October, 2021 Prayer Letter

Youth Camp, 2021

 Kaselehlie! Greetings from Pohnpei!   

As we head into the fall months, I’m sure many of you are experiencing cooler weather. Here on Pohnpei, of course, it’s hot and muggy as always. Along with fall here, though comes a flurry of preparations for upcoming events such as our annual Missions Month and then the many Christmas activities we have at our church.  

Ministry Update

Our summer ministries were a blessing as always, though in many ways, very different from past years. Though Micronesia is still Covid free, we’ve seen a lot of changes on the island. We were extremely thankful to be able to hold youth camp this summer. It was a great time for the youth that were able to attend. We had a much smaller group than usual, but it was a still a blessed week with many decisions made, including salvation decisions and more. Vacation Bible School was another exciting week, though again, with a much smaller attendance than usual. Despite having no current Covid threat here, many people are still hesitant to gather in groups like before. God still worked greatly through that week though, and we saw some salvation decisions among the children there. One of the highlights of VBS for me, as a father, is seeing my own children get involved in this ministry.  Kestra helped out with arts and crafts as well as served as our VBS photographer. Kyler headed up games and skits and did an outstanding job with the skits along with his cousin Deshawn. Katrianne took on the project of “set design” and decorating as well as overseeing the arts and crafts. She outdid herself with the decorating by turning our church platform into an underground bunker. The kids also loved her craft projects that doubled as object lessons correlating with each day’s lesson. 

We have finally been able to start the jail ministry once again. It’s been quite awhile waiting for the government to give us the okay for that so it was exciting to be able to start that again. The church is also doing well. We continue to have a larger attendance since moving outside. Eventually we want to enclose the outdoor structure and put in air conditioning but for now, what we have is working fine.  We’re back to full children’s ministry classes. We have seen quite a few salvation decisions and been able to hold several baptismal services in recent months. Recently I was asked to come witness to a man named Robert who had been sick for some time. When I arrived at his home, I was surprised to find a fairly large group of family members had gathered to hear what I had to say. Robert made a profession of faith that night and passed away just about a week later. I’m thankful I was able to meet with him before he passed. 

Though the church continues to celebrate growth, we have had some unexpected sadness as well. Recently we said our earthly farewells to one of our founding members, Edmond Samuel. Not only was Edmond a next door neighbor and good friend, but he was vital in the starting of Ambassador Baptist Church. He is truly missed here, but we are rejoicing he is with our Savior.  

Family Life

A big highlight of our summer was Kaleo coming home!  After two years away, it was so good to finally see him again. We had nearly given up hope for him returning any time soon when suddenly God just worked out all the details practically overnight.  Though the borders here continue to be closed, the government began allowing approved FSM citizens back into the country if they could prove they were residents or returning college students and had a previously purchased ticket. It included a considerable amount of quarantine at government facilities as well, both in Guam and then again on Pohnpei. After not hearing anything back after he submitted his paperwork long ago, we suddenly got a phone call here on Pohnpei from the health department saying they were trying to get in contact with Kaleo and needed him to be in Guam within four days to begin quarantine there. At the time, Kaleo was living in New York City and working at a YMCA in Manhattan. It was a bit panicky with the time frame given, but he was able to pack up, get his Covid testing done and make it on a flight to Guam just in time to enter quarantine there. We are extremely grateful to my sister and brother-in-law who let him stay with them in NY until he was able to come home. We are enjoying having him home again. He’s currently working at a restaurant here on island and hopes to finish his schooling online.

Another homeschool year is underway for the Kihleng kids. Kestra is a senior this year. She has a tremendous interest in the Korean language and God has gifted her with a talent for picking up languages. Kestra has befriended an elderly Korean couple here on the island that will be helping her with the language. They even gifted her with a very nice Korean Bible and were impressed that she could already read some of it to them. She hopes to study Korean in college. Kyler is a junior and continues to have a passion for ocean diving and all things ocean-related. God has also given him a gift for working with children and in the area of music and those have been a huge asset to the ministry. We are thankful that he is willing to use his talents for Him. Katrianne is a freshman and spends much of her time at the piano. She also has been able to expand her artistic talents a good deal this summer and school year and we are amazed at her creativity. We’re also thankful for her use of her talents with the ministry. Kaylinn is in 6th grade and is dying to be old enough to join the youth group, but mom would like to keep her a little girl just a bit longer. She loves playing the ukulele and is starting to pick up piano as well. She’s pretty sure she would do just fine without school but mom and dad have a different idea on that.

House Project

I know many of you are wondering where we are with the house project. The house itself is pretty much finished at this point other that some small details here and there. We had wanted to finish the wall by now but between ministry commitments and rainy weather, we haven’t been able to do the last of it. We have what we need to complete it; it’s just a matter of finding the time to actually do it. However, with what is finished, we feel pretty safe as it is. We just want to add that last bit of protection by extending the height and length of the current wall. 

