We're Home!

Photo Credit Nathan Fry

We're Home! (Update by Susan)

It's so exciting to be able to update you from Pohnpei finally!  We had a long but fairly uneventful trip back and we're happy to say that everyone is adjusting well.  Many of you have already read our updates on Facebook but going to repost here for those of you that missed it.  I could literally write a book on the last couple of weeks, but I'll spare you all the details (that you most likely wouldn't find as interesting anyway) and summarize our coming home:

• Two full days of flying. With 5 kids. Not much else to say there. You can imagine how "fun" that was.

• Jet lag. Need I say more? It's starting to fade now but still lingering a bit.

• Heat and humidity.  Wow! It's easy to forget about that aspect of island life after being away for awhile.

• Lack of supplies.  Shopping is quite the adventure here.  Yeah, I kinda miss Walmart.

• Missing Starbucks as well.

• Mildew. Our house is full of it after not being air conditioned for 10 months.  Going to take awhile to get things back to normal but we're getting there.  It's a long process of taking everything out of drawers, cupboards, and closets, washing them down, washing everything inside, and putting things away.

• Crazy pool schedule.  Our oldest son will be competing in the Micronesian Games next month.  Kaleo jumped right into the heavy swim schedule the day after we arrived as well as rushing to get all the paperwork/physical/blood work done to enable him to compete.  He started back to working at the pool too so more hours there. He's pretty tired and sleeping whenever he's not at the pool.

• A car wreck. Yeah, after driving in city traffic for 10 months without incident, I was in a car accident a week after getting back on this tiny little island with no traffic lights and only a 2 lane road.  A car hit me from behind when his breaks failed; thankfully no one was hurt. Unfortunately, we are required to go to court over it.

• Catching up with ministry.  We are jumping head first into summer ministries such as Vacation Bible School and youth camp.  We can always use your prayer! (And please take a look at the Special Ministry Needs section of our blog as we have some specific ways you can help out!  We are still adding some VBS and camp needs but for now, the ink toner is a BIG need with all the printing for summer ministries that we have ahead of us!)

• Enjoying catching up with friends and family. A given, of course. We've missed everyone SO much!

• A new puppy. Yeah, our kids were given a new puppy as a welcome home gift.  So in the midst of unpacking and cleaning, I am also cleaning up puppy messes! Yay! (yes, that is sarcasm).

• Beach day. Everyone needs some time out for fun.  So we took off from the crazy the other day and spent the day at the beach with the Boylston family. 

• Enjoying the beauty of the place we love more than anywhere.  Maybe I am a little biased but this island is without a doubt to me the most beautiful and amazing place in the entire world.  I wouldn't choose any place else to live!

So yes, we are thrilled to be home!  Thank you for your prayers! We wouldn't be back here without them!  

June Prayer Letter ~ Heading Home!

Heading Home!

Kasalehlie!

It’s hard to believe that our furlough is coming to an end and we are finally returning to our beloved island! We thank you for your many prayers and notes of encouragement as we’ve traveled to so many different states and churches. Sadly, we were unable to visit all of our supporting churches as it’s just not possible in such a limited time. We will be sending a copy of our presentation DVD and some of our new prayer cards to each of the churches we were unable to visit for an update. 

Our family will fly out of Charleston, SC on Tuesday, June 10th to return to Pohnpei. We are counting down the days of course, but it is also bittersweet as we once again have to go through the difficulty of goodbyes. Please keep our family in prayer as we make this long trip as well as through the time of readjustment once we are back in Micronesia. 

Summer

We have quite a summer ahead of us! In addition to readjusting to island life, we have Vacation Bible School, summer youth camp, and the Micronesians Games this summer so we will literally be hitting the grounds running once the plane lands! We are hoping to hold our VBS the first week of July and youth camp the first week of August. The Micronesian Games are being hosted on our island this summer and we are looking forward to it being a huge outreach opportunity. We are making plans to distribute tracts and literature to the 1500 plus athletes, coaches, trainers, and officials that will be on the island for the Games as well as the thousands of spectators expected. Please pray that this will be an effective outreach for the Lord.

