Linwood House Ministries

Oh Deer!

They're about a week late for the Art Experience, but we've been watching a family of deer in the yard here at Linwood House this morning.

First, Mom came through. A little later Dad (or older brother) glared at us through the window of the Great Room while his son (or younger brother) nibbled on Grandma's flowers. (Don't tell her we didn't chase them right away!) Click on the thumbnails for larger images

Let There be Art!

Sunday July 13th was our second annual Linwood Art Experience and it was a wonderful day.

There were many pictures to be taken, many experiences to capture, many "small stories within the larger story" to be told.

Here is a first look inside the story of that day...

Enjoy, and stay tuned for more!

A Special Invitation

Dear Linwood House Friends:

As many of you know, especially those who have been on mission trips with us or have been involved in the Journey, abuse and domestic violence is a global problem and one that we are often called to address as we journey with women.  I want to draw your attention to a conference that is being held in Washington, DC from October 9-12th, called Partnering for Change: The Church Responds to Domestic Violence.  This is a conference to educate and equip the church to deal with abuse and domestic violence sponsored by a Christian network called Peace and Safety in the Christian Home (PASCH). This network addresses various aspects of domestic abuse and offers prayer support, biblical and practical resources, literature, training, research and referrals for victims and those who work with victims.  I am presently serving on the Board and responsible for prayer initiatives.  Linwood House Ministries has been asked to lead a session on the Thursday evening at the conference on prayer and abuse. 

Please contact us if you would be interested in attending this conference.  Our plan is to leave on Wednesday, October 8th and return on October 15th.  The purpose of the time is to participate in advance prayer, attend the conference, and connect with victims of domestic violence, especially single mothers to offer support and encouragement.  We will partner with a ministry in the Washington area following the conference.

I encourage you to go onto the PASCH website, www.peaceandsafety.com  for more information about the organization and the conference costs.  For those of you who are local we presently have a flight cost to Washington from Vancouver for $600 CDN if you would like us to book for you or you may want to use airline points.  We will stay in the hotel recommended for the conference for the week as it is a good rate for the area.

I also want to invite you to join us as we pray through the journal, Discover God’s Heart for Suffering Women, 40 days prior to the conference, beginning on August 31, 2008 and culminating on October 9th.  Please contact us for a copy of the revised journal.

Thank you for considering this opportunity to connect, pray together, receive education on abuse and domestic violence and reach out to our friends in the USA at a crucial time in their history.  Please contact us as soon as possible if you are interested in participating in the prayer initiative or in going to the conference.

Sincerely,
Gwen McVicker

Just Imagine

Peace and Safety in Every Home

Just Imagine

Christians leading the world in crying out to God and taking action to end abuse and violence in the home

A Call to Pray

We, the members of the PASCH family, invite you to join in prayer with Christians throughout the world who believe in the power of God to heal, change, comfort and empower families who live with abuse and violence.

“By His mighty power at work within us, he is able to accomplish infinitely more than we ever dare to ask or hope.”…..OR IMAGINE!" Ephesians 3:20

The Challenge: 
Pray for 40 days prior to the PASCH conference in Washington, DC, beginning on August 31, 2008 and culminating on October 9th.  For those attending the conference, a celebration of prayer will be held on Thursday, October 9th at 7pm at Sligo Church.

The Focus:

• To collectively join with the cries of the God of Justice to end domestic violence and abuse in our homes.
• To support in prayer all victims of domestic violence and abuse.
• To support in prayer those who seek to bring awareness and education to the church in domestic violence and abuse.
• To pray for the PASCH conference, October 10-12, 2008

The Journey: 
To pray intentionally and collectively please register by email, mail or phone to receive a prayer guide in the mail or an email each day for the 40 day prayer pilgrimage beginning on August 31st.

Email: Gwen.McVicker@gmail.com

Mail:  Linwood House Ministries, Box 156, Roberts Creek, BC, Canada, VON 2WO
Phone:  604 885 0214

“If two of you agree down here on earth concerning anything you ask, my Father in heaven will do it for you.  For where two or three gather together because they are mine, I am there among them.”  Matthew 18: 19,20

…..just imagine peace and safety in every home in the world!

2nd Annual Linwood Art Experience

WE WELCOME YOU AGAIN!

It's time again for more joy!