Furlough plans are once again postponed. Not by choice but out of necessity. The government here has once again extended the border closure, this time carrying it into 2022.  The plane tickets that we did have purchased are good until March. By January or February we are hoping to have more of an idea of if/when the borders will open in 2022 at all and whether we should re-book the tickets or get them refunded. We are working on a ministry video to give a more visual update on life and ministry here, but I know that is not the same as our family updating you all in person. We hope and pray that God will allow us to come see each of our supporting churches in 2022, but at this point, we just cannot make any definite plans. We also tremendously miss having guests from the States come and visit us here on the field. As I mentioned in our last letter, if any pastor would like to talk with me and just hear firsthand about how things are going here, I am always available to schedule a call. We have a US number through Skype so there are no international fees. Feel free to email me at rkihleng@hotmail.com and we can schedule a time to call. I’ve enjoyed the chats I’ve had with those of you that have scheduled a call with me. 

We are truly thankful for each of you who pray for us and support our ministry here. It’s difficult to put into words what you all mean to us.  And being away from you all for so long now makes us miss you all even more. We thank you for your faithful support and prayers. 

  

Because of Calvary,

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

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May, 2021 Prayer Letter

Moon over Pohnpei harbor, taken April 27th.

Kaselehlie! Greetings from Pohnpei!  

Lots happening on our side of the world! It’s hard to know where to begin. So I’ll start with the predictable Covid-19 update. Our borders here in Micronesia have remained closed from February of last year until this month. On May 13 and 14, however, the US Coast Guard provided two humanitarian flights to repatriate 43 FSM citizens, along with US and Australian diplomats and a CDC doctor. This has been an extremely long process to get to this point and as you can imagine, emotions and differing opinions run high. As of the writing of this letter though, the operation has been successful!  Those that arrived have all gone through quarantine and tested negative for Covid-19 upon their release. We’re excited that this is one step closer to borders reopening. A flight from the Marshall Islands is planned for May 31 and from there, the government will determine when the borders can actually be open again for commercial flights. The US Ambassador, along with her husband and daughter, arrived on the first of these flights, and we were able to enjoy a nice evening of food and fellowship with them and several other families once they were released from quarantine. As you can imagine, transitioning from a busy city life in the US to this little island is a huge transition for their daughter and it was a fun-filled evening for her to get to know some of the young people here on the island. Our kids have now had the unique opportunity of developing friendships with the Chinese Ambassador’s daughter and now the US Ambassador’s daughter. 

Ministry life continues as usual. We’re continuing to meet in the outdoor structure for church services and as I mentioned in my last letter, we most likely will not return to our indoor building due to the size of the congregation. Over the next year we will need to look more into converting the outdoor structure into an enclosed church building as the humidity and heat is not good for our sound system, electronics, and church supplies. We are having Sunday school classes meet in the former church building and have plans to divide it into classrooms soon. We have not yet restarted our Wednesday Bible Club but plan to over the summer. Both the Bible Institute and the Jail ministries still remain on hold. The jail though has let us know that we may be able to begin services there again soon but will only be allowed three people to come at a time from the church. 

Summer Ministries

Our youth group is now back to our previous schedule and we are proceeding with plans for summer Youth Camp.  We understand that plans could change at any time but for now we are planning for camp the week of June 14.  The young people are excited and looking forward to a great week, especially since last year's camp was cancelled. We are praying the camp can go forward as planned and that we will see many lives impacted for the Lord during that week.  Our young people are suffering as I'm sure many are around the world. The isolation and changes due to Covid has affected them in so many ways and we are praying God will truly use this week of camp in their lives. 

We’re also planning to go forward with Vacation Bible School this summer. Our current plans are to hold it in July, but of course, as with everything right now, we know that is subject to change due to the ever-changing Covid restrictions. Our kids though are already making plans for that week, selecting skits and planning decorations. Now that most of our children are older and can be involved with the planning and carrying out of these activities, VBS has become very much a family ministry project and something we look forward to every summer.  We ask that you please sincerely pray for these two summer ministries to be used greatly of God to reach the young people of Pohnpei.

Milestones and House Project

Over the past several months we have passed some interesting milestones in our ministry and family life. In February we celebrated 20 years now on Pohnpei. It really is hard to believe it’s been that long already since God brought me back here with Susan and little Kaleo. Another milestone was in March when our church celebrated it’s 18th anniversary. We held the first service of Ambassador Baptist Church in U, Pohnpei on March 16, 2003. Our church celebrated 18 years with a special service, a meal together, and then a praise and testimony service. We are so thankful for all God has done with this ministry these last 18 years. 

March 17th marked three years since the mudslide that damaged our home. It’s been a long and slow process to recover our home but we are starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Right now we’re working on the kitchen. Our kitchen cabinets and supplies arrived in April, and we’ve been working to install the cabinets and create countertops. It’s been a challenge to work on a project like this while still having all our ministry responsibilities and continuing with homeschooling the kids and so things have moved slowly. We’re heading into week six of no usable kitchen - we’re back to an outdoor sink and the kids have commented that it reminds them of life after the mudslide again. But Lord willing, we will be able to finish this project up in the next week. We are truly thankful to all of you that have given financially to this project and prayed for us through all of this. Once we finish the inside projects we’re working on, then we will finish up the last portion of the wall. It has been a long process and at times a bit stressful, but God has shown Himself faithful through it all, and we have learned so much through these difficulties. 

