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So a lot has been going on in the past few months, thus it is time for another newsletter!

If you haven’t already, check out our latest newsletter by clicking on the image above.  It’s an exciting update on all that’s been keeping us busy in the past few months…  and even some exciting news on page 2!  Your thoughts and prayers continue to be such an encouragement to us…

If you are not currently receiving our newsletters and would like to get them delivered straight to your email inbox, please fill out the online form here!

Thanks for your ongoing prayers and support…

Blessings!

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Another few months have come and gone.  And life over here has yet to really slow down, make sense, etc.  We still feel like we are holding on for dear life at times!

But we are doing well.  If you haven’t already, check out our latest newsletter by clicking on the image above.  It’s an exciting update on church camps completely in Thai, language tests, and prayer meetings (again; all in Thai!).  Your thoughts and prayers continue to be such an encouragement to us…

If you are not currently receiving our newsletters and would like to get them delivered straight to your email inbox, please fill out the online form here!

Thanks for your ongoing prayers and support…  Life has been crazy over here and we look forward to sharing more and more about our lives here in Thailand!

Blessings!

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I’ve managed to once again fail at blogging and keeping you all up to date on life here in Bangkok (i.e. The Big Mango).  We’ve been plenty busy and are continuing to settle in well to life these days.  Let me just update you in bullet points for the sake of my random thoughts:

• We’ve started language learning once again with a few people here in our new neighborhood.  We study every morning for a few hours and last week we had our first language check to see how we were coming along.  It was a long day involving a 2 hr. drive to Lopburi, a few hours at the language school, and then the same drive back home.  But all went well.  There are always things that we can be working on to make sure we are speaking Thai clearly and precisely, but overall we felt pretty good even with it being our first check while not at the language school full-time.  Praise God!
• We’re getting to know more and more people in our neighborhood, which is great.  Some neighbors don’t really know how to react to a white couple in their 20′s with no kids, apparently no job, etc.  But, relationships are coming along.  We’re especially excited about relationships with the kids in our area of this neighborhood.  They have been great to get to know and nearly every day they come to our door asking if I can play badminton with them or if they can borrow our rackets and birdies.  This has been a great blessing.
• We’re also slowly getting to know the Thai people at the church we are partnering with.  Deep relationships take time to develop and we are still at the front-end of creating trust with these Thai Christians, but every Sunday we slowly build more and more trust and comfortability with this body of Believers.  We’re even at the point in our Thai studies where we can translate about half of each sermon (give or take, depending on the topic).  Every Sunday seems like a humbling experience reminding us just how much we still have to learn in order to be effective in this environment.
• In a few weeks we will have our first visitors from the U.S. come and join us.  We’re SUPER excited and a bit nervous at the same time.  We’ve always been in love with Thailand and her people.  We want our visitors to have a similar experience!  We’re trying to plan what we can and be open to change as we need to be.  “The first is always the hardest” say the other long-term missionaries!
• We’ve recently been asked to help facilitate a retreat for short term workers with OMF here in Thailand as the normal leaders head home for Home Assignment for about a year.  We’ve never done anything quite like this, but we are excited about the possibility.  Thankfully we are able to observe one such retreat this weekend before we commit to anything.  We feel glad to be able to do something like this (as short term missions is what originally brought us to Thailand), but also a bit unsure about it all.  We’ve only been here a year.  Are we really able to speak into short-termer’s lives?  Just a few questions currently running through our head!
• Last week we started a weekly prayer time with another Christian couple in our neighborhood.  Aside from us and this Thai family, there are no other Christians here in a neighborhood of over 2,000 people.  Pray along with us as we seek ways to best impact our community and that meaningful relationships would open up for Sara and I so that we may have the opportunity to really speak the Truth into people’s lives!

These are just a few things on my mind, our schedule, and in our lives recently.  Thanks for being a part of all of this!

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If you are not currently receiving our newsletters and would like to get them delivered straight to your email inbox, please fill out the online form here!

Thanks for your ongoing prayers and support…  Life has been crazy over here and we look forward to sharing more and more about our lives here in Thailand!

Blessings!

Leave a Comment!

We play outside during the Thai water fight holiday, Songkraan

So, it’s pretty obvious that I have been the world’s worst blogger since the first of the year.  For that I am sorry…

I’ve been meaning to get some new content up on here for a while now but, truth be told, I didn’t know how to just jump back into it.  I’ve decided there is no smooth, amazing way other than to just do it.

The past few months have been interesting.  We’ve traveled quite a bit, settled in and out of language learning more than once, continue to make Thai friends and expand our vocabulary and depth of conversations.  At the same time, it has at times been more challenging than we ever had anticipated.  Language learning got old about the first of the year.  6 months into our time here in Lopburi and the daily task of language learning and classes was a really un-sexy thing to wake up to every morning.  Adjustment to the Thai culture and way of life has been more difficult this time around also.  If you follow Sara or I on Twitter or Facebook, you’ll know that our neighborhood can be quite loud most of the time, which means going home to find peace when needed has seldom happened for us.  That’s been tough.  We have also really missed our family and friends.  I’ve struggled with going from feeling like was an integral part to a ministry in the States to being only a decent language student who could barely tell you the story of Jesus walking on water and who is definitely unable to pray for anyone in Thai.  I have two sisters graduating from High School this year and will start their lives a bit more on their own.  Just yesterday, it seems, they were tiny 3 yr olds.

So, yeah, the past few months have been a bit more down than up.  But, at the same time, we’ve seen once again how God provides for us daily.  And yes, not much about being a missionary in Thailand is wonderful and comfortable, but God provides.  He sustains.  We’ve had breakthroughs in conversations with Thai people, I’ve been able to counsel a few of my non-Christian language teachers on family issues, and Sara and I continue to hold onto each other more than we probably ever have.

So, this is my attempt to climb back onto the blog saddle.  We look forward to sharing more about our lives here.  The ups and downs.  The breakthroughs and breakdowns. The little victories and failures.

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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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