Logo chosen
Here’s the winner of the logo contest. This will be the logo on a new line of personal purification bottles for those going on missions trips. It will insure that no one on your team gets sick from waterborne diseases. If you think your group might be interested just email me at info@quinley.com for more information. Thanks for helping to pick the winning logo!
Motorcycles in North Carolina
Nathan and I went on a three day, 800 mile motorcycle ramble with Steve and James Murrell through the famous “Tail of the Dragon” and Cherohala Skyway. Thanks James and Steve for a great time enjoying a little danger in God’s green earth!
Robin Speaks to Asian Leaders
Today I had the joy of watching Robin making a presentation to church and NGO leaders from six Asian nations at the People for Care and Learning summit in Cambodia. Sherry and I and our select friends have worked with Robin for years, investing in his calling as a leader among his people. Robin spoke with poise, clarity and passion to the crowd. It was unusual for him to speak to such a group since his ministry is usually with small groups and Burmese house churches. Today he was definitely up to the task and what’s more, he spoke to them in perfect English. We have always seen the leader inside of Robin. Today I was so glad that fellow leaders from so many nations were able to see it also. Congrats Robin and Nomi! We are so proud of you!
Throw away boys–now the PJ Kids
Today we went out to the garbage dump to see a family of thrown away kids. There is this single Indian man, Bro. Robert, who was in a nearby village doing evangelism ten years ago and this lady walked up and said, “I’m going to throw this baby. Do you want him?” (thrown in the river or just thrown away like garbage). He said he would take the baby home although he had no home. He built a shelter from the heat and put a plastic mat on the ground and that became home. I was there. It was nothing but a bamboo lean-to 5 feet high. As he got the reputation of taking thrown away kids more came. Now he has 14 boys and is just trying to feed them, show them love and help them know God. Mostly every day is about finding some food. If there is none and they can’t borrow money they go digging in the fresh garbage looking for anything of value to sell for a few pennies to get a little rice to share.
Until three months ago they were still sleeping on the ground, sometimes having snakes come in between them in the night sleeping there too. Pastor Robin (our former student at ASCM in Manila and also a grad of the first batch of MediaLight) got a burden for all of them, took $120 and built them a bamboo house 10 inches off the ground so they don’t have to sleep outside anymore but everything is still sooooo basic. Praise God for obedient people.
Thank You Every Nation AP!
Sherry and I have spent three very fulfilling days with Steve and Debrorah Murrel and the Asia Pacific team of Every Nation (about 50 couples). We have taken a good, slow look at the state of our marriages and are all working on plans to strengthen our bond and take charge of the outflow of our energies so that we can end our lives with satisfaction, knowing that we have accomplished the purpose for which we were born.
We want to thank Steve and Deborah and the Malaysian team led by Pastor Timothy, with Sharon as our point of contact person throughout for the special treatment and for the way they made us feel like we belonged. You guys rock!
Most Detailed Bathroom Indicator Sign
OK, most signs to the men’s room stop with a general outline of a man. This one from Thailand has considerably more detail.
How to Travel
Here’s a link to some pics with captions about things we have learned about how to travel well.
Saying goodbye to Ying
So sorry to have to report the passing of Krittika Ying Suphamanee, 23, who served as our staff translator and assistant in the last media light. She went missing for the past few days and her father went to her dorm, forced the door and found her passed away in her bed. It was caused by a medical condition that is still a bit unclear to us. We are all quite shocked by it. Norvie is going to Bangkok to represent all of us with her family. 
Three Cheers for Nice White People!
My skin color has been both a blessing and a bane to me in the past 20 years of my life, spent mostly among those much more colorful than I. Typically, people draw back a bit, either just because white people are different or sometimes they have a preconception due to white stereotypes from the remaining vestiges of colonialism. (I had a 60 year old villager give me a ‘cut your throat’ gesture once in North Vietnam. I didn’t have to ask what that was about and really didn’t blame him.) I hate it when someone starts a sentence with… “all white people are…” (unless the next word is simply “white”). In the Philippines kids call out a friendly “Hey Joe!” In Myanmar they may walk beside you staring wildly step by step along the path because they have been kept so isolated from the outside world. Sometimes being white here makes things easier. Sometimes it creates a barrier I can’t easily get beyond. It all depends upon the people I am meeting. The biggest response here in Thailand is simply shyness.
