Starting our 9th month now

I’m posting the blog from an internet café today because our internet is down once again. We are blessed to have many alternatives to use when that happens.

Life is back to a regular schedule now and Anthony has started his homeschooling in full swing now. He was immersed in language studies his first six months here, but now he has a regular schedule of classes: Geometry, Biology, Literature, Grammar, History, Bible, and Computer Classes (Microsoft Excel). Anthony is very devoted to his studies and we are proud of his progress and his good attitude.

Our middle son Jim is now serving as a missionary with Sammuk Christian Academy here in Chonburi. Jim serves 2 days per week at Sammuk and then he teaches 4 days per week at Anuban Chonburi School, the largest school in the province. Jim serves as a bridge from the Christian community to this public school at the request of the director of Anuban Chonburi, who desires to have teachers of the same caliber and commitment as the missionary teachers who serve at Sammuk. It is also a wonderful blessing that Jim is able to serve as a missionary at a location that is only a 4 miles away from us.

We are entering our 9th month here in Thailand and I think we have found our groove with language studies. Our Thai studies are progressing very well thanks to Nuc, our good friend and wise teacher. She knows when to push us and when to ease up. Nuc is constantly encouraging us and telling us not to be too serious (we do tend to get too serious because we want to be fluent right now, hehehe). We praise God for our sister Nuc.

Santa Clara KUMC helped us tremendously by creating a video for promoting the Thailand Mission. The video is brief enough that it can be used in Sunday morning worship services. We will be posting the video soon on another website and provide a link to it from this blog. We also hope to make a 10 minute PowerPoint presentation that will have excerpts of this video along with much information about the Thailand Mission that can be used in gatherings where more time is available. Thank you very much, Santa Clara KUMC, for helping us in this way.

Pastor Gary and Mrs. Diane Wedgewood of the Riverside UMC in Tennessee took two days of their vacation in Thailand to visit us and see what United Methodists are doing in Thailand. We enjoyed the pleasure of their company and hope to see them again. Gary and Diane told us how wonderful Riverside UMC is and how blessed they are to serve there. Someday we would love to visit there.

Our lives should have some semblance of an orderly schedule starting next week. Because we have had to travel quite a bit in the last six weeks, we have not been able to meet with Pastor Sarah of Pradumri Church often enough. We look forward to resuming our Tuesday afternoon meetings with her. Pastor Sarah is at the heart of the Thailand Mission and our partner in ministry. We lean upon her in much of what we do. There is the saying which is very true: “If you want to get something done right, ask someone who is very busy.” This is especially true of Pastor Sarah, who is busy from early in the morning until the late hours of night. Yet whenever we call upon Sarah to help us (which is very often), she always helps us with a big smile that matches her big heart. Thank you very much, Pastor Sarah, and we will see you on Tuesday!