December 01st, 2023

An interesting month it has been. We hope you all had a happy Thanksgiving and we wish you a merry Christmas.

Teaching
\\tThe first week of the month, a lady walked in and sat down, we handed her a menu, and she said she wasn't here for a sandwich but was here to ask questions about the bible. I have a sign on the door, that says bible study on Saturday, which i thought might attract other believers. Thai folk are usually so timid, its unusual to see an unbeliever who wants to join our bible study. I have had many good conversations with customers or parents of students who have taken tracts off my shelf to read, but this was a bit surprising. She continued very directly and asked me a ton of good questions, and i answered them for the next few hours giving her the tracts that would be good at addressing her questions in more detail. She continued her conversation with fang as i had class, she informed fang that she had to become a prostitute to pay off her moms dept. She said she was currently living with a monk in a temple, from what she said, this head monk was more like a gangster than a monk. She was also apparently engaged to be married to a Muslim man with multiple wives at one point. Her stories seemed a bit far fetched, and fang and i were not sure if we could believe what she was saying, or if she was up to something else. Regardless, her questions seemed genuine. The next day she came dressed like a prostitute. This made me uncomfortable, but i picked a seat further away, that was facing out the window of the bakery. I continued to answer questions, teach, and explain the gospel to her. She informed us that in a few days she would be moving to hatyai in the south and that she believes that God called her to our house to hear the gospel from us. She said she was ready to take her own life the day before she came to see us. She said she would find a church in hatyai. She hasn't come back since, so i take it she probably moved south. I hope that her faith is genuine. This situation has helped me think through the importance of having older christian women, in this case, fang, who can teach the younger women. So, going forward, we'll be a bit more prepared for situations like this. Fang wants to call her and possibly continue discipleship over the phone. I think that would be a good idea, i know there are more churches in hatyai than nakhon, but there is still a prevalance of false christianity in thailand, and i am always concerned about that.

\\tAs far as my english class goes, i've been using the random word generator and other tools as conversation prompts, and using these to talk about gospel topics. last class i had, i spent half an hour talking with a student about the meaning of christmas. Christmas- the coming of the savior king.

Writing
\\tI've gotten a few pages illustrated in my gospel book, and there won't be that many pages when i start using it in class, i want to make it in such a way that i can add as many or few pages as i want for different groups. The christmas book is more wordy, perhaps for an adult to read to a child, and i think i've settled on using historical antique photos edited to be more like black and white line art. This, i hope will give the book a vintage feel, and perhaps i could print it on some light brown paper. I'm trying to get it done by christmas. The pictures and stories have already been useful in class. My favorite is the story of st. boniface and the chopping down of the tree of thor, and the small fir that grew in its place. Martin Luther however popularized bringing the evergreen tree inside and decorating it. There are idolatrous trees all over thailand, there are also christmas trees lighting up shops throughout the city, and people are oblivious to the meaning. Hoping this christmas will be a season of shedding light on these things.

Making
\\tIt's been raining a lot and termites worked their way inside, and got into the pizza boxes under fangs counter. I think i got them all before they invaded the rest of the house. I also purchased 4 giant containers for keeping my shredded paper that i will use to make papercrete things to sell. 6 years of shredding cardboard and all 4 of these giant containers is full, actually 3 filled with shredded paper, and 1 with wood shavings from my thicknesser. I figure i can use those shavings the same way, we'll find out soon enough. Next step is to build a few molds for papercrete furnature, and use up as much as i can, as quickly as i can. That will probably be in next months newsletter. I also did more electric work for the neighbor, his business got struck by lightning and several lights went out. We decorated for christmas too.

Planning
\\tWe plan on continuing to share the gospel with others, especially our customers, who are our captive audiences. We plan on developing and creating resources that are useful for sharing the gospel and educating children. We will continue to grow our businesses so that they can eventually become a safe workplace for other believers, where we can create somewhat of a continuous church enviorment. We will continue to take things one step at a time, planning as we go, being faithful with the responsibilities God gives us at any given moment, and remembering to rejoice and worship continuously, always being thankful for the goodness of God in our lives.

Needs
\\tWe need to annialate the termites. Im working on various solutions. It seems if its not termites, its rats, if its not rats, its cockroaches, if its not roaches, its termites again… Living in the tropics… lol. I am so thankful for everyones support, especially during this holiday season, because i was able to put presents under the tree for Abby, Calvin, and Fang, and i'm sure they will all enjoy what the got. We are almost caught up on the bills too. I forgot to mention, my vehicle got stuck in 4x4 drive, and i couldn't take it out, but it turned out to be a peice of hose that needed replacing. It cost me 6 bucks, so that was a huge answer to prayer. This vehicle is awesome.

\\tSo in conclusion, God is good, and we are blessed to be in a position to preach of his goodness to a people that doesn't know him. Thankyou for praying for us and supporting us.