Home on Pohnpei

We are especially thankful for the Boylston family and their ministry on Pohnpei. Without them to oversee the church and Bible Institute, we would have been under a great deal more stress while in the States. God has really used them to keep things running smoothly and we look forward to getting back to work with them and pursue the original goal of Bible translation. 

College Students

Continue praying with us for our college students who are attending Ambassador Baptist College. Many of you have helped aid them financially with their school bill this past year and we are truly thankful for this. Both Brandy and Okalani were able to finish out their first year at Ambassador without an outstanding balance. Brandy is working at the college through the summer and Okalani will be staying with Susan’s parents in Charleston until school begins and is currently looking for a job there. Please pray the Lord will provide just the right job opportunity for her. If you are interested in assisting these two young people with their college tuition for the upcoming year, donations can be made to their school bill at https://www.ambassadors.edu/Students/Payments.php. Their full names are Brandy Hadley and Lillyuokalani Yamada. 

Thank you for your continued prayers and financial support. We are truly thankful for those of you that have partnered in the ministry in Pohnpei. 

Because of Calvary,

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

Printable PDF File of this newsletter

November, 2013 Prayer Letter

I know we are past due for a newsletter, but hopefully many of you have been following blog updates and our postings on Facebook to know that we are alive and well, just extremely busy!  

Furlough

We made it to the States safe and sound after quite an eventful trip from Pohnpei (check out our August blog update for a more detailed description of the trip).  While we were aware that there would be a great deal of adjustments for our family in transitioning back to life in the USA, it was definitely a challenging time.  Our children are Pohnpeian through and through and experienced quite a bit of “culture shock” in those first weeks.  Thankfully, we are all adjusting well now and settling into somewhat of a routine.  

Our travels so far have taken us to Illinois, Michigan, North Carolina, Georgia, and various cities throughout South Carolina.  Each of the meetings we’ve been in have been a tremendous blessing to our family and our kids have made lifelong friends at every church we’ve given an update to so far!  We thank those of you who have prayed for our safety in traveling and for our health as well.  We’re happy to say the Kihleng family has remained healthy for the most part other than a few sniffles here and there.  

We will be traveling some in the upcoming week and then taking a bit of a break for the holidays - a much-needed break, I might add.  We have loved the missions conferences we’ve been a part of but it will be nice to stay in one place for a few weeks.  

Pastors and supporting churches, if we are not yet scheduled to be in your church and you would like us to come and give an update on the work in Micronesia, please contact us at rkihleng@hotmail.com or via phone at (843) 276-7504.  We’d love to share with you what God is doing in the islands!

Home on Pohnpei

I’ve been able to keep in communication with the Boylston family as well as other church members back on Pohnpei.  The homesickness we experience grows stronger of course each time we talk with them, but know that we are doing what God would have us to at this time and that the right people are overseeing things in the ministry back home.  The church has done well.  Things are running smoothly with church services and Bible Institute, in spite of regular power outages and vehicle troubles.  We are thankful for the Boylstons and the work and love they are putting into the ministry there.  Please keep them in your prayers!

College Students

As we mentioned in our blog updates, we brought along to the States with us two college students who are attending Ambassador Baptist College.  It has been a huge encouragement to see how so many have come together to help these two adjust to life in the States, college life, and help financially as well.  As you can imagine, coming from a third world country, their finances are extremely limited and though they are doing what they can, there is still more on their school bill to be paid before they can take exams this semester.  If you are interested in assisting these two young people in their training to serve the Lord, donations can be made to their school bill at https://www.ambassadors.edu/Students/Payments.php.  Their names are Brandy Hadley and Lillyuokalani Yamada.  

Continued Traveling

We have a great deal of traveling still ahead of us and do ask for your prayers for this as well.  We have meetings over much of the east coast as well as a trip out to California in the spring.  

