June 2022

​Hi everyone, this month has been an exciting month, and a scary month, but how boring would life be without the scares? So im thankful. 

Family

Calvin is getting into everything, and just yesterday he snuck into the kitchen area and turned the oven on... Fang had put some pans in the oven for storage, dont ask me why, and the handles melted and smoke filled the room… So the kitchen area is now completely off limits. He put something in his mouth this morning and wouldnt spit it out… i had to stick my finger in his mouth and pull it out, it was a snack from yesterday he hid under the chair, saving it for later i guess. Please pray for us that we stay safe, and nobody gets hurt. 

Health

Last month i overworked myself with the tree, and at the beginning of the month i woke up one morning, sat down and put my contacts in at my desk, and then looking down, i noticed a dent in my shin bone. It was an indention into my shin, and it didn't hurt so i googled it, and the results said all kinds of scary things, and i started to panic. I managed to calm myself down, but that was not a good idea, sudden loss of blood preasure caused me to completely black out, and my wife walked into the room and saw my head drooped backwards in the chair, and she managed to wake me up but i could hear nothing. I eventually gained hearing again. I need to try to relax and stay stress free. Fear of that bone problem which turned out to be nothing, almost hurt me. Please pray that i would grow in trust, and learn not to doubt or fear. 

On a positive note, ive been rock climbing weekly with a missionary friend here from australia, I really enjoy climbing, the challenge, and the thrill. Its important for me to stay in shape, so morning jogs and rock climbing are my main exercise. King David boasted he could scale any wall, well, if we had a time machine, id put him in a harness and put that to the test. I met another young thai believer who is new to rock climbing, and when climbing together we met a local villager who said he used to repell, so we offered to let him climb. We will probably try to contact him again when we are in the area again, and hopefully have an opportunity the share the gospel with him them. He went off on a tangent about bowing to the spirit keeper of the land before we go to repell into a big cave that he is not sure how deep is. I was going to make a comment that we don't need to bow to any spirit because our God made the cave, in hopes that we would get an opportunity to expand on that thought, but i just didnt get a chance to say anything after that. Pray for this old man and his family too. I do like it when we get the chance to witness with the head of a house, he could have dozens of grandchildren. 

Tracts

This month i started and finished a tract on the canons of dort, or commonly refered to as tulip, the acronymn representing the 5 responses to the false doctrines of jacobus arminius that the dutch reformed church gave. I believe they provide a clear explaination of the gospel, and do so in a useful way that also casts down common false doctines of our day such as decisional regeneration, or any kind of works based salvation, or even univeralism or neouniversalism that is so common today. So in the tract, i had to come up with a new acronymn for thai, and i managed to find one, though acronymns are difficult in thai because of the nature of the language, to get a good looking acronymn you can only use unwritten vowels or อ so i came up with สลดพอ which means sad enough, and works out great to represent each point. So the slogan goes something like "the condition of man is sad enough, so lets hear the good news, the gospel". My wife says this word is used in the news, so im hoping it sounds good in conjunction with the word good news in thai. I don't have this formated or printed yet, but i have the tract with its history, scripture, and explainations all translated. I hope it is a slightly more in depth gospel tract from my shorter tract i translated from heartcry explaining the gospel, and i hope it is useful for believers to start to think about what they actually believe about the nature of salvation. I also nearly finished the tract on government, so i should wrap both of these up and maybe one more tract next month. I have a few ideas, but not sure which i will go with. 

Business

My class is going good, i have had several good opportunities to share the gospel with students, both for the first time, and for the 10th time, so I am thankful for my business and my wifes business as very good ways to interact with new people. Today i think i really broke through with a student, i am praying that the Holy Spirit draws him in as he did with me. I taught the child how to pray, he understands the basic nature of God, why idolatry is bad, and why we need a savior to save us from hell. Most of these concepts i have to review on a regular basis. Also please pray that i have more opportunity to share with his parents about the kinds of conversations weve been having, so they don't feel uncomfortable. 

Building

This past month and this coming month i have the daunting task of creating lots of additional storage on the side of our house. I really need to organize. I designed a system, bought the metal and installed the first part, and it worked out great, i can put way more material up there than i thought. So i will finish the last 2 parts of that system this month, and store the rest of my scrap metal and boards on those, and then i should have a nice walkway. The end of the walkway will have additional shelving which i will make simply out of old air conditioner compressor holders, and an old washing machine metal case will house recycled plastic, and on top of that i will have my shredded recycled paper storage. Then the wooden windows will be fitted with french cleats for additional shelving of meterials and inexpensive tools. I will also build a wood working workbench there as well. This should be the most economical and space saving way to use this area possible, without intruding on the neighbors half, which they just use for their air conditioner compressors, but id still rather have my half cleaned up and walkable. 

Conclution

We are moving forward and being productive, but i need to relax and put my trust in God. God called me here, and from the day i stepped out of the airport, God has been with me every step. Really, i still remember telling the taxi driver to take me to ywam, not realizing that in a city of 10 million people, there is no way he would know, and a lady walked by, overheard, told the taxi, and off i went. God will not let me fail here in my mission to glorify Him in this nation. Thankyou for your continued prayer and support.