Ambassador Baptist Church baptism service

 

Kaselehlie! Greetings from Pohnpei!  

Happy Thanksgiving from our family to yours! We are long overdue on a prayer letter, so we have a lot to update you all.  These past few months have been a whirlwind of activity along with many changes in plans.  

Furlough Plans

I’ll start with furlough plans since so many have been asking.  Much has changed here on the island over the last several months as Covid-19 at long last hit the islands.  Micronesia had two and a half years to prepare and watch the rest of the world through the pandemic, but there was still a good deal of panic and overwhelm.  Yes, our entire family got covid as well, but thankfully, fairly mild cases and we recovered well.  Just as the island began to recover from the covid surge, severe influenza hit the island, and yes, our entire family got that as well.  The flu actually was considerably more severe in the islands than the strain of covid that arrived here.  Hospitals were overflowing, and many people were seriously ill.  Even now many are still struggling with the aftereffects of this illness.  Everyone in our family is still coughing, and attendance at church continues to be quite low with so many out sick.  Due to the new and extended covid requirements and restrictions here in Micronesia, we have had to once again postpone our furlough, since the restrictions would affect us traveling with our younger daughters.  From what we are understanding, these restrictions and requirements will be lifted by the middle of next year, and so we have begun to tentatively plan a furlough for the end of summer once summer camp and VBS is completed.  This has been a very difficult decision for us to make.  We have to keep reminding ourselves that God’s timing is best.  Pastors, we are anxious to visit your churches and give updates in person and are saddened that it is not possible for us to do so at this time.  Please feel free to contact me with any questions you may have.  

Ministry Update

Our summer ministries were a bit different this year.  Camp went very well, and we were excited to see over 100 youth in attendance.  We thank those of you that gave to financially sponsor campers.  We originally had 11 teens from our church sign up for camp.  After we were informed that a Sunday school class in South Carolina had pledged to sponsor 25 teens, we were able to take an additional 14.  Of those 14, 6 accepted Christ at the camp.  Please continue praying for these young people. 

After camp was completed, we began our final preparations for Vacation Bible School.  We had an exciting carnival theme, and our daughter Katrianne had worked hard to create some amazing backdrops for the platform area, complete with a huge cardboard ferris wheel.  Kids in our area were excited to come see what it was all about.  The first two days were fantastic…and then covid hit the island.  Immediately the government shut down the entire island, and we were unable to finish out the week. We are still hoping to use all the material and hold a mini VBS in the near future, but so far we have not been able to.  The remainder of the summer was pretty much spent in lockdown and it was quite some time before we could even have in-person church services again.  As I already mentioned, attendance is still quite low due to illness and even those that have been able to attend in person are coughing a lot.  

November is our annual Missions Month at Ambassador Baptist Church.  The church decided to do a week of missions conference this year instead of spreading it out over the entire month, though all services in November will still have a missions focus.  Our missions conference will be held the last week of November and we are looking forward to spending time with the pastors and their families on the island that our church supports. 

Medical

Thank you for your continued prayers for our son, Kaleo.  He has continued to deal with constant pain, which has lasted an entire year now.  Our insurance company here along with his doctor have referred him off-island for medical testing and care. He left for Guam on November 15 for his consultations, MRI, and whatever else is determined will need to be done.  Please continue praying for him as the doctors there work to develop a treatment plan for him.  He is very blessed to have a job that is encouraging him to take the time off, with pay, to take care of his health.  

While Susan was in Guam in the summer, she was able to get some much-needed dental work done. She was able to have a wisdom tooth removed as well as another tooth that was giving her issues.  We thank those of you that gave financially to this.  She was able to get all of the more urgent things done, with plans to have the rest of her wisdom teeth out at a later time.   

Thank you for your prayers and financial support. Your prayers are much needed through this time.  We especially thank those of you that have reached out with emails and messages of encouragement and let us know you’re praying for us.  This means more to us than you could possibly know.  Thank you.  

Because of Calvary,

Rickson & Susan, Kaleo, Kestra, Kyler, Katrianne, & Kaylinn

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May, 2022 Prayer Letter

Easter Sunrise Service

 

Kaselehlie! Greetings from Pohnpei!   

We have had an extremely busy few months and more extremely busy months up ahead.    

Ministry Update

Ambassador Baptist Church is doing well and we are praising the Lord for regularly seeing new visitors.  We’ve sadly had to say goodbye to so many families recently though as so many have moved to the States. Good jobs here on Pohnpei are scarce and most jobs pay very little, and as a result, many have left the islands to try a different life in the US.  We are so sad to see loved ones move away.  

