Dear Friends,

We wanted to take some time to share with you what has been happening in our lives. We have some encouraging and exciting news regarding Penny! We are grateful that you care and pray for us. We enjoyed some quality time with our children in Adelaide and were able to meet our granddaughter, Sufjan. She is such a treasure and a delight. Being grandparents is indeed a fulfilling experience!!

Jaci has switched from health science to nursing studies. We know she will make a wonderful nurse when she is finished. She is enjoying her studies and has made her house a real home for her and Caleb who share a rental house together.

We rejoiced with Luke & Pe and they continue to settle into life as parents. Please continue to be praying for them. Luke still has not heard from the specialist yet about what will be happening with his hip. He is needing a hip replacement but the doctors are wanting to delay this as long as possible. Luke’s condition has meant he has had to quit work. He is enjoying his visual arts course and is producing some fine work!

Zac is enjoying settling into life as a student and both he and Michelle are now feeling more settled here in Adelaide. Zac is studying community and disability rehabiliation, his end goal still being paramedics. Please continue to be praying for them as they seek the Lord regarding their future and as to how long they will stay in Australia before relocating to the States.

Caleb has pursued a Bachelor of Arts majoring in philosophy but due to a misunderstanding within the Sth Australian Tertiary entrance board about his year 12 certificate he going to have to wait until mid-year to apply again. Once he begins then, all our kids will be studying in Adelaide.

Penny has finished all her tests and scans which resulted in the doctor saying he was quite confused and didn’t know what to make of the results. The cells which fight the cancer have been increasing in number and the cancer shows signs of retreating and being treated. The wonderful thing is that Penny has not treated her cancer the traditional way and so when the specialist says it shows signs of being treated he is presuming Penny has been undergoing chemo and radiation! What is confusing our doctor is that while the cancer cells are decreasing in number, the tumour is increasing in size. This increase in the size of the tumor accounts for why Penny’s pain has been increasing. We left our last doctors appointment very encouraged, and Penny remains determined to see this cancer finished off, once and for all.

To help this process Penny and I are going back down to the health clinic in Malaysia for more intensive treatment. Please be praying for her during this time that the cancer will continue to retreat and that the cancer fighting cells continue to multiply. Penny didn’t go to the health clinic last year and has felt the effects of not going. Their treatments really seem to have a positive effect on her health and wellness.

Penny was also able to make a quick trip up to Brisbane to see her family and to spend time with her Dad. This may well be the very last time she sees him. It was a bitter sweet time but a joy to her to hear Dad say that he was proud of her and her work. They said goodbye knowing that they would probably not see each other again.

I (Paul) continue to enjoy my new roles as location leader for YWAM Chiang Rai as well as regional leader for YWAM Thailand. These new roles have meant a rather rapid increase in the amount of meetings and travel I have had to undergo. It has been challenging yet rewarding. I am very grateful for Joanna, a lady who has stepped in to be my PA. My passion for leadership development and training is still very strong and my roles now afford me the opportunity to actually start to put some things on my heart into place.

To help me in this I have felt to go to Spain to do a Leadership Development Course, after which I hope to be able to see it implemented in the northern region of Thailand and to see our young Thai’s and other YWAM staff mentored and developed in their leadership. Please be praying for me in this as it means I will be away for six weeks (in April/May) and this is a long time to be away. Fortunately I have a good leadership team working with me. Because of the length of time I will be away we have felt that it is important that Penny will also travel to Spain midway through this course. This is a real sacrifice for Penny as it means more travel, and flying is not so comfortable for her.

Thanks again for your love, your prayers and for your support and encouragement. I hope that you can take heart in what you have read and can see God at work. God is good and He is faithful, we are very thankful. You have played an important part in this. May you experience the love of the Lord in your life.

With love,

Paul and Penny.

Dear family & friends,
introducing…….. SUFJAN EBONY WILCOX

Luke & Pennie have a daughter, Sufjan Ebony Wilcox was born on Saturday 23rd January. Sufjan {pronounced: soof-yaan} weighed 3.4 kgs, 51cm long and everyone is well. We are delighted first-time grandparents, and are looking forward very much to seeing her next month when we visit Adelaide for 2 weeks.

