To Musakee And Beyond

Greetings To All:
Wow. I almost don't know what to say right now. But, wow. Today (Friday) is our last day in Chiang Mai for two weeks. Tomorrow we leave for a smaller town for the remainder of our Outreach. What will we be doing? We still don't know. It's almost like the "Missions Mafia": a van will pull up in the morning and we're supposed to get in it to go to an undisclosed location and do undisclosed acts of service. Well, maybe it's not that bad. We are all having mixed feelings about this transition. There are a lot of unanswered questions we have about this situation. And it's not that we didn't ask them; it's that they were not able to be answered. The reasons behind that are unclear. But, I digress. . . .
This morning we took the Home of Joy kids to the public pool for our last ministry time with them. They really love to swim! For a couple of them, their times there gave them new confidence in their abilities to swim for longer distances. Sidebar: did I say the ages of the kids yet? If I didn't, or if I told some of you different than what I'm about to write, the ages are: three six year olds, two five year olds, and three four year olds. After swimming we were invited to stay for lunch at the Home. Before we ate, one of the four year olds named Gong prayed. Kathy got it on video, and I'm going to try to post it with this entry. (Yes, he really did sit of the wall like the video shows. It's a meditation technique that the kids learn.) It was a very sweet prayer. In a way it seems like we spent more than two weeks with the kids, but in a way it doesn't. (Figure that one out.) Dakota, as always, loved the pool. There is a section that is only a foot deep that she loves to play in. She's really cute in her swimsuit!
So, once we get back from Musakee two weeks from today, we will stay here in Chiang Mai for one or two nights before we catch a night train to Bangkok on that Saturday night. We as a family will have to get a hotel room for Sunday night because our plane for Beijing doesn't leave until Monday. Beijing will be a time of relaxation and exploration for us. Where are we going to explore? A trip to Russia for me is no longer on the table for this visit. We do feel like we are being lead to investigate Harbin, China. It is a city northeast of Beijing, population about four million, and has a large Russian influence. What we are going to look for is a language university for me to study Chinese and possibly find a private tutor for me to learn Russian. Kathy is also thinking about a private tutor for brushing up on her Chinese. Living arrangements will also be looked at. A language university there has a program that begins March 2009 that we are praying about for me to attend. (If any of this is repeat information for you, sorry. But thanks for bearing with me.) All the while we will be looking for those valuable relationships to form with people whose lives we will come into contact with.
We are asking you for your prayers to receive clarity in what God has for us in the next several months. We feel that overseas work is where we are meant to be, but what that looks like, we don't know as of yet. Along with that we also ask that you begin praying about supporting us financially on a monthly basis. When we get specific numbers, we will pass that information on to you. We would also like to send out a newsletter in the near future; we would like to do that via "snail mail"(sorry, aunt Becky.) Any questions you have for us, we would love to hear and answer if we can. If any of you would like to come over tonight to help us finish packing, you are more than welcome. Packing, unpacking, and then packing again is really beginning to get old.
Once again, we thank you for your support. Please let us know what is going on with you.
God's Blessings On You,
Carson, Kathy, Dakota