Back from Thailand

I spent the last week of April and beginning of May in northern Thailand. This allowed me to work with a team gathered from all over the world and pursue accurate information about where Bible translation is needed and where translation work is underway.  I had already been planning on visiting my uncle, my mother’s brother, who has lived in Thailand for the past 20 years.  This plan changed dramatically when we received a message just two weeks before this trip that indicated that my uncle, now in his 70s, was failing in health and needed to return to the U.S.  The message came from a faithful friend and caregiver that had helped my uncle for the last decade.

So I met my uncle in Bangkok on the way home, having purchased an airline ticket for him on my return flights.  Traveling from Asia to the U.S. is always a long trip, and this time it took nearly 30 hours from leaving Bangkok to arriving in Minnesota.  The next day, my parents had set up a doctor visit for my uncle and we were referred to the local hospital for some tests.  Within the next 48 hours, he had been transferred to the University of Minnesota hospital to meet with specialists who diagnosed acute leukemia.

This was not the homecoming that we had anticipated and it certainly changed my uncle’s plans and expectations.  But still I consider this a blessing on several counts.  First, my uncle had not (for various reasons) been able to use the Thai medical system, so returning to the States provided the care he now needed.  Secondly, the caregiver and friend I mentioned was not really able to care for my uncle through such an illness; now he was free from that responsibility.  And lastly, my uncle’s heart has stubbornly rejected anything related to faith in Jesus.  I wonder if God might use his new circumstances to soften his heart and allow him to hear about the amazing love God has for him.  That would be a great ending to this story, so please pray with me.

An unexpected postscript

Within a month of returning to the States, my uncle died–not from the newly discovered leukemia, but from pneumonia.  I do not have any reason to believe that his stubborn heart softened to understand God’s love for him.  But I do know that he was able to rediscover the love of  his sister and brother-in-law (my mom and dad) after being away for so long,