Hi everyone, hope you are doing well. This month was a catchup month for me, as I have several things ive got behind on and needed to wrap them up neatly.
Family Our family is doing well. Calvin can say a few words now, tickle being one of them, and sing. But his newest skill that supprised us was actually sounding out his alphebet… not saying the letters, he doesnt do that, he actually just makes their phonetic sounds, he cant say his k or g yet but i bet when he gets one he'll get the other. He has been learning very fast this month and has been supprising us with various new skills. Im sure he will speak soon. Business Fangs bakery is doing ok, teachers coming back from break helps. Shes been making more special orders of sourdough and croissants, which is what she likes to make. She has started making peanutbutter cookies and chewy granola bars as well, which me and calvin like ;) My class is going good, i have some new highschool students who are very shy but i think they have a bit of a foundation aleady, so it will be fun helping them get over their fear of speaking. I still remember that moment in the kitchen when i finally decided i was going to speak thai from here on out, i enjoy getting to see students break that barier. Really i comes down to accepting that you will be wrong most of the time, but that is a nessesary obsticle to growing. This is truely a great analogy of biblical humility, not a lack of confidence, but a healthy dose of reality, that we don't know as much as we think we do, and the only way to learn to ride is to start peddling and fall a few times. Tracts I finished the tract on business, for some reason i thought i already finished it, but there were some parts i had not translated yet, so i formated that, and translated and uploaded the last 6 tracts i have done, those are business, 40 parables, government, fighting, anger, and the great commission. Then I spent a few days printing and cutting over a hundred tracts to replace the tracts others have taken. It is great to see the tracts people have taken, it helps me know how i should place them on the shelves. Please pray that this ministry would be effective and bear fruit. I was going to make parable cards, but while i finished the pictures, i haven't got around to the text for the back. Building A friend donated his old climbing wall wood, and i finally got it finished and climbable, it is a good advanced bouldering wall, and he even gave me a mattress to put underneith. Im liking it, and i hope that our rock climbing outings and my climbing walls turn into a nice side ministry of their own. There is growing interest in climbing but its still a bit scary for the locals. I also finished one of 5 slab tables i am going to make, this one we will keep, it is a short coffee table sized table, it will be calvins table for the time being. I have the parts for the router sled now, and am ready to flatten the others, just have to put it together and do it. Then i can finish tables and sell them. I also made a shelf with a smaller slad like peice that was odd shaped but ended up being the perfect shape for a shelf. I took an hour yesterday to work on a wood carved bowl as well that will be for fang. Conclution My ministry is the several opportunities each day that i get to share the truth with others in various ways. Sometimes they grab a tract while drinking coffee and ask questions, other times a parent will ask how we will celebrate haloween, and other times students will come with a whole host of questions. We even get opportunities to talk to folks in the market when we are buying vegitables, or when we are handing out verse cards in the evening, or at the park when we go to run. If I ever end up back home i hope i can take what ive learned here and apply it there. Everyday life should be filled with worship. I hope my children understand this very well as they grow. Thankyou for praying for us and supporting us.
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Hello everyone, this months update will be a bit shorter, I was very busy, but nothing too exciting. So here it goes.
Family Fang is doing well, we are redoing the sandwich menu for her shop, just came to the realization that dividing sandwiches into hot and cold would be wise. Calvin is still not talking, but understands almost everything. He makes sounds when we play the phonics game now, so he litterally sounds out words he is reading before he can speak. At least he understands the concept of sounding out words, and makes a few sounds now. So we are good. Tracts I spent a huge amount of time organizing the 40 parables of Jesus into a tract, then the second half of the month i spent creating graphic art for each parable, which i will put on cards and use in class and homeschooling, and other applications. I want to shift into creating things like this more often, because i think pretty pictures are more helpful than i am willing to admit. Evangelism Spent a couple days talking with the same lady that i mentioned before, she comes in and talks my ear off, mostly telling me how smart i am, which is really annoying and i never know how to react, finally saying with a raised voice "I'm not smart, this stuff is really basic" which i dont know if that was the right thing to say. I set up the bible app on her phone, and taught her how to use the audio feature. I really hope she uses it, and i think she will. She already had the kids bible installed which i thought was funny, she said she really likes the pictures, which really proves my point. Actually had a Jonah moment. Thats what i call my darker moments when i intentionally dont share the gospel even though i have an opportunity to, because i am really angry with these people. A woman brought her nephew in to the bakery, and started talking about calvin, and one thing led to another, my wife asked her if she had