Family Life

We are finishing up another year of homeschool. It has been a challenge to maintain a normal schedule with all the projects we’ve had going on with the house, but we are nearing the end of the year. Kestra will be finishing her junior year, Kyler his sophomore year, Katy is graduating from eighth grade, and Kaylinn will be heading into fifth grade. Kestra has been working to develop her photography skills and enjoys studying the Korean language and culture. She is hoping to major in East Asian Language studies in college and minor in Photography. Kyler enjoys all things ocean related and goes SCUBA diving every chance he gets. He’s considering staying on the island after finishing high school and studying Marine Science at the College of Micronesia. We’re praying God will direct these two young people as they finish up their high school years and seek His will for their future. Katy continues to develop her art and music skills. She is studying music via video calls with a teacher in Australia and also spends all her spare time drawing and painting. Kaylinn is all about having fun at this stage of her life, though sometimes Katy is able to convince her to play ukulele with her. Kaleo is still in New York City and is working at a YMCA there teaching swimming. He looks forward to when he can finally come back to Pohnpei, but for now is enjoying his job there. 

Of course furlough plans for us are still on hold with the border closure.  The plane tickets we had purchased before are still good through March of next year and we are praying the borders reopen by then and we can make furlough plans again. Meanwhile, if any pastor would like to talk with me and just hear firsthand about how things are going here, I am always available to schedule a call. We have a US number through Skype so there are no international fees. Feel free to email me at rkihleng@hotmail.com and we can schedule a time to call. 

We thank you all for your continued prayers and financial support.  We pray that someday soon we can see you all again in person. 

  

Because of Calvary,

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

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January, 2021 Prayer Letter

Kaselehlie oh Parakapw Mwuah! Greetings and Happy New Year!   

 As we enter this new year we see around the world sickness, political unrest, heartache, and so much more.  We are so thankful that our God is still in control and knows what tomorrow will hold. These difficult times only confirm to us that our mission to serve Him and spread the Gospel is more important now than ever before.  

As I’m sure most of you are, we here in the islands continue to face restrictions and changes due to Covid-19.  Micronesia is still in complete lockdown with the borders having closed in March and remaining closed until now.  There were efforts to bring some citizens into the country last month but the plans were cancelled at the last minute.  As you can imagine, this has been difficult for the many separated families affect.  Our son Kaleo is still in the States as well and it doesn't look like he will be allowed to return any time soon.  Unfortunately, Micronesia is no longer on the “Covid-free list” as we have our first confirmed case, though the one and only case is currently isolated on a ship in the harbor.  We had just began to see a more relaxed approach here on island with things reopening and returning somewhat to normal and the FSM President has declared that we can continue without more restrictions as long as the case is contained on the ship.   Thankfully, we are now back to our regular service schedule, though we are still sharing our services online.  Our youth group is once again meeting for youth fellowships and we are starting back to our Sunday school classes, though location has been an issue since we are still holding all services/meetings outside.  Hopefully we will be able to resume Bible Institute classes in the near future as well.  One blessing that we have seen as a result of moving our services outdoors is a large increase in attendance.  The larger space has allowed for that and we now know that we will most likely not ever return to holding services in our former building.  We are actively making plans for a future, much larger building and Lord willing, we will see these plans become a reality at some point this year.  

As I mentioned in our last later and video update, in spite of restrictions and changes, however, we have seen a good deal of growth in the church.  We have seen several saved and baptized recently and we have seen such a sweet spirit among our church people as we have banded together through these unusual times.  The month of November was our annual Missions Month and what a blessing those services were!  It was exciting to hear what God is doing in the lives and ministries of each of the pastors/missionaries that our little island church supports.  Missionary Gabe Eiben was our speaker for our missions banquet and it was a blessing to have his family join us as well.  We will be sharing some photos of the banquet and services on our blog at kihlengfamily.blogspot.com.  In December we held a small Christmas program with our Sunday school children, some of the youth, and several of the adults in the church.  We were unable to do a large cantata as we have in the past, but we pray that the little program we were able to put together was a blessing to those who came.  We thoroughly enjoyed our time together working on it and presenting it to our community.

While we have seen some exciting things in the ministry in recent months, this year has also brought some extreme heartaches.  On the morning of November 6th, we awakened to the devastating news that our dear friend Pastor Don Eckert went home to be with the Lord after struggling for several weeks with Covid-19.  Pastor Eckert served many years in Guam and has been a tremendous godly influence on so many of the Micronesians that have attended school there.  The impact he has had on our own kids as well has been a great one and his passing really affected our family.  He is truly missed.  One of our family’s fondest memories of him was the time he spent with us after the mudslide.  He was a great encouragement to us during that time and we will never forget that time with him. Another great loss was the home going of Mrs. RuthAnn Arthurs.  The Arthurs were missionaries here on Pohnpei for many years, running the Christian radio station.  They were always Grandma and Grandpa to our kids.  RuthAnn was at the hospital for the birth of several of our kids and has been a tremendous mentor and friend for so many years.  On November 27th, RuthAnn entered the presence of our Savior and her suffering is no more.  We’ve also seen the passing of several of our loved ones both in the U.S. and here on island.   

