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

Summer Update!

Kasalehlie!  I know some of you have been waiting to hear an update of our summer so here it is!  

We started out the summer with a visit from Tom and Corey Pennington from Huntsville, AL who came for a missions trip.  We had a great time with them here.  They were such a blessing to our family and to the ministry here.  We certainly hope they can return for a future visit!

July 16-21 was youth camp and the week went really well, in spite of having no water for bathing due to no rain the whole week!  If you ever thought camps in the US are "roughing it", you should camp out here!  No electricity, no running water, very primitive bathrooms and sleeping arrangements!  A true camp experience!

We just finished out our week of VBS!  It was another great week!  We started out the week with low attendance as there were some childrens activities going on at other churches in the area but towards the end of the week we were averaging around 60 per day.  Photos and videos of the week are being posted on our new church Facebook page at www.facebook.com/ABCPohnpei.  

At the beginning of the summer, I started to get an irritating cough that just wouldn't go away.  I had no other symptoms - felt great actually, just an annoying cough.  It continued to get worse, in spite of going through several rounds of antibiotics, and being tested for just about everything!  Then I started having some severe pain in my left side around the rib cage which became so severe they decided to admit me at the hospital.  They were afraid my spleen had ruptured.  Thankfully, this didn't turn out to be the case but the pain continued so they kept me for 4 days on IV meds for pain and to treat the cough.  They determine I had pertussis, but were not sure what the pain was from.  They've since ran some x-rays on my ribs and spine and found that the rib right in the area where the pain is, is slightly pulled loose, probably from the coughing and my spine is very crooked! Fortunately, as the cough is getting better, the pain is getting less and less and we're praying it will go away completely.  Of course, we're wishing we had a chiropractor here on island!  Thank you to those of you who prayed for me through this!  It made the summer a little bit difficult for me but I'm happy to be seeing the end in site now! 

June, 2012 Update Letter

Kasalehlia!  Summer is here and with it our many exciting summer activities!  It’s been a few months since our last prayer letter and though many times we sat down to write a letter, we just couldn’t put into words what is in our hearts.  We have been faced with some tremendous attacks from Satan on our ministry these past couple of months.  We never dreamed we would face some of what we have had to face in recent weeks and while we wanted your prayers through this time, we didn’t even know where to begin in explaining the situation.  Rather than go into details of the events here, I will simply say that Satan is using culture and tradition here to cause people to openly defy Bible principles and our stand.  Through much prayer, seeking of Godly council, and searching the Scriptures, we have been able to slowly see hearts soften in our church and village.  Please band with us in prayer that all will be resolved and hurt hearts will heal.  And above all, that our church will stand as a testimony of Christ’s love and forgiveness.  Pastors, feel free to contact us if you feel you can pray more effectively in knowing more specifics of the situation as I do not feel at liberty to speak of details in an open letter such as this.  A special thank you to those of you who have prayed for us through these times. 

Let me back up just a bit.  Just over a month ago, we began to feel God pressing on our hearts to move forward with our church building program.  As you may know, we began to pursue this last August, but then needed to put our plans on hold due to the medical emergencies with our daughter.  Since that time, the church has continued to grow, and quite frankly, cannot realistically grow anymore in number with our current building.  We are filled to overflowing every Sunday!  Praise the Lord!  We have no Sunday school classrooms or nursery facilities; all meet outside at this point and are often even forced to take cover in the church van on rainy days!  A new building is a very real need.  We began to talk more about this and through several “circumstances”, the Lord showed us it was time to move forward.  We made the decision to announce this to the church, our supporting churches, and praying friends and families.  That very week, the “problem” broke out in our church!!!  This was a clear attack from Satan to stop our moving forward with the building project!  We believe with all our hearts that God wants us to continue with our plans for the new building and we are asking you to band together with us in prayer to make this possible!  Again, pastors, please feel free to contact us for more details on the building project.   We would love to see this building completed before our next furlough, which is currently scheduled approximately a year from now!  

Summer is full as usual!  Our Bible Institute classes are now out for the summer.  We’re thankful for the 35 students that completed this semester!  We’re taking a brief break before starting classes again in August and now looking forward to our exciting summer ministries.  This Friday we have Bro. Tom Pennington and his son Corey coming from Alabama to help us out.  We’re looking forward to having them here!  July 16th begins our week of youth camp.  Our theme this year is Honoring God.  Pray for these young people to come back with changed hearts!  VBS is scheduled for July 30th – August 3rd.  Last year we reached our goal of having 100 children in attendance and seeing many saved!  We look forward to seeing what God will do this year!  We do have a request for our summer ministries:  we would like a Big Ball to use for games at both camp and VBS.  If there is a church, youth group, or individual that would like to take on the project of donating one and shipping it out to us before our youth camp, we would be thrilled, as would our young people!  

Our family is doing well.  Susan is trying to get the school year finished up with the children.  We started very late due to taking Kaylinn to HI for medical treatment so we’re a good bit behind our usual schedule.  Kestra worked ahead and finished already!  Katrianne should be done by the end of the week, and both boys have a couple more weeks left to go.  They’re all looking forward to a summer free from studies!  Kaylinn has done well in recent months.  She’s good at giving us frequent “scares” of course.  We have found now that she has a heart murmur.  The doctor doesn’t feel this is serious but just something to keep an eye on as she grows older.  Thank you for all your prayers for our little princess and for all of our family.  

A quick note before I close:  I’ve had many requests recently for prayer cards!  We have had a recent photo of our family done and are in the process of having one designed and printed.  Once that is done we will be sending out to each supporting church and any individuals that wish to have some as well.

We do thank you all for your prayers.  We could not be here without them!  Thank you for your love and support.  

Because of Calvary,

Rickson, Susan, 

Kaleo, Kestra, Kyler, 

Katrianne, & Kaylinn

New Photo Album

Take a look at our new photo album if you haven't already!  Will be adding more pictures soon!
http://kihlengfamily.blogspot.com/p/photo-album.html