kids or wanted kids, she said she doesnt want kids because they will bring sin and bad karma on her for countless reincarnations, then she preceded to tell us homeschooling was a bad idea and that kids are no good after 5 years old. I walked out acting like i had something else to do and prayed "God i really want this one to burn in hell, don't ask me to share with her" which of course is a terrible attitude, every now and then i have moments like this and im praying God deals with my heart. I think that maybe the anger is just, and that it might even aid me in my proclaimation of the gospel in a moment like that. Well, opportunity is gone now. Building Moved the wood out of the storage room and debarked a good bunch of it. I made a couple bench seats with a log i had previously split in half. I planed them down yesterday. Now the storage room is back to its normal function and we can eventually, in the future, use that space for an additional fidge and meat curing fridge for making our own sausages like salami and pepperoni. I am ready to build some slab tables and sell them. I decided to build one for my inlaws as well. They don't have a coffee table in front of their sofa, so i thought id make them a live edge slab coffee table. This particular peice is a weird one that i like, but it may be a bit too odd to sell, it has a giant branch that comes off the side, which will serve as one leg, i will put 2 more legs on the other side for a total of 3 legs, which is an idea ive always likes, because a 3 legged table will always sit flat and never rock in the slightest even on a tile floor with some variation. Conclution God is good, and we have a lot to be thankful for. I got a lot of work done, and things are moving in the right direction. Thankyou for your prayers and support. Plenty to be thankful for this month, lots of work done, disciples made, seeds planted, tracts composed, life celebrated and most importantly God glorified.
Family Calvins birthday was yesterday, the first birthday he is old enough to actually understand to some extent. He is 2 years old now and is finally starting to speak, we think he is starting to say the following phrases, though not clearly: please, sing songs, hi, bye, in english, and in thai he says "bi nai" in thai which is where are you going… and "shai" yes, and "mai shai" which is no. We celebrated with gifts which my parents sent a couple months ago. I bought him some books as well, and made him a walking bicycle out of wood only that converts into a scooter. It was a challenging project but good, i learned a lot, and will hopefully use some of the methods i used in furnature production in the future. Tracts I finished up the 2 tracts from last month, and they are printed but not uploaded yet. I also started and finished 1 of 2 more tracts, one on anger which covers the righteous wrath of God, the unrighteous anger of man, and a couple verses about the rare righteous anger of man. It was good for me to work through this as well, when i am making these tracts, i am not trying to stand above and talk down to the pagens who honestly have some seriously twisted sense of morality, but i am preaching first to myself, because i am just an punk who God chose simply because my imperfection and rough edges paint a good picture of how Gods grace actually works. An old friend of my mother inlaw called fang one day, and after she hung up the phone, fang and i laughed at how crazy she is… and my mother in law piped in too, affirming shes nuts. Im sure God was laughing at us fools too, because the next day she came in, picked out a giant stack of tracts and sat down and had a serious conversation about theology and the nature of God and salvation. The jws keep trying to convert her, and i had written a tract on the topic so now finally this hard work is paying off maybe. I assured her that salvation is a gift from God, when God calls us, and gives us new life, and faith follows immediately. She affirmed she has faith, and had stopped bowing to idols completely. Now you know me, i don't like to rush to conclutions, but i think the crazy lady might have had a conversion experience already, and if so the Spirit of God has prevented her from going with the cult. I pray that i would be humble enough to admit im nuts too, and perhaps i shall be the apostle to the lunatics so to speak. I suppose we are all fools in the worlds eyes anyway. Please pray that she does come around, she did affirm that she wanted to do a bible study with us, so this would be a great opportunity to get it started again, and start inviting others. Work Im going to talk about different projects ive been working on in general here. In the morning for devotions ive been trying to memorize chapters of scripture again, i have the memory cards that i made before, and have up on my site. I just grab the card and start memorizing and memorize a few verses more each day, almost done memorizing romans 8 in thai. I think this is stratigic because my speed at reading is not great, and though i practice reading with my wife in the evenings, i still am too slow to preach. Reading in english isn't great either, so theres that, but i figure if i am familiar enough because ive memorized the most important chunks of scripture, those chucks that come out in most sermons, then i should be more prepared to preach. I pity the thai listener who has to listen to me fumble about, so i really want to get my fluency down. I also have been skinning logs in between other jobs, and sanding them down. They actually look very nice when sanded down. The draw knife i got from the states makes quick work of debarking. I also added a ball catcher to the pool table, it drops the balls into baskets on the inside of the legs which are also storage. It was a challenging build, trying to figure out how to work around the doors which are already on the