We now have two motorcycles that we use to drive short distances (1-5 miles), such as going to church and to the market. These have been very helpful at night when the mini-buses have very erratic schedules. Before we had these motorcycles, we had to walk several miles to get back and forth from Sukumwit Street (the main street) to catch buses to church that still operated at night. And many places, like the food market we shop at, are not accessible by minibus at any time of day. We are very careful drivers and try to stay off of the busiest streets. But we also have to say that they are fun to ride too!
Anthony has two new additions to his life. The first addition is his new dog, which he named "Gaffay", which means "coffee" in Thai. "Coffee" is an appropriate name for the dog because it keeps us awake at night with its barking (we will be glad when he is fully trained!) He is a very cute dog and has won our hearts. The dog was a gift to him from two wonderful church members who have hearts the size of Texas. They knew that Anthony's first dog died on New Year's Eve, so they gave him this Shih Tzu. Anthony went to their home to get the new dog, and he realized how big a gift this is. This couple lives in a very tiny apartment and do not have many worldly goods. Some of the money that supports them is through raising Shih Tzu puppies. Each puppy is about a week and a half of wages for them. Anthony realized that this gift was a huge financial sacrifice for them. Needless to say, it is very humbling when those who are poor are so generous with what little material blessings that the Lord has given them. We all received a lesson in generosity from this couple.
Anthony has two new additions to his life. The first addition is his new dog, which he named "Gaffay", which means "coffee" in Thai. "Coffee" is an appropriate name for the dog because it keeps us awake at night with its barking (we will be glad when he is fully trained!) He is a very cute dog and has won our hearts. The dog was a gift to him from two wonderful church members who have hearts the size of Texas. They knew that Anthony's first dog died on New Year's Eve, so they gave him this Shih Tzu. Anthony went to their home to get the new dog, and he realized how big a gift this is. This couple lives in a very tiny apartment and do not have many worldly goods. Some of the money that supports them is through raising Shih Tzu puppies. Each puppy is about a week and a half of wages for them. Anthony realized that this gift was a huge financial sacrifice for them. Needless to say, it is very humbling when those who are poor are so generous with what little material blessings that the Lord has given them. We all received a lesson in generosity from this couple.
The second addition in Anthony's life is the violin. He has been taking music lessons with Noyna, the worship leader at Pradumri Church. At first Anthony thought he wanted to start taking piano lessons again, but when he discovered that Noyna taught violin, he decided that was the instrument for him. Anthony loves to play his violin and is rather good at making a good tone on it.
We have been spending quite a bit of time looking for a good building to rent for the second church, which will be planted at Bo Win, a city of about 150,000 people 35 miles southeast of Chon Buri. At the present time, the Pradumri Church in Bo Win uses a bus to bring many of the Christians there in Bo Win to our church, but it is a very long drive. During the week, they meet in a rural area for their small group. We went out with some of the church leaders to look for a good building to rent. We found two buildings and they both were good locations. The first building was larger than the second building but was not in as good of a location. The second building was smaller but was right in the marketplace, which is a great location. When we all conferred together, we formed a concensus that we should rent the first building that we looked at. We then went to the Friday night prayer meeting at church. At the prayer meeting, we prayed that God's will would be done. We knew that we had a strong concensus, so we prayed that if God wanted us rent a different building, He would need to close a door. So after the prayer meeting we called the rental company and told them we wanted to rent the first building. About an hour later, we received two calls, the first was from the owner of the first building, who said he would not rent to us if we were going to use the building as a church. Shortly after that call, the owner of a second building called to say that he wanted the blessing of renting to a church and even lowered the rental cost. Within an hour of our prayer, God closed one door and immediately opened another one, and at a cost that is very affordable. We praise God for His guidance. We will be going tomorrow to sign a lease on the building. We will have much work to do there. We need to lay a floor (it is just unfinished concrete at the moment, and fix the place up so it is suitable for worship. The first floor will be used for worship and the second floor will be the pastor's residence. Hopefully, the new pastor will arrive soon and we will be able to open the second United Methodist congregation in Thailand. God is good!
