: most of the open houses are too small, but if we are desperate we would do it

Just this morning she thinks that they might have some

Debbie was also kind enough to forward some recent pictures of their work up in the village.
"the men are around a small deisel tractor engine that they use for tractor or for a grinder or whatever using a pulley set up"

Here, "a Karen believer and his friend recently released from jail (in glasses); the friend seems to have been saved in jail"

Update from the Kensels

Deb, Dan and family have spent some more time in their "townhouse" than they were intending recently. They had to get some maintenance done and it ended up being less than trivial to accomplish. But, in that time they were able to sign up for DSL and end their dependence on a bad sattelite connection for internet access (which should make Skype phone calls much easier).

They were able to make some progress on the language side. Up to this point, most if not all of the teaching, hads been done orally. Dan sent me the following note on their progress:

Here are the Lekki characters "Alphabet" I've been able to put the time in finally and get I asked 3 guys to write down the characters and get them check and then get the proper sounds put with the letters. Doing this to get thier langauge put in to Omni script so it will be able to get put on to a keyboard to we can then type and get lessons and scripture out to them more easilly.

He also forwarded some pictures of the script that is being developed and hopefully soon integrated into a simpler computer interface for Dan to prepare the lessons. Below are a couple of examples:

I've also just heard this week that they will be visiting us in April of next year -- a few months sooner than they had originally been planning! (yes, I am a bit excited)

There is also an update on the lady that they had requested prayer for some time back. The original request can be found here . Dan hiked into the village recently and was able to see the lady and she was doing much better. While she has 6 more months of medicine to go (they are very careful about treatment because there are well-founded fears of resistence), she is looking much better and is thriving back in the village.

September update from the Halls

Here's the Hall's update from up north, eh?

52 Norland Circle. Do you recognize that address? No? Well, it’s our new address here in Oshawa! During our visiting here in July for a few weeks we found this gorgeous house to rent in a brand new subdivision. It’s in a great part of town and right near the colleges here in Oshawa (which also means our neighborhood is a college neighborhood, but that just means more ministry opportunities.). It’s awesome and we’re very happy here. Thank you for praying for us as we searched for a new house. We’ve been welcomed with loving arms at Affinity and we’re thrilled to be ministering here.

The missions teams that came to visit in July were a blessing to us and other churches in the Toronto area. Thank you for praying for them. We hope next year to do the same.

Nathan has been able to lead the congregation at Affinity while Jarret and Jenn took a vacation. He is coming into his role here as Associate Pastor at Affinity and
is enjoying it very much; I’m sure when we’re ready to start our own work that this position will have taught us a great deal of ministry lessons. Jarret and Jenn are phenomenal to work with and we’re excited to learn from them.

September 17 is our fall kickoff service at Affinity. Summer was somewhat of a slow time for us, but we’re hoping that our Fall Kickoff will stir up some momentum in the community. Pray for the activities during the fall that members of the community will be excited about what God is doing here and will seek us out for curiosity’s sake, if nothing else.

They finish up their letter with a quick list of prayer requests. Please note:

• Traveling during this and next month as we are approved by the BBFI as full time missionaries and attending mission conferences
• Nolan as he turns 2; obedience and love for Jesus
• Continued support-raising
• Health for us and for our pastor here at Affinity
• Church growth, spiritually and physical numbers
• Fall activities at Affinity

Guatamal Video

After some fiddling, I was finally able to get a video together and posted on YouTube of Kelly's trip to Guatamala. Please check it out when you get a chance, the run time is about 11 minutes.

For some reason the embedded window wasn't working, so here is a direct link to YouTube's site.

Lakeshore, One Year Later

Its hard to imagine what it must be like for the good people down in Waveland (and elsewhere) to know that a whole year has gone by and they are far from back to "normal". There is so much more work to do and many things to discourage you if that is what you are looking for. However, God is still working through churches around the country at Lakeshore Baptist Church and sharing his love. Check out Pastor Don's blog, Locusts and Wild Honey for his latest take. Pastor Don mentions his excitement in the help of Jamie Dunbar, an missionary intern who is also a blogger. Check out her blog Because of Grace. Their job maintaining the free distribution center is anything from over. Check out a following recent picture posted on Pastor Don's blog:



One final note, Joell Fricke who all of us remember well, just gave birth to an eight-pound baby boy! Keep her and her family in your prayers. Their house was one of those destroyed (pictures here) and they have not yet been able to rebuild. So they are all in a camper for the time being. I would post a picture, but after looking at the 500 or so we (as a group) took, I couldn't find a single one with Joell in it. I don't know how that could happen, but I suspect she does :)

Guatamala - Shoes Needed and Thank You from Kelly

Kelly Schaeffer sent me this note along today thanking Park Valley Church for their support of her recent trip to Guatamala. Please read on and note that Kelly has some more plans:

Hi PVC Families! During my summer mission to Chiquimula, Guatemala, I noticed that most of the children do not have shoes, dramatically increasing their risk of injury, infections, and parasites. I am now collecting shoes for the children in Chiquimula Guatemala with the intent of shipping these items this fall or early winter. So when cleaning out your closets from summer and buying new school shoes for your kids, please consider donating your gently used shoes, especially sandals. I am looking for all sizes -- especially children's 1-5. Flip flops are especially good. If you have women's sandals size 4-8, those would be great too. I will have a large box marked with "Chiquimula Children Shoe Donation" in the hallway beginning Sunday, September 9th. I will also be taking cash donations to offset the shipping, which is likely to be around $200. Thanks in advance for providing for these children and families.

I am behind the eight-ball in getting a movie together from Kelly's trip. Be looking for a short 3 to 5 minute presentation of her trip in church. I'll also post on YouTube for my "web-only" readers.

Below is the "Thank You" card that Kelly has sent to the church and her other supporters