corner, and avoid sticking out too far, so on. I did it for pretty cheap, and now its ready for paint. I also blisted my fingers dehydrating 2 kg of garlic to make garlic powder for my wife, and did the same thing with dill that my mother inlaws friend planted, that should last us a year or so. I did a bit more outlining teaching materials for both english education and evangelism, its tricky and id love your prayers, right now i think the safest path is focusing on vocab and letting conversation naturally come, and also the parables of Jesus. I have ideas for a wordless picture bible that goes far beyond stories. Please pray for that too. The more i finish up, the more i can do, so i know it looks like a lot, but almost everything is one time in nature, so i always am getting new time to do the next tract, card set, or project. Please pray that i balance everything correctly, and don't spend too much time on ministry and overlook my family, or too much time on other projects and overlook my ministry, the ballance is a challenge but i hope that if i am aware, then God will give me wisdom. Thankyou for your continued prayers and support, don't forget to check out the pictures too. Family
We got covid, but symptoms are not serious, i had a soar throat this morning but its feeling much better now. Fang got a bit of a fever, and while Calvin's test showed negative, we think he had it a few days before us, but symptoms were mild. Can't say im surprised, but its not over yet, still got a few more days before we can open shop again. I cut my finger really bad and fixed it with super glue, it healed ok, but now it seems to be difficult to fold my finger, i suspect i might have cut the cartilage under the skin as well and it hasn't healed well yet. We celebrated fangs birthday on the 25th, which is the same as my moms. That was fun, calvin is not scared of the escalator at the mall anymore. Class A student of mine who has been coming for a few weeks now comes from a family who claim to be new believers. We tried to talk to them about it, and his mom is excited about saying she is, but the boy told me he thinks they are not really christian, no surprise, sinners prayer decisionistic conversion is way too common here. Regardless, i have his mothers go ahead to use scripture in my english lessons. Its always nice when i get paid to disciple someone. I can be as direct as i need to be, and go as deep as i need to. We read through by sons abcs the biggest story book last time and i plan on breaking that down page by page as the weeks go on. This is the kind of evangelism that works, teaching God's word, and letting faith come from hearing, not a false decision of the will. Pray for this young man, he wants to pass an interview to get into an expensive christian private school in bangkok, and he failed the interview once already. He told his mom he wants more time to prepare with me, so he will study with me 1 more year before he tries again. Tracts This month i finished up the tract on government, and then i started 2 more tracts, one on the great commission and the other a biblical view of fighting covering scriptures on the ethics of war, self defence, revenge, and recreational fighting for entertainment. I think the tract on the great commission will be good for unbelievers to read and see why Christians share the gospel, and also learn what the gospel is. For Christians it will be good to look into unbiblical methods of evangelism, and why we need to stick to how the bible says to share our faith. As for the fighting tract, it will cover the issue of passivism lightly and why we should be prepared to defend our families, but not involved in a bloodthirsty culture where we enjoy watching others fight. In Thailand this is often the case, men tend to be unwilling to stand up when it matters, yet many enjoy watching bloody fights. Perhaps this is because there is a time and a place, and when we don't understand the God given purpose for our fists, then everything is thrown out of balance. My home in the states is far from perfect but in the bible belt usa, old ladies and children will generally be defended by strangers if must be, this is not the case here. There is a serious lack of masculinity in Thailand because it is discouraged on a foundational level, i want young christian men to know that God designed them a particular way, and if their masculine senses start tingling, don't ignore it, you might need to do something. This tract may get reworked and expanded someday into "biblical masculinity" Building I organized the shelves i build last month, and added cleaned out the space underneath, with it all clean i was able to move the majority of the wood piled inside outside so that inside is more presentable and my benches are accessible. I will have to debark the wood soon, so maybe next month. I have already debarked what was loose. There were some leaks on the side of the house, so i fixed that, and now it is pretty much leak proof, though it overflows from the side when it pours, so ill need to fix that with some expanding foam i think. (its the gap between the gutter and the house that seems to be a problem now. I am also getting ready to finish a wooden bike that converts into a scooter, it uses only wooden bolts so Calvin will learn to convert the bike by himself. I will also include a set of wooden bolts and boards to go with it so calvin can build whatever he wants. The toy should actually hold his weight if he builds upwards, so there is potential to this toy, and as i design it, i have to consider the future and making it expandable. Conclusion We have been busy, and God has been faithful. If we are faithful to God's calling we will be fruitful. Thankyou for standing with us. Hi everyone, this month has been an exciting month, and a scary month, but how boring would life be without the scares? So im thankful.