More Art and Music and Refreshments At Linwood House

Join us for the Second Annual Linwood Art and Music Fest

In its fabulous garden setting…

Linwood House is a sacred place offering safe retreat to
Nourish and refresh hurting women
Especially those from the Downtown Eastside…

Come help us in this very important quest
Artists works on display and for sale include:

Barney McLeod (stone carvings)
Jane Ford (floral watercolours)
Brian Romer (acrylic landscapes)
Donna Stewart (mixed media abstracts)
Yzabelle Deslisle-Milton (expressive figures)
Louise Lenko (water colour super realist)
Douglas Rae (oil landscapes)

and a panoply of photographs by Downtown Eastside Women

(30-40%of all sales donated to Linwood House Ministries)

3144 LINWOOD ROAD, ROBERTS CREEK, BC.

SUNDAY,  JULY 13th, 2008  12-5 PM

Will Justice Reign?

It has been five weeks since returning from Bangkok, and after a week of resting, we officially hit the speaking circuit. Between Gwen, Jen and myself (Sue), we have spoken to at least ten churches and women's groups about our trip to Thailand and the issue of sexual exploitation and human trafficking. We have used stories, images and music to bring to life the plight of Thai women, and women from around the world.

The issues are complex, and we realize that there are no easy solutions. We must begin to ask the hard questions of a world where women and children are for sale. How do we restore the inherent value, worth and dignity of every person? How do we begin to address the brokenness of men and women that results in the exploitation of millions of people around the world?

Sharing our stories and reflections has been an important part of processing this experience for each of us. Seeing how so many have been moved, have had their eyes opened some for the first time about these issues, has also been a reminder to us of the responsibility that we have to go, to see and then to tell. This is our privilege, and we look forward to any opportunities that we can have to share what we've experienced first hand and continue to learn.

In each of our presentations we have concluded by sharing images that are accompanied by this powerful song about God's heart for justice on His earth. It is our prayer for oppressed and exploited people everywhere. And it is a call to each one of us to pray, work and labor until justice reigns.

Will Justice Reign
(Kathryn Scott)

Earth groans and waits
For her King to come
With trembling hands
Of broken innocence
She bows and breaks
'Neath her heavy load
For time has held her ransom

Will justice reign
Will truth prevail
Will any take their stand for mercy
Who'll choose to walk the narrow way
And touch a broken world with healing
Will justice reign

Her children cry
From sorrow's depths
Grieving for life as it could have been
But we close our eyes
Until the image fades
Living on the borrowed time of excuses

Will justice reign
Will truth prevail
Will any take their stand for mercy
Who'll choose to walk the narrow way
And touch a broken world with healing
Will justice reign

Somebody's at The Door

Our own Stephanie Moul was unable to get into work first thing yesterday morning, as these two characters spent some time roaming around their yard. Apparently they were quite interested in Stephanie and David's hanging bird feeder, and they have the paw prints on the front window to prove it! (Click for larger image.)

Girl Effect

(Thanks to our soul sister Jen Lemen for the link.)

Bangkok 10: Final Thoughts

We have been home now for three days, and the memories of our last days in Bangkok are still vivid. Thursday evening was spent doing a final night of outreach into the bars at Soi Cowboy. In three different bars we sat and talked with many girls, getting little bits and pieces of their stories. We watched and prayed as our friend Boo talked with every woman she could, telling them about the centre, English classes and learning more about their journeys. It is because of her own story of exploitation that she can sit with so much grace and love and acceptance, and begin to build friendships with these women. It was a beautiful thing to watch, and we all felt so proud of Boo knowing the transformation and healing that has taken place to get her to where she is today.

Our last two days were filled with many little celebrations and parties. On Friday we went out for lunch and it was great to have our friend Soo-an join us. We met her in outreach the week before and had been regularly connecting with her during our time there. She works 28 out of 30 days, from 10am to 1am, and paid her own bar fine to come to join us for lunch. Soo-an has many struggles, including an addiction to alcohol, and it was so encouraging to see her reaching out to the women at the centre. Please continue to pray for her.

On Friday we also had a Father's Love Letter party. It is a beautiful paraphrase of scripture of God's heart for His children, written in the form of a letter from a father to his child. Friends here in Canada gifted us with this, in both English and Thai, to take to share with our friends in Bangkok. There is so much abandonment and separation from family that father issues always play a huge role in the wounding of so many women in Thailand. As we shared this together on Friday, it was clear how this is true for women in Canada and no doubt women from all around the world. Sue shared her experience of abandonment from her own father and how that has impacted her emotionally and spiritually. Jen too shared her experience of having a loving father but losing him suddenly at such a young age and how that impacted her going forward. As we shared, and as we invited the women to read the Love Letter, you could see that something was happening at a deep heart level in many of them. Our friend Si, who we have known now for almost two years, broke down as she talked about the huge hole left in her heart because of the absence of her father. We were able to share in the promises and truth of who God our Father is, and spent a wonderful time praying together. I know this is a tool that they will continue to use as they delve deeper into what it means to experience the extravagant love and grace of God.