That’s why it was amazing to me when this perky 14 year old girl plopped down beside me and Sherry to eat her meal in the secret employees cafeteria at the sparkling Bangkok airport. I loved her immediately. Such courage. There were a hundred other tables but she chose to come sit next to me though our table was taken. Then the thought occurred to me. “She’s had a very positive experience with white people somehow.” In a strange room we were the “safe zone.” So we chatted with her in simple English. She was from Cambodia and with a group of kids about to go to Germany. We spied another foreigner at a table far behind us, keeping a relaxed watch over his flock of 25 scattered cambodian kids, all wearing American t-shirt designs. He worked with a non-profit that had arranged a tour of Germany for these kids to perform over the next 6 weeks. This was day one on the road. I felt so good about his group’s contribution to this child’s life and was grateful for the impression he had left in her mind that ‘our kind of people’ were concerned about her welfare. I hope nothing in her future ever dims that notion.
So here’s to the vast majority of caucasians scattered around this big, wide, world who are non-bigoted, non-pedophilic, non-colonialist and doing good for other people. Thanks for making our job here just a little bit easier.
Happy Birthday Leinie!!!
Happy Birthday Leinie!
Happy Birthday to a very special young lady, Leinie Alambro, our spiritual daughter, fellow missionary and closest partner in ministry here in Thailand. She bears the majority of the burden for managing the operational aspects of the media training program and always does so with professionalism and Christian grace. We have watched her grow up from her mid teen years and have been privileged to walk beside her every day since she entered her missionary life five or six years ago. Leinie, we see so much quality in you and are really depending upon your dedication and giftedness as we work together to build a dream team to help train Asian media missionaries. Enjoy your day of rest and pampering. We all love you and pray that in this year the prayer of your heart will be answered.
Philippines for April
We will be in the Philippines as a family for the month of April to renew our relationships with friends and ministry partners there. During this month I will be able to give additional face-to-face attention to the Edge Radio (now called “Edge Media”) which is gearing up for some impressive expansion in 2010 with new radio stations opening in provincial cites and the Redeem the Airwaves 5.0 conference at the end of April. The Filipino people are amazingly talented, hard working and good-natured. The team at the Edge has already been helpful to media ministries opening up in other nations in Asia and will doubtless play an increasing role in media missions throughout Asia. I find my volunteer service as United Christian Broadcaster’s regional director for Asia to be one of the most enjoyable roles I have ever filled in 25 years of ministry. UCB should see strong growth in Asia in the next few years. I have not mentioned much about the UCB side of what we are involved in. You will hear more on this in the future.
That’s all for this month!
Learning Thai
If you’re going to live in Thailand you have to learn to speak Thai (reputedly the 3rd hardest language in the world).
Julia (14) is soaring through it. Sherry and I at 50 are having a little more resistance from our brain but are persevering. Understandably, our progress will be slower but we are determined to master a functional level of Thai despite our travel schedule. We are learning to read and write in Thai also (which many foreign Thai speakers never attempt due to the complexity of 32 vowels and 44 consonants.) Pray for our brains please. Thanks!
Old Rockers Never Die
My friend and partner, Ron Titular, is no stranger to anyone in radio in the Philippines. He was the network manager of the nation’s largest hard rock station for many years. Then he met the Lord and become troubled at the messages he was helping to pump into the open minds of Filipino youth. He amazed others when quit his dream job one day and went into a season of seeking God for further direction.
