The Church encourages us to partner with other NGO’s (non-governmental organization) on projects. We found an NGO we were very impressed with and finally got to team up with them on five schools. The NGO is Room to Read. They build classrooms in conjunction with small library’s for schools. The thing we like about them is that they expect the villages to participate. They provide the material, but the villagers build the schools. A great Church principle is shown with this approach. We agreed to provide the materials for five toilets to go with the five shools which they had planned. One particular school, we had already committed to build a well. If you click here, you can see some photo’s of this project. It has been a fun one. We were out the other day and they were all working so hard on the project. I counted over 50 villagers there working.
Lori has been called to serve a mission in Scotland. We are so excited for her. You can see her new world by clicking on new world.
Thawan is just messing around here - he served as one of our translators. By the time the training was all done the translators all felt they could then not only perform the procedures but teach the course. You can see more about what we did for over a week by clicking on NRT. Thawan is in our Branch Presidency. He served a mission in Thailand. He is a great guy.
The family secret is out! The person most effected has given me permission to share it on the blog. I give it to you in the form of a puzzle.
Since this is a family blog, you will have to go to the official document issued by the church to find most of your answer. I hope you have that document framed and hanging on your wall.
I will spell it out - the second word is abrieviated:
_____ The first letter in the first word of the title.
_____ The third letter in the 4th word of the title.
_____ The last letter in the 4th word of the title.
_____ The last letter in the second word of the title.
_____ The third word
_____ The first letter in the 4th word of the title.
_____ The first letter in the common name for our Father in Heaven to whom we owe all our blessings and am so very very very thankful to for this GREAT secret.
_____
Can you guess what vacation won in the voting? Now, give me your input as to when and where! WE ARE EXCITED!!
Pi Mai Lao means Lao New Year (April 15th). The celebration goes on for three days (April 14th, 15th and 16th). Traditionally they go to the wat and wash off the Buddha. This led to blessing people by pooring water on them. This led to the tradition of soaking everybody at every party. You can click on Pi Mai Lao to see some photos of the festivities.
Phonsavanh, one of DIC’s most important contacts in the Lao government died suddenly last week. He was only 44. He was in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and responsible for approving all projects of international NGO’s. He highly respected DIC and quickly approved any project which we wanted to do. He was well respected among those he worked with. The school in his hometown was demolished by a bad storm and DIC funded the rebuild. He went with us for the handover and we found that the people of his hometown held him in high esteem. He was kind of the local boy that made good. He will be missed. Click on funeral to see pictures of a Buddhist funeral including the burn.
I have four photos with notes attached. Click on BRANCH to view them. We really enjoy this Branch. We hope and pray it will continue to grow and mature. The Martins are leaving Wednesday and will be really missed. The Branch loves them and they have done so much for it.
To see a photo story of our great adventure, click on ‘the great adventure’ and it will take you to a world of fantacy and merryment!
Click on FLICKR to see ‘a day on the project.’ This shows the wells and bathrooms being constructed. DIC did 33 wells in 2006 and we are currently in the middle of a 20 well project. Elder Martin is over the wells and he goes home on the 7th, then they will be my responsibility.
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