Life in Chiang Rai continues to be full and fun. It is exciting as we face each day. Coming up for us is the 50th celebration of YWAM in Chiang Mai, a bigger city 3 hours drive south/west from here. Then we renew our yearly visa’s, before we choof off to be a doting granny & gramps in Adelaide, as well as visit with our other kids too.

In April (1st – 14th) I am planning to return again to Malaysia for 2 weeks to the health clinic, where I will get another good boost of ‘healthiness’ and TLC. Paul will keep me company. If anyone wants to help us out specifically to enable me to pay for this, that would be huge and much appreciated.

Thanks for praying for us, for ’standing’ with us and being so faithful in your giving so we can keep going here. While in Adelaide, I will get a bit of a health report so can let you know next letter what the results are.

Bless you for your support and love shown to us,
Paul & Penny

It will be the last Christmas Luke and Pennie celebrate being just a couple. They will be welcoming into their lives their first child. This means that this will be our last Christmas as just parents and next year we get to celebrate the fact that we’ll be grandparents!!

This Christmas will be the first Christmas in Australia for Zac and Michelle as a married couple.

This will be our first Christmas with no family members to celebrate it with.

Penny clocks another year of being a walking/living miracle. I’ll not forget the look on the oncologists face when we last visited him. He became convinced that he had made a misdiagnosis!! Penny has gone past the maximum of nine months for someone living with this aggressive cancer and not undergoing the “normal” route of treatment and still be living. He has never witnessed this before however he obviously hasn’t seen God at work before!! In fact, the two years is looming since Penny was diagnosed with this more aggressive form of cancer.

This will be our first Christmas as house-parents at the ‘girls house’ as the project is ’set up’ now. it’s been fun being more ‘hands on’ involved in the children’s lives again.

This will also be our first Christmas with me functioning as location leader for YWAM Chiang Rai. It’s been a wonderful challenge and I’ve been privileged to see God at work in the lives of our ministry leaders. It will also be my first Christmas where I am the northern regional leader for YWAM Thailand. This is only something just hot off the press and marks a new chapter in my life and leadership. It will be an even bigger challenge for me than being simply the location leader.

Some other bits of news and information…

Penny and I enjoyed a few days down at MaeSot where I had been invited to teach at a conference for Karen pastors. It was an incredible time and so humbling as we say God work in people’s lives. The pastors are now planning another longer time of teaching and to wider audience. Instead of just a handful of pastors (about 12 pastors and elders attended) they want everyone in their congregations to be there.

teaching pastors at Mae Sot

I have had a few travelling engagements where I taught on a Korean DTS over in North Eastern Thailand, went to Bali to represent Thailand at a regional DTS conference, and I was able to help the DTS in Bangkok do some debriefing at the end of their DTS.

Penny also travelled down for Bangkok for Project L.I.F.E. ministry leaders mtgs for a few days.

Penny’s pain level has fluctuated over the past couple of months. She has noticed that when she is too busy her pain levels increase significantly. She is trying hard to slow down more and be more focused on maintaining her health and resting. If she does this, she notices a significant drop in her pain levels.
Some things to pray for …

Please be praying for Penny and I as we travel to Vietnam to do some staff training (Dec 6th – 16th). This will be our first visit to this country and we are both looking forward to our time away. After we have finished we are planning a few days off down at the beach, south of Bangkok. Please pray that we’ll be able to enjoy our rest time and come back to Chiang Rai feeling refreshed and ready for the fun and games of Christmas season with 2 houses full of young children!

Please continue to be praying for Penny’s complete healing. Though she may be a walking/living miracle, she is still very much in need of our prayers for her complete healing. We are both so aware that every day is a gift and we are seeking to enjoy and take each day as it comes.

Be praying for us and for our children during this time of not being together. We will miss them terribly.

Please also uphold Luke in your prayers as he has been diagnosed with a benign tumour in his hip which has damaged his hip joint, it is a rare condition and he will need to have surgery. with their first child due next month, it’s not an ideal time for surgery and needing to recover from it.
We want to take this time to thank you for journeying with us throughout this year and we look forward to doing so next year. May you experience the love and joy over this festive season.

With love,
Paul and Penny.

Dear family and friends,
God is blessing and we are seeing people come to know Jesus and others growing in interest, so it is a boost for us after years of sowing… living in a fish bowl and seeking to be a ‘light’ and offer hope.

