Greetings from the Land of Smiles! Although we’ve just entered the hot season, this week’s weather has been more like a combination of the cool and rainy seasons. After some scorching heat toward the end of February and beginning of March, we just had five refreshingly mild days in a row. For most of the week, the sky was overcast and it was drizzling with temps only reaching the low 60′s. In fact, many Thai people have told us it’s the coldest weather they can remember! What a blessing!
Here’s a brief summary of what’s been happening since November. Thanks for reading!
November‘s big event was our trip by bus to Bangkok. You may remember that earlier this year (see the post To Laos and Back Again) Nathan received a 1 year visa from the Thailand Department of Religious Affairs while Jessica and the kids were given 3 month visas. So, over the Thanksgiving weekend, we visited Asia’s City of Angels to extend Jess and the kids’ visas to a full year and acquire Nathan’s work permit. As daunting as these tasks may sound, we are thankful that the entire process went very smoothly. This was due largely to the great work of Khun Samaan, the Christian Thai lawyer who works for the mission that’s sponsoring our visas. In fact, what we thought would take 2 days only took 1 and so we had an extra day to relax and explore Bangkok as a family. We were disappointed to find the Children’s Discovery Museum closed, but, as you can see in the pictures below, we had a great time at Fun★arium, a large indoor playground and activity center.
During the month of December Matthias and Abigail took part in special class presentations and Christmas programs at Grace International School, our family celebrated Christmas at home, and we adopted two kittens from our neighbor. December also brought the end of two years of full-time Thai language study. While we are still studying the language part-time, we are excited that we have passed this milestone and are now able to give more attention to the ministries of evangelism and church planting.
Matthias, Abigail & Chloe enjoy the craft room and playground at Fun★arium
Christmas in Thailand
Abigail the ladybug
Matthias portrays Wilbur Wright
Matthias holds Gabby
Abigail holds Gidget
For 5 weeks in January and February, Nathan took a TESOL* certificate-training program through the ministry of Asia’s Center for TESOL (ACT). For weeks 1-3 the schedule was classes from 8am-4pm and homework in the evenings. Weeks 4 & 5 included classes from 8am-12pm and a 2-hour teaching practicum every evening. Although it was very intense and at times it took it’s toll on our family time (Jess and the kids were very patient!), this Christ-centered course was extremely helpful and worthwhile. It equipped Nathan with practical tools to teach English and share the gospel in an EFL** setting. Also, since we’ll be able to begin an English teaching ministry in the near future, the timing of the course was perfect.
Chloe holds a python
February is a big birthday month at our house. On February 11, Matthias turned 9 (where did those years go?!) and we celebrated by going to the snake farm. Later that month Jessica celebrated her birthday, but without snakes.
At the end of February, Chloe finished her time at Mars Hill, a Thai-English preschool that began as a ministry to underprivileged Thai children. However, due to a lack of resources, the school closed when the last term ended. Although we’re sad about the school closing, we’re thankful for the time Chloe did spend there. By the end, she was able to understand some instructions in Thai, sing several Thai songs, and even pray (briefly) in Thai!
After completing the TESOL program, Nathan resumed teaching English to children and young people at Nakhonping Church, the Thai church our family attends. These twice-a-week classes have helped to build up the ministry of Nakhonping and have also provided opportunities to share the Gospel with those who attend. Our plan is for Nathan to continue teaching these classes until the end of May.
From March 14-18, Nathan taught at an English camp at Chiang Mai University. This annual 1-week camp is organized by a local English ministry and run by teachers and volunteers from four different English ministries in the area. The week included a couple fun nights during which the Gospel was shared. This experience (plus teaching at the church) is a clear indication of the effectiveness of using English teaching as a bridge for sharing Christ!
*TESOL, Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages
**EFL, English as a Foreign Language
Everyone holds somethin’ but Chloe holds the scariest thing.
Nice…
[...] Opportunities and God’s Leading During the TESOL training Nathan took earlier this year, he met several people from various countries, serving in a [...]