Continued prayers needed for Allie and David

 Sherri and I want to thank all of you for praying for Thailand NOW missionaries Allie and David Houle.  They need continued prayer, so we are forwarding their blog to you.  

As you may remember, back in May we lost our jobs when the school that we were teaching English at closed down. This job had provided us with our work permit for our work visa for the past year. This forced us to begin praying and exploring other options to get a visa to be able to stay in Thailand. Under normal conditions, we would have had to leave Thailand one week after our school closed down to change our visa. However, due to Covid-19 the Thai government decided to give all foreigners already in Thailand amnesty until September 26. Praise God! This gave us the time necessary to start our own business, Peachtree Translation. Having a business in Thailand will be such a blessing because it gives us the stability to live and work in Thailand long-term! It also frees up our schedule to allow us to regularly travel to all the Blessing Home Centers.   It is a very long and complicated process to open a business in Thailand and you must have Thai people as co-owners of the business. Thankfully, God has provided many wonderful Thai people that are a part of our Thailand Now team who already translate materials and interpret when needed. Corn has her bachelor’s degree in Business English and Ploy has her bachelor’s degree in Thai Language. Their education and experience is perfectly suited for a translation company. Our new business, Peachtree Translation, will provide us with a work visa and it will provide additional health and social security benefits to our Thai team members.   While we are confident that this was the right move for us to stay and serve in Thailand long-term, we still have a huge need for prayers regarding our visa. Typically, when changing a work permit or visa type, you must leave the country and re-enter with the new visa. Most people are able to do a “Visa run” to Cambodia or Laos for just a couple days and then re-enter Thailand with their new visa. However, because of Covid, Thailand and other Asian countries have closed their borders. This means that we cannot leave Thailand to go to a neighboring country. If we leave Thailand, the only country that will accept us right now is America. And because Thailand is closed, we cannot re-enter Thailand at this time. We are asking you to pray that a border will open or a special exception for us to get our work visa in Thailand will be found.   Please pray for us and specifically that we can get a work visa before September 26. We know that God has plans for us to work in Thailand and that if we are shut out of the country it will only be temporary. We are so blessed to have an amazing team of Thai workers here in Thailand who can continue to provide these services for the Blessing Home kids in our absence if we must leave and return to America for a time. As stressful as it is not knowing where we'll be in a month, we know God is faithful. If we are required to be out of Thailand for a season, we know there are ways to strengthen the ministry through distance collaboration, until we are able to return. Please pray for us. Allie and David Houle