Family Calvin is getting into everything, and just yesterday he snuck into the kitchen area and turned the oven on... Fang had put some pans in the oven for storage, dont ask me why, and the handles melted and smoke filled the room… So the kitchen area is now completely off limits. He put something in his mouth this morning and wouldnt spit it out… i had to stick my finger in his mouth and pull it out, it was a snack from yesterday he hid under the chair, saving it for later i guess. Please pray for us that we stay safe, and nobody gets hurt. Health Last month i overworked myself with the tree, and at the beginning of the month i woke up one morning, sat down and put my contacts in at my desk, and then looking down, i noticed a dent in my shin bone. It was an indention into my shin, and it didn't hurt so i googled it, and the results said all kinds of scary things, and i started to panic. I managed to calm myself down, but that was not a good idea, sudden loss of blood preasure caused me to completely black out, and my wife walked into the room and saw my head drooped backwards in the chair, and she managed to wake me up but i could hear nothing. I eventually gained hearing again. I need to try to relax and stay stress free. Fear of that bone problem which turned out to be nothing, almost hurt me. Please pray that i would grow in trust, and learn not to doubt or fear. On a positive note, ive been rock climbing weekly with a missionary friend here from australia, I really enjoy climbing, the challenge, and the thrill. Its important for me to stay in shape, so morning jogs and rock climbing are my main exercise. King David boasted he could scale any wall, well, if we had a time machine, id put him in a harness and put that to the test. I met another young thai believer who is new to rock climbing, and when climbing together we met a local villager who said he used to repell, so we offered to let him climb. We will probably try to contact him again when we are in the area again, and hopefully have an opportunity the share the gospel with him them. He went off on a tangent about bowing to the spirit keeper of the land before we go to repell into a big cave that he is not sure how deep is. I was going to make a comment that we don't need to bow to any spirit because our God made the cave, in hopes that we would get an opportunity to expand on that thought, but i just didnt get a chance to say anything after that. Pray for this old man and his family too. I do like it when we get the chance to witness with the head of a house, he could have dozens of grandchildren. Tracts This month i started and finished a tract on the canons of dort, or commonly refered to as tulip, the acronymn representing the 5 responses to the false doctrines of jacobus arminius that the dutch reformed church gave. I believe they provide a clear explaination of the gospel, and do so in a useful way that also casts down common false doctines of our day such as decisional regeneration, or any kind of works based salvation, or even univeralism or neouniversalism that is so common today. So in the tract, i had to come up with a new acronymn for thai, and i managed to find one, though acronymns are difficult in thai because of the nature of the language, to get a good looking acronymn you can only use unwritten vowels or อ so i came up with สลดพอ which means sad enough, and works out great to represent each point. So the slogan goes something like "the condition of man is sad enough, so lets hear the good news, the gospel". My wife says this word is used in the news, so im hoping it sounds good in conjunction with the word good news in thai. I don't have this formated or printed yet, but i have the tract with its history, scripture, and explainations all translated. I hope it is a slightly more in depth gospel tract from my shorter tract i translated from heartcry explaining the gospel, and i hope it is useful for believers to start to think about what they actually believe about the nature of salvation. I also nearly finished the tract on government, so i should wrap both of these up and maybe one more tract next month. I have a few ideas, but not sure which i will go with. Business My class is going good, i have had several good opportunities to share the gospel with students, both for the first time, and for the 10th time, so I am thankful for my business and my wifes business as very good ways to interact with new people. Today i think i really broke through with a student, i am praying that the Holy Spirit draws him in as he did with me. I taught the child how to pray, he understands the basic nature of God, why idolatry is bad, and why we need a savior to save us from hell. Most of these concepts i have to review on a regular basis. Also please pray that i have more opportunity to share with his parents about the kinds of conversations weve been having, so they don't feel uncomfortable. Building This past month and this coming month i have the daunting task of creating lots of additional storage on the side of our house. I really need to organize. I designed a system, bought the metal and installed the first part, and it worked out great, i can put way more material up there than i thought. So i will finish the last 2 parts of that system this month, and store the rest of my scrap metal and boards on those, and then i should have a nice walkway. The end of the walkway will have additional shelving which i will make simply out of old air conditioner compressor holders, and an old washing machine metal case will house recycled plastic, and on top of that i will have my shredded recycled paper storage. Then the wooden windows will be fitted with french cleats for additional shelving of meterials and inexpensive tools. I will also build a wood working workbench there as well. This should be the most economical and space saving way to use this area possible, without intruding on the neighbors half, which they just use for their air conditioner compressors, but id still rather have my half cleaned up and walkable. Conclution We are moving forward and being productive, but i need to relax and put my trust in God. God called me here, and from the day i stepped out of the airport, God has been with me every step. Really, i still remember telling the taxi driver to take me to ywam, not realizing that in a city of 10 million people, there is no way he would know, and a lady walked by, overheard, told the taxi, and off i went. God will not let me fail here in my mission to glorify Him in this nation. Thankyou for your continued prayer and support. This month has been exhausting, but i do believe victory is near.
