Dear Friends,
How is everything going.  I was wondering why you are not sharing your stories, and then it occured to me that I haven't shared mine.  I guess the funny thing about this is that it seems like you are blowing your own horn, and maybe that is why we are hesitate to share.    But I think we need to encourage one another in this adventure.  I have been trying to do extra things around the house and the office, just small deeds of kindness.  Like the other day, I did the washing, and the ironing, and putting away of the clothes.  This is just a small thing that I could do for my wife who has been ill.  I must admit it was good just to do this small thing. I also believe that just the knowing I am a Barnabas has made me a kinder person this past few weeks.   I think that sometimes we think that it has to be big, or that we have to really feel like do it.  I got this encouraging letter last week from our Children's Church's adopted missionary to Thailand.  I asked him if I could share it with you, and he said yes.  Here is most of it.  If you go to our children's Zone Ministry you can see the Paton family.  This is from Wade Paton of St. Albert, Alberta:

Another highlight from this past weekend is that we had the opportunity to make a return visit to an orphanage for girls that we were at a few months ago. There are about 16 girls that range in age from about 9 years old to 15 or 16 years old. Their main caregivers are a Thai couple who have 2 children of their own and they all live on the same property. Bonnie and I really enjoyed the little bit of interaction we had with the girls and their caregivers and we are excited about the possibility of visiting them on a more regular basis. We brought them some candy and yoghurt and spent some time talking to them about various things. We went as family along with our friend Debbie (our language coach) and being there with our kids was so amazing. Watching them play and interact with the girls was a blessing for us.

God used this experience to remind us of some things we had been neglecting. The night before we went out to the orphanage I was sharing some of my frustrations with Bonnie and how I felt so depleted in energy, focus, and desire. As I spoke to her about the physical, emotional, and spiritual fatigue I was going through, we prayed together and asked God to restore us and inspire us again. The next day came and, to be honest, the thought of going out to the orphanage for a visit was an exhausting thought for both of us. We even thought about not going or maybe just one of us going. In the end we all loaded in to the van and headed out to the home. We thought we would come back more tired but the opposite was true. Through a small act of service it felt like God blessed us with the energy, focus, and desire we felt we were lacking. Serving others is like fuel for life. When our time, our thoughts and our attention is spent only considering what is going on in our own lives the result is exhaustion. God made us to serve others and that service can be something as simple as taking some candy out to some girls that don't get many sweets. In God's kingdom, it counts! The Lord continues to speak to us about this and we want to stay alert for opportunities to serve others. Pray for us that we would not get distracted from serving. Pray that self-centredness would be pushed back and that the heart of Jesus to serve would grow in us each day.

 I Love that Letter.  Let's hear from you! 
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