Marsh 2019 Update

Magandang umaga po,

Here is a recap of events from January to September of 2019.  Got your coffee?  It's a long one.

In January of this year we implemented a change to our attendance policy at the church.  We removed the requirement for bracelet makers to sign in and sign out every Sunday and Wednesday night.  We moved the responsibility for “members” to the 23 leaders that we have.  They now keep track of their bracelet makers and report to us any changes that may cause someone to be removed.  At this time we are not adding anyone to the list unless there is a serious need.

Threads of Hope had been paying for 17 students to attend colleges in various towns/cities by covering their expenses.  This ended up being fairly overwhelming and as of April the ministry decided to stop with the scholarship payments for the students.  If there are any of you who would be willing to sponsor any of these students, please contact Chris Kuhlow at kuhlcrew2@gmail.com to work with her in getting something set up.  These young people need financial help.

We worked on the design and development of a new product line this year.  Many, many hours were invested there.  We now have 4 different sized dog collars.  The smallest one would fit a cat or some other small critter as well.  Most of them adjust with velcro and have d-rings for ID tags.  They are really quite nice looking and are reinforced for the big dogs, although we recommend they just be used for style and not walking a dog.  

The implementation of ATC (a collections software) and changes to some of our procedures starting last summer has brought significant benefits regarding the closing of accounts and receipt of more funds for the ministry.  We will be working on an education series of emails to send to new customers to try to remove any questions they may have on how Threads of Hope fundraisers work and what they can do to maximize their success with their fundraising efforts. 

Jim had a series of events this Spring that was fairly serious but thank God for friends who are doctors and good medical opportunities in Manila, everything was resolved.  He had tachycardia in April and went to see a cardiologist.  After reviewing Jim’s 2D-echogram the cardiologist set Jim up an appointment with another cardiologist in Manila at St. Luke’s Hospital (probably the best hospital in the country) for an angiogram (viewing my arteries around his heart).  He discovered a 90% blockage in the LAD (widow-maker) artery and performed an angioplasty to open the artery up.  Jim is doing great now physically and mentally regarding his heart.  The downside to this event is a $9,600 bill from St. Luke's hospital.  We are hopeful that our Medi-share health care co-op will help but at this time the bill is totally on our shoulders.  We have been blessed by our church with a part of the bill but the majority is on us personally.  If you feel led by the Lord to help us to cover some of these costs please email us at jijumarsh@gmail.com.  

We arrived back in the USA on May 14^th.  We landed in Nashville where our sons, Ben and Will, both live.  We have a house there and we spent several weeks working on different areas of the house to get it ready to rent to our son Ben and two other roommates.  It is amazing all the little things that need fixing and how long it takes to fix (especially when we are not too experienced with some of those things!).  

We drove up to Wisconsin on June 13^th and went to Marinette to visit Julie’s mother for the weekend before getting settled in the Valley.  We were blessed this summer once again by the wonderful, generous hearts of the Perkins family to allow us to stay in their upstairs apartment.  We are truly humbled by their generosity and warmth shown to us.  We are amazed – they treat us like family (Bill told Jim, “you need to cut the lawn!”  LOL!  Actually Jim volunteered to cut it – one way for us to show our appreciation.  We are incredibly appreciative of their open, accepting arms showing the love of Jesus to us! 

This summer is the first summer that we know of where we did not have bracelet orders throughout the summer.  Threads of Hope just did not have the funds available to be able to finance 3 months of bracelet orders while we were not there.  We will be working this summer to build up the funds accounts to be able to start ordering at the end of August when Julie and I return to the Philippines. 

Julie also worked this summer on the launching of a new kind of shopping cart for Threads of Hope.  We have never had a cart where someone could choose a specific product for purchase, but not so anymore.  We call it the Pick Your Product collection. Check it out.  We are showcasing 50 collars in each size (Large, Medium, Small and Extra Small) and we also included 50 camera straps.  It is fun to go out and look at all of the beautiful designs and color combinations.

We volunteered at Lifest this summer and worked at the booth for Threads of Hope.  I believe it was TOH’s best year ever so far at Lifest.  We were constantly busy PTL!   Then Julie and I had a booth at EAA for the 8^th time we believe.  It was also our best year for sales there.  The Lord was a huge help by giving us fantastic weather!!  It was a great event. Our new dog collars were a real hit at EAA.

We spent some wonderful family time with Julie’s mom and our families this summer.  It was great.  We also spend special time with many of you that we are so thankful for because we can’t do this ministry without you!

We headed back to Nashville on Aug. 12 intending to arrive on Aug 12^th but that was not to be.  In the middle of Illinois as we were pulling a trailer, we heard an explosion underneath the Highlander.  Lo and behold we lost a day traveling finding out that our transfer case seized up (part of the axle system) and one of our CV joints was blown right off the vehicle.   It took 9 days before we could get the vehicle back but there were still some other problems with it.  Needless to say we were blessed that there was no accident and God showed up in several places during that event.  There is a day by day detail write up on our blog -  MarshMissionMemos.blogspot.com if you want to read all the details.  God showed up in many places and we are very glad that He did.  This event will set us back $3,500 when all said and done.  The CV joints / transfer case was $3,000 and with the blessing of brother, Joe Roeder, and his brother-in-law, Fred, they are going to replace the traction parts that were damaged as well.  If you feel led by the Lord to help us with this cost, please email us to let us know.  This summer has really set us back financially but we know that God provides and He is faithful ALWAYS!

We arrived back in Manila on 9/5 and back to Aninuan on 9/7.  Everything is going well so far with the ministry.  It is currently the rainy season and BOY has it rained.  For 13 days in a row it has rained several times each day and sometimes pouring buckets.  They had a drought this summer so God is showing up again and replenishing the needed water supply.

Sorry for such a long update but it has been a VERY busy year.  We will try to update ya’ll much more frequently going forward.  Thank you for your prayers and support for our mission!  We love you all!

Prayer Requests:
Please pray for continued good health for both of us.
Please pray that we find balance between God time, exercise time, fellowship time and ministry time.  We have been out of balance for many years already.
Please pray for our first attempt to do a world-wide family Bible study this year with multiple locations: Wisconsin, Colorado, Tennessee, and the Philippines.  We praise God for technology and pray that it behaves when we need it during our discussion times.

Please let us know how we can be praying for you as well.

God Bless

Jim and Julie