Family Calvin is doing well, and so is Fang. Theres not much to say here other than, i am enjoying the fatherhood aspect of my life the most. Its always a blessing to come inside after hard work in the sun and be greeted by my wife and son. Calvins still not talking, but we are not worried, just saying so yall know. The tree So the neighbors cut down the huge mango tree that shaded our house, it was humongous, and they lopped the whole thing down. So naturally i went to ask them what they were doing with the wood, and they said the city is coming to throw the tree away. So when the city came, i asked them to leave the big peices and i would cut them up and use them to make furnature. I just couldn't pass that up, this is solid mango wood, a tropical hardwood that is quite pretty when finished. So i quickly ordered a chainsaw that was big enough to get through it. I managed to get several huge logs, over a hundred smaller logs, 6 giant slabs cut off the bottom trunk, i split a very log thick log in half to make benches, and i did slab a short thick log into square shaped slabs too totaling 4 short square slabs. The reason why i took the time to do this is because i believe it is our duty to take care of what God gives us, it is not right to just cut it down and let it rot anymore than it would be wrong to shoot a deer and leave him to rot. I can use this wood to make furnature after it dries, and the work to do that is fairly simple and straight forward using an electric hand planer and a carving disk on an angle grinder followed by sanding. I have glued the ends to slow drying to prevent cracks. I have installed sprinklers on the roof now to keep this building cool now that we down have that tree for shade anymore. This project has taken the better part of this week, and i am exhausted. Now with most of the wood sealed and stored, i just have to let it sit and dry for several months to a year before i can start making things. I believe this project, because of the size of the tree, factors into my recycle everything business plan, so this is part of my long term tent making strategy, something i can pass onto others. Tracts I have only a few ideas for tracts now, so i asked Fang which one i should do next, and she said government, so i am doing a tract on how the scripture covers government, both good and bad, and how christians should live while under both. This one is probably the topic i have struggled the most with, I believe strongly in the freedoms we americans have grown up with, and have moved to a country where defamation, as defined as anything that offends someone else in public, regardless of whether it is true or opinion, or whatever the case may be, has a higher penalty than selling drugs or theft. Technically speaking a preacher could go to jail for calling out someones sin publically as is occationally nessesary according to scripture. So i find it difficult to submit to these ungodly idolatrous people, i find it even harder to accept that they have been given authority by God. Pray for me that i would have wisdom to share what the scriptures say in a helpful way, that would help me work through some of this for myself as well. The other tracts that i mentioned last month are all printed up and available for everyone. Class I will say that this has been the most interesting part of my ministry this month. I have very long and in depth conversations with the student i told you of last month, he is very curious and asks questions, which is good for me if the students are the ones initiating the conversations about these subjects. Its one concept at a time with this kid, but i am able to build on previous lessons. The 1 God who is everywhere at the same time concept seems to be understood now. Pray for this kid. I have a class of 12 year olds too, and they come with their questions as well, questions about God, the 10 commandments, ghosts, and more. I am slowly putting together some additional flashcard sets to make talking about religious concepts easier with my students. Conclution At the same time that we work to survive this pandemic, we are preparing for the future as well, preparing for a time in the future of higher productivity. I am working on and practicing evangelism and gospel sharing techniques, including creating spesific educational resources to help me explain these concepts with students, including their own religious practices, which all too often, even fluent thai english speakers are not able to talk about in english. Last night, Fang and I were talking about mid life crisis and why neither of us have had one, and we agree that because we don't do things like the world or chase the same things that the world chases, a house, a car, other things that rack up debt, we have been able to get through this pandemic without serious loss, and have even been able to build (though at a slower pace than wanted), and our focus has been on the end goal, God recieving glory from Thais in nst, not on things that do not last. There are all kinds of things we do to gain opportunity with people, so we can share God's truth with them, no matter if its baking bread every morning, or making furnature with the neighbors tree, but our focus is never on these material things we deal with, which is why we can be content whereever God puts us. Stress is way too common in our house, but no matter what happens, we have a lasting joy that sustains us. Thankyou to everyone who prays for us and supports us, thankyou for walking with us. Hi everyone, hope you are doing well. This is my update for this past month of April. In this newsletter you can read what we've been up to, and how we are moving forward both in the long term and short term, so that you can know how to pray for us. We need you prayers, it is not easy living here, and it takes a regular returning to the original calling and purpose for being here that keeps us healthy, and moving strong. Put simply, we love others because God first loved us.
