I returned to Sarnelli House on August 20, after the usual long trek from the U.S. I found everything running smoothly and efficiently, with Father Ole and Brother Keng at the helm. El Nino has not been kind to us. The monsoons of old never really came; just enough thunderstorms to allow the workers and kids to plow and plant. The rice paddies now have plenty of water, thanks to loads of rain in the past week. Time will tell if we will be able to harvest enough rice to feed the runts, and also feed the grist to our cows, pigs, fish and chickens. But, so far, the Lord has not let us down. Even in other draught years, we managed to harvest just enough to feed the children.
With the new schedules of studying, in order to comply with the other ASEAN nations, Thai colleges and Universities opened in August. So, I missed most of our college kids, but the other children are still in the old schedule: May to October for the first term; and then November to the middle of March for the second term. School expenses were jacked up this year, both for tuition, and food and lodging. The generosity of so many people, shown to the kids when I was home, will enable us to continue to lurch from pillar to post. We never get huge grants we can rest on, but we are beneficiaries of the sacrifice of ordinary people. This, for any other reason, should keep us humble, but also watchful of every baht spent.
A few days after my return, the Welfare folks phoned to ask us to take an 8 month old boy named “Tai”. He was abandoned and the people who wound up with him were themselves very poor and unable to buy the basics for the little fellow. When Miss Peh went to check out the hovel where the boy was being cared for, she found out that two University girls were pregnant, so we agreed to take their babies, if they would not have abortions. Those babies should check in by middle or late October. In the meantime, Tai, a delightful and happy little fellow, is swilling milk and loving the attention he is receiving from our wonderful group of moms at the House of Hope.
One piece of news. Our nurse, Kate, is engaged to marry Brian, an Irish lad from County Cork, in Ireland. This wedding is to take place on November 7th, here at the little church in Don Wai. Kate is Australian, so we will have a real gathering on the clan on that day. You are all invited! (Kate and her hubby will continue to work together here at Sarnelli House).
This pretty much covers the news from Sarnelli House. The staff and children pray for you every evening at night prayers. God bless you all!
Father Mike