The biannual, YWAM Thailand national staff conference was August 1-4, in Krabi, this was the first ever YWAM staff conference in southern Thailand! The theme of the conference was, “Passing the torch”. During this time YWAM Thailand, as a whole, recommitted itself to raising up young Thai nationals within the mission. Currently, there are over 150 Thais on staff of YWAM Thailand, with 30 of the 60 YWAM ministries being led by Thai nationals. The main speaker spoke about keeping a passion for Jesus at the heart of our lives and ministries. Paul has recently taken on a leadership role (part of the leadership team) for our mission in the northern region, as well as being appointed as location leader of YWAM Chiang Rai, this role carries extra responsibilities and challenges.

Some of you may have heard that Paul has been struggling a little with his health of late. He even had a week stint in hospital on IV antibiotics to aid his recovery several weeks ago. This has improved a lot, however tests have shown that his immune system needs a boost and pretty much he just needs to look after himself more, so that’s the goal. He is trying to adjust his lifestyle to be more careful, so he can stay well and live longer. In fact that is both our goals and I too daily seek to keep focused on looking after my health but not allowing that consume me. I don’t focus on the fact that I have cancer but I seek to be wise about what I do and what I don’t do. I am so grateful that I remain strong with little pain. It is exciting to be here, being a part of people’s lives and sharing important things of life with people we have grown to love.

We love being in the girls house being a closer part of the children’s lives. It is fun and provides many teachable moments! Please pray for us though, as it is tricky at times to slow down and rest enough and not get too involved in all the day to day stuff when living with them.

Our own children are all living in Adelaide. As many of you know, Luke & Pe are expecting a baby in January, so we are excited with them, Pe is feeling better now she is past half way through her pregnancy. Luke is enjoying his visuals arts degree and doing very well. Jaci, just turned 24 and continues to study, even though her health still is up and down, if she is able to keep up her present pace, she will graduate at the end next year. Zac & Michelle moved to Adelaide from USA in January and have settled in well now, Michelle picked up a job in her field, as a baker and Zac is working part- time, as well as studying full-time, doing health science (same degree as Jaci) although Zac hopes to transfer credits next year, to attend a different university to focus on paramedic studies. Next month it’ll be one year already since they were married. Caleb completed his food-processing and baking course and since then has been looking for work, without success so far, but we are cheering him on and hoping he’ll get a ‘good break’ soon, seeing as he has this training. Please pray for Caleb in this.

Trust your lives are fun and full of hope as ours are! We value your prayers and the support of so many of you… thank you for partnering with us!
Blessings,
Paul & Penny

Dear family & friends,

I thought it was time to bring you up to date with what is happening in the world of the Wilcox Family.

I have been challenged in my Bible reading with what James was writing when he challenged and encouraged his readers to be not merely hearers of the Word but also doers! In James 2:22 he writes that we should not just listen but do what it says and then in verse 25 he writes, “But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it – he will be blessed in what he does.” The words which strike me are – looks intently, not forgetting, doing it. These are action words, words which describe how my response should be to the Lord when I read His word. My prayer is that I will become a man who is more intentional, who retains what the Lord is speaking to me and who applies the Word of God into my every day life.

Well, we are now back in Thailand after finishing up our home leave/furlough back in Australia. We had a lovely time catching up and reconnecting with friends, supporters and churches. We left simply amazed and encouraged at those the Lord has brought to our side to stand with us, fight with us, believe in us and to be continually praying for us. We do feel very humbled by this. Thank you so much for playing such an important part in our lives and ministry.

Since coming back we are beginning to realise that our new season here will be a season of changes.

Our house manager for the girls house, Susie, has moved down to Lop Buri to go through some intensive language learning for the next six months. Please be praying for Susie. She so wants to get a better grasp of the language and be able to communicate more effectively with the Thai’s. She has done a great job in looking after our girls.

Penny and I have felt that we should take on this role and so last week we moved into the girls house to live with them. We have both felt that our staff needed more direct input and discipleship and have felt the best way was to get involved in a much closer way. Our time away in Oz proved that we have very capable staff but also showed us that they still need more discipling and training. Please be praying for us in this, especially for Penny, that she will still be able to have her times of rest to enable her body to continue to be healed from the cancer. It will be a little more difficult for her to be able to take those times out.

