กุมภาพันธ์

These last few weeks have been full, in the best of ways. Full of new relationships, new vocabulary, making mistakes, understanding Thai culture more deeply, disappointments, moments of rest, and opportunities to lean on the sufficiency of Christ anew. 

A sunrise view from our balcony.

Waiting on motorbike repairs at our local mechanic.

We are continually thankful for the way that God has provided these neighbors for us. They have welcomed us into their friend group and readily accepted us, which has led to many opportunities for language and culture learning, as well as conversations about what it means to follow Jesus. Phii Ko, in the back of this picture, is the one who has been going to church with us. This month held more conversations with him about eternity, the truth of the Bible, and salvation through faith instead of works. Please continue to pray with us for the miracle of salvation to be worked in his heart!

This month, we also had the opportunity to go camping in some mountains 2 hours outside of Lopburi with a few of our classmates. It was a sweet and refreshing time to enjoy the nature in Thailand and get to know our classmates better! This group represents America, Germany, Vietnam, and Peru, so even on our camping trip, we had many opportunities to learn about the mindset of other cultures and how our home countries affect the way we live. Cultural differences are super fascinating!

Ryan and Phii Bird at a neighborhood cookout. 

We met Phii Bird about 2 weeks ago, as he just recently came out of prison. He was looking for work and a change in his life, so we were able to refer him to the rehabilitation program our language school has for ex-prisoners. It is an intensive program with daily mentoring/Bible studies, working on the school grounds, and working alongside/being discipled by a mature Thai Christian man each day. After a few days of working at the school, Phii Bird responded to the story of "The Prodigal Son" with tears, seeing himself as the son in the story. He has made a decision to repent and believe in Christ and we are so thankful! It has been such a pleasure for us to rub shoulders with him at school and in our neighborhood and to see the work the Holy Spirit is doing in his heart!

This month taught us the importance of flexibility in Thai culture. We had invited a Thai family over for dinner, and it ended up getting rescheduled twice at the last minute, and we are learning this is a fairly common experience here. And then one night, Ryan and I were going to grill out and enjoy a quiet dinner with just the two of us. When Ryan was on his way home from picking up some charcoal, our neighbors asked what was for dinner and invited themselves over! ;) At first, it was a little hard to readjust expectations and adapt, but we are learning to hold our cultural expectations more loosely and embrace spontaneity! We are also finding that the opportunities that happen at the last minute are sometimes much more rich than the ones we plan for.

PRAISES & PRAYER REQUESTS:

- pray for Phii Bird as he has just surrendered his life to the Lord. Pray that God would use these early days of his faith to root him and ground him in Christ.

- pray for Phii Ko to surrender to Christ and receive the gift of the gospel.

- praise for the relationships, both with Thai people and fellow missionaries, that God has continually blessed us with.

- pray for clear leading, wisdom, and discernment, as we consider life after language school.

So thankful for all of you! <3 

"Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous works among all the peoples! For great is our Lord and greatly to be praised, and he is to be feared above all gods. For all the gods of the peoples are worthless idols, but the Lord made the heavens. Splendor and majesty are before him; strength and joy are in his place." (1 Chronicles 16:24-27)