Thank you for your continued prayers and financial support.  We are truly thankful for those of you that have partnered in the ministry in Pohnpei.  

Because of Calvary,

Rickson & Susan

Kaleo, Kestra, Kyler,

Katrianne, & Kaylinn

The Kihlengs Have Arrived! :)

After three days of cancelled flights, delayed flights, rescheduled flights, and re-routed flights, we finally arrived in Charleston, SC on Thursday!  That was one of the longest trips we've ever experienced! Thank God, though, for bringing us all here safely!  

I had planned on posting more updates the past few weeks, but things just got too busy to barely breathe!  It was a bit of a stressful time for our family with youth camp and then all the packing for the trip along with preparing for the Bible Institute to start August 12.  

Goodbyes leaving Pohnpei were extremely difficult!  It was hard on all of us, but particularly the children.  Watching them say goodbye to their friends was heartbreaking!  Please keep us all in your prayers as we adjust. 

* I want to clarify on the updates here on this blog as I've had some questions.  We will continue to do our ministry/family newsletter (prayer letter) every other month as always, but by subscribing to this blog, you will also receive more frequent, less formal updates posted here and sent to your inbox, generally posted by me (Susan).  I just wanted to clarify the difference in the types of updates given. :)

Many of you may already know, but I wanted to mention again, that two of our Bible Institute students came along with us to attend Ambassador Baptist College this year.  We will be taking them up to NC next week to get settled in the dorms.  This was a huge step for them and they are truly attending school on faith!  They have worked hard and saved as much as they can for school but will still need financial assistance.  These are two young people that we have seen grown in the Lord and have a sincere desire to serve him in full-time Christian service.  If you would be interested in helping in any way with their school bill, you may click HERE to donate. Any amount would be of help to them!  Their names are Brandy Hadley and Lillyuokalani Yamada.  Also, please keep them in your prayers as well as they are dealing with cultural shock!  This is their first time to the US and I'm sure you can imagine what a change this is for them!

Thank you for your prayers!  I know the upcoming weeks will continue to be difficult times of adjustment for our family.  We will begin traveling in September to give updates to churches so be in prayer for that as well.  

Vacation Bible School 2013

We had a great week of Vacation Bible School last week!  We had about 50-65 kids come throughout the week with even many more the final day, though at this time I don't have the exact number we finished the week out with.  Our theme this year was Regular Baptist Press's Investigation Destination - Following Clues to the King of Kings.  The kids had a great time and we were encouraged to seeing our youth group pitch in to work together to make it a great week.  We were excited to see 18 children come to know Christ as their Savior throughout the week!  Please pray as we continue to work with these children.  It's difficult for us to leave for our upcoming furlough (in just three weeks) with so many great things happening here in the ministry, but we know the Boylston family and others in the church will do a great job of following up with these kids and keeping things running smoothly.  

Yes, it is just three weeks till we leave for the USA!  It's hard to believe!  We are facing many mixed emotions at this time and we do ask that you pray for us - leaving our life and ministry here is a difficult thing to do and it's most difficult for our older children.  Saying goodbye to their friends here is tough.  And yet we are excited about reporting back to our supporting churches and sharing what God has done here on Pohnpei the past 5 years!  Seeing family and friends of course is exciting too!  

Youth camp is next week and we also ask prayer for that!  Will be giving you updates of that soon!  

Enjoy the VBS photos!  My sis-in-law, Cindy Welles, took these and we'll be uploading more in the near future as well.  

June, 2013 Newsletter

Kasalehlie from Pohnpei!

     We are heading into one of our busiest summers ever!  With our upcoming furlough just around the corner, we have a great deal of extra responsibilities in addition to our regular summer ministries.  

Summer Ministries

     We had originally planned on holding camp in June this year; however, because of the drought in February that cancelled school for so long, most schools on the island had to extend the school year through June.  As a result, we're having to fit all our summer ministries into July!  

