Regional Conference

This June we went to the regional conference in Mindanao. Holly’s parents were visiting and as they had worked for in Mindanao for 16 years they came with us. It was encouraging to hear about the different things God been doing in the tribal works there.

In our training, the process of planting a church is laid out quite neatly, but we found in the real world “neat” is rarely how things happen. Various additions to the work of church-planting in the locations we heard about were a tapping a spring for clean water to help with the almost fatal illness many kids are getting, teaching the people to raise pigs as a source of protein and income, setting up and running a school for the local kids, and even beginning a pastoral training center to train the pastors already working locally. Some of the missionaries are almost done with the translation of the entire Bible! To translate the New Testament alone can take upwards of 25 years.

In almost every situation the missionaries did not start out with these projects as part of their church-planting goals. Rather they saw needs and have worked to assist the community. The best part of all these projects is that it has not just helped the people socially and economically, but these projects have served to advance the church planting work. It was the practical outworking of loving people with Christ’s love by meeting their physical needs.

Many of these missionaries have been working in these areas for 20-30 years and have thriving churches whose members are reaching out to other areas. Hearing the other missionaries talk about what is going on reinforced the power of the Gospel and the power of showing people that you genuinely care.

While we don’t yet know if we will end up working in Mindanao or Northern Luzon in the future, it was a blessing to get to know some of our coworkers. Wherever we end up, hopefully we can learn from their example and see the Gospel take root in the lives of more Filipinos…even if we don’t necessarily do things in the “right order.”

A "Quick" Plumbing Fix...

Ever since we moved into our house, we’ve had issues with the plumbing to the upstairs toilet. The toilet and the shutoff valve both leaked constantly. After 4 trips to our house by a plumber everything was up and running with minimal leakage. A week later the brand new sprayer/bidet he installed began to leak and by the next day the hose was completely severed and spraying everywhere! Thankfully he installed a new shutoff valve so we could turn the water off, but that meant we couldn’t use the toilet.

After our language session that day I decided to go pick up a cap to stop the water that would go to the sprayer so we could still use the toilet. I stopped at 3 hardware stores in our neighborhood and none of them had a cap or any plumbing supplies for a 3/8in pipe.

The next day I left to find a proper hardware store in our nearest town. I hopped on a jeepney (the cheapest and slowest form of public transportation) and was in town about 35 minutes later. I looked around for a while and couldn’t find a cap for any size pipe so I asked a worker for some help. He started grabbing all kinds of different parts to make a cap. At one point, he had at least 5 pieces that ranged in size from 3/8 up to an inch and back down so that they could put a plug in the whole assembly to cap off my pipe. Even that was not going to work as the 3/8 piece was male and I needed a female piece. He then grabbed a coworker to figure it out. The other guy found a valve kit with a 3/8 to ½ female adapter in it and they were able to put 3 pieces together that would act as a cap.  I hopped on an air-conditioned bus (the most expensive, but also fastest way to travel) and was back home in less than 15 minutes.

The shutoff valve and 3/8 to 1/2 adapter,
the only one in the entire store

The 3 pieces to do the job of one, after
over a hour spent in the store.

I put the three pieces together and installed the valve. Lo and behold, it leaked like the Titanic! I’m not an experienced plumber and hadn’t put enough Teflon tape on the threads. I took it apart and re-taped it. After about 4 hours of work spread over 2 days (not counting what the plumber did), we finally had a functional bathroom again. There’s no one stop-shopping trip to a Menard's or Lowe's here to get what you need, and even the simplest of projects often are not that simple. As they say, “It’s more fun in the Philippines!”

Finished Product

Home, Sweet Home

Let us share a little about the house we'll be living in once we reach our final destination in the Philippines. We have the advantage of moving into a house that is being left by some former language students so there's really almost no work to be done on the house on our part. We might paint and that's about it.

A kitchen, dining space, and living area with a small bathroom and a laundry area make up the lower level. The upstairs consists of a master bedroom/bathroom that has a small, narrow room attached where the baby will sleep when he comes. There is also a second, small bedroom upstairs that Ellery will occupy. There is space in the bedrooms for a bed and a wardrobe and that's pretty much it. Each floor is only about the size of a two car garage.

