November 2024

The weather has been amazing this month, finally it started to rain a bunch, and it is nice and cool, our electric bill dropped quite a bit, as we don't need to use the air conditioner as much. Its been great for my productivity, my wife's as well, we are very happy workers when the weather is nice. I had to go to the hospital for a minor surgery, fortunately I believe my insurance will cover it, but while I was there, they put me in a bed next to a couple Muslim guys, and like usual, apart from the usual greeting, I let them start the conversation, but it quickly gave me an opportunity to share some the gospel. I think I made one of them cry, and I'm sure if that's a good thing, but I saw him doing his prayers on the floor after so I hope it is. Pray for these men, one is on his death bed, and is apparently a village chief, though he certainly didn't look it, guess sleeping in a public hospital with a bunch of other people really takes it out of you. I had a lot of time to pray and read, and think, and it was good for me. Before I left, God let me know that is was intentional and that it was him sending me back home. My family is healthy, Calvin's hand writing is getting better, and his logical reasoning is getting pretty good too. Abby is a smarty pants, and has very high emotional intelligence, she is very good at attitude and drama, so while that seems a bad thing, I am certain God will use it for good, and I am thankful for her and he unique personality. 

Needs
We have what we need for the visa extension and not it sits in the bank for 3 months before we extend the visa, once the visa is extended, we can use the money to buy plane tickets to america, but after our trip, we will need to put it back. We will hopefully be able to put a good portion back from our savings, but every bit helps, so thank you in advance for those who help us in that way. We will probably use something like 4000 dollars for the trip. 

Here are some things I've been working on:

Bilingual Reformed Hymnal System
I started this a long time ago but it quickly became too big. I still am able to utilize the work I have already done, but I am approaching it in a different way now. I decided to list out the song writers, and to my surprise there were not actually that many reformed hymn writers. I will dig for more later, and with this manner of organization I can add more later without trouble. But many of the writers wrote many songs, and I mean a lot a lot. I decided to include them all. If the writer is theologically sound, then all their songs are likely to be as well, so more is better. Then after organizing the songs, I will organize the sheet music and midi files for each. Midi files allow others to learn the tune of the songs, many of which will never have been heard before, and second, if a church or small group doesn't have a musician yet, they can just play the file, and set it up automatically. I don't know if this will ever be a thing, but I have led small groups singing songs over YouTube videos, so i think this is a step better. Then we will find all the Thai songs that have already been translated, and then we will fill in by translating one song at a time till there is nothing left to translate. This is a big project, and likely will be ongoing through my children's education, in fact, I imagine it will be a frequent homework assignment for my bilingual children, assignments that incorporate music. 

Sign making
Last year I wrote a small booklet about the meaning of different christmas symbols for kids, I will simplify that even further and make 3 different signs, one for the nativity scene, one for the christmas tree explaining the St. Bonifer story, and one for Santa clause, explaining the st. Nicolas story. I plan on using some printable screening sheets for tshirts, but onto wood that i have prepared. I will try to use 2 sheets wide so that the signs aren't too small. I will vectorize the images to make it look like its been wood burned or laser engraved, just don't tell anyone. 

Holiday kids books
I started working on a book about Squanto, even though thanksgiving is an american holiday, it is also a holiday that the kids will learn about in school, at least my kids who are in English program, so it is an opportunity to share the details behind the story, how God used Squanto to share the gospel with the natives. It is also a good lesson that we should be bilingual multicultural members of society ready to make peace between different peoples whenever we can, and the gospel enables us to do that. 

I am working on reworking the Christmas book for kids a little as well, tweaking it a bit to make it look better. 

Papercrete stools 2.0
So my original papercrete stools worked, but they take too long to dry and they compact too slowly because the water doesn't drain fast enough. I have come up with a better system using an oil drum and spacers, and a center piece covered with a plastic sleeve to allow for easy removal. This system allows for quicker drainage, and also allows for easy removal before it is completely dry so that the mold can be used again on a daily basis. I haven't got it completely set up yet, but almost. This system leave the center hollow which allows for quicker drying, a storage space, and less material use, although i don't have a problem with lack of material now. 

Soup can machine
Soup cans are a wonderful modular system, they stack on each other and are compatible across many brands, there are basically 4 sizes of soup can across all brands, and they stack. I make lids for them using 4 sized of hole saws, and that works great, I can make lids from a number of recycled materials very quickly and they look good. Then i paint the cans and they look like something nice. I might add bible verse stickers or vintage stickers of some kind to the cans, or ever spray paint designs using stencils, but the problem i have is even paint dry, so i figure, spray the paint on, but have them on a turner so that they turn until they are dry. I am making it with a piece of scrap wood an old bicycle chain and some gears i got for cheap, and ball bearings so that they rods spin smoothly. I think i can find an old used motor in my storage that turns slow intentionally, and that will be a perfect use for this machine. I might even be able to make it run on my v20 tool batteries. Then the whole thing would be very portable, and i could easily set it up inside a tarp for spraying and have no mess afterwards. 

Thanks
Thank you for everyone who supported me this month, it means a lot to all of us. In time we will see the results of our labor. Its hard work in Thailand, and it really is a long term commitment, but I believe that when God calls, our work is not in vain. Keep praying for us, and for Thailand.