ฤดูร้อน

In Thailand, April is one of the most unique months of the year. April 13 is "Thai New Year" and is celebrated over the course of 5 days. Since this is also the peak of the hot season, it is celebrated with large scale water "fights" to help everyone stay cool, as well as applying white paste to each other's faces as a way to ward off evil spirits. Because of Covid, neither of these activities were allowed this year, but we did enjoy a week off of language school, as well as taking a trip to the south of Thailand. 

Monks collecting food offerings in the morning light.

Our friend, Phii Kawn, offered to take us to Bangkok on our way to the south and stay in his condo with him, as well as tour the city together a little bit. We are so thankful for our relationship with him, and are constantly amazed at his desire to "take care of us." We loved getting to see Bangkok through the eyes of a local!

The "tuk-tuk," a unique, three-wheeled taxi service you can find in most major cities in Thailand.

We have yet to get bored with Thai food. It is so full of flavor!

The beaches in southern Thailand are phenomenal. Crystal clear water, beautiful rocks and cliffs, powdery white sand. We can't believe we get to live in a country with such beautiful places to visit!

We had the opportunity to meet with our friend, Phii Bird, and his new girlfriend, Namkheng, last week! This is our friend who is in the program for ex-prisoners that we mentioned in the last post. He made it known that he wanted to follow Christ last month, which we praise God for! We would love your prayers for him though, especially now, as he has made some recent decisions that have resulted in him being kicked out of the program. Please join us in praying that he would fully surrender his will to the Lord, and for wisdom for the leaders of the prison ministry program to address this situation.

PRAISES & PRAYER REQUESTS:

- praise God for a restful vacation this month!

- praise for post-language school plans coming into a clearer focus (more on that later).

- prayers for Phii Bird (mentioned above).

- prayers for endurance and ability to absorb information and vocabulary these last few months of language school. There are times when we are encouraged by the progress we see, and there are times that being competent in this language feels so out of reach that we can lose motivation. It is said that fluency in the Thai language for an English speaker takes about 3 years, so we know that perseverance is necessary if we want to reach that point! But it can be disheartening when you are fumbling over mispronounced words and incorrect sentence structures that fail to communicate what you want to.

"And I will lead the blind in a way that they do not know, in paths that they have not known I will guide them. I will turn the darkness before them into light, the rough places into level ground. These are the things I do, and I do not forsake them." (Isaiah 42:16)