July 2022

Family

We got covid, but symptoms are not serious, i had a soar throat this morning but its feeling much better now. Fang got a bit of a fever, and while Calvin's test showed negative, we think he had it a few days before us, but symptoms were mild. Can't say im surprised, but its not over yet, still got a few more days before we can open shop again. 

I cut my finger really bad and fixed it with super glue, it healed ok, but now it seems to be difficult to fold my finger, i suspect i might have cut the cartilage under the skin as well and it hasn't healed well yet. 

We celebrated fangs birthday on the 25th, which is the same as my moms. That was fun, calvin is not scared of the escalator at the mall anymore. 

Class

A student of mine who has been coming for a few weeks now comes from a family who claim to be new believers. We tried to talk to them about it, and his mom is excited about saying she is, but the boy told me he thinks they are not really christian, no surprise, sinners prayer decisionistic conversion is way too common here. Regardless, i have his mothers go ahead to use scripture in my english lessons. Its always nice when i get paid to disciple someone. I can be as direct as i need to be, and go as deep as i need to. We read through by sons abcs the biggest story book last time and i plan on breaking that down page by page as the weeks go on. This is the kind of evangelism that works, teaching God's word, and letting faith come from hearing, not a false decision of the will. Pray for this young man, he wants to pass an interview to get into an expensive christian private school in bangkok, and he failed the interview once already. He told his mom he wants more time to prepare with me, so he will study with me 1 more year before he tries again. 

Tracts

This month i finished up the tract on government, and then i started 2 more tracts, one on the great commission and the other a biblical view of fighting covering scriptures on the ethics of war, self defence, revenge, and recreational fighting for entertainment. I think the tract on the great commission will be good for unbelievers to read and see why Christians share the gospel, and also learn what the gospel is. For Christians it will be good to look into unbiblical methods of evangelism, and why we need to stick to how the bible says to share our faith. As for the fighting tract, it will cover the issue of passivism lightly and why we should be prepared to defend our families, but not involved in a bloodthirsty culture where we enjoy watching others fight. In Thailand this is often the case, men tend to be unwilling to stand up when it matters, yet many enjoy watching bloody fights. Perhaps this is because there is a time and a place, and when we don't understand the God given purpose for our fists, then everything is thrown out of balance. My home in the states is far from perfect but in the bible belt usa, old ladies and children will generally be defended by strangers if must be, this is not the case here. There is a serious lack of masculinity in Thailand because it is discouraged on a foundational level, i want young christian men to know that God designed them a particular way, and if their masculine senses start tingling, don't ignore it, you might need to do something. This tract may get reworked and expanded someday into "biblical masculinity"

Building

I organized the shelves i build last month, and added cleaned out the space underneath, with it all clean i was able to move the majority of the wood piled inside outside so that inside is more presentable and my benches are accessible. I will have to debark the wood soon, so maybe next month. I have already debarked what was loose. There were some leaks on the side of the house, so i fixed that, and now it is pretty much leak proof, though it overflows from the side when it pours, so ill need to fix that with some expanding foam i think. (its the gap between the gutter and the house that seems to be a problem now. I am also getting ready to finish a wooden bike that converts into a scooter, it uses only wooden bolts so Calvin will learn to convert the bike by himself. I will also include a set of wooden bolts and boards to go with it so calvin can build whatever he wants. The toy should actually hold his weight if he builds upwards, so there is potential to this toy, and as i design it, i have to consider the future and making it expandable. 

Conclusion

We have been busy, and God has been faithful. If we are faithful to God's calling we will be fruitful. Thankyou for standing with us.