October 29th, 2020

Hi everyone, hope you are well, here is my newsletter for october and plans for november

Calvin

Calvin keeps supprising us, today he managed to plank on both arms, and legs, yesterday he was smiling all day, and made a few noises that seemed to be attempts to speak. He sleeps long at night, and doesnt wake us up in the middle of the night at all, he only crys when he really is hungry and can't wait anymore, then he kicks and hits like crazy. He is very aggressive, which i hope means athletic. I could not have asked for a better son, God is good.

Businesses

The Bakery is running well, and we have been reopened for about a month now, lots of customers, and Calvin is the star of the show, loves to be around people, even smiling sometimes. My class has got a few return students, but things are still slow, so keep this in prayer.

TTT

I have a couple tracts put together but not translated yet, one on the trinity and the deity of Christ (i was inspired by the way the bible actually explains these concepts, and how easy they are to understand, sometimes its best to let the bible speak for itself), and another on eternal damnation, because the buddhist concept of hell is not eternal, so i thought this was a subject that might be useful to cover, also considering the 7th day adventists do not consider hell to be eternal, and we have a lot of them here in this city. I want to address them differently than i address the jahovah witnesses, or the mormons, because the number of heretical beliefs is significantly less, so i can correct their false beliefs one at a time instead of collectively like i have the with jw tract.

I have also been working on some resources to go with the new city catechism that fang and I translated when I was still discipling her, found out that another church in bkk has made some major revisions to the translation, which i am thankful for, so i will be updating it soon as well. (He also has videos which go with it, which is awesome)

Church

We usually go to church on friday, where a small group of believers meet to study scripture and worship, and then on saturday we open our house to anyone who might come to study and worship with us, however that has been quiet for a while. We are praying about ways we can get that jump started again, and grow our group. One thing i am sure of is that worship should be a daily thing we do personally, but after talking with a thai leader in the northeast whom i greatly respect, i truely do believe daily communal meetings is actually ideal. So with this in mind, i have been worshiping with calvin every morning, and when we have disciples again, then I want to open our doors early before the bakery opens for daily morning worship and scripture reading. I dont think this is a time for teaching, but mainly a short time we can worship communally and listen to scripture before we start our days. Part of my concern is how easy it is for me to get distracted and skip devos in the morning, and i know local christians are no different, by spending this time together, we can hold each other accountable, and form good habits. Calvin loves it, and i hope he will become a little worshiper.

Financial

All temporary funds have been provided, and i am set to go here in a few months. Thankyou to those of you who provided this support, and thankyou to those who considered, i am very thankful.

Health

My stress levels are apparently dangerously high, and it is causing various health problems from stomach problems, to sleepyness, to general anxiety, a brother suggested i spend time in biblical meditation which seems to help a little bit some days. Keep me in prayer that i can figure this out, so that i don't crash. My son is certainly a breath of fresh air, and my anxiety relief, a hope for thailands future (can you tell i have high hopes?)

Thanks again for all the love and support. Thanks for keeping us in prayers.