Thank you for your prayers, for your financial support, for your love!

A little over a year ago, I sent out a letter requesting prayer for our finances. While it has been (and will) remain our practice to ask God for money and to ask our friends for prayer, by 2009 it became obvious that we needed more support! We had some credit card debt, and didn’t see a way to retire it. But God….

Now we have seen our income increase from around $1,000 per month to twice that some months. Praise His name! We were able to attend Jaime’s wedding in Alaska last summer, and my niece Christina’s wedding in So. Calif. last month.

Thank you! God is good! I hope that all of you are experiencing His ample provision as well.

We returned to Salem the first of May from Carol’s folks in California, and Myanmar, (Jan-Mar) prior to that. Carol worked with the TESOL in May, and is now leading an ELC (English Language and Culture) school. She has 6 students, 5 from S Korea, and one from Spain. They are a delight, and the school is going well. The purpose of the ELC is to train the student to share their faith in English. All of her students feel called to minister in English speaking countries.

I’ve been working with our Ropes challenge course this summer. This has been a bit of an adjustment for me after working with the Crossroads program for the past 4 years. “Ropes” is a leadership training program that takes children from many different public schools, scout troops, summer camps, as well as adults in all walks of life and teaches servant leadership principles, including overcoming fear, listening to others, etc… It has been a stretching time for me to accept that playing games with people is a wonderful classroom for personal development. For the student, they are challenged constantly to work together to overcome different obstacles, physical as well as mental. We have the opportunity to share Christ’s love and his principles to thousands who might otherwise never enter a church. It’s a wonderful evangelistic training ground.

Yesterday Carol and I led the worship service in a local retirement home. We sang several hymns, and then a special number as well as shared from the scripture. We were well received, and may return again and again!

Please continue to pray for our continued fruit-fulness, and our next step. As we are not with the Crossroads program this year, we will not be going on their outreach in September. I have an opportunity to join a construction outreach to Haiti in November, and Carol and I would love to return to Myanmar again in January.

Also, we would request prayer for a newer vehicle that gets decent gas mileage, and seats at least 4 adults. Our Nissan 4X4 truck is getting older. Thankfully it has been faithful! Anybody want to trade?

Much love,
Fred and Carol
website: www.welykins.com
Email: welykins@gmail.com

Check out Salem ropes website. You might like to bring your co-workers, family reunion, birthday party, or youth group to Salem ropes for the day. www.salemropes.org there is a video as well!

Do you feel loved? His word says that you are loved with an everlasting love. Not a temporal love like the love of this world, but His everlasting, unconditional, agape love. When my feelings don’t line up with His word, I must choose His truth, His word. I AM LOVED, and YOU ARE LOVED!

This past month has not gone according to the plan. Perhaps, the last week in Asia, where we tried to come home early, was a precursor to this month of April. While in Bangkok we tried to skip our Thailand week, and return home early. Despite our prayers and best efforts, it did not happen. While we are thankful for our time in Chiangmai, thankful for re-connecting with Kathleen and “The Home of Joy” children’s home, the City Gate Church, Sean and Anne, Peter and Molly, and Nuu and her mom at the hotel, we really just wanted to come home and see Carol’s parents.

Now, instead of staying for a week or two, it’s been four weeks. I’ve done different chores, and updated my Facebook page with photos. Walked to the mail each day, picked up the paper, raked the yard, burned the pine needles, shoveled snow…..this visit has been more than a little difficult. I am not home!

Carol has been busy helping with the driving to Dr. appointments, cooking, cleaning and managing the meds. I must say that her cooking expertise has been greatly appreciated by her folks and me!

Last week we thought that we would be in Klamath Falls, and speak at Living Faith on Sunday evening. That did not happen, as we were still needed here. However, the Four Square Church here invited us to share Sunday morning, so we were able to broaden our prayer base, and bless the folks here. We had visited here a year or so ago, and when we came again two weeks ago, they remembered us. God is good! (I even taught them to pray for us while brushing their teeth!)