There are so many memories and experiences that we have tucked into our hearts, and now that we are home, we are faced with the challenge of letting those experiences shape and transform us, and then finding a way to incorporate our "new selves" into our life and work here. This is not an easy task, and the extremes of the realities of today compared to only a few days ago seem jarring. We are seeking to know how these stories fit into the larger God story in our world. Please continue to pray for us in this process.

Finally, we want to thank each one of you from the bottom of our hearts... for your love, your prayers, your support, your wishes, your financial and practical help. For those who sent gifts, who wrote notes and sent pictures, for those who forwarded our emails along to your own list of friends and family....thank you. In order to change our world, we first have to be willing to go and see, to stand with, to offer the gift of presence to those who are hurting. You have been a part of telling the story of the women of Thailand, missionaries in every sense of the word, and we could not have done this without you.

May God bless each of you, and may you find your place in the bigger God story unfolding in our world.

With much gratitude,

Sue, Jen & Gwen

Thailand 9

As Gwen mentioned in the last email, we were picked up at the hotel at 6:15 Wednesday morning to head out for a day in Pataya. The main reason for our trip was to visit Jit's family, and we were excited to meet them and extend our Thailand family. But there were many experiences along the way that we will try to share.

 

As we arrived at Jit's family's home we realized that we had arrived in the middle of a very important rite and celebration. Her parents had just built and moved into a new home, and we arrived in time to see nine Buddhist monks leading the family in a blessing ceremony on the home. By Western standards this was a very modest home, only three rooms and maybe 30 by 15 feet in total. But Jit's parents are fishers and considered quite well off in their town. There were close to 40 friends and family there, and dishes upon dishes of food to add to the celebration. When we arrived we were led into the house and seated in a circle, where we were invited to eat. It was great to share in this experience. A funny moment occured when an older women in the house asked to "touch" Sue as she had never seen a white woman. She came over and proceded to touch her face, and then squeezed both Sue and Jen's arms to see if they were strong and felt different from Thai women! She kept staring at Sue and wanted her to go to her house across the field. Unfortunately time didn't allow, but it was a very funny moment.

 

We then left and headed to visit two orphanages. The first one was for older grade school children. It is an orphanage that the girls at the Home for New Beginnings have visited in the past on their own "mission trip", so it was a great reunion. Though the children seemed happy, it was a very poor orphanage with only the most basic of things. The second orphanage we visited was quite a contrast. It was an orphanage for newborns all the way up to high school aged children, and was extremely beautiful. There too, the children looked very well cared for and loved. We were told that they staff one nanny for every 4 children and so there is a lot of attention and love given to each child. The youngest child we saw was a 7 day old baby. We spent most of our time with the young babies, holding them and playing with them. It was very interesting to see that many of the children were of mixed heritage, as they are the children of Thai prostitutes and "farangs" (foreign men). This was a new layer to the issues here that we had not been exposed to before.

 

The last part of our day was spent in the downtown city of Pataya. Gwen alluded to the sights there, but to be honest, no words could really capture what we saw and felt. Pataya is the city where sex tourism allegedly began in Thailand. As we drove around, the streets were literally crawling with people, mostly foreign men. We estimated there to be 1000 bars that we could see, but I think that number could be considered conservative. Pataya also has a very large gay culture, and we drove by several areas advertised as "Boy Towns". We noticed many foreign men walking around with young Thai boys. If you estimate an average of 40 women working in any one bar, the numbers are staggering--possibly 40,000+ women sexually exploited in this one area. That does not take into account all of the street walkers who line the boardwalks along the beach waiting for customers.

 

The only way we can describe what we saw is an assault... the lights, the noise, the sights, the sounds, the images and words plastered everywhere was like an assault into the deepest places of your heart and spirit. To see such concentrated exploitation and brokenness in so many men and women was really too much to take in. We returned to Bangkok physically and emotionally exhausted.

 

This is a place out of control, and we know that it is only one of many many places like it around the world. What are the keys? Where does a shift need to happen? Both men and women need to be transformed... not just in Thailand but around the world. The heartbeat of any country and culture is the role of its' women and children. We need to examine that in every culture, including our Western culture.

 

Please pray for encouragement for Bonita as she strives to make a difference here in this place. And as our thoughts have been racing in these past few days, we have felt a call to pray for the women of Thailand to "get up", to see and embrace the value and dignity and worth that is theirs, to unite and demand the place that is rightly theirs, to no longer allow themselves to be victimized. Isaiah 61:4 says, "they will rebuild the ancient ruins....the cities long destroyed". May it be so for the women of Thailand.

 

Thank you again for your support and love along the journey,

 

Sue, Jen & Gwen