Shelly’s thoughts from her ministry trip to Thailand:

(Due to the sensitivity of those served on this trip we’ve had to limit the photos used)

8/21/2012

Usually it is Phil who goes out on Mission Trips and travels to strange and exotic places.  This time, Simon and I had the opportunity to travel to Thailand to serve God and many missionary families.  Of course, we know God is incredible and He’s the master planner, but I am continually amazed how He puts all the pieces together. His timing is perfect.

Let me give you a little background information.  Approximately 3 months ago, Phil was speaking in chapel at Wycliffe Associates and my name came up.  A recruiter was listening to Phil that morning and asked him if his wife would consider going to Thailand to join the Kidzone Team. The Kidzone Team would be serving missionary families by putting on a VBS/Camp program for the children while their parents attended a conference.God’s timing is perfect—as a teacher, I have the summer off and that’s a great time to go on a Missions Trip.

The Thailand KidZone Team (Lori, Shelly, Simon & Marc).

One of my summer goals was to spend lots of time with my children.  This past year was my first year as a VPK teacher at First Presbyterian of Mt. Dora. Although its a part-time position, I found myself putting in a full work week preparing lesson plans, researching and creating curriculum activities, picking up classroom supplies and taking on-line courses.  It was tough on my kids to share their mom with my students.  I thought if I could bring Simon with me on the trip to Thailand, it would be an opportunity to serve, share the experience with Simon and have time with him.   It would help Simon understand what we’re trying to accomplish as a family.  Many times, Simon hears we serve as a family, but it’s Phil who travels.  I know kids learn best by having hands-on experience.  Again, God’s timing is perfect and it’s amazing how He puts all the pieces together!

Simon shares with other missionaries about his first missions trip.

At orientation (2 days before the trip), God showed me again how He’s the master planner and His timing is so perfect!   I learned that Marc (our Team Leader) had lost his whole team for one reason or another.  The VBS/Camp portion of the conference was almost cancelled.  The conference was still on, but the parent’s would need to juggle work and their children.  Many had purchased airline tickets and prepared to attend workshops provided that there were accommodations for their children.  For many of the families this was a reunion.  They get a chance to see friends they only see once a year.   Thankfully, God is SO GOOD.   Nearly the same time that Simon and I came on board, another person had joined the team—Lori.   Marc, Lori and I each brought to the conference, the things that we’re good at.  God put together an incredible team.  Marc had experience working with the older children, Lori would assist with the elementary age and Simon and I would take the 5 year olds and younger.

To be honest, I had many anxieties before the trip.  Would there be language barriers?  How would I handle cultural differences in responding to the children?  Would we have enough materials to fill 2 weeks?  How would I handle teaching, leading and having my son as an assistant?  What would it be like working and living with people I barely knew?   Would the materials be stimulating and of interest to the children?  What if our VBS luggage was lost?

Shelly and Simon were able to treat the VBS kids to an elephant ride.

The answer to these questions and many more is be willing to serve.  All God wants from me is to be willing to serve others, do the best that I can do to plan and prepare, be flexible, love others, learn from day-to-day experiences, guide my children and share the gifts he supplies.  All I need is trust that God will provide what’s needed for any situation.

What did I love? Meeting all the children and families. It was interesting to hear about the areas they served and how they creatively share Jesus with others.  One missionary woman started a women’s ministry masked as a cookie business with locals living in Nepal.  This is a chance for her to help these local women earn money and at the same time share Jesus with them.  Another person used henna tattoos tell Bible stories.  And another used oral story telling to teach the Bible.  The area he works in doesn’t have a Bible written in their native tongue, but he meets with a group consistently and tells the Bible stories orally.  Afterward the stories are discussed much like a Bible study and the nationals are asked to pass on the stories to others.

Riding a giant. What a fun experience for Simon.

Of course, we had struggles on the trip, but we managed to work through the issues.  I am thankful my team was willing to be honest and open with each other.  It allowed us to work through them in an efficient manner.

It was interesting serving in a distant land.  The children were incredibly intelligent.  One child spoke Finnish, English and Chinese.  Another child explained that his school in Chaing Mai has Monkey Drills–similar to Fire Drills.  Apparently, his school is located next to monkey exhibit and should the monkeys escape the children are to shut the windows and hide under their desks.

VBS kids get to enjoy some fresh coconut.