     July 1st thru 5th will be our Vacation Bible School, one of our favorite weeks out of the summer!  For the past two summers we've had approximately 100 children attend this ministry program and are praying for an even bigger attendance this year.  We're praying for many salvation decisions and for opportunities to reach the families of the children that attend.

     July 15h thru 20th are the new dates for our Summer Youth Camp.  This is another important week out of the summer here on Pohnpei.  We have taken a close look at past summers and evaluated what worked and didn't.  Based on that we've made some changes in how we'll do camp this summer and are praying that as a results, will see even more lives changed and decisions made!  Please be in prayer for this ministry as it's always been such a great time for the youth of Pohnpei to turn their hearts towards God.

Furlough

     July 30th is the date that our family leaves for furlough in the Unites States.  We have many mixed emotions as the dates gets closer.  While we are excited to see friends, family, supporting churches, and more in the US, leaving behind our home and extended family, our ministry, and life here is not easy.  It is especially difficult for the older kids as leaving behind friends and the activities they have grown up with is tough.  Of course we keep reminding ourselves that it's only temporary, but it's still hard to say goodbye!

     We will be in the States until June, 2014.  Pastors, if you have specific dates that you would like to have us give an update on our ministry, please contact us at rkihleng@hotmail.com.  Our schedule is filling up fast! We're looking forward to being in as many of our supporting churches as possible while we're in the States. 

Baptist Bible Institute of Pohnpei (BBIP)

      We've just completed our 5th semester of the BBIP.  I'm sure all of the students are enjoying a little bit of a break!  It's been a great year and we're going to miss our students while we're in the States on furlough. We're thankful for John and Christa Boylston and the other pastors families on island for being so willing to keep things going in our absence.  We're working hard to have all material, handbooks, and forms ready for the Fall semester before we leave.  It's been exciting seeing so many of the students progress.  Many have gone on to attend Harvest Baptist Bible College on Guam and we have two students who will be leaving with us next month to attend Ambassador Baptist College in Lattimore, NC.  We have several students who are only about 3 semesters away from graduating from BBIP, one of whom is making plans to return to his home island of Nukuuro to plant a church there.  Our primary goal for starting the Bible Institute was to enable locals to be able to plant churches on the outer islands so this is a huge answer to prayer!

The Boylston Family 

     The Boylston family has been settling well here on Pohnpei.  We have been meeting with them regularly for language study, which they are doing an excellent job of picking up!  Their kids and ours became friends immediately and love playing together every chance we get.  This, of course, is another reason why our kids would prefer we skip furlough altogether - they don't want to leave their new friends behind!  Please keep the Boylstons in your prayers while we are off island for furlough as much of the responsibility of the ministry here will be handed over to them.  I have complete confidence that they will keep things running smoothly, but I'm sure they will appreciate your prayers! 

New Mailing Format!

      We are working to stream-line our mailings in order to be a better steward of our time and money while still giving you all more frequent updates.  In order to receive future mailings from us, please go to http://kihlengfamily.blogspot.com/ and sign up to receive our updates.  You will then need to confirm your subscription, but then you won't miss out on any of our future newsletters, ministry, and family updates!  Over the next few months, we will discontinue mailing through the postal service to reduce the cost of postage.  For those of you that still would like a printable version of our newsletters for posting on church bulletin boards or other purposes, a printable PDF version will be posted on our website as well.  Thank you for your help in this as we work to stay in better touch with those who support us through prayer and finances!  

We look forward to seeing so many of you over the next 10 months!  Thank you again for your prayers and support.  Please keep our family in prayer as we head off into this huge adventure called "furlough"!

Because of Calvary, 

Rickson, Susan,

Kaleo, Kestra, Kyler,

Katrianne, and Kaylinn

Printable PDF Version

November, 2012 Prayer Letter

Kasalehlia!  Greetings from Pohnpei!  Thank you for your prayers over the recent months.  I mentioned in our last letter that we were facing some challenges in the ministry.  God is always faithful and has worked in the hearts of many involved.  Many apologies have been made, hearts softened, and families restored.  We’ve been able to move forward as a church past this situation!  