With the summer months just around the corner, we have our regular summer ministries in full-blown planning and preparation mode right now.  Summer youth camp is scheduled for the week of June 27.  It’s a little later than usual in the summer as we had some schedule conflicts with schools in the area. We are looking forward to a fantastic week of camp this year and are praying that God will bring many young people to Him through this ministry.  In past years some of you have wanted to help sponsor a camper.  Camp cost this year will be $10 a person. While it sounds like a small amount in comparison to camp costs in the US, this can be a huge financial burden on families here. If you are interested in sponsoring a teenager for camp, please let us know.  Donations for camp can be sent to:

Ambassador Baptist Church

P.O. Box 2072

Pohnpei, FM  96941

Vacation Bible School will be in July as usual, another fantastic week of ministry that we are excited about.  It’s been encouraging to watch our own kids go from their excitement as a child participant to now their excitement over assisting in running the VBS.  Our kids are a great asset in seeing that the week of VBS runs smoothly and we are truly thankful for their help in the ministry.  

Furlough Plans

With the President’s announcement to reopen the borders this summer, we are starting to work on plans for a long overdue furlough.  We are tentatively planning to leave for the US in September.  This will be an approximately three month furlough, so we have a lot of ground to cover in a very short time.  Over the summer, I will be reaching out to our supporting churches about scheduling.  We are looking at starting with the west coast, then working in the northern/New England churches, and finishing out in the southeast before returning back to Pohnpei.  As you can imagine, furlough has a great deal of expenses involved. If you would like to help with some of our furlough expenses, any contributions can be sent to our mission board, Global Vision Ministries, and designated for “Kihleng Furlough”.  We are not bringing our entire family on this trip.  Our three older children will not be accompanying us this time due to work and school commitments. They will also be taking care of the house and all while we’re gone and helping out with the church in our absence.  Katrianne and Kaylinn are excited though about seeing the US after so long, reuniting with old friends and making new ones, and of course seeing Grandpa and Grandma.  

Another need I would like to mention is some dental work that Susan is needing to have done. She has been dealing with wisdom teeth issues for a couple of years, but the “covid restrictions” here on island have prevented anything from being done to help. She will be seeing a dentist end of June on Guam. Our dentist here has recommended she have her wisdom teeth removed in Guam or the States and have it done as soon as possible.  This is an unexpected expense of course, though at this time, we are not sure what the cost will be.  Our insurance will cover up to $500 of the dental bill, but it looks as though the initial visit, exam, and x-rays will cost around that before the actual extraction is even scheduled.  Again, if you would like to help with this expense, please send any contributions through our mission board and designate for “Kihleng Dental”.  

Family Life

Thank you so much to those of you that have been praying for Kaleo. He is doing so much better now, though he does have some issues still with his back from time to time.  We are so thankful though to see our prayers answered in this way.  He has decided to not pursue going off island for the MRI at this time since he’s finally seeing improvement.  He is loving his new job with the National Olympic Committee as the Swim Development Coordinator. He loves working with kids so he thoroughly enjoying the job. Kestra is in her senior of high school, though will have some classes through the summer before officially graduating. Kyler is a junior.  Both Kestra and Kyler were honored to recently receive an Olympic training scholarship from the International Olympic Committee.  Through the scholarship program they will both be representing the Federated States of Micronesia in the World Aquatics Championships in Budapest next month. We ask that you please keep them in your prayers as they travel and that they will have opportunities to be a witness to teammates and others they meet on their journey. Another request is that they won’t have any issues returning to Pohnpei in July as they are a huge part of running our VBS ministry and they are hoping to be back without issue in time.  Katrianne is finishing up her freshman year of high school and is busy with her piano and art. We are thankful for the talents God has blessed her with and are praying she will always use these talents for Him. She is excited about traveling in the US and hopes to have a chance to play a grand piano after years of only practicing on a digital piano. We recently discovered another church on the island has an acoustic upright piano and they are allowing her to use it to practice some. She’s been thrilled to have that opportunity. Kaylinn is finishing 6th grade and looking forward to her older sister graduating and leaving for school so she can take over her room. It’s hard to believe this is her last year of Sunday School and Vacation Bible School before moving up to youth group.  She loves playing her ukulele and piano and playing with the kittens that we are desperately trying to give away.

I mentioned in our last letter that we were looking for the end of the rainy season to be able to put in the last section of the retaining wall behind our house. Well, we are still looking forward to the end of this seemingly eternal rainy season.  Usually by February things have dried up and by March the winds and rains are completely passed.  Not this year.  Here in May, we’ve had only a handful of sunny days. It’s also made it difficult for planning church activities and often even our services are interrupted by the rain, wind, and accompanying power outages. 

Thank you for your prayers and financial support. We are looking forward to seeing so many of you on our upcoming furlough and many of you meet in person for the first time.   

Because of Calvary,

Rickson & Susan, Kaleo, Kestra, Kyler, Katrianne, & Kaylinn

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February, 2022 Prayer Letter

Our family would like to extend a belated Happy New Year to all of you. 2022 had us hit the ground running with many activities and events. We are so thankful to be able to return to a more normal schedule with the church now that the majority of Covid restrictions have been lifted here on the island.   

