It is hard to believe that the second
month of the new year is almost gone. We have been pretty busy here
traveling and studying. We have definitely not been as consistent as
we would like to be in the blogging department (sorry about that, I
suppose we should have made that one of our new year's resolutions).
Anyways, we would like to share with
you about some of the traveling that we did back in January. We had
the awesome opportunity of traveling around the northeast area of
Thailand (called Isaan). We spent about a week visiting some of the
missionaries, seeing the churches, and getting a better understanding
of the region as a whole.
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| Church just outside the city of Surin |
We were so encouraged and inspired by
the work that is going on in Isaan. The missionaries currently working there are doing a great variety of projects: church
planting in both city and rural settings, assisting with work at a
children's home for young girls who are risk for falling into the sex
trade industry, working at the bible school (Northeastern Bible
Seminary-NBS), managing and assisting with leadership development,
and so much more.
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| Lauren playing with some of the girls from the children's home--Remember Nhu in Sida |
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| In one the villages we visited--harvesting silk worms |
While there is new growth in this
region, it is also a very dry and difficult land. There are some
provinces with hardly any Christian presence at all. Our heart's
desire is to one day serve in this area and take the Gospel to the
regions that have little to no access to the good new of Jesus
Christ.
http://estar.ws/statistics-maps/christian-presence-map-new/ Check out this link to see a current map of the percentages of Christians in Thailand--from eStar Foundation
Please pray with us for this region and country and all those
who are hurting and lost without the love of Christ.
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| In front of the Thailand Christian & Missionary Alliance office |
In the meantime we are still working
hard everyday to learn the Thai language. Some days are encouraging
(the Thais will even complement our speaking abilities—although I
think they are just trying to be nice) and there are some days where
we feel like we are fighting a losing battle. Please pray the Lord
would help us to learn Thai well.
Thank you for all of the support and
encouragement you have shown us.