September- October 2025

Sorry for not doing a newsletter last month, I was a bit overwhelmed with technical issues. I have since got back on track for the most part. 

Needs
It is almost time for me to extend my visa again, here in 3 months, and I have spent a lot this year on visa related things, an expenses around the house as well. I think i am about 1500 dollars short for the money i have to show to extend my visa. I have to show 12,000 dollars in my thai bank account. The good thing is that after i extend my visa, i can use the money to buy tickets and travel when i come back home, but that means i will have to put it back for the next year, but we'll worry about that when the time comes. Thankyou to everyone who has given, i am thankful for you generosity, that has gotten us so close to where we need to be. Thankyou to everyone who will give, it really means a lot to us. Thankyou to everyone who continually prays for us, we need all the prayer we can get. 

Petition granted
Good news this month is that my petition for Fang has been granted, and now we can begin the visa application process. The bad news is that that process requires more fees which is making the cost of this whole things quickly surpass a thousand dollars not including airfare. I am thankful that we can finally move on, and if i understand right, the next steps are easier than the first. Thankyou for praying for us and supporting us through the process. 

Building projects completed
I built a shoe shelf from floor to ceiling for my wife using a new method, cardboard lamination. I layed cardboard into 2 inch panels then cut the pieces on the bandsaw to make them clean and crisp, then cut notches, and slid everything together. I think I can scale this up, and it makes a surprisingly good looking sturdy shelf. I know ikea uses this method but they cover up the cardboard lamination, but I like the way the addition corrugation looks, so i intentionally faced the corrugation towards the opening of the shelves. 

I finished the pulpit podium that i was making, and I really like it. I will be preaching from it weekly (my children enjoyed my last sermon, though i think i put my wife to sleep)

I built a bench press using the same mango tree I have been using. I made the weights from concrete, I used spesific molds which i managed to get entirely for free unintentionally, and they came all the way from the ukraine. The resulting weights are way cool and have lettering indicating spesific weight. Its a potential side business as well, since i do a lot of stuff with concrete. It goes on the list of things to have an employee make when we have one. 
 
Computer issues
My computer glitched out, and i think i know why, so it wont happen again, regardless, i had to take a week to get it set up again, and during the backup my harddrive crashed on me, so it is in a data recovery center in bkk. They are affordable compared to prices back home, but still set me back a bit, however it appears he has recovered nearly 100% of my data. Before i sent it in, a local tech guy looked at it and said it was toast. I have all my work backed up on that drive, i can't loose it. Really scared me. 

Now with my data back, I have been reorganizing things, and reinstalling my system. I think i finally have the computer almost completely up and ready to work, but I did loose some of my in project files, like the coloring book pages i had made. Fortunately i had uploaded them to the newsletter before, so i can save those and use those for future pages. I didn't loose any pictures but i did loose my brushes i used in one of my design programs, so i will have to manually build the brushes again using the same png images i had prepared before. I am frustrated with all of this but there is always a reason. This gives me an opportunity to start from scratch in some ways, and with the skills i have built, that is actually useful though i probably wouldn't choose to do that in a different situation. Also, my folders are now a bit more organized, and i have all my important folders syncing to 2 other computers so that if i have any issues the important stuff will be backed up 2-3 times, on my new ssd drive, and 2 other computers. 

Homeschooling
I made some fill in the blanks and solve the problem yourself worksheets, first for chemical equations, but i realized that any type of math could be done the same way, so since calvin is getting good at double digit addition and subtraction, i made a template for him to fill in his own work. He really has taken to it, and talks about it just as much as his favorite book characters. 

Creed
A Christian is someone who understands and believes the Gospel, that the Father God elects, then initiates salvation from sin and the just punishment of sin, by sending Holy Spirit to regenerate us, so that we can believe in the atonement provided by the Savior, so that we can repent of our sins having new life in Christ. 

This is a kind of modern creed i am calling the gospel creed, many churches have a statement of faith, which i think is great. The gospel creed is a shorter statement that summarizes the gospel for the purpose of uniting true believers, and exposing heretical nightmares just waiting to happen. I suppose this has always been what creeds have been for, in the early church they focused on the nature of the trinity, which this creed actually does touch on lightly, but the main thing this creed focuses on is -God, the founder of our salvation-, not -I, the founder of my salvation-. Almost all heretical teaching in the church today is heretical in regards to salvation. The thing legalism and liberalism have in common is that man is considered to be the initiator of salvation. In biblical christianity, God alone initiates salvation. I personally believe that believers of various backgrounds and denominations who have an actual relationship with God, know this to be true in a personal way, and so it shouldn't be hard to shake hands on this issue. It will be good for me to know the people i can and can not work with going forward. I believe this is the fundamental issue at the heart of protestant vs. catholic, reformed vs. arminian. In Luthers bondage of the will he focuses on why we don't have free will, and even if we do, why we are not saved by it. This gospel creed focuses on the later, because in the former is only important because of the later. 

Writing
I started briefly a tract called 50 reasons idolatry is evil, though i may raise or lower the number depending on how creative i can be. I also started my favorite reformers book which will be more like a collectors card set that can be read as a book as well. I may make a game to go with it. 

Preaching
I am back to preaching every Sabbath now, in my pajamas and in English mostly, with explanation when needed. I will occasionally preach in Thai once the habit is grounded. We will open our doors when the opportunity presents itself, and God willing we will be prepared. I like the pulpit, its very nice. 

When the Sabbath is finished, we have a family meeting about our goals and plans for the week. I think this is important, and will help us refocus and work as a team. 

Conclusion
Sometimes unexpected setbacks can set things off by a bit, but it can be good to refocus. Actually it is a great reminder of the value of the tools i have. Hopefully i will make better use of the things i nearly lost, making the time lost worth it in the end. I still got a lot done even with significant time spent on setting everything up again. Thankyou for your prayer, and for standing with us.