Living in "Peachville" CA

What an end to summer!!!! We have been living at Gleanings for the Hungry in Sultana CA since end of July. This is what happens in the summer here. A group of young adults spend their summer working in the fields of central CA to process peaches! Teams come in for stays of usually one week to assist in this HUGE task. Millions of pounds of dried fruit, mainly peaches and nectarines, will be shipped all over the world. Here is the real cool part about the whole deal. Seeing the young and old, black, white, yellow, red, male, female, rich, broke, community groups, local people who just want to help, every denomination coming together to serve the Lord by processing the food for "the least of these". Now that is just the summer. During the fall is when the Veggie Plant opens and nutritious high-protein dry soup mix will be processed. This 23 acre development produces millions and millions of pounds of food, nutritious, nonperishable food! Ok, something else, we have all seen different results from the economy and our local farmers, growers down here have really struggled. I have so much respect for them! We were able to process more fruit this year then last! The donations of buckets, lids, workers, are so numerous I can not list them all here. It shows me how when the church gets out of the building and into the fields, working together regardless of denomination and getting it done for the Lord's children. James 1:27 states a religion our Father finds pure and faultless is this LOOK AFTER ORPHANS AND WIDOWS IN THEIR DISTRESS and don't forget to finish reading the verse AND KEEPING ONE FROM BEING POLLUTED BY THE WORLD. I have been struggling with the "pollution" part. I have been having trouble sleeping and found out I could watch TV on the computer. One night before I knew it I had watched 3 hrs of mindless, pointless, programs, still not asleep. Last night I read some, watched some programs on You-Tube, and finally remembered it might be a good idea to pray. My body relaxed (not immediately) and then I was able to get 4 hrs of sound sleep.

I wanted to share from my heart, thank you to all of those who keep us in your prayers and read our updates. Sometimes it gets a little lonely. Russ, Lian and I have decided to live here at Gleanings for probably about 2 years. This will give us time to get here settled in home-schooling, us connected with relationships we have begun down here. We will still be going overseas during this time but probably for no longer then 2-3 months. Lian is thriving here, playing outside everyday, all day, meeting new people every week showing them around, doing her chores, She is so beautiful.

Well now I am getting mushy. I miss you guys, family, friends.
Our new mailing address is PO Box 309 Sultana, CA 93666. Hope to hear from you soon
Anyone wanting more information about what we are doing, please contact us. Would love to hear from you. Anyone interested in donating financially, please contact us.

Well, It has been forever since I have posted anything. We arrived in Grass Valley, CA 2 weeks ago. A little bit of culture shock. We learned alot about the house churches in China and North Korea. There is so much oppression! You are not allowed to teach children, anyone under the age of 18 anything about religion. The only legal churches are called The 3 Self Church, the pastors have to be approved by the govt and they are not allowed to preach on the resurrection of Christ or Revelations. We had to be so careful about what we said, emails, cell phone calls etc. Everything is monitored. There recently was a woman arrested in S. China who had been there for years as a missionary. She has been deported and they had records of phone calls, emails etc. We continue to have freedom of religion and freedom of speech in the USA. Russ and I had a taste of what it is without and we do not take it for granted anymore! There is so much persecution in North Korea and we met a dear pastor who is smuggling abandoned, starving children to China in hopes to get them to South Korea. He and his family are taking a huge risk and would be imprisoned or worse if caught. Please keep the persecuted church in your prayers! We are to celebrate with our bros, and sisters and Christ and to share there burdens. I am making a plead for anyone who reads this to pray specifically for North Korea and China. For the wall of North Korea to fall and for the Church to be able to enter and begin the healing.

Russ, Lian and I are going back to Kona in Sept to take classes on Primary Healthcare and Community Development. We will be ther for 3 months and then in Uganda for 3 months. Lian has proved to be quite the traveler. We were so proud of her. We stayed in 3 cities while we were there, along the border of North Korea. She did so well on the plane ride, train, bus, city bus, tram, and walking. We appreciate all the prayers and support we have received. Thank you so much

End of DTs

Friends and Family
What an incredible three months it has been for the Trowbridge family! We have lived and studied and worked in an international community of people from all walks of life. As I looked out on the children's playground today, just from one vantage point I could see kids representing Norway, England, Hungary, Korea, Kyrgyzstan, and the U. S. Added to these countries representing our community here at Kona are Ghana, Israel, Egypt, South Africa, France, Denmark, Switzerland, Spain, Lebanon, China, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, India, Canada, Samoa, Hawaii.

This mix of the worlds nations has shown us many, many things of significant value- not only causing a makeover of our world view, but also revealing God's plan to strengthen families and communities. In the uncertain days ahead, we believe that values in the world will be severely tested for their reliability in bringing lasting hope to the peoples of the Nations.

The three of us are packing up our suitcases once again as we head to Dalian, China for two months. We will be working with a team of about 20 others (including another family with two teens) on several possible projects alongside the Chinese. It will be a time of learning from the Chinese people and an opportunity to serve the international community in that area of the world.

We appreciate all of your prayers thus far in our journey and we ask for your continued prayers as a family and travel team!

Love you all
Russ, Lori, and Lian

Getting ready for China

Hello friends,
Russ, Lian and I are getting ready to leave for Dalian China on Weds. We are very excited and looking forward to the opportunities awaiting us there. We will have limited access to communication, some of the things we will be doing is teaching English, working at a children's home and helping our leaders in China. Thank you for all your prayers. We will be back in Kona on May 24th and then home to California June 1, 2009. Will update the site at that time.
Love to you all
The Trowbridges
Larry, Russ, Lian, Lori and Patricia in Kona

Hello everyone
Today was so exciting. We needed to raise 22 thousand dollars so everyone would be able to continue at the school and start paying for outreach deposits. It was incredible! The money was raised, many gifts anonymous. I have to admit I doubted if God would provide and He did in a huge way.

We had a speaker today from China who has been imprisoned 7 times for preaching the gospel and starting churches. The Chinese goverment charges were treason and twice she had a death sentence. She was released and her story is so inspiring. She has also runs 5 orphanages in China and now is doing work in North Korea. AND she looks younger then her age! /beautiful woman and her eyes twinkle! She is a very strong advocate for orphans and women also.
WEll, I am on my way to my evening session: we have a group from Korea who are going to dance and sing for us.
Love ya all
Lori

Hi Everyone
Today is the start of the Chinese New Year. This is just a quick post because I have homework to do! We went to the First Church of Kona yesterday and they had a really good sermon on Nehemiah. Went to the beach in the afternoon, did homework in the evening, met with some friends later in the evening, etc. Today we had Bruce and Barbara speak from NewZealand. I feel fill you in later what they are teaching us. Still processing the information. Have a wonderful Year of the Ox!!!
Lori Russ and Lian

Sunday Jan. 3 2009

We are getting settled into our new home. We have a view from the ocean, all I can say is it is absolutely beautiful here. Yesterday we went to the beach with our "family" and saw sea turtles, angel fish, and a sea lion (he was taking a nap on the beach). It is amazing how fast the children adapt. Lian has new friends from London, Ireland, one of the "stans" country (sorry I get them mixed up). Thank you for all your prayers. You should hear the stories here of how God has provided for these families. As I get them down I will share them with you. Russ and I are really enjoying our time, and I have been so relaxed! We start a full week this week and have a Hawaiian festival tonight. This week we will find out where we will be for the overseas part. Those of you who may not have our email, it is rltrow@hotmail.com
Have a wonderful day,
Lori