There is also a major shift in my life as I have now taken on the leadership of YWAM Chiang Rai and will also be co-leading the work of YWAM Northern Thailand. This may come as a bit of a surprise for many of you as you will have been aware of my earlier struggle and how I almost stepped out of YWAM. God has turned things around and our outgoing leader asked me many times to pray about taking over his leadership. I kept saying no until one day I felt the Lord say, take it on.

So it is with fear and trepidation that I am taking on this new role. It’s not what I thought I came to Thailand for but yet I trust the Lord in it. I do feel it is for a season but I just don’t know how long this season will be for. Please pray for me that I will have the mind of Christ in each matter. I need His Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that I may know Him better and know how He would have me respond in each and every situation I find myself in. I want to be one who listens intently to what the Lord is saying, retain it and apply it into my life, ‘walking out’ those things the Lord is speaking to me about.

May the Lord continue to bless you and keep you and cause His face to shine upon you. May you know His leading in your life and may you also know His provision in each and every situation you find yourself in. Thanks again for your love, prayers and for your support of us and your prayers for our own children in Adelaide also.

With love, Paul (on behalf of Penny).

We have great news to share with. A couple of weeks ago, after having a CT scan, I went to my oncologist and the news is that my tumour has shrunk considerably. So he basically said he couldn’t do anything more to help me and that I should continue to do what I am doing, as it is obviously helping. This is the same man who almost 2 years ago said that, with the type of aggressive cancer I had, I would probably live for just a few months.

During my recent visit he was intrigued and asked me: “what have you been doing”, when I told him all the different natural remedies, about my lifestyle change and the prayers of so many people, he was very interested.

So I continue on and remain encouraged and hope that this good news also brings encouragement to you. Thanks for helping, so many of you who have helped out by giving us the bucks so I can continue to buy the remedies and consume them everyday, plus those of you who pray for me. To all of our friends and family, thank you for continuing to walk this exciting journey with us, I trust you are enjoying learning through the process, as much as we are.

Love & hugs to you all,
Penny (& Paul)

March 6th, 2009 we celebrated being in Thailand 10 years. It was a fun night, we invited all our staff and some other friends over to join us in thanking God for the past 10 years since we first landed in this country with our 4 children, when we’d left Australia with one way tickets to this foreign land . What a very interesting ten years it has been, times like this are great for the soul…….. reflection! We smile, not that any of us can know the future but we have recently asked ourselves the question would we still have come?… had we know all we were to face? Yes, we’d have come, as we were following what we had on hearts to do, and to honour what we sensed was what God wanted for our lives and for our family. The past 10 years has been the most fulfilling season in our lives thus far!

Loads of people have asked about my health and this update is a wee bit overdue, sorry!!! I don’t have a lot to report apart from that I am doing really well. I have managed to steer clear of doctors/tests (who seem to only have bad news) for several months now and I am much better for it. I continue on my regime of health supplements, vegan diet, daily exercise, trying to rest more than I work, although that one is a bit of a challenge! praying, trusting and remaining positive. I am delighted to be alive and consider every day as a gift. I have too many reasons not to die yet, I want to see my grandchildren too! Everyday here in Thailand, I look about me and see the precious little children who God has added to our family, so many reasons……… for life!

I will have a CT scan and visit with my oncologist, end of March, in Melbourne. It’d be cool if you can pray for us about that, as it is not my most favourite thing to do. My pain is less, since a visit to a nutritionist in Adelaide who suggested some remedies that I have used since. I feel well, apart from some discomfort at times in my left side/back, and I look well, so people say!

This coming week we will travel back to Australia to report back to more churches and groups, who partner with us and who are interested in our work. We will do the same for April & May and return home to Chiang Rai on June 2nd. Mostly we will be in Sydney and Melbourne, so if you’d like to catch up with us, we’ll be glad to connect, shoot us an email and we’ll plan a time to get together eh! pwilcox@lannalife.org or our phone number in Oz is 0431140857

Paul has had huge time with various speaking opportunities, travelling and is right now quite exhausted from the past two weeks of intensive teaching, long but profitable hours at our YWAM base. This coming year holds good challenges for Paul with a few different opportunities on the horizon. He will also host/manage several work teams who plan to come through to help out at our HIV baby/children’s home.

We wouldn’t want to be doing anything else in any other part of the world, we love Chiang Rai and are so blessed that this is where God has us living and working.