We also mentioned in our last letter that we sensed the Lord’s leading in moving forward with our building project.  At this point, the funds are just simply not available for us to begin the building we would like to, but we have began the reconstruction of our outdoor “tent” structure that we use for revival meetings.  Most Sundays now, our small building is packed to overflowing – children have to sit on the floor, adults and teens have to share seats, and some have to stand.  We cannot effectively grow in these conditions; therefore, we are doing what we can to improve this open-air structure to begin holding services there.  Our goal is to have this completed before the end of the year.  

Upcoming Events

We have a lot coming up!  This month we will be holding our annual Missions Conference.  We are looking forward to having several of the local missionaries/pastors coming to share their hearts with our people.  One of the things we have emphasized in our Bible Institute is the need for good Bible-believing churches to be started on the outer islands throughout Micronesia and that is our focus of our missions program as well.  Please pray that our church people will catch the burden for these ministries and do what they can to support them!  

Speaking of the Bible Institute, our students just finished their mid-term exams and are eager to begin the last block of courses before Christmas break.  I have been teaching Old Testament Survey this semester along with Pastor Ric VeraCruz.  Susan also began teaching this semester and taught an 8-week course in English as a Second Language.  I will be continuing with OT Survey as well as Pastoral Theology for the men and Susan will be teaching Teacher Training to the ladies in the Institute.  We’re seeing such great potential in each of these students!  Please keep them in your prayers, that God will use them greatly. 

We are extremely excited about the Boylston family coming to join us soon!  They have been on deputation and are nearing the time for their departure from the States.  We are praying God will allow them to come within the next couple of months!  We want them to have the opportunity to settle here and adjust before we leave for furlough.  Our current furlough plans are for the end of summer, 2013.  This will have been five years since leaving for our previous furlough.  We’re looking forward to being able to report back to each of our supporting churches!

Christmas is just around the corner and this year our youth is presenting Ron Hamilton’s “Christmas At Home”.  They are hard at work, putting in extra practices during the week.  We translate the play portion into Pohnpeian and invite all of our area to attend.  Please pray that this is an effective outreach in our community!  

In March we will be having revival meetings with Bro. Randy Chovan.  God has really blessed in previous meetings we’ve had with Bro. Chovan and we are looking forward to this week of meetings as well.  Please begin praying with us that God will greatly work throughout that week and in the weeks and months after.  Pray that our people will begin preparing their hearts for the meetings now!  

Family

As for family, we are doing well!  Kaleo is in 8th grade this year, Kestra in 3rd, Kyler in 2nd, Katrianne in K5, and Kaylinn jumps from grade to grade!  Kaleo has surprised us all by suddenly growing taller than both his mom and dad!  We’re often asked how Kaylinn is doing; she is doing well.  We’ve had no further problems with her breathing – though I must say we still all jump and “panic” over every cough or strange sound she makes!  She is growing and thriving though and we are so thankful for God’s protection over her.  She will be turning 3 in February.  She’s our only child that was completely fluent in both Pohnpeian and English at such a young age!  She surprises us daily with the funny things she says and does.  

Susan had the unexpected opportunity last month to make a quick trip to the States for her parents’ 50th Wedding Anniversary!  We were able to get her a discount standby ticket through a United employee at the last minute and some dear friends of ours paid the fee for that as well.  It turned out to be quite a family reunion as there were many relatives there that Susan had not seen since we left for Pohnpei 12 years ago!

Thank you again for your prayers and support!  As we come closer to the end of 2012, we look back and reflect through this past year.  Thank you for the sacrifices that so many of you have made so that we can be here.  We only pray that God will use us! 

Because of Calvary,

Rickson, Susan, 

Kaleo, Kestra, Kyler, 

Katrianne, & Kaylinn