August happenings.

The mountain scape in Laos, captured on our visa run there this month.

We have been in Udon Thani for about a month and a half now! Although we are starting to feel more familiar with the city and are making new friends here, we are finding that the process of finding your place somewhere new takes time. We are thankful for the Lord's faithfulness in every season though, and know that He can be trusted to lead and provide for us in this new chapter.

Pictured above are P'Bom and P'Thon, two of our neighbors who have agreed to be our language helpers this past month! It has been great to get to know them and have them in our home regularly. God even opened the opportunity to share the gospel with them, and they enjoy talking about spirituality, so we are hoping for further conversations about Christ. They are technically Buddhists, but like most Thais, have a lot of Animist beliefs mixed in as well. Above, we are enjoying "หมูกระทะ" together, which is a popular meal here in Thailand.

As far as BAM goes, this month has also held continued perfecting of our recipes and taste testing some of our menu items. We had some new friends/neighbors give us their feedback as well (pictured above). We have been continuing to meet with our BAM coaches through "IBEC" and are looking at an official launch of Sauced & Tossed within the next three months. Although there are definitely unknowns and anxieties that come with launching the business, we feel eager and excited to take this next step and get the business up and running. We are prayerful that God uses this venture to open doors for evangelism and discipleship here in Udon Thani!

As mentioned above, we had to do a visa run this month as well. This is hopefully the last time that we will need to do that, as from this month forward, all three of us will be able to use Ryan's business visa. We decided to stay for the weekend in Laos and turn it into a mini-vacation in honor of our anniversary this month as well! 

Laos is a beautiful country, and the culture and language is very similar to Thailand! The border of Laos is only about an hour drive from our home in Udon Thani, so it made for a very convenient "border hop."   

Sweet Nova Gail is 3 months now, and becomes more and more fun all the time as she is able to interact with us more. She is a gift. 

PRAISES & PRAYER REQUESTS:

- pray for P'Bom and P'Thon. Pray that the Holy Spirit would be working in their hearts and work the miracle of salvation in them. Pray for further opportunities to share about Christ and for grace to communicate clearly.

- praise God for a smooth visa transition this month and His provision in bringing us to Thailand and keeping us here!

- pray for God's blessing and guidance over Sauced & Tossed. Pray that God would already be preparing the hearts of our future employees to receive the gospel message and delight in Christ.

- praise God for 4 years of marriage by His grace! It is such a gift to get to do this life together. 💖

"Missions is not the ultimate goal of the church. Worship is. Missions exists because worship doesn't." (John Piper)