The hardest part was saying good-bye.  Simon asked, “Why would God let me become friends with someone for such a short time”?  That’s a difficult question to answer. The best I could come up with is to be grateful for the time you have with that person—even if it’s only for a little while.

Simon and I would like to thank everyone for the prayers, support and generosity we’ve received.  It was a wonderful and memorable experience.  God willing, we would love to go back.

Blessings,

Shelly

Simon works with the children, painting and having fun!

The street food was nice too. This is one of the favorite chefs during the trip.

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Simon and I are enjoying very spicy ramen noodles and beef jerky for lunch.  I thought we’d try to conserve our funds with a cheap meal.  My lips are on fire.  Last night, I enjoyed a soup that tasted a lot like chow mein from the Happy Garden in Minnesota.  We are enjoying our time here and it has been busy.  Lori and I both are tired today so probably street food for dinner and an early night.  Every time we go out to eat I think how much you would love the food.  Thailand reminds me of Hawaii.

Here is a hat Simon wants to bring home as a souvenir .

Here’s a VBS update and you can feel free to pass it on to anyone who would like to hear about it.  In the morning, I saw 2 new families that had arrived.  I introduced myself and let them know I was with the childcare team.  All four new kids are age 4 or age 3.  I think all the kids for the VBS have arrived.  I think we had a total of 23 kids and Lori and I had 12 ourselves.  The new ones that joined us today were busy little boys–touching everything and exploring.  One of the kids asked what does it mean to be a Christian so Lori took some time with her and talked with her through some of her questions.  We are not assuming that just because these are missionary kids that they are Christians.  It’s amazing how well the kids know the bible stories.  One kid is only 4 years old but he adds to every story.  Lori is doing an amazing job telling the stories.  She has all the kids acting out the bible stories and they love it.  I was thinking how much Michelle Dearing loves to teach bible stories and how much she would love to lead this group.  Marc has been asking the older group of kids how they can apply the bible lesson to their lives.

We completed all the VBS material in the morning so that this afternoon we can take the kids to the beach.  The kids are really looking forward to it.  We have about 8 kids who cannot swim so it will be busy afternoon keeping everyone safe.

Hope you are enjoying your trip too!  I do miss you and Sophie!

Love,

Shelly

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The children are following along to the Amazing Wonders In Aviation curriculum.

VBS officially started on Tuesday.  We had a handful of children on Sunday and Monday to give some of the conference coordinators an opportunity to tie up some loose ends.  Monday was a rough morning.  We had an 18 month year old and she was not used to being away from mommy.  We had a feeling we would not be able to accommodate the really little ones with a small VBS staff.  Simon tried to bond with her, but she wanted nothing to do with him.  She was in my arms crying on and off for about 2 hours.  The Mom came at snack time and took her for the rest of the day.  The rest of my team lead the kids in music and bible lesson.  The theme of our VBS is God’s Amazing Wonders.  The music is fun and upbeat.  All of the music is accompanied by sign language.  It’s been fun to learn and teach the children the different signs for words.  Our craft was messy and the kids enjoyed it.  Our leader (Marc) thought it would be fun to have the kids make paper mache globes.  Doing paper mache in an emptied out hotel room is not something I ever imagined doing in my life.  Of course, when your hands are covered in sticky flour paste is when your nose starts itching.  I mentioned to one of the kids that my nose itched so she itched it for me with her sticky flour paste hands–too funny!  What is also funny is the person who suggested a paper mache project never got his hands sticky and messy–we’ve had fun teasing him about that!

The beach everyone has been enjoying for fun activities.

We’ve been doing the majority of the VBS in the morning with a half an hour spent on Missions in the afternoon.  Our Missionary featured today was from Kotzebue, Alaska.  The kids loved the snowball (cotton balls) relay race and the review questions that earned their team snowballs for a snowball fight.  I’ve never seen so many cotton balls being whipped across a room.

Sea Monkey meets a tree monkey. I told Simon to watch out for these guys.

Earlier today we were able to squeeze in a short field trip into town.  We took the kids for a short walk by the water and for ice cream.  We were going to walk on the beach, but it was high  tide and the waves came up  to the sea wall.  The kids were disappointed about not being able to walk on the beach so in the afternoon we took everyone to the pool.  The pool is huge, deep and indigo blue.  There is a small kiddie pool as well.  That is my area to supervise.  We will end each day with some pool time and the kids love it.  Many do not have access to pools so this is a really big deal.