Though it has been a time of sorrow, saying goodbye to loved ones, we are also celebrating some births as well.  Our assistant pastor and his wife recently welcomed a beautiful baby girl into the world.  We are thankful for a safe delivery and a healthy mom and baby.    

As uncertain as things are right now, we have no idea when we will be able to reschedule our furlough.  For now we are unable to travel in or out of Micronesia at all.  This is a bit of a frustration of course, but we know God has a plan in all of this.  Thankfully the airlines has assured us that our tickets will be good for a full 2 years from our original travel date, which will be until March, 2022.  Lord willing, we can schedule a furlough by that time.  Meanwhile, we are working on a video presentation of our ministry and will send to each of our supporting churches since we cannot be there in person. We will also upload the video to YouTube.  If pastors would like a phone call with me for a personal update on things here, please feel free to email me and we can set up a time for that.  I know videos and phone calls are not the same as our family presenting an update in person, but unfortunately, until the travel ban in our part of the world is lifted, that is all we are able to do.  We look forward to the day when we can once again travel freely in and out of the islands.  We also have a private Facebook group, “Friends of the Kihleng Pohnpei Ministry” that you are welcome to join for more frequent, informal updates. 

Our family continues to do well.  The kids are a bit restless without our usual activities but we are also enjoying the extra family time.  Kaleo is currently in New York City with my sister’s family there.  He was able to find work there for a time, but Covid intervened once again and his department was shut down. He has continued to look for work but has been unable to find anything since.   Susan and I celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary a few days before Christmas.  I am thankful for the years God has given us together and look forward to many more to come. 

Know that we are earnestly praying for you all in the United States in these uncertain times and will continue to do so.    We also thank you all for your continued prayers and support of our family and ministry here.  

  

Because of Calvary,

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

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July, 2020 Prayer Letter

Kaselehlie from beautiful, rainy, and hot Pohnpei!   

As I’m sure most of you know by now, furlough has had to be postponed for now.  Having to cancel our meetings with so many of you was a difficult decision and a sad one to make.  But as the Covid-19 situation around the world progressed, we know it was definitely the right decision.  It was not long after our decision to cancel our flights that the Federated States of Micronesia closed it’s borders, which would have left us stranded in the U.S.  

As we’ve watched the events of the past few months unfold in the United States, we have kept you all in our prayers constantly.  It has been heartbreaking to see these events happening, but we are thankful that God is still in control.  All we can do is trust in Him in this time of uncertainty.  We are also thankful that the swift decisions of our government leaders here in Micronesia has prevented any cases of Covid-19 from arriving here in our country.  How have things changed for us here since the borders closing?

• All schools closed on the island.  Since we homeschool, this didn’t really affect us; however, we did take an extended “spring break”.  For about a month now though we have been back at it, working our way through this school year.  
• We were required to close our Bible Institute classes.  We had just concluded exams for the current block of classes and just closed out the semester there.  Lord willing, we will be able to have classes again in the fall, though at this point, we do not know for sure what the restrictions will be.
• In person church services stopped.  Because of our extremely slow internet out in the area we live, we are unable to do live videos of our services, but we have been recording each service and uploading on Facebook on our church page.  After two months of the borders being closed here, there really is no way for the virus to have arrived here on island. So we began holding church services in person once again on June 7.  We are meeting for services outside with chairs kept far apart in order to follow our state’s policies.  We have decided to continue recording the services and sharing online as many Pohnpeians in the U.S. have let us know they are enjoying watching services in their own language.  Last week I was even able to talk with a young lady on Guam who has been viewing our services, and lead her to Christ. 
• Our jail ministry has had to be put on hold for the time being as well.  We are collecting items to deliver to the prisoners from time to time to let them know we haven’t forgotten them and are praying for them.  We do not know when we will be allowed to resume services there again.
• Our youth ministry was unable to meet in person for a time as well; however, we started meeting again this month.
• All sports activities and gatherings on the island have stopped.  Our kids have missed their sports practices and being with friends of course.  We have had to get creative to do things on our own but one thing we’ve enjoyed as a family is going for walks and run in the evening together.  
• Our usual bigger summer ministries as of now are on hold.  We are not allowed to hold our summer youth camp or VBS.  This is extremely disappointing as these are two of our biggest highlights of the summer.  We are looking at options for some sort of substitutions but we’re not really sure at this point what that will look like.  

As you can imagine, a lot of people were left stranded outside of Micronesia when the borders closed.  As the government works to prepare to bring them back, many are expressing fear that Covid-19 will arrive here in the islands.  Please keep these islands and people in  your prayers as it’s very likely we are only at the very beginning of the Covid-19 situation here in our part of the world.  

Among those stranded in the U.S. of course, is our son Kaleo.  He has been staying with Susan’s parents in NC since his college closed in early March and we are extremely grateful for them housing him during this time.  He finished the semester out online and now that things have began to open up again in NC, he has been looking for a job there in order to save money for the fall semester.  He was originally to come back to Pohnpei in May, but of course is unable to.  He’s submitted quite a few job applications but so far hasn’t found anyone hiring.  We ask that you please pray he finds a job soon.  He’s looking at several options for the fall semester but of course, every one of them is dependent on his being able to work through the summer to save the money he needs.  