Bloom where you’re planted. That’s the word of the day. We are not in Asia, or even YWAM Salem, but we are where God has us, and we are doing our best to be sensitive to His spirit, and to love Carol’s folks in a way that will speak of our Eternal Father’s unconditional love. I shared from Romans 12:1 Sunday morning, “Present your body as a living Sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God. This is your spiritual act of worship.” As a worship leader it’s easy to buy into the understanding that worship is the song service, or maybe the whole Sunday service. No, worship is presenting my body as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God.

Lord receive my sacrifice. Pour out your fire from Heaven and consume this offering.

We plan to leave here Saturday noon, and spend the next couple of days in Klamath Falls, with Dave and Barbara Loser. David asked me to speak Sunday evening. We have chiropractor appointments on Monday, we hope to be in Salem on Tuesday evening.

Bloom where you’re planted. Nothing done for Jesus is wasted.

Hugs!

Fred and Carol

Photos and Videos

After a long Monday of travel we are back in California, visiting Carol’s folks. Her father had hip replacement surgery in February, and her Mom had open heart surgery last week. They are both well on the road to recovery, and it is so good to see them and to be with them at this time. Thank you for your prayers on their behalf! We are not certain when we will return to Salem, as they have needs here that need to be met.

I took the teacher’s training school in Salem in April of 2007. I wanted to be able to teach in the Discipleship Training Schools in YWAM, but had made little progress in that ambition. While in Yangon, there was a Crossroads DTS going on, and one of the speakers was not able to come. The school director asked me if I would be able to fill in for them. What an honor! What I thought would be a time of supporting Carol also became the fullfillment of my dream to teach in a DTS! God is so good!

During my week of teaching on Worship, I asked the students to be still and listen to what God had to say to them. Many of the students reported back words of encouragement. One girl when asked said quietly, “God said that He loves me.” Because she spoke so quietly, I asked her to say it again louder so that the whole class could hear her. She repeated herself alittle louder each time, “God love me, God loves me, God love me!” Revelation knowledge! That kind of knowledge will stick with you!

In the guitar classes that I had with the Children’s home, the boys were able to duplicate most of my songs quite well. I was very pleased with their progress. The girls were not as advanced as the boys, but they too did well, and were very diligent in their practice. The main thing I wanted to teach them was access to God’s throne. “I will enter His gates with Thanksgiving in my heart, I will enter His courts with praise.” The last day I asked them to think of 5 things that they could always be thankful for.

“Salvation, He hears my prayers, Jesus died for me, He will never leave me or forsake me, He loves me, He cannot change.”… no matter what happens in our lives, these truths will remain true. If we choose to thank Him, we have access into His presence. In His presence is Fulness of joy!!! We can have joy always! They could learn to play guitar, but if they didn’t know God’s joy, I would have wasted my time. It was a good time! God is good!

We enjoyed our time in the family’s home. We especially enjoyed getting to know the children, and the hired help. I’ve always had a soft spot for children, and little people. Servants are little people. Some people don’t notice them, or give them any special attention. After all their just the hired help! Carol and I went out of our way to express gratitude to Dabuey and Kookoo. They did our laundry, cooked and cleaned, came to the gate late at night to let us in, and smiled and hummed continuously! (Dabuey would sing hymns in her native dialect, and I would accompany her in English. She knows several songs from my Baptist hymnal days!) We made sure we gave them hugs coming and going. We will miss them, and they told us that they would miss us too. Lord richly reward your servants.

We also made friends in the local church, in their English classes, and in the home group that we attended. There are many of God’s choicest servants there. We exchanged email addresses, and facebook pages!

THEN we got to visit the children of the Home of Joy in Chiangmai, Thailand. What a joy to see these kids that we got to play with in September and October of 2008. They are all doing well, and were glad to see us again. It’s difficult to know how to say goodbye to these little ones who are already suffering from detachment disorder. I am so thankful that we were able to see them again, and encourge them that God will never leave them or forsake them, He will never let them go! So we say “See you next time!” …. not knowing when that will be, but confident that the One who loves them more than us, the One who loves with an everlasting love, will be with them forever!

