This past 3 weeks have been crazy busy for us. Finding Thai real-estate agents so that we could view many homes, then finding one, securing it & then paying the rent & security for our new home.
Our Thai real-estate agent told us that we would need
to find a home that was safe for our children. This meant that we ended
up renting a home in a gated community. This was really difficult for
Teresa & I to do, but were told by many missionaries & Thai
Christians safety is a serious concern. We wanted to be living with normal Thai's, but God reminded me of Proverbs 16:9. Teresa & I have plans, but God is directing our steps. Our Thai real-estate agent & many foreigners told us that the community we now live in is the safest community to be in & homes in our community usually never become available because
it's small & safe. Our Thai real-estate agent also thanked us so much for renting this house because she shared the message of Jesus with our land lady before making up our lease. It was so awesome.
The history of our home also matches the gifting we have & want our home to be. The previous purpose of our home was a ywam rest, retreat, and
restoration home for missionaries from all over Asia. An example being the director of ywam India & his family stayed for almost a month resting together in our home. Our
ywam directors said that over 500 missionaries were in our home resting &
being restored. It's cool that's what it was used for before we
received it.
Next we had to try & find a good Thai car salesperson so that we could find reliable car or truck. The first thing you will notice that in Asia the resale value for cars here is unbelievably high. Here is an example a 2000 Nissan 1/4 ton pickup truck here sells for $25,000 Canadian. We found a great Thai guy that repairs & sells vehicles here. He asked what we were looking for & found us a cool Toyota Avanza car that seats 8 people & is automatic for Teresa. We are driving now on the "right" side of the road I am told by our British friends. But the best is picture driving 80km/h with 4 lanes of cars/trucks going in your direction. Then add 4 lanes of motorbikes flying at 110km/h on the white dashed lines in between your lanes all at the same time. I told one of my brothers that it is like dog fighting in an aeroplane. I think it's fun, but Teresa has some real fears about it. Please pray for her because she really wants to have the freedom to go places here on her own.
The first week in our home
we had no car so I walked 6-10km in the heat of the day to go to
government offices & get supplies for our home. Didn't realize how
dehydrated I was & got really bad gout in my foot. It was so painful
& after 14 days of having it it has almost totally gone. I didn't go
see a doctor b/c knew I just needed to rest more. For the 2nd weekend in a row I have the flu or something to which I don't know. I am freezing, but my skin is burning hot to the touch. All of my joints were aching & had fevers of 39 Celsius. My body is fighting something new. We have to be careful because Dengue fever (known as breakbone fever) because many foreigners around us have gotten it. Thai's have told me that you get it from a type of mosquito, that you cannot feel them bite & they are only out during the day. Not the Malaria sharing mosquito which is here & only comes out in the evenings.
Kiel & Esme started school last week & are enjoying it. They are making friends in our community & at school. It is nice that they are back in an environment where their friends are from all over the world. Some Christian & some non Christian. Please pray for Kiel that he is able to settle in, continue to grow in Christ & find a place to serve here. The challenge is that the Canadian school system is now so far behind the rest of the world. Kiel is used to the worlds high standards when he went to school in Mongolia, but Esme is not. After the first 3 days Esme's teachers noticed that she has a learning challenge & have placed her on their watch list. The teachers have given us some things to do with her each day to help her be able to keep up with the standard she needs to maintain in her class. Please pray for her that she will not be discouraged when we have to spend extra time together doing extra homework.
Please pray for Teresa as
she figures out what God has for her here & that she will be able to
learn Thai. She wants to hire/work with a Thai Christian woman to disciple, raise up & release in the future. She used to have her own
interior decorating business in Canada & wants to see if she can get
involved in the ywam business is mission here. She wants to see what the
possibilities are & where God leads her.
I am starting to study Thai full time starting
Monday morning 5 days a week for the next 2 years & at the end will have to take a Thai national government exam to show that I have
reached a Thai grade 6 level of Thai language. I will also need to study Thai Christian language because it is different from normal everyday language. I will also be tested on this type of Thai language. Thai's have a "high" language when they speak of their Royal family & their many god's so if you do not speak of Jesus with their "high" language then they feel that Jesus is not valued enough to learn more about. It is going to be really
difficult, but know I need to achieve it. Please pray.
Our community is
totally surrounded with rice fields & have been watching the Thai
rice farm workers each day. I feel God has given me a heart for them. I
want to learn how to plant, foster, grow & harvest rice so that I
can hope to build a relationship with them all. I pray that a time will eventually come when I can share Jesus with them.
Each day I spend time
praying for them & their families. Their village is also just
outside our community & have driven through it. It feels very
dark. I met with our ywam director & he said that that
village is full of witch doctors, spiritual mediators & people that
communicate with satan which is why it feels so dark. He also said that their rice
fields are full of deadly vipers & cobras. He said that they are totally
lost, but if I wanted to eventually work with them in the fields would
need thick boots so that the snakes are not able to bite through them. One time on my way home I went by the rice fields
& God gave me Mark 16:15-18 I think to encourage me to not be fearful. I really have no idea what God's plan is, but
I first have to study & know Thai really well.
Please pray for all of us.
