It’s hard to believe that it has been over three months already that we’ve been in Thailand!  I apologize for not keeping connected with you all better since we’ve been here.  Let me bring you up to date on where we are, what’s been happening and what’s next!

First off, we are finally in our own house.  If you remember, we were living in a youth hostel for the first month and a half or so.  Our new place is small and has it’s own quirks…  but Sara is loving having a kitchen and we’re both loving having internet access… FINALLY!  Language studies have been going well.  In fact, praise God with us that we were able to retain much of what we studied 4 years ago!  Next week we both have exams on Module 4.  It usually takes new students 5 or more months to get to this point.  This last module has been quite difficult actually.  We’ve been learning to read and write in Thai!  It’s been great to finally be able to make sense of signs all around you, but our shopping trips have tripled in length because we often find ourselves staring at packaging in Thai for 5 minutes at a time trying to make sense of it all!

6 days a week we have been studying Thai and it hasn’t always been fun, exciting, etc.  The past month has seen it’s ups and downs.  Our new house has some late-night bars that blare their music until 3 or 4 in the AM.  Sara hasn’t been sleeping the best.  At times she is willing to give up her kitchen and oven for a good night’s sleep in another home.  Seeing as it’s now November, we’ve pretty well missed all of Fall back home… Sara and I’s favorite season.  My brother bought a house and the entire family has been working on getting it remodeled and livable… Something we wish we were part of.  Levi and Michelle (my oldest brother) will be having their child tomorrow and we will be 8,000 miles away.  Being a good student isn’t as easy as it used to be.  Spicy food isn’t always fun.  Neither is 90-100 degree temps everyday.  Sara’s grandparents have been having some serious medical issues…

We’ve really been missing home, the comfort of knowing what to expect, KidStuf, the OBCOG staff, family, friends, reconnecting with you guys who believe in us in person.

At the same time, God’s blessings wash over it all.  We’re excelling in the language learning.  We DID get a home of our own rather than a youth hostel room.  We sang a worship song in Thai (video here:  http://www.vimeo.com/7364518 ) !!!  We’re settling into a new church family in a city about an hour away from the city we are studying Thai in.  The services are all in Thai but there is a great community of young people to connect with!  We’re making some good relationships with people we play badminton with several times a week.  We have a motorbike that we have been able to use for the time being!  With less distractions and new stresses, Sara and I have found much more time to spend just together.  No “work” to get in our way…

God continues to amaze us.  We saw him move some HUGE mountains in getting us here.  And daily we see him move mountains before our eyes.  We know this is what and where He has built us to serve…

A few things I’ll ask you to specifically prayer for:

1. Around Christmas we’ll be taking a few “field trips” to Bangkok to try to find a good fit for us at a church ministry there which we will join once completing our year of language school in this city.  Prayer for wisdom, guidance, and patience.  Aside from the church we will also be looking at housing options.  Pray for this also as we hope to begin having children within the next year.  We’d love to find the perfect place to begin our family!
2. Pray for our remaining time at the language school.  We get the feeling we’ll be here until May or June of next year based on our current pace.  Pray that we are able to continue putting language learning first and that God would provide us some good relationships with Thai people to work through the language together.
3. Pray for our new home.  Some nights Sara sleeps just fine.  Other nights the loud music keeps her up.  Not sleeping really adds to the stress levels around here!  We’re trying to be patient and figure out the most culturally appropriate way to go about tackling the issue and at the same time trying to be patient and wait on God to move yet another mountain for us!
4. The Holiday season is quickly approaching.  Pray for us as we find ourselves so far away from friends and family.  Even little things like thinking about the Christmas Eve services at OBCOG and how we will be missing them can bring tears to our eyes…  Pray also for our families back in the States and they will surely be missing us (I hope?) during the Holidays….

If you’d like to stay more in touch with us, check out our websites:  http://www.two10eleven.com and http://www.unglamorouslove.com

Every Tuesday Sara blogs about something new in Thai food or ways she has found to replicate food from home here in Thailand!  I tend to be a bit more sporadic, but either way, it’s worth checking into!

I want to thank everyone for your prayers for and thoughts about us.  It hasn’t always been easy but God continues to reign after the first 3 months and we look forward to what’s in store in the next 3 years!

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Brook and Sara at O'hare

First off, I will say that we utterly underestimated what was about to take place after returning from Colorado in mid-July.  We enjoyed our time in Colorado getting to know OMF and working through all the details of our partnership with them and our denomination.  At the end of our time with them we were merely 6 1/2 weeks from moving to Thailand…

Those 6 1/2 weeks were a blur at best.  We continued to pile on the support development by traveling to and from Illinois twice a week to share our hearts with churches out there.  We’ve dealt with our car being broken into, having to sell most of our belongings, last minute budget changes, more medical testing, saying ridiculously hard goodbyes to family and loved ones, little sleep and long days.  These have easily been the most stressful times that we’ve ever experienced…

We understood that there was value in the the process…that through all of this we would grow stronger, leap higher, etc, etc, etc…  But it didn’t make it any easier.  As much as we were excited about Thailand, goodbyes were still hard to say.  As much as we feel called to Thailand, I still lost sleep over budget questions and all the details involved in finalizing that process.  But what happened was that God moved in miraculous ways during those stressful weeks.

In just 5 weeks we went from 65 % funded to right at 100 % of our budget being funded — to God be the glory.  In five months He was able to lower my cholesterol level some 70+ points (despite my best efforts during support development traveling to negate God’s work in this area…  I stopped running, ate red meat A LOT, and every pastor’s wife seemed to have a pie or cake they were famous for that we needed to try about 10:30 at night) — to God be the glory.  Since April we have seen more than 500 individuals and churches show interest in our ministry in Thailand — to God be the glory.  In just one week we were able to get a letter from OMF Thailand via Postal Service, apply and receive back our passports with the illusive non-immigrant type-O multi-entry visa (didn’t understand a word of that one?  Trust me…  that’s a big deal and a huge blessing) — to God be the glory.  God brought about great conversations with unsaved family and friends about our ministry and how it’s important to us and our purpose in life.  God blessed with a great afternoon with church family following our commissioning service… knowing you’re loved by so many is such an encouragement.

So, with all that said, we really didn’t accomplish to much of this.  It was truly God’s hand moving the mountains before us and paving the way for His work among the Thai people.  We feel so blessed to be a part of this.  Oh, and we are now living in Thailand.  More to soon follow.

So what’s God been doing in your life lately?