Hello everyone! Sorry it's been so long between updates! Life has been pretty darn busy here these days. Right now I am sitting in the middle of the forest at a research center that has free wifi...unfortunately the Internet is down so I can't check my email, but it's raining so I don't want to try to drive home on the moterbike. SO I figure I might as well write an update since I'm stuck here anyway! :)
As you might imagine, a lot has happened since I last wrote to you in January! I will do my best to fit most of it into a readable update and not bore you too much!
One neat opportunity we had last month was helping out at an English camp at a nearby school. This camp was a one-week thing they put on for 6th graders and 9th graders because these grades take standardized English tests at the end of the year. Since Rodney and I are native English speakers, we were asked to come and help out. It was a lot of fun! Most of the time we would just read the English parts of the lesson so that the kids could hear how words were pronounced, but we also did a bit of teaching about grammar, etc. It was a good chance to meet a bunch of people in the area as well--one of the days I got to play basketball at the school and I hung out with the 6th graders during their lunchbreak a couple days. Lots of fun! We visit our pastor friend in that area a lot, and every time we drive by the school there are students who recognize us and wave :) We were also able to build relationships with some of the teachers there, which has been good. Just last week we went over to the school to pray with one of the teachers who has been having some family and financial trouble. It is cool to see how God can use something like a local English camp to get people interested in Him!
With the Australians gone, I did a lot of helping out around the house during most of January. Dang and Anun (The Thai couple that works with us) took a week off near the end of the month, so there was a lot to do! There were a couple days that week where I stayed home with just the two year olds and the disabled guy that we take care of. Interesting seeing firsthand what it takes to take care of them every day! I have a lot more appreciation for Dang (The Thai lady) now that I can really see how much she does every day! Now that they are back from their vacation, though, I have done a lot of travelling around with Phimpha and Rodney, which I always enjoy. Phimpha is always busy visiting someone or going to meetings or working with the ladies' ministry or the church, so there is always something to be done!
Another change that happened just two weeks ago is that Rodney fell and sprained his ankle pretty badly. This has kept him out of a lot of the action for the past couple weeks, but he is finally improving to the point where he will probably be back to normal in a few days. (That is a cool story in and of itself---when he fell, he was sure the foot was broken, and when they went to the hospital the first x-ray showed a break. They needed to x-ray it again to be able to treat it, and everyone was praying for it at that point....The next x-ray showed no break! Sounds like a God moment to me....)
God has been doing some pretty neat things lately here, though it's hard to describe everything that's going on. A couple weeks ago, Phimpha and I went to a worship service/prayer meeting at another church and there was a pastor from California who was speaking about the fact that God wants to see a revival happen in Thailand. He believes that it's going to start with the women, and then the men will catch on and help to lead it. He has been staying with us for a bit over a week now, and has been teaching at pastors' meetings and at the ladies' group that Phimpha leads. Seems like God is preparing a lot of people in Thailand to do some big things....a lot of change needs to happen in the church in order for them to be more effective in reaching out to the community. And maybe this is the time when it will happen! Only time will tell, but I think God has big plans even though we don't know what they are yet! Exciting, huh?
Well this is getting pretty long, but I'd like to ask for prayer before I end! Please pray for some English classes that we are starting up! (I think I already mentioned them---the ones on Saturdays and Sundays) Also, prayer for Rodney's ankle would be appreciated, and also that we would clearly see God's leading in this revival--that we would know what our part in it is!
That's about it! Thinking of you all and praying for you! :)
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