Here's the kitchen:

That's no average 30 inch American stove you see there...that's only 23 inches. The refrigerator/freezer combo is only about 8 cubic feet. For reference, the fridge/freezer we're using now is about 18 cubic feet. There are only two drawers in the kitchen that are at foot level so they are somewhat awkwardly placed. As you can see, there will be some adjustments to be made in our eating styles, how we cook, and what we choose to keep for kitchen tools. Filipino style living requires a lot of downsizing.

Between how easily Ellery can spread her toys everywhere and the limited space in the house, it will be interesting to see how we make the house work for us. We have been researching small space solutions and are trying to make sure what we do have is multi-functional. Some things we have to take into consideration as well are: cloth diapering without a dryer, mold...everywhere...often, limited counter space, tile floors and stairs with a toddler, and not much outdoor space for Ellery to run around. 

We'll be able to share more pictures once we are in the house, but for now we thought we'd share a little glimpse of where we'll be the first year or so. We'll make it home for the time we'll live there, but with all our adjustments and transitions lately we are more and more aware that this world is not our home...just a temporary place to lay our heads and do what God has called us to do.

Keep or Throw Away?!

“Are you sure you don't want to keep any of these?!” my neighbor asked me.

“Yes, Jan, I still have tons of baby stuff in our basement that I am keeping. Besides, this is all winter stuff and the odds of us having a baby in those specific sizes while happening to be in the States at the same time are really slim.” I responded.

Our neighbors had a garage sale a few weeks ago and offered to let us sell some of our stuff to help make some money and purge a bit knowing that we hope to be moving to the Philippines in a few short months. It was eye-opening to talk to them about some of the differences between what they would keep and what we would. Granted they grew up in an era where people saved and re-purposed many things and nowadays we are coming back to a time of up-cycling or making some cash reselling on Craigslist. However, we are moving HALFWAY AROUND THE WORLD. We can't keep everything.

It has been a bit overwhelming going through our accumulated possessions from 3 years of marriage and having a kid in the mix. I feel like my brain is going to explode trying to anticipate whether we will need a particular item over the next few years and whether or not it will actually last. Do we want to spend money to ship it over or buy a new one when we get there? Will we use this? Should we store it for the future day when we return to the States permanently? Are we going to need someone to ship it to us at a later date? i.e. kids clothes, holiday stuff, etc. Should we just throw it all out?!

There's a lot to think about. It certainly makes leaving more real and immediate. We're not just moving to a new house, but a new country and new lifestyle. We can't wait to get there though. It's worth all the hassle of packing and purging. The good-byes are still going to be hard, but it's a sacrifice we're willing to make to follow Christ.

Leaving 'Home'

Support level update: We are at 69% of our recommended support level. We can buy plane tickets when we reach 75%. 

It's hard to put into words all the things we are processing right now. On one hand, we're excited because we're soooo close to buying tickets and finally making it to the Philippines. On the other hand, we realize we'll soon leave our family, friends, church family, and the familiarity of our 'home' here. 

We've been sorting, purging, and packing our home. We're still trying to get in touch with churches and individuals about supporting our ministry (if we haven't gotten to you yet, don't wait! come see us...we just might have cookies). Then there's the time with family that we are truly treasuring right now as we won't see them for years at a time. On top of all that, there's vision, dental, and well-check appointments, thank yous to write, and various things that have to be done before we leave the country. 

We got to see Uncle Brandon and visit the zoo!

We're pushing to leave in mid-September after Holly's oldest brother gets married. That's only a few months away! We're so thankful as we look back on how God has brought us thus far and how He will continue to be with us in the future.

Pray with us as we process the big transitions ahead for our family and that our support will continue to increase. If you could also pray specifically for sleep and rest that would be great. There hasn't been a lot of that lately due to a certain small person who is working on a molar. 

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Our ministry is funded by donations. Want to give a one-time gift or sign up to support us monthly? Visit: https://usa.ntm.org/missionaries/daniel-and-holly-thannum

As we get ready to leave there are some items we don't currently have and will be looking to purchase before we head over. If you would like to help us out with that, follow this link to our Amazon wish list.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/registry/wishlist/3O61YBU1515E8/ref=cm_wl_rlist_go_v?

