June 2025

The bakery continues to struggle, and I am busy trying to get caught up with all my work. The kids are doing well, and are a joy in our lives. We know that all things will work out in the end. A missionary came by the bakery today to network, but I was sleeping upstairs, which I never do, but I was abnormally exhausted from a morning of errands around town. Makes me wonder why I was sleeping on the rare occasion to connect with a fellow missionary. A lot of strange things like that have happened the past week, and it feels like God is blindfolding me and sending me into a maze saying "trust me". I do trust him, but I don't always know why things happen the way they do. I believe that it is for our good, even if it doesn't seem like it. 

Needs
We are tentatively planning on coming next march. That's in 9 months, if they grant my petition, we can apply for a visa, and if that doesn't take forever, we will be on our way. We still need to raise the money for Abigails ticket (too late to ride for free) and travel expenses, I'm guessing now, but probably around 2000, so if you would like to support us towards that, then let us know. 

Countries coloring fact book
I was on a hunt for a coloring book with the shapes of all the countries to color in, it just seemed like something that would already exist, and it didn't, so i decided to make it. I have now expanded an svg file of the shape of every country so that i could make outlines of each of them using a macro program i put together so make quicker work of it. Now to put things short, i have the outline of each country ready, and a flag for each country, which will be put on the same sheet, and I found several other tools to help create coloring images relevant to each country. Important information will be demonstrated, like percentages of religion, and the international nature of Christianity. Positive and negative aspects of each country will be shared. America will be criticized for hyper liberalism, Hollywood, etc, and China will be praised for producing cheap products for the benefit of the world. I will try not to be too bias, but give useful information in short format. 

Periodic Table coloring fact book
In a very similar manner, I wanted to create an elements of the periodic table coloring book, which has been done before, but I want to do a good quality free version. I will include quotes from the scientists who discovered each element, regarding their belief about God, and their motivation in science. This is not applicable to all of them, but most of them, which I find very refreshing and I want the kids to have a grasp of. Other than the element itself, various things that are made of the element will be on the sheet to color in. 

Other books
I put some more work into the types of propaganda book, and the history of idolatry book, mainly so i can use them with my son. 

Cabinets
I made a pretty cool cabinet with slots for my crates to slide into like drawers. It is super great, and I can take the crates out, move and stack as needed. I put a laminated plywood top on it made from a bunch of my useless plywood scraps. I actually used up those scraps in this build and it turned out cool, but it was difficult for a few reasons, managed to make it work though. 

Conclusion
It felt like a bit of a slower month, but I did actually get a lot done. We are working hard to balance and be productive in our ministry, work, and parenting. I can't understate how important it is that we not neglect one for the sake of the other. That is a typical missionary mistake. Thank you for standing with us as we continue to labor for the gospel here in Thailand.