We found a really great place that has beautiful gardens and the boys can play in the river.
Hello! This month I was hoping to update you further about the progress we’ve made with the homeschool helper program and more details about what it involves. However, unfortunately, our whole family came down with Covid this month. Thus, meetings were cancelled, and I’m just glad I have a few minutes right now with my brain functioning in hopes of getting this update written before I go back down again. It’s been a rough past week, one of our kid’s temps spiked to 105° at one point, but thankfully the kids are now mostly back to normal again. (What passes as normal for them…) Lance says he’s about 80% better and I’m hoping since they’re all recovering, that I’ll start to do so soon as well. Thanks to all of those who were praying for us, who heard we were sick from our families. So, since I can’t give you the homeschool helper update I had planned on, let me share with you the other prayer request and ongoing concern we have on our hearts.
Here’s the deal: Two years ago we were able to come to the field through a one-time generous donation from a church close to our heart who had to sell their building. Though we weren’t at our full monthly support level, this gift made up that deficit and allowed us to come to the field for two years, at the end of which we planned to return to the States to update our current supporters and raise more support. We would still like to do this, however, with the current Thailand restrictions for re-entry, (which change constantly) the cost is beyond our reach for a family of 5 needing to quarantine on the way back in after a trip to the States.
Anyway, what we’re up against is this: We live on about half the monthly support level as all the missionary families we’ve talked to around us. This greatly restricts what we can do on a daily basis. We also know that families that are under-funded don’t have much longevity on the field compared to those who are appropriately-funded. Additionally, now that we’re moving towards getting this homeschool helper program up and running, we need to make sure our monthly support level is where it needs to be, so we can be confident about the ability to follow through on our commitments and be here for those who depend on us.
Here’s how we could use your help: 1.) If you’re reading this blog and don’t already support us, please consider it. Any recurring amount makes a huge difference! 2.) We need help networking. Most people aren’t interested in supporting missionaries they’ve never met, without a personal recommendation from someone they trust. Would you be willing to think through your circle and consider if there’s anyone you could put us in contact with, who might be interested in joining our ministry through financial support? Definitely we’d like to connect with more churches, but beyond that, any Sunday school, homeschool or small group, bible study, or individuals looking to support a family in Asia working with people who focus on reaching unreached and unengaged people groups would be a great connection for us. If you do know of someone who might be interested, you could tell them about our ministry, connect them to our blog, and send us their contact info so we can follow up; we would really appreciate it.
Finally, to those of you who do support us financially and through prayer, THANK YOU SO MUCH. This ministry God has us doing physically is just as much your ministry through your finances and prayer. Those called to stay in the States and use your financial resources to send people to the field is just as important as those called to go, otherwise (obviously) we couldn’t go. I hope you feel that. I hope you know your willingness and involvement is just as much needed as ours. We don’t see this as our ministry that you help support. We see this as a cooperation between some of God’s family to do some of the work He wants done using the individual resources He’s given each of us. Us to go, you to send. So, thank you for your work with us.
Thank you for your consideration in this. God knows who He wants to join with us in this ministry and we look forward to seeing who He has set apart for the task.
– Ruth, for the Baker family.
If you’re not sure what to tell people potentially interested, this is a quick summary you can use: We work with missionaries on the field serving in closed countries or with unreached people groups as a “first line of defense” to support, encourage, strengthen and equip them on the field in ways their sending churches and supporters at home aren’t able to do because of distance and logistics. Our current project is working in partnership with an organizations to bring in short-term homeschool helpers to Asia who want exposure to living on the field and can be of immediate service to an established missionary family, giving the family deeper and more flexible ministry opportunities. We also have a neighborhood ministry with the kids in our area and are able to reach out to their parents and relatives through this as well. For more information you can send them to our blog:
www.lanceandruth.com and if they want monthly updates they can ask to be added to our email list through this email address:
lanceandruth@psmail.net.
