"The Lord is merciful and compassionate, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. The Lord is good to everyone. He showers compassion on all his creation." Psalm 145:8-9 (NLT)

God has been reminding me about love quite a lot lately... His huge unconditional love for me that is so hard for me to get my mind around... the gift of family love... even how much He loves the people around us who are oblivious to Him.

Grace International School (GIS)

The school our kids attend needs more new teachers than usual for next school year, so please pray that a sufficient number of teachers will be found. Many retired teachers find that they enjoy spending a school year overseas teaching in a Christian school. If you know any teachers who might be interested, please send them this information or have them contact us.

"Grace International School in Chiang Mai, Thailand exists to provide quality, affordable education for the children of Christian workers in Southeast Asia. In its ten years of operation, GIS has grown from 176 to 520 students. Our need for teachers has also grown. We anticipate that we will need nearly 30 teachers in August 2009. Please help us connect with teachers God may be calling to serve MKs by getting the word out. Retired teachers will find they can live comfortably in Thailand on their retirement income and be ready to leave for the field more quickly than if they had to raise support. Mid-career teachers will find that Chiang Mai and the Grace community is a great place to raise a family. Novice teachers will find themselves surrounded by experienced and supportive colleagues. Teachers can visit us at http://www.gisthailand.org."

Agape Home

We’ve mentioned Agape home in many of our letters, but for those of you who don’t know, it is an AIDS orphanage that GIS has partnered with. High school students are matched with a "little sister" or "little brother" that they visit every other week throughout their high school years. We often include pictures of Kristen with her "little sister." Last month one of the little boys succumbed to his illness, sending shockwaves through the orphanage and their "big brothers and sisters" at GIS. Kristen attended the memorial service and wrote the following paragraph.

"Kawik was a lively, energetic 7-year-old boy who brought joy to anyone he was around. It is hard to believe he is gone. About a week before he died, his father was released from prison. The Agape leaders decided to take him to see him. At first, Kawik didn't even want to see him. After all, his dad had been the one that had gone away, came back with HIV, and had given it to Kawik and his mother, but when he saw him, he forgot everything he held against his father and yelled, "Dad!", and he ran and hugged him. He told his dad that he had forgiven him for everything he had done. That was just days before he died. He had been blessed with being able to see his dad one last time. A few days later, as he lay on his deathbed, he told one of the Agape moms that all he wanted to do was to share his new-found faith with his dad. She promised him she would, and then he died. There was so much faith in that tiny 7-year-old. He had much more faith than most people will ever had. In one way, this story is also a praise because the Agape leaders were able to share the gospel with Kawik's father, and Kawik is no longer suffering from everything that the AIDS virus was doing to destroy his body. At Agape Home, he had to sit down while he was attached to an oxygen tank, and he could only get off it for 4 minutes at a time. Now, he is now longer in pain, his body is fully-functioning, he running and playing in Heaven, and he will be with Jesus, his Saviour, forever."

John

I love being involved in many different aspects of computer work. Since my duties include personal computers, servers, backups, web sites, keyboards, fonts, hardware, software, and even a phone system, it is rarely dull.

In January I took another trip up north to get the training center computers ready for a large training workshop. This workshop was in a language that hadn't been used at that center before, so in addition to the regular maintenance, I had to install the required keyboard and fonts and have a few of the nationals make sure everything was working right. In the broader scope of our SE Asia group, recently the translation of eight New Testament books were completed, involving five different languages. Also, one of the New Testaments that I helped with font conversion and a keyboard is in the final publishing stages.

Kimberly

Kimberly at an orphanage.

I have been busy meeting with our SIL teachers, as this is the time of year that they decide whether to stay here and teach another year, go to another overseas assignment, or return home to pursue other dreams. I love trying to be a friend, mentor, sounding-board, encourager, facilitator, etc.

I have also been transferring our group’s home school library (600+ books) to a library catalog website. This should help increase access to what is available to our remote families. It is a bit tedious and time-consuming, but it's a labor of love for the home school families that I serve.

Kids

The kids are busy with school and sports. Kristen loves playing guitar, and loves playing ultimate frisbee with her friends. She loves it that the high school boys she usually plays with nicknamed her "Talon" for her famous one-handed catch. I’m not so sure she loves it when I sing, "You are the frisbee queen, young and sweet, only 15..."

Tyler loves watching and playing soccer. His favorite team is Barcelona. He also loves his new drum set and can't wait to start lessons.

Sarah loves track, jazz class, and playing piano. We all love playing with our little puppy, Nacho.

    

With much love,
John & Kimberly Ross
Serving with SIL International, Chiang Mai, Thailand

"The Lord always keeps his promises; he is gracious in all he does. The Lord helps the fallen and lifts those bent beneath their loads. The eyes of all look to you in hope; you give them their food as they need it. When you open your hand, you satisfy the hunger and thirst of every living thing. The Lord is righteous in everything he does; he is filled with kindness." Psalm 145:13-17 (NLT)

God sent us a smile in November when Saturn,
Jupiter, and the moon aligned just right.