Overall, the VBS is going well.  This is a great group of kids.  It’s interesting all the different areas that they come from– all over various parts of the south and far east Asia.  Every other day we have an excursion.  I think having that variety will keep things interesting.  I will be attaching pictures.  I cannot take pictures of the kids faces because of the sensitive areas that some people live and I will download pictures tomorrow.    The parent’s are very appreciative of having a team of people to watch the kids.  Many of the moms and dads are both involved in different aspects of Bible translation and it allows for both parents to attend the workshops and learn from others in their field.  Thank you to all of your prayers and support.

What is amazing is how well these kids know the bible stories.

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June 11, 2012

I had the opportunity to speak in chapel June 7th at the Wycliffe Associates headquarters in Orlando, Florida. As my finale, I shared the story of calling home on Thanksgiving day last year. I was in Cameroon at the time, far from home. Though I was with a great team I was still feeling lonely and a bit homesick. My attempts to Skype failed, so a satellite call home was a real treat.

I called over to my parents house because I knew everyone would be there. It was wonderful to hear the voices of my family. My children telling me they love me made me tear up. But, to hear Shelly tell me how hard life is while I’m away was hard to hear. Sophie had broken her arm just before I left on the trip. Simon was acting up and visit from Shelly’s mom didn’t give Shelly any rest. She needed help and I wasn’t there for her. I felt terrible and I had almost wished I wouldn’t have called.

I started to ask myself if what I do is worth all of the pain you have to go through as a missionary. Lack of good sleep, strange foods, strange toilets or lack thereof, spiritual warfare… the list goes on. But when I recounted the positives of the trip and reflected on the thanks I’d received from translators, it was enough to balance the mental scales. My thought trail traveled, I’d made it to my bed. When I sat down and looked up I saw a picture of Jesus hanging on a cross. I knew I had to ask myself the question again, “Is it worth it all?”. Christ’s sacrifice for us was more than enough for me to say “YES!”.

SO… Here I am… Telling you this story… Why?

Shelly with Sophie. I will enjoy my time with Sophie while Shelly and Simon are away.

To let you know this and other stories I shared led a Wycliffe Associates colleagues to ask me a question, “Would Shelly like to go to Thailand to take part in a Kid Zone trip?”. I told her that Shelly has always wanted to go there and that we feel called as a family to serve in that area some day. Oh… And that she may just say yes.

When I got home that day, Shelly told me she’d received an email about the opportunity and that she would consider it. She also told me she would like to take Simon, our oldest child. I thought this would be a great adventure in faith and obedience for both of them and agreed it would be a good idea.

After a lot of prayer from all of us, Shelly would like to announce that both she and Simon will be going to Thailand July 30th through August 11th.

As a Kid Zone volunteer, Shelly, Simon and a team of others will be putting on a Vacation Bible School for missionary kids. The VBS will free up the parents of the children so they can attend a conference. The parents are Bible translators who need to attend this conference which is vital to their work.

This is an incredible opportunity for both Shelly and Simon but they also need to raise a lot of money to make this trip happen. Will you prayerfully consider investing into their ministry. The trip costs $3500 for each person or $7000 for both. They need not only your finances but your PRAYER too.

Donations can be made out to:

Wycliffe Associates                or          GIVE ONLINE HERE

PO BOX 620368

Orlando, FL 32862-0368

Check Memo: #M10322

Blessings,

Phillip & Shelly Harms

Wycliffe Associates

Phillip: (407) 221.1327    or   Shelly: (407) 221.2011

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I think this is pretty cool. Shelly and some of her friends from our church thought it would be nice to bring a little Christmas cheer to some families in need this year. On December 23rd, Shelly, Kawaii and Jennifer loaded up the minivan with presents and headed to Longwood Florida to hand out over a $1000 in gifts to some children who probably wouldn’t get one this year.

Shelly was surprised to see that so many children were waiting to receive a little something. Some wanted books, some wanted art supplies and a few boys were even lucky enough to get a squirt gun. It wasn’t much but it was something. Shelly was so touched by what she experienced that she would like to keep doing this throughout the year if she can. Why should this only be done at Christmas, right? There are so many people in need all year long. Feel free to contact us if you would like to get involved somehow.

Phillip Harms / phillip@phillipharms.com / (407) 915-4857

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