A full September.

(A monk on a motorboat in Lopburi.)

Looking back, these past four weeks have held so much in them! We started the month off with a short trip to Bangkok to celebrate our anniversary! It is such a privilege to have such an amazing city only a 3-hour train ride away. 

This was such a sweet and refreshing trip for us. Marriage is a huge gift, and we praise God for 3 amazing years!

We are always amazed at the vastness of Bangkok. It seems you could never run out of new areas to explore there!

I (Sheree) was able to learn to cook some new dishes this month as well. My language tutor has experience as a cook, so she is very skilled in Thai cuisine and I could learn a lot from her. It has been really fun to play around with more authentic Thai recipes in the kitchen! The food here uses a lot of fresh herbs and vegetables, many of which we do not have in America! It has been a fun learning curve for me. 

A glimpse into a Thai "restaurant." It is very common in Thailand for people to open a restaurant in the front part of their home, and then live in the back or upstairs. This month, our next door neighbors opened a restaurant in the front of their home and we have enjoyed getting to build relationship with them through that means. Such a unique and fun part of the culture here!

We have continued getting together with the kids in our neighborhood on Saturdays. Our time usually consists of games, Bible stories, coloring, English practice, and snacks. ;) As we have been sharing about Jesus with them, we have heard them say things like, "Jesus died on the cross because he did bad things." We are not sure if that is what they are taught in school (they do study Western religion some), or if there is somewhere else they are getting that information. We have been thankful for the opportunity to engage with them, and hopefully clarify the message of the gospel in their minds. Praying for the Holy Spirit's work in these little seeds that are being planted through our imperfect Thai! They love playing on the piano and the guitar while they are over. We are trying to teach them some songs, but as you can imagine, it's a little chaotic. ;)

Later this month, we were able to take the train up to Chiang Mai, which is in northwest Thailand, for a weekend. We praise God for His blessing over this trip, as we were able to connect with a few contacts there who are doing business as missions, and were able to give some helpful advice, direction, and challenge us with good questions while we were visiting. We will be sharing more later on how God is leading in regards to potentially doing business as missions here.

The young adults at our church have a small group that we have enjoyed getting to be a part of each week! Some have been believers for a long time, some are new believers, and some are just interested in learning more about Christianity. They are very gracious with our language blunders and we laugh a lot. Some days we are so encouraged by how much we can understand and communicate and really feel like it is taking less effort to be a part of the group, and some days we feel discouraged in all of those areas. Such is the language and culture acquisition learning curve! 

This month, we were also able to join a new Bible study with ex-prisoners. That has been a neat experience. It has caused us to think in new ways about how to work through biblical concepts with new believers, as well as those who are interested but have not yet surrendered to the Lord, in a new culture.

PRAISES & PRAYER REQUESTS:

- praise for good community and gospel opportunities that God has provided for us.

- praise for more direction and guidance from the Lord regarding business as missions.

- pray for continued endurance and zeal in language learning. Thankful for where we are, but still have a ways to go until fluency, and we are wanting to stay focused and driven in this area!

- pray for the Spirit's work in the lives of those who don't yet know Him, but are seeking.

"You can give without loving, but you cannot love without giving." (Amy Carmichael)