So, will we return to Myanmar and Thailand? I don’t know. We would love to. For this next season we anticipate working with YWAM Salem. Carol with the TESOL and ESL schools, and I with maintenance and ….. we’ll see.

We have missed our fellowship at the Salem Vineyard! Our home group there has been such an encouragement. To our friends at Living Faith Fellowship in Klamath Falls, you are our biggest supporters and fans. We could not have made this trip without your blessing. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts. We could not do this with out you! …. See you next time. For each of you who pray, and love us, thank you! There were many seeds planted in this past outreach, and you will share in the harvest!

Now unto Him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before His glorious presence without fault and with great joy… to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen. Jude 24

All our love,

Fred and Carol

Photos

The English school has finals this next week. Most of the kids did very well. Some have already dropped out who would have finished had they just stayed in their seats. Graduation is next Friday. Some of the girls gave me a “longgy” last week. A longgy is the burmese skirt that men and women wear here. Many of the young people have opted for western dress, yielding to Korean TV fashion. But most adults still wear the longgy. I now have three, and have been wearing one at least once a week. yesterday when I got out of the taxi on the way to school, mine was noticeably loose, and I had to duck into an alley to retie it. The locals retie in mid stride, but I am not that accomplished. Plus my fashion conscious wife helps me to get the knot just right, and the pleats just right. The locals tie an over hand knot that come loose more quickly, we use a square knot.

Last week in the DTS I was wearing my longgy and dancing like David… the knot held! Praise God. Most of the students did not dare jump too much.

Over all I was very pleased with the teaching time. It was a good experience for me, and I pray for the students too. I challenged them to  present their bodies a living sacrifice, as Jesus did. He went so far as to declare that He did nothing without seeing the Father do it first. And He only said what he heard the Father say. Can I say the same? Do I take the time to check in not just daily, but moment by moment? He is faithful to complete His work in us, may we be faithful to wait upon Him.

In December when we made our travel arrangements, we included a week in Chiang Mai to visit our friends there, and the Home of Joy Orphanage. But with Carol’s father’s tenuous health, we would like to come home a week earlier, and skip Chiang Mai. Please pray for favor with the airline, and two empty seats!

We met with the leadership here to better understand their vision, in order to share it with YWAM Salem. Networking is one of the characteristics of our mission. We also are considering returning next year, as well as the possibility of sending teams regularly. Please pray that we would be putty in His hands.

It is difficult to say good bye. So much better to say “see you next time.”

May His will be done.

Thank you for your prayers!
See you soon!

Fred and Carol

I’ve been asked to speak in the Discipleship Training School here. Monday – Friday 9-1.
“Faith and Finances,” and “Worship as a lifestyle” are my topics. I would sure appreciate your prayers for this time. This is the realization of a dream that I had a few years back. I feel quite inadequate, and humbled by this opportunity. I have been preparing, and Heidi Baker gave me a prep strategy too. She says before she speaks she quite often lays on the floor and cries out, “Oh God, O God, O God….”

Just 3 weeks left in Myanmar, one in Chiang Mai Thailand, then home to San Francisco on the 29th. We will spend a few days with Carol’s family, a night in K-Falls, then back to Salem.

I gave some literature to some students of Carol’s yesterday. In it I included a note inviting them to explore the claims of Jesus. Borrowing from CS Lewis, I said:

” Many religions believe that Jesus was a great teacher, or maybe a prophet. He didn’t leave us that option. He claimed to be the son of God. The only Son of God, and the only way to truly know God. This is the most important question you will ever have to answer. “Who is Jesus?”

He is my Savior, my redeemer, healer, friend and God. He is the object of my worship, the purpose for my life.”

Thank you for your prayers for us, and for our new friends here.