After a year of waiting on the Lord his pastor told him about a conversation he had had with me that week about my burden to start Christian youth radio for the Philippines. From the moment we met we both knew this would be a great partnership. With Ron’s experience and the support of UCB International, we promptly launched The Edge Radio in a small room at the seminary. Gradually the ministry grew into its own truly cool studios and became a national network with high power FM’s, publishing and netcasting. This year UCB Philippines celebrated its 5th anniversary and launched a new website.
We are so proud to have Ron and Joyce with us this week at MediaLight to share their years of experience in radio broadcasting. Rock on!
Burma is On Fire
This is what it looks like in Northern Thailand this week. That was yesterday. Today the Sun, even at high noon is totally blocked. Can’t even tell where it is in the sky (see the last photo).
No, it’s not cloud cover, its the smoke from slash and burn farmers just over the border in Myanmar (Burma) 50 miles away. Their mountains are ablaze as a way of clearing the land for Spring planting of small crops. So much smog! Asthmatics beware.
A Harley Adventure
Here’s a video we took of our last week in the USA when we took a week from the packing madness and rented harley-davidson motorcycles for a spin through the mountains.
Good Ol Manila!
Well, it’s been almost three weeks now since we left the USA and returned to Asia. Sherry and the girls went back to Thailand ahead of me one week after we landed in Manila because the girls had a camp-out with their Thai missionary kids school. (More on their adventures in the tribes later)
I stayed here in Manila ten more days to spend time at the Edge radio with the team. We have such an amazing team here. Sooo much talent and pure hearts…and they all have the cool factor workin for them in a big way. We made a solid plan for the ministry’s expansion and improvement in 2010 and recruited some new talent for the team so I am expecting a really happening year for the Edge in the Philippines and beyond.
The gift of love
Sarita Ladios found Christ in our church in the Philippines. She grew in the Lord, worked as my secretary for many years and then accepted a call from God to serve as missionary to Ukraine in a daughter church that we have come alongside. She established a powerful children’s ministry there and an outreach to youth. Serving as a missionary for many years has one great risk–never marrying. Sarita accepted that risk and served with all her heart.
She turned 41 this year and God had a wonderful surprise for her. Last Fall she attended a 12 week training in basic community development held in Alabama. In the same training was a man named Wade Robinson who was serving in Sierra Leone, the worst run, poorest country in the world. A spark was lit and they have carefully explored the idea of a relationship for a year now. Along the journey, with Sarita back in Ukraine, Wade proposed, she accepted, Uncle Sam also approved and granted her a fiance visa to join him in West Virginia.
Today I had the joy of performing their wedding ceremony as Sherry, my parents, Tess, Cy and Kat looked on along with Wade’s clan. It was a wonderful day and we congratulate both of them.
This is the second of these weddings we have performed this year. Earlier, Elsie Reyes, another missionary to India from Lighthouse was wed to Todd Cook. They now live in Monterey, California. God is faithful to his dedicated workers despite the circumstances.
Watching whales with Sherry at St. James, South AFrica
Just a short video greeting clip from Cape Town where we are teaching and networking this week with Media Village.
Burmese Taxis
I have ridden in a lot of taxis in my life. Chinese taxis are the scariest drivers because they just blaze by bicyclists with no regard for what will happen if that bike moves even 6 inches to the left. In Jamaican public transit people will sometimes literally sit on your lap because there are not seat spaces left. Ukrainian minivans also pile the people in and although it is freezing winter outside they have the heat on so high that it is suffocating. But Burma gets the award for keeping taxis running long after you’d think they would retire them. I don’t know how they could keep them rolling for so very many years. Congrats Burmese Taxi Drivers on your talents in incredibly difficult circumstances!
Lines tell the story
Faces have so much character. This portrait was taken by Kristin. The man is a Vietnam vet who lives on the streets in Cleveland, TN. The local folk respect him for his service and don’t seem to mind if he stays in the cafe all day. He’s quiet but his facial lines are talking loudly. As a kid I thought crow’s feet were the coolest thing on an older person’s face.