Ministry Update

Ambassador Baptist Church continues to do well. We had a wonderful week of Missions Conference in November. What a sweet time of fellowship with the other pastors on the island and their families. Our theme for this missions month was “Here Am I, Lord; Send Me.”  This is a theme we plan to emphasize throughout 2022 with our church. 

As we went into December, we were busy with many holiday activities, including our church Christmas program. We are extremely limited with what we have been able to do in preparations for that for several reasons; one, our church piano (digital is all we can use here in this climate) has not been working for some time, and two, we currently have limited location for rehearsals. Thankfully though we were able to hold rehearsals at our house and then we were able to order and receive in time a new digital piano to use for the church. This has been a huge blessing as we’ve missed this in our services as well.  The Christmas program went very well and even one person mentioned to us afterwards that it really touched his heart and he had tears the entire program.  

New Year’s is always an adventure here on Pohnpei. We held our annual New Year’s Eve service and activity and had a wonderful time with our church family.  It was such a sweet time of preaching, testimonies and singing, as well as some fun games, and of course good food. We ordered about 600 glow sticks for the kids as well (though the adults and teens also joined in on the fun!) and everyone joined in for the traditional Pohnpeian way of bringing in the New Year with a LOT of noise. 

January has brought more church activities and has kept us very busy. Susan and I have been able to take some time together to sit and discuss goals and plans for the ministry here for this new year. We have a lot of dreams for the Lord’s work here and now we are praying for God’s guidance as we look into making some of these projects a reality. We appreciate your continued prayers for the ministry here. 

Family Life

It has been a blessing to have Kaleo back on the island with us once again. We do have some prayer requests for him though.  In late October and early November, he began having some back discomfort. It progressed into severe pain and was accompanied by fever and just an overall feeling of illness. After having some tests done at the hospital, his doctor felt it best to admit him. He was in the hospital for about a week while they tried to figure out what was wrong.  To make a long story short, they did determine that it is nerve related, caused by an infection in his system. But they said they cannot fully determine what is wrong and how to treat it without him having an MRI and further testing off island. With the current border closure, that is not really an option at this time. So Kaleo has had to live in continuous pain since then.  He is back to work at a restaurant on the island, where Kestra works as well, but there are some days he can barely get out of bed and has to miss work. It has been a bit of a discouragement for him, and for us as we have no idea of what the cause is. We have recently learned that they are allowing some to go off island for medical treatment and return after. At this time, we are just praying for guidance as to what he should do. He really does not want to leave, especially so soon after finally getting back home. But we do hate to see him in pain so much of the time.  We ask that you keep him in your prayers.

The rest of the family is doing very well.  Kestra is finishing up her senior year and keeps very busy with schoolwork and work. Kyler is doing well with his junior year; he just turned 17 in December and has been given several opportunities to go scuba diving with friends recently. He jumps at any chance to go diving, but sometimes him mom gets a bit nervous watching the videos of his close encounters with sharks. Katrianne continues spending the majority of her time at the piano. She has recently passed her piano performance exams and has been busy working with her piano teacher selecting pieces for her next performance exams. She is thrilled that we have a piano at church again and has been spending time with Susan learning hymn playing. Kaylinn keeps busy with her ukulele and piano playing as well. She’s counting down the days till she finishes sixth grade and can move up to youth group at church.  

We are looking for the end of the rainy season to be able to put in the last section of the retaining wall behind our house. What we need is about one full week with no rain, no scheduled church events and activities other than regular services, no family emergencies, and no interruptions. Anyone in the ministry, especially anyone in the ministry in the tropics, can agree with us that this is an incredibly difficult week to find, but we are trusting God will enable us to complete this soon. Our goal is to be done and celebrate the completion by March, marking four years since the mudslide, but of course God may have a different timeline planned than we do. My wife recently overheard our children talking about the early days after the mudslide, when we were basically camping in our house, with mounds of mud everywhere, open for critters of all kinds to come inside, having to evacuate constantly, cooking outside, and spending our days shoveling dirt. She was surprised to hear them all agree that they miss those days and what fun it was! Our kids can be such a blessing to us, reminding us sometimes that what we may see as bad times, they were able to see the good that came from it. 

FSM Border Closure

The FSM government recently announced the extension of their emergency orders, officially extending the border closure through the end of May.  We were hoping this would not be the case, but sadly, it is. We made the difficult decision to cancel and get a refund on our previously purchased plane tickets or risking losing them entirely as they can no longer be extended after February.  At this point, we have no idea when a furlough to the United States will be possible.  

We do thank each of you for your continued prayers and financial support. We thank each of you that gave extra for a Christmas offering for our family. Your love and care for us here on Pohnpei means so much to us and we are truly grateful.  

  

Because of Calvary,

Rickson & Susan, Kaleo, Kestra, Kyler, Katrianne, & Kaylinn

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