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| 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