Hopefully we’ll still be here in another decade, God knows our future………

Love & hugs to you all, Paul & Penny

We want to firstly take the time to thank each of you for the ways in which you have stood with us, rallied with us, warfared with us, encouraged us, prayed with us, and just plain loved us. It has been a constant source of encouragement for us.

We also want to wish you a very happy and joyful christmas and we pray that it will be filled with love and laughter. May the true spirit of christmas and not the spending at christmas be what impacts your life this special season!
We have some joyful and wonderful news to share with you. Yesterday we went to Penny’s oncologist to have a check up and to ask some hard questions about her future, surgery and the such. Well, firstly the oncologist was rather surprised to see Penny looking so well. He really couldn’t understand why Penny was still alive. He said, from his experience, that he has never known someone with her aggressive form of lymphoma to live beyond 6 – 9 months without any form of treatment (chemo, radiation, etc).

He then came to the ‘brilliant’ conclusion that there must have been a misdiagnosis of the biopsy! There could be no other explanation. Penny told him she felt it was her alternative treatments/supplements, vegan diet and prayers of all you friends that has resulted in her  quality of life and good health. She asked what he thought of this idea but he didn’t seem to know how to answer her question, again suggesting that it must have been a misdiagnosis.

Penny’s oncologist was very lovely and kind and actually encouraged Penny to keep doing what she was doing. The pressure for radical treatment was no longer there. I think he could see that what Penny was doing was having a great impact on her life physically, emotionally and mentally. We sincerely believe the spiritual side of things also played an important part. He also told us that the cancer is inoperable.

We wanted to share this good news with you so that you can celebrate with us this Christmas. God continues to grant Penny life and we are just so grateful for that. The cancer is still there and according to scans it is still growing. Her pain is also still there but if you were to see her you would never know that she has been fighting this cancer. Penny just looks fabulous and radiates the love and joy of Jesus. Her story has had a great impact on many peoples lives and will continue to do so.

Thank you so much for the VERY important part you have played in this story. Please continue to be praying for her complete healing. Every day is a miracle! Next March Penny will see the oncologist again and have more scans. We are praying that at that time the results will show the cancer is actually shrinking. Then, hopefully our oncologist may recognise that there must be Someone else at work!!

With love and prayers, Paul and Penny

Zachary and Michelle were married in California last Friday, 24th October. For those of you who’d like to see a few wedding photo’s…. here they are.

The day went perfectly and we all had lots of fun getting to know Zac’s new in-laws.

Paul & Penny

I had tests recently and results weren’t as good as we’d hoped. The
tumour has grown, but I continue to trust God for each day and I am
acutely aware that it is God who is in control. I am going to go to
Malaysia for another 12 days of intensive treatment at the
alternative health clinic from Sept 28th, so I am sure that will help
me also. I am not discouraged and have complete peace as I trust God
for my future. I am doing what I know I can do and leaving the rest
to God. I know that being alive now is a miracle, as according to the
doctors I should have died more than a year ago. There is a
possibility that I may have to have surgery on my left kidney, which
is dying as a result of the tumour squeezing around the renal aorta
but I am hoping that won’t be necessary.
Today I read and identified with words from ‘Streams in the Desert’:
“There is a divine mystery in suffering, one that has a strange and
supernatural power and has never been completely understood by human
reason. When a person who suffers reaches a point where he can be
calm and carefree, inwardly smiling at the suffering and no longer
asking God to be delivered from it, then the suffering has
accomplished its blessed ministry.” I relate to that as I feel at
peace just to trust God. I know that God causes all things to work
for good to those who love Him and are called according to His
purpose and I am content with that. I don’t think about what hard
things might be in store for me, it is so much more fun to remain
positive, to choose to continue to trust that God knows what is ahead &
so I don’t need to. It saves a lot of fretting. Paul is coming with
me to Malaysia to keep me company, and I am so glad he is!
Thanks for praying and for caring for us. Those in California or
Australia we hope to see you soon. Our mobile in Oz is 0433444723 so
call us, we’ll be there after November 2nd.
We’ll stay in touch,
Paul & Penny

p.s. next family update will have a wedding photo for sure!
Contact Information
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Penny Wilcox
PO Box 121 Bandu
A. Muang
Chiang Rai 57100
Thailand

Phone – 66-818811198