Connecting at the Bridge Over the River Kwai

One of the guys I (Steve) have a weekly check in with is our friend from Chiang Mai, Vincent. He and his wife, Helen, founded an anti-trafficking ministry during Covid that continues to grow by leaps and bounds. https://www.thewhisperingwillow.org/

Vincent and Helen drove home to Malaysia from Chiang Mai to spend time with their families. Thinking we wouldn't be able to have our Zoom call due to their travels, I asked if we needed to skip Jan 6. "Not necessary" Vincent said. "We'll be stopping at a hotel next to the famous bridge over the river Kwai. We'll have internet so lets have the call". 

I had to do a double take - realizing how amazingly far communications have come in the last 30 years! 'Back in the day' we used VOIP providers like Dialpad, Net2Phone, Vonage and later Skype to varying degrees of success. Sometimes we had more echo than real communications! Certainly, there are a lot of abuses of the internet in our day, but for missionaries - the advance in communications has meant we can maintain relationships and deal with crises wherever we are in the world with a great degree of confidence and consistency. 

We thank God for our connections to our friends, ministry partners in Asia and to You. 

Prayer Requests: 

1. Thank you for continuing to pray for our parent organization, Bethany International, as they complete the sale of their property in Bloomington, MN. Continue to pray for the completion of the sale and the issuance of a clearance from the state's environmental office. 

2. Pray for our partners in Bangladesh, Omar and Shana (not their real names). There work is expanding and they are meeting together this month with their leadership team to plan their ministry for the coming year. 

3. We have our flights booked for our next trip to the Philippines in May. Pray for us as we prepare for our ministry there. Leaders from Isabela in the northern Philippines will travel to San Jose Mindoro to fellowship with the leaders of Bethany Mindoro for their first joint conference in 6 years. 

Serving Christ with You, Steve and Alberta