Hello Friends,
Happy June! We are enjoying some beautiful, warm, summer days in Knoxville and I wish I could share this sunshine with everyone. If you’ve been following along, you know we have been planning our GETAWAY to Vietnam since 2019 but with much consideration, we have decided to postpone the Vietnam GETAWAY until 2022.
We have not come to this decision lightly. On May 29, Yahoo news reported that Vietnam’s Health Ministry had detected a highly transmissible new variant of the coronavirus that has helped fuel a recent wave of covid-19 infections in the country. Due to heightened risk of COVID-19 in Vietnam, the Vietnamese Government is increasing restrictions on movement and calling for heightened vigilance.
In Ho Chi Minh City, local authorities continue to implement restrictions on public gatherings, restaurants, bars, barbershops, and service-oriented businesses in response to increasing numbers of COVID-19 infections. The U.S. Embassy Hanoi and Consulate General Ho Chi Minh City advise U.S. citizens that Vietnam Airlines is offering a direct flight to the United States from Hanoi to Washington Dulles Airport, in Dulles, Virginia on June 22 (Click the blue hyperlinks for more details).
While we understand that international travel has begun opening up for individuals and families, large gatherings are still discouraged in some regions. We are still looking into other options for 2021 but hope that you will continue to have patience with us. I can’t begin to express my gratefulness for all the prayers and support of CHN and our missionary friends during this pandemic.
Many blessings upon you,
Tori May and the CHN Board
The Future of World Religions:
Population Growth Projections, 2010-2050
by Pew Research Center
- The number of Muslims will nearly equal the number of Christians around the world.
- Atheists, agnostics and other people who do not affiliate with any religion – though increasing in countries such as the United States and France – will make up a declining share of the world’s total population.
- The global Buddhist population will be about the same size it was in 2010, while the Hindu and Jewish populations will be larger than they are today.
- In Europe, Muslims will make up 10% of the overall population.
- India will retain a Hindu majority but also will have the largest Muslim population of any country in the world, surpassing Indonesia.
- In the United States, Christians will decline from more than three-quarters of the population in 2010 to two-thirds in 2050, and Judaism will no longer be the largest non-Christian religion. Muslims will be more numerous in the U.S. than people who identify as Jewish on the basis of religion.
- Four out of every 10 Christians in the world will live in sub-Saharan Africa.
These are among the global religious trends highlighted in new demographic projections by the Pew Research Center. The projections take into account the current size and geographic distribution of the world’s major religions, age differences, fertility and mortality rates, international migration and patterns in conversion.
As of 2010, Christianity was by far the world’s largest religion, with an estimated 2.2 billion adherents, nearly a third (31%) of all 6.9 billion people on Earth. Islam was second, with 1.6 billion adherents, or 23% of the global population.
Click here for full article
I have been a bit overwhelmed in my reading in the books of Numbers and Chronicles while following through the Bible in a Year. All the names! What can we learn by reading through these names that are so different from ours? So many family lineages! I can’t keep up! I was asking the Lord about this and mentioned it to my husband and he said, “Do you know what the most important lesson is?
That we all count!”
Wow! What a perspective. We all count! Think about that. Yes, there are nuggets of truth and gems in the scripture in these two books, but in looking at them as whole and realizing they are there by the Divine leading of the Holy Spirit, this is an amazing thought:
We all count!
And because we all count, let me tell you a story about what God doesn’t count!
There was a little fellow who was counting everything … socks in his drawer, peas on his plate, and cars on the highway. He loved numbers and he loved to count.
One day he asked his father, “Daddy, can God count?”
“Of course, son… God can count!”
“What does He count?”
“He counts every hair on your head.”
“Every hair?”
“Yes, every hair.”
“What else does He count?”
“Well, when we are sad, or get hurt, get upset and we cry, God counts our tears.”
“Every tear?”
“Yes, every tear.”
Then, the little fellow asked, “Is there any thing God doesn’t count?”
The father answered, “Yes, there is one thing God doesn’t count.”
“What’s that”, the son asked.
The father took his son down the hall and led him to a cross hanging on the wall, pointed to it and said, “Because of that… He doesn’t count our sins.”
Victory Cabin Rental
Samson, AL
Victory Cabin Rental: The Rabbit Box During construction, Samson Whisnant talked to a couple of neighbors asking where he could find some 30 penny nails. They inquired as to why in the world he needed nails that size. (If you knew Samson, you know he believed “the bigger, the better!” when it came to nails and screws.) He responded that he was building a “rabbit box.” That was all it took. It has been called The Rabbit Box ever since. Our artistic cousin, Vaughn Hilsheimer, painted our resident rabbit on the wall in 2018.
Their parents purchased the property in the early 90’s while working for Camp Victory. Construction on the cabin began in 1995 with lumber made from trees felled by a tropical storm in 1994. It housed it’s first guests in 1996. They have owned the property since their Dad’s death in 2016. Rebecca and Samson have been in the hospitality business all their lives. Their parents always welcomed family, friends and missionaries into our home. As adults, they do the same in their homes. As an industry, Rebecca has been involved since 2007.
The Rabbit Box joins our 1930s farm house on 5.6 acres of southern charm. It holds 5 people in two bedrooms which share a bathroom in between. The open concept living room, dining room and kitchenette are fully stocked. Whether you wish to relax on the porch, watch the world go by or take a walk to enjoy God’s creation, it is our hope that you will find peace and inspiration here.
Use PROMO CODE: theCHN30