Fred and Carol

Hello to all our friends and family! It’s still so amazing that we are here and we’re already half way through our time. The time really is going by so fast! Although I miss home, family and friends it’s hard to think about leaving here. As I think about the last 6 weeks and the time we have left, a question we discussed in one of our school staff meetings comes to mind, a story really about perspective:

A man is walking one day and passes a construction site. He asks one worker, “What are you doing?” The man replies, “I’m laying bricks.” He continued on his way and came to another worker, “What are you doing?” he asked again. This man replied, “I’m building a wall.” Still he continued on and stopped to ask one more worker, “What are you doing?” This worker replied “I’m building a cathedral!”.

Each one was doing the same thing, yet each had a different response. The question we pondered is which worker are you? I wanted to say of course, I’m building the cathedral! Yet is that really my perspective? Honestly, no. I see His kingdom as the end result and sometimes at the end of the day I can stand back and say, yes Lord, I can see this is a wall. Most days, I do my best to lay bricks, living in the here and now as this is where He has called me and equipped me for today!

So each day I ask Him to make me the best English teacher I can be. We have so many opportunities to speak love and encouragement into our students lives, something they don’t often experience in the sphere of education here. Lord, keep our hearts and eyes open to the opportunities! Almost half of our students are Buddhist! Join us in praying for them. Pray for us, that we would become more like Jesus with every brick we lay so that all of our students will experience Him.

The end of this week brings many celebrations to Yangon. Friday is Union Day and a Buddhist holiday, new moon I think. Saturday is a revered general’s birthday, Sunday is the Chinese New Year and of course, Valentines Day! The city has come alive with mini carnivals, and migrant merchants setting up booths all along the road side. The “grocery store” is full of special foods for the New Year and they even have Valentines gifts. We’ve received several invites to parties!

We pray that as the world celebrates this season of love, you will know the greatest love of all. Thank you all for your prayers and love for us. We love and miss you.

Carol and Fred

Our school is a 20 minute bus ride from the house. The bus costs 10 cents. A taxi would cost $2. The ride to church is twice as long and cost twice as much. Since the service starts at 2:30, we’ve avoided the bus, because we desired to arrive “fresh.” However, we are going to attempt the bus today so as to save the taxi fare. The church is bilingual with the pastor from Singapore speaking in English. If we leave early, we’ll have time to “freshen up” after we get there.

Our internet cafe is a five minute walk and costs 40 cents an hour. We eat a large lunch at the school M-W-F and fend for ourselves for breakfast. We have dinner with the family a few times a week, and cold cereal in our room a few days a week.

The guitar lessons with the orphan children are going well. They have 10 guitars available, so I have 10 girls the first hour, and 10 boys the next. The boys are more advanced. After the first session, I realized that they don’t need guitar lessons. As I prayed about it I thought, “How about instruction on leading worship?” So I’m asking the Lord to give me wisdom in teaching them to lead worship. What an awesome privilege.

I have been emailing with Alan weekly, and FB with Rachael and Amber. Jaime is busy with school, so we aren’t able to chat as often. We haven’t seen our grandchilden for two years now so are praying about a trip to Colorado soon.

I finally was able to upload some pictures, (you have to start early in the morning!) so if you visit our site www.welykins.com you can see them there.

Blessings to you and yours!
Fred and Carol

Photos

Videos

We have finished our first week of English teaching. Carol is the teacher, I’m her assistant. I grade homework, arrange chairs, and when the CD player doesn’t work, read a script to the class with her. Personally, I think the live reading is better than listening to a tape.

Classes are M-W- F from 9-10:45 and 11:15 – 1:00. We have the advanced class level A, and advanced level B.

There is also a weekly staff meeting for the company, and a staff meeting for the school.

Yesterday, I was asked to speak to 60 children from the 4 orphanages that the company operates. The National Director was my translator, (Carol said I couldn’t have gotten a better translator!) I spoke about how there are many promises available for us to experience, to walk in. The Fruit of the Spirit, Rivers of Living Water, Fullness of the Spirit, The Gift of Righteousness, and my most recent target- An Undivided Heart.