With the extra “down time” because of the quarantine here, we’ve tried to tackle more of the projects on the house.  We’d like to finish the retaining wall this summer.  That project was at a halt due to the supplies we needed not being available on island at the time.  But now it looks like supplies are becoming available again and we can continue with this project.  We’ve also started work on laying the flooring and painting.  We’re hoping to get what we need to complete the kitchen this summer as well.  

Many of you have already discovered our ministry/family private Facebook page.  If you would like to get more frequent, “informal” updates, prayer requests, and photos of our life and ministry here, please request to join the group “Friends of the Kihleng Pohnpei Ministry”.  

We thank you all for your continued support and prayers through this time.  This year has proven to be a time of uncertainty and quite a few surprises.  I’m so thankful that in the midst of it all, we still know Who is in control!   

Because of Calvary,

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

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January, 2020 Prayer Letter

Kaselehlie oh Parakapw Mwauh!  Greetings  and Happy New Year!    

We have much to be thankful for as we enter this new year.  God has blessed in so many ways in the past months, we can’t help but feel more than a little overwhelmed.  

House/Mudslide Recovery Update!  God has worked many miracles in all of this and it would be difficult to put it all into words.  In November we were honored to have 4 men from churches in the States come to work on building our retaining wall.  We had given up on getting a local company to do it for a reasonable price and are so thankful that it worked out for David Smith from MI, Buddie Callahan and Jerry Lovegrove from TN, and Larry Pruit from NV to come and build the wall.  It was amazing seeing these men work and what they were able to accomplish in such a short amount of time.  It was also amazing seeing God work in many “impossible” situations during that time as we faced supply shortages, equipment malfunctions and often lack of, and so much more.  It was also such a blessing to have these men stay in our home and be such an encouragement to our family and ministry.  And we are praising God that the wall is up and we can once again feel safe living here during heavy rains.  I can’t even begin to describe how good it is to finally be able to sleep comfortably at night knowing that the wall is there.  We still have some more work to do on the wall before it is complete but as one of the men put it, "we are safer than we have been in a very long time”.  We are so thankful for God's protection through all of this as well.  October and into November we saw some extremely heavy rains and the week before the men arrived we had to evacuate the house a total of 4 times in just one week.  We had a good bit of dirt come down the mountain but no damage was done to the house.  Thankfully, God held back the rain the entire time the men were here working.  They literally jumped into the project from the time they got off the plane and continued until the time they left.  Mr. Buddie was scheduled to leave the day after the others; however, his flight was cancelled and there were limited seats on the remaining flights that week.  We were thrilled to be able to have him stay longer and celebrate Thanksgiving with us.  He also went ahead and installed our back door and window.  No more plywood across the back of our house!  The house itself has a ways to go before it’s back to “normal” but at least now we can safely begin work on it.  We will still need to install the flooring, lights and ceiling fans, and put in a kitchen as well as a few other projects.  

We were also blessed to have Mark and Crystal Javaux over Thanksgiving week and are thankful for the work they did at our church, bringing and installing projectors and painting.  Since the Pohnpeian hymnbook is no longer in print, it is very difficult to get copies and we have very few remaining at our church.  With the projectors we are able to project the Pohnpeian hymns onto the platform wall for everyone to see.  It has made a huge difference in our congregational singing!

Pastor Jim Davidson of Maranatha Baptist Church in Shelby, NC, which is our commissioning church and the church we attended through college at Ambassador, was also able to come to Pohnpei for a couple of weeks.  The Eiben family, also missionaries here on Pohnpei are sent out of Maranatha.  We were very blessed to have Pastor Davidson speak in our church and also speak at our missions banquet.  It was truly an honor to have him here.  He also spent some time working with the men on the wall construction.  

Of course because of the mudslide/house situation, we have had to postpone our furlough.  Now that the house is stable and no longer in danger of further mudslides, I feel more comfortable with leaving the island for a time.  Due to the tremendous cost of traveling with the entire family at such a short notice, we have decided I will come with just our son Kyler as well as our church youth/song leader, Kimo Aron in March.  I will be there until early May and then we will plan a longer, full furlough the following year with our entire family.  Our current plan is to fly to the east coast from Pohnpei in early March.  We would like to visit as many of our supporting churches as possible during that time.  If you would like us to personally bring an update to your church, please contact me at rkihleng@hotmail.com.  Also, if you are interested in helping with the cost of these three plane tickets, please contact me concerning that as well.  

The church is doing well.  We have had to say many goodbyes to families that have moved to the States for work in the past year.  Just our youth group alone has bid farewell to nearly 30 young people that have moved to the US or other places for their family’s work, school, or other reasons.  But in spite of so many leaving, we have continued to see growth in the church.  We’ve had several new families that have started attending, including a couple that had joined the Islam religion.  After meeting with me several times, I was able to lead this man to the Lord and he began coming to our church.  It took his wife a bit longer but she has also accepted Christ and is coming faithfully.  This couple has been a blessing to see in their growth and their eagerness to bring others to church.  We have also seen a huge growth in our children’s ministry in recent months.  We have a large group of children that are now coming regularly from some of the jungle villages above where we live now that we are able to offer rides on our church truck.  We are thrilled to have these children coming, but it has presented some new and interesting challenges for Susan and the other ladies that work with the children’s ministry.  Many of these children have never been in church before and it is an entirely new experience for them.  Please keep these children in your prayers and also Susan as she works with them.  The children’s ministry was able to present Ron Hamilton’s “A Peanut Butter Christmas” for the church in December.  They did a fantastic job and we pray that it was a blessing to the families of these children that came to see the performance. 