Family It is very hot here in nst now, and that means we are a bit more sickly. Fang is sneezing cause of the air conditioner, and I always have a migraine due to the heat, both problems are very difficult to solve, and they add stress to our house. Calvin is doing quite well, and now loves to yell and turn in circles, especially to his favorite songs, (currently jumpstart3 bible verse videos) We took a small trip to the mountains one weekend, and calvin had a blast playing in the river and tiny waterfalls. Meanwhile he is terrified of the escalator lol. Business This month my business is doing well, and fangs bakery is suffering, but it will likely flip when schools open. I currently have one student who is the nephew of one of my first private students in nst, he studies for 2 hours, and always has lots of good questions. I'd like you all to pray for him, because the past few classes have very much turned into discipleship sessions, he is young, but im hoping the truth we talk about will stick with him. I also had a return student who now doesn't speak during the day but only speaks at night. Her grandmother talked with fang while she was in class with me, and told fang she has only been like this for 3 months, and thinks someone cast a spell on her. That again puts me in an awkward position but, like i should, i will lay hands on her and pray for her every class, and if it is by some demonic force that she is mute, then she will speak, and she will give glory to God. Pray for her as well, her mother is a doctor, so it seems strange that they should believe it to be a curse if they haven't exhausted all other possibilities. I finished writing a little phonics booklet explaining common misconceptions and common mispronunciations, and why i believe this is the root cause for a lack of english proficiency in Thailand. At the end of that booklet i leave a bible verse, and invite them to take a look at my other tracts, pointing out the fact that if there is this much misconception and false teaching in the english classroom, and so wide spread throughout the country, then surely there are other more significant misconceptions that need to take priority as well. I believe that missionaries need to make practical contribution in order to help give us some credit with the locals, no matter if this is medical, or scientific, or intellectual, or some more practical contribution. Judson wrote the first English Burmese dictionary for example. Ministry I added a tract shelf in the bakery to display the tracts, now anyone can pick the tract that grabs their attention. I also redid the covers, so now every tract has an additional gospel message to reiterate what they read in the tract itself, and the back of the front cover is for notes. We finally finished and printed the God is real tract, and have it up on the site. I finished both God is good, and God is Love, but have not formated or printed them yet. These 3 tracts go together. We have had several good evangelism outings, and i am plumb out of cards, so ill need to make more. We must have handed out somewhere between 2000- 3000 gospel verse cards now, to all the houses and businesses within a 5 km radius of our house. Reaching the whole city within a few years is actually looking possible. I wish there was some way to see if traffic to bible.com has increased from our city at all in the past few months. (if you know how to find information like that tell me) Building Our water pump is shot again, so im going to redo everything like it should be, and add a water tank next to the house, and pump from there (actually this is how you are supposed to do it, i just haven't got around to it since ive been here), and i will add a sprinkler to the roof while im at it, this will allow fang to turn on the roof sprinkler at various times of the day when its sunny, and cool off the roof. We have a friend who does this, and it works rather well. In the future, id like to collect rain water, but im not going to do that now, too much work, but i may do some planning, and minor prep for that as well. I will also be glueing up a workbench countertop for the other side of the house, this will be a woodworking bench, i am making it with scrap wood. Conclusion We have been busy, and will be busy, but we take time every week to rest and reflect, and study Gods word, refocus and start again. This is labor, but if we are faithful to what God has called us to, it is not in vain. Thankyou to all who keep us in prayer, and support us. Hi everyone, hope you are doing well. Our family is enjoying life in the service of our king. This month we have been very busy, its one of those months where you sit back and rest at the end and think "gosh, i got a lot done"
Family Calvin is having fun learning about the world around him, he is extremely energetic, and i mean he's a little ball of energy. I suppose i should have known this from a few months old, even before he could walk, he would wake up and immediately stand before fully awake. Now he wakes up, stands, and starts pointing around the room as if he wants someone to tell him what that thing is, mind you, he's alone in the room usually when he wakes up from a nap. I have no idea what is normal for kids, but I've been teaching little kids long enough to know that little kids are extremely different at an early age. Calvin loves to listen to worship music any time, in fact its the only thing sure to make him stop crying if he is fussy. Fang and i are doing well as well, it is our 4th anniversary this month, we were married on the 2nd of April, 4 years ago, on a beautiful mountain in new zealand. Now we are building a family together here in Thailand. Love does grow in time, i love her more now than ever. Ministry Its been raining a lot, and there have been days when we were just too tired after closing shop, so we haven't been out as often this month, please pray that we do continue the habit of evangelism