How do we obtain these gifts? (I know that they are already mine in Christ, but where is the experience?) Faith, trust, ask and receive. In a nutshell, BELIEVE. Believe that He is good and a giver of good gifts. Believe that He desires to give these gifts to us. Believe that in Christ we are worthy of these gifts. I am convinced that each of us experience all that we truly desire from Him. If we are not experiencing His provision, could it be a lack of desire that is the problem?

He has no lack. “Those who hunger AND thirst after righteousness SHALL BE FILLED!”

Lord, forgive me for filling my belly with other stuff, junk food as it were. May I only desire the diet of YOU.

After the teaching, the National Director took Carol and I aside and we discussed giving guitar lessons to the 20 or so children who desire them. So, on Tuesday and Thursday I will be going to the orphanage and giving guitar lessons. That will be interesting. He then took us to his office, set us up online, and served us lunch. What a humble servant!

As you brush your teeth, remember our students who are ignorant of the hope of abundant,eternal, supernatural life that is available TODAY to all who call on His name.

Thanks again for your love and support! We are here because of your faithfulness.

Fred and Carol
New Email www.welykins@gmail.com
Feel free to share our website info with any mission minded friends.
We are both also on Facebook.

We are excited to be working with Miss L and the English school. Yesterday we interviewed about 25 students in a placement test. It’s amazing to me that they are able to write in an English alphabet (theirs is a Siam type script) and communicate why they want to learn English. Not all of these students will actually take the classes, some are just curious to get a placement level established. Carol will be teaching upper level English. There are also teachers from Oklahoma, Switzerland, Michigan. There is also a German class with a German teacher, Katrine.

While at the school a few days ago, I attempted to read my email on my Yahoo account. Impossible. The powers that be block Yahoo. So, please correspond with this Gmail account. For whatever reason, it is not blocked. Thank you Father!

We are staying with a family with three children. The father, is from the Cook Islands (think Samoan) and the mother, . is from Michigan. The children call us Uncle and Auntie. Rachel is 11, Joshua 7, and Rebecca is 4. We are enjoying them, and they us!

There are also two Burmese cousins who live in the home and take care of cooking and laundry. Dabway and Koo koo are great cooks, and Dabway sings constantly. Her song is often in Burmese, but the melody may be a hymn that is familiar, so when I can, I sing along.

I’ve been asked to repair some furniture, and fix “stuff,” as well as assist Carol in her class. Miss L is not sure what exactly I’ll be doing, but she is confident that she can keep me busy. There is some talk of teaching guitar lessons to children in a local orphanage. That would be wonderful.

We were able to visit the local school, (like the one we work with in Salem) today. This is where we are able to email from. They have had schools here for 10 years with 10 -20 students.

Those of you who send fwds, I would ask that you hold off until our return, as our internet time is quite limited here. Personal notes would be greatly appreciated though!

Carol and I flew out of SFO last night just past midnight. We arrived in Taipei 14 hours later. The weird thing is it’s 6:30 in the morning on the 2nd of January. We flew in the dark chasing the sun, and have arrived just before sunup. Since we crossed the International Date Line it’s no longer the 1st, but the 2nd. I think our new years day lasted for about 7 hours.

We had two meals, and 4 movies on the flight. I need a shave but we won’t be reunited with our bags until Bangkok…. about noon Bangkok time.

Thanks for your prayers. We would encourage you to pray for us often! Like when you brush your teeth!
While brushing your upper teeth, pray for our relationship to our Heavenly Father.
While brushing your lower teeth, pray for our relationships with those whom we meet, and work with.
While rinsing your mouth, pray that the words we speak would be sweet to the hearer. We desire to be led of the spirit to such a degree that the lost would see Jesus in us.

Blessings to you!
Fred and Carol