If you have an item from our list to donate or want to purchase from a different source feel free to email us from at the email address above. We recognize that many people want to help us out, but can't commit to monthly giving so helping us purchase a few things is a great way to still be able to help out.

Year in Review

Our First Family Photo (with Ellery) - January 5, 2015

Our little squish - February 2015

Adventures - March 2015

Escape artist - April 2015

Baby in a Box - May 2015

Growing in Love - June 2015

Having fun as a family - July 2015

Quiet times with Mama - August 2015

Always on the go - September 2015

Lots of church visits - October 2015

Grampy & Grammy time - November 2015

Reading with Grampy at Christmas - Dec 2015

First cake for her 1st birthday! - January 2016

Big girl! February 2016

Life on the Road

Let's catch up! Our last blog post had us headed to First Baptist Church of Grove City, MN. Since then we have spoken at 3 more churches.

October 18th -  Denver Baptist Church (Iowa)

October 25th - New Journey Church (northern MN)

November 15th - Grace Baptist Church (Iowa)

While it was nice to have a two week break between churches, it by no means meant less travel time. I (Holly) ended up driving to Missouri by myself on October 31st with our 10 month old in tow. It was a pretty sudden trip. I got a call at 9:30 that morning and by 11:15 I was packed and on the road.

Here's a little of what that trip entailed:

- alternator died 2.5 hours from my parents' house

- a Good Samaritan made sure Ellery and I were taken care of until my parents came to pick us up

- unexpected extra time with my parents

- visiting my best friend (Amy) from high school in ICU at a hospital 1.5 hours away

- watching that friend's baby to give her mom a break from taking care of the grandkids for two weeks straight

- visiting another friend (Merry) who had recently had a baby

- visiting my other best friend (Sarah) and her mom (Mary) who had just had a heart attack and bypass surgery

- spending more time with my best friend (Amy) from high school once she was released to go home

- my dad was able to fix the car

Fast forward to Sunday, November 15th. While driving home from Iowa having just spoken at a church, my best friend (Sarah) called with news that her mom (Mary) had passed away. We got what rest we could that night, spent Monday unpacking and repacking, and were on the road back to Missouri on Tuesday morning (Dan with us this time).

The memorial service was Thursday night and one thing that kept being highlighted was God's goodness. God orchestrated so many events that allowed for some really special times with Mary these last three weeks of her life. My friend had just gotten engaged while her mom was in the hospital and the time spent taking care of her mom allowed her fiancé to spend almost every day getting to know his future mother-in-law much better. Mary got to spend time with another of her daughters, a daughter-in-law, and her best friend while she was in the hospital. She got to see Ellery and enjoy her antics. People from the church showed love by bringing meals, praying, and more. During this time, my other best friend (Amy) was back in the hospital and out again.

God is good to us. Honestly, Dan and I have struggled with how long support-raising seems to be taking and being content with God's timing and plan for us. This past month has shown us once again that His ways are higher than our ways and His thoughts are higher than our thoughts. His goodness shines through all He allows in our lives. If we had already left for the Philippines, we would never have gotten this time with our friends and family while so much is going on in their lives. We wouldn't be here next month to see my best friend get married. We get to enjoy some holidays with family before we are separated for years at a time. We've had opportunities to bless others. We are spurred on to redeem the time we have been given here.

This weekend we are on the road again to speak at First Baptist Church in Muscatine, Iowa. Then we'll come back to Missouri to spend Thanksgiving with family. Our next blog post will be more of a picture update of the last few months.

Please pray with us in these things:

- that we would be faithful to redeem the time given to us and use it for His glory

- wisdom in upcoming decisions regarding different trips we need to make

- energy to keep up with our 'mover and shaker' of a daughter and that we would continue to look to the Lord in regards to everything involved in raising her

- our marriage; we desire to keep learning and growing together

- God's continued provision to increase our level of support and more people standing with us in prayer

- comfort for Sarah while she grieves her mom and continued healing for Amy