in the evening. As far as tracts go, i did finally finish the God is real tract, and translated it, and fang checked it, so it will be printed and up on the site shortly. I will follow this one with 2 more, God is good (focusing on the justice of God) and God is love (focusing on the mercy of God) i believe that these 3 tracts will be useful to take someone from thinking Christianity is foolishness, to seriously considering that Christianity is the truth. The first tract was difficult because of the amount of research and extra-biblical sources, but that is what is needed for someone who does not yet believe in the validity of the scriptures. I added a new sign on the window inviting anyone interested to a Bible study on Saturday, no one has mentioned interest yet, but im hoping someday. Please pray for guidance for me, i believe i should be doing more video related resources, perhaps based on the tracts ive been making, also subtitled videos like ive done before as well. It will take more time, and id have less time to do the tracts, but i want to balance resources so that i can reach more people. Business I spent a few mornings slicing apples, and dehydrating them, bagging them to sell, also dried some herbs and made a test batch of jerky. We adjusted our sourdough recipe and its better than ever, now we are keeping it in the fridge. We are also getting ready to add icecream to the menu as some customers come in with a sweat tooth and all we usually have are cookies and brownie crisps which fang makes when she has time. I made some papercrete containers which turned out awesome, so ill be making more with this recipe, and hopefully this will add a bit more stability for us when students stop coming for whatever reason. I added a crashpad around the rock climbing wall for safety. I have been meaning to do this for a while but just got around to it. Hopefully we can add meat curing and canning to the list of things we do before we start getting ready to hire our first employee, we need lots of work that can add instant profit so we can pay their salary when we get around to it. Keep the bakery in mind too when you pray for us. My class is doing ok, though due to another covid outbreak kids disappeared again, im getting frustrated but learning to work around it. Some have started coming back so hopefully others will too. I have a couple new students i really like including 2 boys who are cousins and study together, one goes to an english program school and the other regular. The boy who goes to the english program school thinks he knows it all and the kid who doesn't know much is very curious and listens to everything i say, remembering always to pronounce his th sound, and final s and ed sounds, which are usually difficult for thai kids, im so impressed i brag on him all the time, i love the story of the uneducated kid who ends up wiser in the end because of humble curiosity. I have a 10 commandments sign in my room and have walked through it with them, he remembers not to take the lords name in vain, and not to worship idols. The law is the foundation we must explain before we point out our sinfulness and Gods sacrifice for us. Pray for my students that even though i may not be able to explain everything in detail, that the seed of the gospel would grow in their heart and one day make them believe. Conclusion We strive to live our lives in this place for the glory of God and the good of those around us. Pray that the davis name would be a light in this place for centuries to come, that some of my children would stay here and carry on the work we have started. Pray that others would join us in our mission of service and form a gospel centered, bible believing church led by locals, not just me. Pray that our businesses would grow the way they should, to support our ministry, and church for years to come. Thankyou for those of you who support us in prayer and giving. Family
We are doing well this month. I think both fang and I agree that married life gets so much easier when you have kids. Calvin is such a smart boy, and is constantly learning, by intentionally setting a good example for him, we are nicer to each other, and things go so smoothly. Also learning to be a good father means asking what would father God do? WWFD? When the bible uses language like father, and calvin is young and reading for himself, i want him to understand that God is his father, and i want that to be a positive thing for him. Later in life he will learn how imperfect i was as a father, but i pray that i can reflect as much as possible. Tracts Finished a tract on child discipline, a tract on gluttony, and a tract on Satan and evil spirits. That last one there i finished it first because we had a weird message from a lady about studing english, when fang looked at her profile picture, found out she was part of a group that asks evil spirits to possess their bodies so they can take on special abilities. You may have seen the parades in phuket where they take spikes and put them through their arms and legs and neck and apparently don't feel pain, well this is that group, so i didn't want to be empty handed when they came, i prepared a tract, and studied up in case i had to do an exersism. They didn't come however, but the tract goes right along with the conversation i had with that christian lady we met while handing out tracts if you remember. Deliverance is an important topic. I am now wrapping up the tract on "How do we know God is real" which i may rename to God is real, and follow it with 2 more, God is good (or just) and God is love. I have a note on my board i forgot about, and think these three would be like an expanded form of my basic gospel tract for more serious readers. The God is real tract tackles the topic from a scientific point of view, a historical point of view, and an experiencial point of view where i mainly give percentages and statistics regarding numbers of christians