The Bible Institute is also doing well.  We have approximately 15 students this semester.  We just began the new semester on January 20th.  It is always a blessing to see these young people’s enthusiasm for serving the Lord and using what they learn in the ministries around Pohnpei.  We were blessed to have our very first Bible Institute graduate back with us for a short time before returning to his island of Nukuuoro where he has a growing ministry.  He was able to be with us for our missions banquet and also speak in one of our services.  

Our family is also doing well.  We had an exciting surprise for Christmas.  Our son Kaleo came home from New Hampshire, a complete surprise to me and the kids.  Kaleo had let Susan know and they had a good time thoroughly surprising us all.  Kaleo was blessed with a plane ticket given as an anonymous gift and we are truly thankful for this gift.  We had a great time with him home and said our goodbyes once again last week.  Lord willing, I will be able to see him some while I am in the States in March.  We are hoping to coordinate my return ticket to come back with him in May.  He will be spending the summer giving guitar and ukulele lessons here on Pohnpei to help save for his next year of college.  Our four children here on Pohnpei are also doing well, keeping busy with homeschool and their various activities.  Kestra is in 10th grade and her current “hobby” is studying Korean.  She seems to have a talent for picking up the Korean language and we hope she will be able to use this skill for the Lord someday.  She also enjoys playing the guitar and ukulele. Kyler is in 9th grade and has an ever-growing love for the ocean and marine biology.  He’s currently working on his open water diving certification and loves to spend as much time as possible out on the reef.  Kyler also plays guitar and ukulele and we are enjoying watching his musical talents develop. Katrianne is now a teenager, in 7th grade, and loves spending time with her friends.  She and three of her close friends in our church were a huge help with the children’s Christmas program in December.  Katrianne has a natural gift for music and can play the piano and ukulele by ear.  Her talents amaze us and we love seeing her be able to put these musical abilities to use for the Lord in the ministry.  Kaylinn is nearly 10 (and reminds us of her upcoming birthday regularly).  She is our social butterfly and thrives on playing with her cousins and friends from church.  She has also been learning to play the ukulele and loves playing duets with Katrianne.

We do thank all of you for your continued support and prayers.  We thank each of you as well that have given towards our home repair since the mudslide and we also want to mention what a blessing it is to receive birthday cards from so many of you.  It is something our kids especially look forward to.  So many of you may never fully know the blessing you have been in our lives, especially through some of the challenges we have faced these last two years.  Your words of encouragement, gifts, and prayers are what have kept us going. Thank you!  

Because of Calvary,

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

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June, 2019 Prayer Letter

Kaselehlie!  Greetings from beautiful but rainy  Pohnpei!  

March 17th marked one year since the mudslide.  One year since our life drastically changed.  We are truly thankful to those of you that have followed our journey and prayed for us and with us along the way.  Your prayers are much needed and we could not have made it through this past year without them.  

I know many of you are wondering how things are now with our current living situation so I’ll try to update as best as I can.  We are so thankful for how far things have come since the early weeks and months after the mudslide.  As you probably know, we went without power for a bit and without water for a much longer bit.  We basically “camped out” in our house for several months.  Fortunately now we are a good bit past that stage though we are still far from “normal”.  We’ve had multiple delays in getting the back dug out and a retaining wall put in.  Until that is complete, we cannot do too much by way of repairs on the house itself since there is still a risk of further damage.  It would be a waste of time and money to replace floors, doors, and windows only to have them destroyed again if another storm should happen before the back is repaired.  It would take too much space in this letter to explain all the delays, but living in a smaller, developing country limits the companies that can do the work.  And the companies that are capable of doing the work, have an already full schedule with prior contracts.  In recent weeks, we have finally received some good news with one company that is a strong possibility of doing the work; however, we are still hung up on government paperwork as new permits have to be obtained, which can be a long process at times.  We thank each of you that have given financially to this project.  The responses from our supporters has been overwhelming and we know we are truly blessed to have each of you in our lives.  How can you pray at this time?  Pray that permits would be issued quickly, rain will hold off till the work is done, and that we can complete the digging and put up a strong retaining wall to prevent this type of disaster from happening again.  

The ministry is going well.  We never want our focus to be drawn away from the Lord’s work here, in spite of the trials we’ve faced with our home.  In March we held a week of revival services with Evangelist Randy Chovan.  Brother Chovan has been with us several times in the past but this time we were blessed to have his wife here as well.  The week of meetings were a great blessing.  We saw between 400-500 in attendance each night and the altar was full at the closing of each service.  Many decisions made for Christ and we saw many accept Him as their Savior.  Please pray that God continues to work in the lives of those that came to know Him through that week. Pray for growth and discipleship through the months to come. 

