<<First Name>>, we want to say a huge thank you for all your prayers as we returned to Thailand and then moved to Chiang Mai.
We originally planned to return to Thailand in the first week of November, but we were delayed.
For those of you who haven't heard, we were caught in the middle as the Thai government changed the requirements to enter the country. Unfortunately, the change to the new Thailand Pass resulted in the staff at the Thai embassy not understanding the shifting requirements. So, we reapplied for re-entry for what felt like a million times. Rebecca was wondering if this was God closing the door. Would we ever make it back? At one point, just minutes after we received our approvals to return, we also received denials. When we called to ask what this meant, they said we had to start over from the beginning using the new system- the old system had been shut down. By your prayers and the grace of God, it finally all came together, and we were allowed to return. Praise the Lord!
As an added blessing, we were able to spend a couple of precious days with some old friends due to the delay. What a gift to reconnect! God knows what we need even more than we do!
We wanted to share this experience with you so that you understand the vital role you play in our ministry. Without your continued prayer support, who knows where we would be right now!
Finding a New Home
For those of you who have moved, you will understand what it's like to move to a new location and search for a new place to live. In our case, it was not just looking for a home, but looking for a place that we could use as an office as well. Again, God poured out an incredible blessing. Using a real estate agent, we found an excellent house. It is a large home with four bedrooms and thanks to Covid, it was in our price range! We do have a guest room in case any of you would like to come for a visit! We have two rooms for office space. AND as an additional bonus, we can get our truck into the driveway! Praise the Lord!
It has become a wonderful home for us with a peaceful garden area where Steve enjoys his morning devotions. We have enough space to host neighbors for dinner or small groups. And we have found that we can get to any place in the city within just 10-15 minutes. God knows what we need even before we do! We continue to thank God for the blessing of this house and look forward to seeing how He wants to use it to reach the neighborhood for Christ.
Praying for Us
Our journey in Chiang Mai is just beginning and there are some specific ways that you can pray for us.
We are back in language school! In Chiang Mai, we are speaking Thai more and want to continue to improve our conversation skills. We are also beginning to read and write. We’ll share more about this in the future.
Church planting is always tricky, especially during this current pandemic season. With Covid, people do not like to gather together. So we are looking for ways to meet people.
Please pray as we begin to establish relationships with the Chiang Mai Church of the Nazarene. Pray that we will be an encouragement and help to them as we grow together. This is the "mother" church in the area. It was established many years ago and we want to see it continue to mature and multiply.
A Gift For You
This month, we would like to give you a gift as a thank you for praying for us. RA Torrey was a pastor, teacher, and evangelist. In the early 1900's, he preached in almost every part of the English-speaking world. He wrote a book titled, “How to Pray.” You can click the link below to download a PDF version of that book.
If you like reading about missions, we would like to invite you to visit the Asia-Pacific Nazarene Website. Here, you can find articles from the SEA Field and from across Asia. We would encourage you to check out the site and send us an email and let us know what you think. How can we make this site better? What type of articles would you like to see?