accross the globe. Its been difficult to put together, and im waiting on fang to finish checking, but i really feel that this tract is a good starter for the modern skeptic who really doesn't believe there is a God. Evangelism We have not been out as often this month because fangs back is hurting, and she can not take medicine due to breastfeeding calvin, so we are thinking about weaning him off. We covered a few more streets, including a friend of fangs, and had a few breif conversations with people who seemed interested and receptive. Health I have been running in the mornings, hoping to start running every morning so that I can get my time up and set a good example for my son, and take care of this body God gave me as i get a bit older. Seems that my stomach has been slightly better since running, not sure if it is cooralated however. Business I've been teaching more, and my new students are great, pray for me to find a clever way to share the gospel clearly and effectively without scaring anyone off. I need students to pay the bills here. Ive been thinking through some methods that have worked before, and thinking of doing childrens books on the parables of Jesus starting with the gospel more centric ones, and moving on from there. Building Finished the pool table completely and my work benches are 90% complete, including a small table saw and a router table. Im hoping that soon i will be able to create a 3rd income source to help offset the risk of loosing students when i share the gospel with them. Conclution All around we have had a good month, and are moving forward. We hope you are all doing well and are thankful for your continued prayers and support. Family
This month has been a particularly happy month, however quite busy. We are continuing to grow together in this family unit God has put together for us. There is so much to learn about being a good husband and a good father, and i am so weak, and there are so few who do things right, but God is teaching me, and i am thankful that my parents and grandparents laid a wonderful example, when i doubt im inclined to fall back on what my grandfather or father would have done. That makes me nervous too, because someday Calvin is going to be doing the same thing. Imperfect men trying to be a visible reflection of Christ in this world, at least we are trying. My prayer is always that I would lead my family in the right direction and have wisdom to prioritize everything in the most godly manner. Calvin is growing and developing well. He has started to pretend play by himself, and loves it when we join in. He loves books, and is starting to grow more patient as i read the whole book to him. When he throws a tantrum, he can control his breathing now and stop crying, i really don't know what i am doing but tantrums seem to be the most ungodly thing 1 year olds do, so i don't put up with them. He knows he can always depend on us for love and affection as he needs. I love this boy so much, and i pray he becomes an evangelist and preacher in this country someday. Evangelism We have been handing out verse cards a few days a week as we are able, and calvin loves the walk, my hope is that he remembers these walks and evangelism is a natural part of his faith when he grows older. We came across a street that had several believers on it, because one lady came to faith due to her experience with her haunted house. Im pretty sure that was a divine encounter, she was outside picking leaves off some tree, or we would have never met her, God wanted to encourage us in this thing we do. God works through family is a huge part of this, think of Abraham. I am reminded how important it is for us to continue to share with fangs family. Tracts I know i said i was going to try to get more done this month, and once again ive been slow, but the tract im working on has been getting longer and more complicated too. The God is real tract is going to be great, but it is about twice as long as expected now, so i decided im not going to rush it, i don't need the stress, ill take my time, research well, translate carefully, and do a good job, this is one of those tracts most people will choose to take home. Then i got most of a second tract on child discipline done, and i am brainstorming a tract on evil spirits, mainly because i think a lot of folks here have this kind of experience, and they need to know Jesus has authority. Business My class is going well, and fangs business is doing better this month, things are starting to look brighter. We might have enough money to put one of those portable airconditioners in our bedroom this month, we've been sleeping in the heat for too long. Building I am finally wrapping up the pool table and my work benches, i have the cloth on, and all thats left is glueing up the bumpers, adding the cloth around those, and putting some threaded inserts to fasten them to the sides snugly, and then adding the topper which will be a pingpong table. My hope is that this will be a conversation place, i have some memories of a counselor i saw when i was a boy who would play pool which talking with me, and it works, so hopefully it will create a casual atmosphere where i can engage in evangelism with customers on a one by one basis. Standing and sitting talking, and dropping the "no one is perfect, all people are sinners" line is a bit awkward. Thankyou Thankyou for praying and supporting us, and walking with us as we share the good news of hope in this dark place. |
AuthorMy name is Kaison, my wife is Kritti, our children are Calvin and Abigail, we are a missionary family living in Nakhon si thammarat Thailand for the longhaul. I want to start blogging regularly but pretty sure the posts will be pretty random about things i think are not being covered at all, or family related updates. So follow along and leave a comment, i love comments, thankyou. Archives
January 2024
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