One of the challenges in any ministry is saying goodbye to families.  This year we have seen several families in our church move on to the States for work.  Their absences are strongly felt here.  But we have also had several new families join as well.  Due to the ever increasing growth in our church, we continue to realize the desperate need we have for a new building.  We are hoping to see that become a reality in the near future.

Just ahead of us we have our summer youth camp and Vacation Bible School ministries.  These are always an exciting highlight of our summer.  Youth Camp will be held June 17-22 and our theme is “Here I Stand”.  Please keep the young people of Pohnpei in your prayers.  These teens face challenges and temptations that so many of us cannot even imagine.  We pray God will greatly use this week of camp in their lives.  Our Vacation Bible School will be July 15-19.  We’re looking forward to a fun, western theme this year as we teach the children about the saving power of the Gospel.  This is a ministry that often brings in many unchurched children in our area and often even entire families.  Please keep both of these ministries in your prayers.  We're looking forward to seeing what the Lord will do in the lives of these young people this summer.

Many of you have also prayed for our son, Kaleo with his recent illness.  Just before the revival meetings Kaleo had to have a wisdom tooth removed.  What we thought would be a basic procedure turned into quite the ordeal.  There ended up being some complications resulting in bone damage and a serious infection which led him to being admitted in the hospital for a time.  Several weeks passed but he just couldn’t seem to shake the infection which seemed to travel throughout his body.  After passing out three separate times, he was once again admitted.  The recovery process was long and difficult, including a setback due to a reaction to one of his medications, but we are thanking the Lord that he is fine now and back to his normal, active self.  The FSM is sending him along with three other swimmers to the World Championships in Korea next month, which is also the the qualifying competition for the Olympics.  

Thankfully, our other children have not had any health issues lately.  Kestra and Kyler are looking forward to youth camp this summer as well as Katrianne as this will be her first summer old enough to attend.  She is very excited about the opportunity to go this year.  Kaylinn is looking forward to a whole week of fun at home with Mommy while the others are all at camp.  

Other ministries of the church continue to thrive.  We just finished yet another semester of the Baptist Bible Institute of Pohnpei.  We’ve lost several students this past year due to various reasons but hope to see some new students this upcoming semester beginning in August.  The jail ministry continues on Tuesdays.  Our church rotates Tuesdays with two other churches on the island.  The Wednesday children’s Bible Club ministry has suddenly seen a drop in numbers as a large group of the children “graduated” and are now entering the youth group.  Susan and Kaleo were sad to say goodbye to so many of their regulars in Bible Club and Sunday school but praying for these children to continue to thrive and grow in the Lord in youth group.  With Kaleo most likely leaving for college soon, Kyler has stepped up and began assisting with Bible Club.  He is proving to be quite good with kids as well and enjoys using his ukulele talents during singing time.  He’s also being given full-time “game duty” as all the kids agree he comes up with the best games.

I know many of you are wondering when our next furlough will be.  The original plan was to schedule furlough around the time of bringing Kaleo to the States for college.  However, the mudslide situation has changed that.  I am currently unable to leave here until things are resolved with the house.  Once we have more progress made, we will update you on furlough plans.  

Thank you to each of you that continue to pray for us, our family, and the ministry here on Pohnpei.  A special thank you to each of you that have helped us with our home repairs and kept our family in your prayers through this difficult time.  

Because of Calvary,

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

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October, 2018 Prayer Letter

Kaselehlie! Greetings from Pohnpei!

The last few months have been quite the “roller coaster” for our family with our housing situation and I know many of you have been anxious for an update.  First though, I want to thank God for His faithfulness.  I also want to thank all of you that have given to help us with this project financially and for the many prayers that have been lifted up on our behalf.  You cannot even begin to know how much of an encouragement you all have been to us. In this letter we’ll try to summarize our current situation, but we also have created a video update that may help give a better perspective.  That can be found at https://youtu.be/PEcGnhPB6wQ. 

Since our last letter, we were finally able to find a company to do the digging, which is the first step of the project and has proven to be extremely difficult to get done.  You may be asking, why the difficulty?  We have run into every setback imaginable.  The company was eager to get started and brought their equipment out right away and began the work.  Within hours the government sent officials to stop the work, stating we had to have a permit.  Both this company’s employees and I all explained that we are only digging out the mudslide but they insisted we could not do any more work until we applied for and received the permit.  Knowing that could take weeks, possibly even months, I immediately began that process.  Thankfully, they waived the court hearing and we were able to get the permit within days.  However, we lost valuable clear weather days during that time.  They were able to complete about a day of work before the heavy rains set in again, stopping all work once more.  This went on for several weeks.  Once they were able to resume work again, the equipment broke down, needing a new part.  Approximately two weeks went by waiting for the new part to arrive.  Finally they were able to start again, only to be stopped by more heavy rains after about a day or two of work.  We’ve continued to have heavy rains the following two months, preventing any more work from being done until mid August when we saw one full day of dry weather, allowing them to make some remarkable progress during that brief time.  The rains picked up again the following day so work was halted for nearly another month.  We know God has a reason for these delays, and while frustrating for us, His timing is best.  The digging was finally complete just a couple of weeks ago.

