April 2022

​Hi everyone, hope you are doing well. This is my update for this past month of April. In this newsletter you can read what we've been up to, and how we are moving forward both in the long term and short term, so that you can know how to pray for us. We need you prayers, it is not easy living here, and it takes a regular returning to the original calling and purpose for being here that keeps us healthy, and moving strong. Put simply, we love others because God first loved us. 

Family
It is very hot here in nst now, and that means we are a bit more sickly. Fang is sneezing cause of the air conditioner, and I always have a migraine due to the heat, both problems are very difficult to solve, and they add stress to our house. Calvin is doing quite well, and now loves to yell and turn in circles, especially to his favorite songs, (currently jumpstart3 bible verse videos) We took a small trip to the mountains one weekend, and calvin had a blast playing in the river and tiny waterfalls. Meanwhile he is terrified of the escalator lol. 

Business
This month my business is doing well, and fangs bakery is suffering, but it will likely flip when schools open.   I currently have one student who is the nephew of one of my first private students in nst, he studies for 2 hours, and always has lots of good questions. I'd like you all to pray for him, because the past few classes have very much turned into discipleship sessions, he is young, but im hoping the truth we talk about will stick with him. I also had a return student who now doesn't speak during the day but only speaks at night. Her grandmother talked with fang while she was in class with me, and told fang she has only been like this for 3 months, and thinks someone cast a spell on her. That again puts me in an awkward position but, like i should, i will lay hands on her and pray for her every class, and if it is by some demonic force that she is mute, then she will speak, and she will give glory to God. Pray for her as well, her mother is a doctor, so it seems strange that they should believe it to be a curse if they haven't exhausted all other possibilities. I finished writing a little phonics booklet explaining common misconceptions and common mispronunciations, and why i believe this is the root cause for a lack of english proficiency in Thailand. At the end of that booklet i leave a bible verse, and invite them to take a look at my other tracts, pointing out the fact that if there is this much misconception and false teaching in the english classroom, and so wide spread throughout the country, then surely there are other more significant misconceptions that need to take priority as well. I believe that missionaries need to make practical contribution in order to help give us some credit with the locals, no matter if this is medical, or scientific, or intellectual, or some more practical contribution. Judson wrote the first English Burmese dictionary for example. 

Ministry
I added a tract shelf in the bakery to display the tracts, now anyone can pick the tract that grabs their attention. I also redid the covers, so now every tract has an additional gospel message to reiterate what they read in the tract itself, and the back of the front cover is for notes. We finally finished and printed the God is real tract, and have it up on the site. I finished both God is good, and God is Love, but have not formated or printed them yet. These 3 tracts go together. We have had several good evangelism outings, and i am plumb out of cards, so ill need to make more. We must have handed out somewhere between 2000- 3000 gospel verse cards now, to all the houses and businesses within a 5 km radius of our house. Reaching the whole city within a few years is actually looking possible. I wish there was some way to see if traffic to bible.com has increased from our city at all in the past few months. (if you know how to find information like that tell me)

Building
Our water pump is shot again, so im going to redo everything like it should be, and add a water tank next to the house, and pump from there (actually this is how you are supposed to do it, i just haven't got around to it since ive been here), and i will add a sprinkler to the roof while im at it, this will allow fang to turn on the roof sprinkler at various times of the day when its sunny, and cool off the roof. We have a friend who does this, and it works rather well. In the future, id like to collect rain water, but im not going to do that now, too much work, but i may do some planning, and minor prep for that as well. I will also be glueing up a workbench countertop for the other side of the house, this will be a woodworking bench, i am making it with scrap wood. 

Conclusion
We have been busy, and will be busy, but we take time every week to rest and reflect, and study Gods word, refocus and start again. This is labor, but if we are faithful to what God has called us to, it is not in vain. Thankyou to all who keep us in prayer, and support us.