WELCOME!

Kasalehlia! We are the Kihleng family and we are missionaries to the island of Pohnpei in the Federated States of Micronesia. This blog is to keep friends and family (and whoever else is interested!) updated on what we are doing in the islands. So check back here often to see updates on our ministry as well as our ever growing family!

Sunday, October 25, 2009

New Update

Wow! What a weekend we have had! It was a bit different from our usual schedule as Friday was a holiday here on Pohnpei (UN Day) and a youth rally on Saturday. Since school was out Friday, the youth had a workday as they are continuing to raise money for a future missions trip. Music classes for Friday evening were cancelled as the young people were pretty wiped out, so this gave me and Rickson the chance to have a nice evening out! One of our neighbors stayed with the kids and we enjoyed uninterrupted conversation over Chinese food.
Saturday we had a youth rally at one of the other churches on island so again all afternoon and evening music classes were cancelled. This made for a busy day for Rickson but gave me a nice quiet afternoon and evening with the kids and a chance to get caught up on some things around the house.
Sunday was a great day. We had a good problem Sunday morning - we had to interrupt the welcome segment of the service in order to set up more chairs. We had over 100 in attendance! This included some unsaved visitors that we ask prayer for. Two girls visited our church for the first time and as they live on another part of the island, they spend the afternoon with us and then attended the evening service as well. Please pray for Lori and Clara that they would soon come to know the Lord as their Savior.
After the evening service, Rickson had to drive the visiting girls as well as several others back to town. I woke up around 11:00 and realized he still hadn't gotten home! It was still another hour or so before he arrived home and was able to explain what had happened. After dropping off the people he had taken, he and several others who had just gone along for the ride were heading home when the truck ran out of gas! Rickson didn't have any cash on him and gas stations around here do not take credit cards so he had thought he had enough gas to make it home. Unfortunately, not quite enough though. He and the guys were able to push it (uphill) to a parking lot and walk to the medical clinic to use their phone, where he called a neighbor of his sister's to wake them up and have her husband, Braden come meet him. When Braden arrived, he didn't have any cash either so they drove to the ATM machine, only to find it out of order. They ended up having to borrow $10 from another pastor there in town, then drive from gas station to gas station trying to find one open. The 3rd one they checked on was open so they filled some empty bottles they had with gas and started back to the truck, drove only a little ways, and Braden's car ran out of gas. What a night! Finally, both vehicles had enough gas in them to get home and everyone made it home safely. I think Rickson will probably not be making any more late night trips to town without cash with him!
The night continued to be a restless one for us all as there was stormy weather throughout the night and the power kept going on and off. Finally, around 4 or 5 the power went off and stayed off. It only just came back on a little while ago so we have had a very late school day! Meanwhile, Rickson and Kaleo are in town at Calvary Christian Academy this morning as Rickson is speaking in two of their chapel services today. He and Kaleo will also be singing a special. Speaking of Kaleo, he played a special on the piano last night for offeratory and did an excellent job. We're so proud of him for using his talents for the Lord.
Thank you for your prayers. God is working here on Pohnpei!
Have a great week!

Monday, October 12, 2009

New Pictures

Morning Coffee, anyone?

Kyler and "the new baby"

Kestra and "the new baby"

Katrianne's version of the Hair Dryer

Our new Fire Chief

Update

We've had a busy last week and weekend! Some of you probably heard about the tsunami warning that we had last week. Thankfully, there was no tsunami but we did end up having some very heavy rains and a bit of a mudslide behind our house. Again, thankfully there was no damage to our home and no one was injured.

Friday and Saturday were busy with music classes, a youth workday, and cantata practice. We are preparing to do the cantata "The Greatest Gift".

Sunday, we had wonderful services both morning and evening, with decisions made and good attendance. One of our young "preacher boys" preached in the evening service and that was a blessing.

On a family note, we are all healthy finally and I am doing much better now with the pregnancy. For awhile I was too sick to care about much of anything but am finally passing that stage. The baby is due sometime in early March.

The children got a new kitten a little over a week ago. I'll be posting some pictures of the kids with their new pet. Homeschool has been going well. In fact, the kids were up around 6 this morning ready to start their school work!

We hope that you all have a blessed week!

Monday, October 5, 2009

Weekend Update

We had a nice weekend here on Pohnpei, in spite of the bad weather we've been having. Saturday was a workday for the youth as they are starting to earn money for future missions trips and activities. They were able to earn $50 by cleaning a lady's yard in town.
Sunday services were good with a good attendance. We had about 85 in the morning service, including some returning visitors. Some very exciting news is that our church not only met our Faith Promise goal, but went over the goal amount! We are looking forward to an exciting year of missions giving!
Most of you probably already know that our next "big" project is to build our new church building. We have been working on the land and filling in the swamp area along our current property. A lot has been done already but still more to do. Please continue to pray for this project. I will try to get up some current photos this week of the work being done.