New year, new experiences.

The first month of 2022 flew by! Although we have so far to go with the Thai language, it has been encouraging to see some more progress this month. We are grateful to have many gracious Thai people in our lives who bear with us as we fumble our way through speaking Thai.

Our language school recently hired a new Thai teacher, Khruu Eye, who is about our age. She and her family are Buddhists, and she invited us to go with them to the old capital city of Thailand (Ayutthaya). She wanted to "make merit" at the temple, which provided an opportunity for us to observe Buddhism play out in the life of a personal friend more clearly. It was an interesting and sobering experience.

We visited the temple of the "reclining Buddha," where people buy gold stickers and place them on the reclining Buddha as they try to hold in their mind the thing that they want to happen. When we asked about who they believe grants them their desires, we were told that it's really more for personal confidence and they're not totally sure if anybody hears them. 

At the temple, there are many different ways that you can "make merit," including offering gifts to the Buddha images, paying respect to the monks, and receiving their sprinkling of "holy" water. It seems that the religious beliefs in Thailand vary from person to person and is based in great part on personal experience, leading to a very fluid version of Buddhism here.

There are a lot of old temple ruins in Ayutthaya as well, and touring the old city with Khruu Eye and her parents was very interesting. They are a wonderful family and treated us so well as they introduced us to some of their country's history! We were able to share some with them about our own faith during the trip. We are hoping for more opportunities for further conversation about Jesus!

At the end of the month, Phii Ko came to church with us (praise God!), and then invited us to visit a temple with him. This temple takes care of about 115 children, similar to an orphanage. Some children are orphans, and some have parents who are unable to take care of them and send them to the temple. The drive there was beautiful, and the temple is tucked away into the mountains outside of Lopburi.

The temple property has a cave that is filled with idols and images of Buddha. We felt the presence of evil as we walked through the cave, and felt the weight of deception and wickedness that permeates Buddhist practices. We heard a statistic this month that one Thai person dies every minute without ever having heard about Jesus. Father, build Your church in this land!

PRAISES & PRAYER REQUESTS:

- pray for Phii Ko (in the red sweatshirt pictured above). He has been open to continuing conversation about Jesus, which has been so encouraging! Thank you so much for the prayers you have offered on his behalf already. He has had two dreams (one about heaven, and the other about evil spirits) that he said are unlike any dream he has had before. We believe that God is working conviction in him, and we would love if you'd join us in praying that his eyes would be open to a genuine understanding of the gospel that leads to repentance!

- pray for our new teacher, Khruu Eye, that her heart would be open to hearing more about Jesus and that God would provide opportunities and boldness for us to share.

- pray for post-language school decisions. This month we were presented with a few more specific opportunities that we are bringing before the Lord.

- praise for the many good gifts from the Father in this season! Good community with our classmates, a small, yet gospel-centered Thai church to be a part of while learning the language, and new Thai contacts. And most of all, the gospel of abundant grace and pardon in Christ, which meets us each day in new ways. 

“We can reach our world, if we will. The greatest lack today is not people or funds. The greatest need is prayer." – Wesley Duewel