Meanwhile, we had to continue to adapt to a rather different way of life because of the house being buried.  Every time it rained, the house would flood.  If it rained extremely hard, as it has a tendency to do here at times, the house would flood extremely fast!  It takes everyone in the family working together to get the water outside before it gets to the 3 rooms that we have cleaned out for us to live in.  During all this time, our “kitchen” was still a camp stove and water hose with a makeshift sink on the front porch. We were able to get the septic tanks pumped and cleared of the mud and also restore running water to the house, so we could have working bathrooms again.  We have air purifiers and dehumidifiers running round the clock to help with the mold and mildew.  We are using these in the rooms that we have fixed for now.  Now that the digging is finished, we no longer have the flooding issues and after 7 long months, we can finally start to make progress on clearing out the inside of dirt and debris.  Currently, we are working on the next step of putting in a retaining wall.  We are praying for little to no rain until that’s completed as we are highly at risk of another mudslide until that is done!

Though life is a bit different from normal for us at home, family and ministry life must go on.  We have had quite a summer, another roller coaster for us all.  Susan, Katrianne, and Kaylinn were able to fly to NC to be with her parents for a time and were able to be there for their family reunion.  It was a fun time for the girls as they had not met the majority of Susan’s family.  During the time they were gone, Kaleo and Kestra traveled with the FSM swim team to Papua, New Guinea for the Oceania Swimming Championships.  They did very well with their swimming and we are very proud of them.  During the month of June, we also had our annual youth camp at Black Coral Island.  We had a great number of young people join this year and saw 23 young people come to know Christ.  Our youth group nearly doubled in size and they came back with a strong desire to grow in the Lord and be a testimony for Him.  They spent nearly 3 hours the Sunday night after camp sharing their testimonies and tears with our church family.  One testimony in particular that stood out to many was from a young girl in our youth group, Sellyann Kustin as she shared how she wanted her life to be used for God.  Sellyann is my first cousin’s daughter and is also one of Kestra’s closest friends.  Little did the church and teens know at that time how our faith and testimony would be challenged in the coming days.  That following Friday, Sellyann was walking on the road in front of our church and home, carrying her small niece, when a drunk driver spun out of control and hit her.  She was able to throw the baby to safety just in time but she herself received fatal injuries.  She entered the arms of Jesus a few hours later.  Kaleo and Kyler were at the church when the accident happened and helped in the aftermath.  Kestra was able to be at the hospital with Sellyann as she took her last breath on this earth.  You can imagine how this has affected our church, youth group, and entire community.  Many tears have been shed.  It has been hard on everyone.  And yet we’ve seen a closeness and sweetness among our youth that had been severely lacking.  We ask that you please pray for these young people.  Pray for their spiritual growth.  Pray for them with the temptations and difficulties they face every day in their school and home life.  Pray for those that witnessed the accident that will be testifying in court in the near future, having to relive that day all over again.   Pray for them all as they’ve realized in such a tragic way the importance of being ready to face Christ at any moment. 

We had our annual Vacation Bible School as well, just a couple of weeks after the accident.  It was difficult to plan and prepare under the circumstances, but God worked through it all and it turned out to be a fantastic week.  We had approximately 100 kids in attendance by the end of the week!  We had quite a few decisions made throughout the week though I do not have a specific number.  We are excited that we are still having so many of these children attend Sunday school and Bible Club at the church and have had some families begin to come as well.  

Kaleo and Kestra had yet another swimming competition in July.  The Micronesian Games is held every 4 years and includes all the countries and island states of the Micronesian region.  They were able to represent Pohnpei in the open water swimming competition, held on the island of Yap.  The state sports office decided at the last minute to send me along as an assistant coach, which was a huge answer to prayer as we were unsure of the safety of the athlete’s accommodations but did not have the funding available to purchase a ticket to Yap.  With the state sending me, all expenses were covered for the trip.  The three of us, along with some other athletes were able to stay in the home of one of the missionaries there on Yap and I had the opportunity to preach in two of the Baptist churches on the island while we were there.  It was a great experience to visit an island I had never been to before, to visit and assist in the ministries there as well, and to be able to watch my children compete.  I had the honor of presenting the medals for one event, allowing me to present a bronze medal to Kestra for her 3rd place win in the 2.5 kilometer swim.  

On the day we were to return home from Yap, we received word that another church member had unexpectedly passed away.  Ioanis Aron, who lives directly next to the church and has been faithful to our services for many years, suddenly collapsed and passed away shortly after.  Unfortunately, we were not able to arrive on that flight as the flight was full and we were bumped to a flight two days later.  Again, another difficult time for our church family and community.  Please keep the Aron family in your prayers as well.  

As you can see, our family, ministry, and community has faced some trials in these past months.  Please continue to pray for the work here.  Pray that God will continue to use these difficulties in people’s lives and that many would come to know him as a result.  

We do thank each of you that have given to our house repair project.  We are close to the amount needed for the project but still are short of the full amount.  If you are able to give towards this project, any funds can be sent to our mission board, designated for Kihleng House Repair.  The address is Global Vision Ministries, 7800 Northside Drive, North Charleston, SC 29420.  If you have any questions about the project, the funding needed, or are interested in participating in the team coming, please contact Tom McGann at 843-514-2826. 

Because of Calvary,

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

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