Hello:
I hope this finds you all well and enjoying the fall in the US.
Family Update:
We are doing well. God fills our lives with lots of pleasant little things. The dog is expecting puppies early next month. The kids brought home a kitten last month. Tan and I didn't want it but have kind of fell in love with the little thing within a couple days. School is going OK. Tan continues to help at the school 3 days per week. The after-school activities are growing. All three kids are involved in a drama that will be put on in January. So they have practice on Tuesdays. Alisa and Sam have restarted piano and drum lessons respectively after having stopped for over six months. Alisa has joined a student mission's fellowship.
Our house, which we feel is pretty big, has actually been a little tight for the last 2-3 weeks with 10 people, one dog, one cat and thousands of ticks. The Quesenberry family has come to join the MMF and they are in our house with us until things get sorted out in the house they plan to rent. It is quite a big job to cross the ocean with only their bags and move into a house with absolutely nothing in it - not even a kitchen sink. Also, a friend of Alisa's needed a roof to sleep under while her family is away for a few weeks. So as you can see, life has been plenti-FULL at the Coats house.
Ministry Update:
The Mekong Minority Foundation (MMF) is going well. Stephen Carter and Josh McGarvey came in August and took lots of footage. The editing and translating has been quite a lot of difficult work. It will be awhile before that is done.
We are pleased to welcome the Quesenberry Family. They will be hard at work studying Thai for the first 3 months, so we'll not expect them to be too involved until next year.
Our leadership training course for the Ethnic minority community leaders is coming to a close and already several leaders are asking if they can join in for some of the next course classes next year. Though the course hasn't turned out exactly as I had hoped, it seems to have been enough of a success that community leaders are coming to us to inquire about joining next year.
We are in the midst of plans to build our first building on the land the MMF acquired in May 2006. The cost of materials has gone way up, while the building specifications are beyond what I had originally thought. The estimated costs of the building are in the range of $85,000 now. It's big and will be able to house up to 25 full time staff or partners. The team is thinking long term. We have an approved budget of $40,000 for 2007, so considerable work needs to be done to raise the difference. I am currently in dialogue with one of our main donors to see if they will make a grant to cover the difference. I am quite optimistic.
Prayer concerns:
Disasters are hitting all over the place in Thailand these days. I am sure that it is happening in our neighboring countries as well, but we don't hear so much.
• Please pray for those people who are experiencing floods and mud slides and great loss. We are praying about how our MMF might respond to this apparent trend in our changing world.
God bless you all,
Scott and Tan
To learn more about the work of Scott and Tan Coats, go to their website at http://www.minorityleadership.org .