Click the image above to download our latest newsletter.

If you haven’t already, check out our latest newsletter by clicking on the image above.  It’s an update on all that’s been keeping us busy in the past few months…  and even some exciting news on page 2!  Your thoughts and prayers continue to be such an encouragement to us…

If you are not currently receiving our newsletters and would like to get them delivered straight to your email inbox, please fill out the online form here!

Click to download!

Another few months have come and gone.  And life over here has yet to really slow down, make sense, etc.  We still feel like we are holding on for dear life at times!

But we are doing well.  If you haven’t already, check out our latest newsletter by clicking on the image above.  It’s an exciting update on church camps completely in Thai, language tests, and prayer meetings (again, all in Thai!).  Your thoughts and prayers continue to be such an encouragement to us…

If you are not currently receiving our newsletters and would like to get them delivered straight to your email inbox, please fill out the online form here!

Thanks for your ongoing prayers and support…  Life has been crazy over here and we look forward to sharing more and more about our lives here in Thailand.

If you are not currently receiving our newsletters and would like to get them delivered straight to your email inbox, please fill out the online form here!

Thanks for your ongoing prayers and support…  Life has been crazy over here and we look forward to sharing more and more about our lives here in Thailand!

If you are not currently receiving our newsletters and would like to get them delivered straight to your email inbox, please fill out the online form here.

Thanks for your ongoing prayers and support… Life has been crazy over here and we look forward to sharing more and more about our lives here in Thailand! Enjoy!

So, why will we be lacking in blog love for a little while?

2010 has already held a lot for Brook and I, though it has only been a few weeks, and it surely will not slow down for the next couple of months. Let me give you a brief rundown, so you have an idea of where we are, what we’re up to, and just how you can pray for us. Ready? Let’s go.

• Jan 17-19 – Beginning with this weekend, we fly to Penang, Malaysia to pick up Brook’s official RA Long-term Visa for Thailand.  The process of getting an RA (Religious Affairs) Visa is quite lengthy, and we are quite lucky to have gotten ours so soon (6 months in the making), just in time for our current visas to expire. RA Visas must be retrieved in a neighboring country, and we must be there for at least 2 business days in order to accommodate for final processing. Once Brook has his visa, we will return to Bangkok and apply for a work permit, which can take up to 3 more months of processing to receive. Then, after we have his work permit, we will be able to purchase a vehicle on our own and, most importantly, I will ride on Brook’s visa from here on out.  This means no more trips to the border every 90 days to renew my multiple-entry visa. Brook will only need to renew it once a year, and will not be required to leave the country to do so.  Having already registered and certified our marriage certificate with the US Embassy in Bangkok, my visa will be automatically renewed under his ticket.  Praise God this came through at just the right time!

• Jan 20 – 27 - Once we return to Thailand, it’s time for us to take our annual leave.  After 4 months of intense travelling and speaking in the States, saying our good-byes, packing up and giving away our lives, moving across the globe, and spending the last 5 and 1/2 months of our time in daily language study, schooling, ministry events, scouting trips, and all-around adjustment to a new life overseas, it’s time for a break.  Before coming to Thailand, I read through the manuals and agreements put forth by the organization we are working with (OMF International), and I discovered that they allow 2 weeks of rest every 6 months or so for their missionaries.  At first, I thought that seemed a bit much, but after being on the field and dealing with the stresses of every day life, I now understand why they give this gift to their workers.  It’s important to remind ourselves that we are still human, and we need to take time to recharge ourselves if we want to remain and create a lasting place where ministry can happen.  So, that’s what we’re doing.  We’ll take a week to head south, refresh, recharge, and come back ready to tackle our last few months of language study.  Praise God for an organization that seeks to care for its workers and see them flourish in both life and ministry!

• Feb 2-3 – Shortly after returning from our period of rest, we have a conference for the workers of Central Thailand.  We will take these days to worship, celebrate, and pray together for all of Central Thailand, its people, and its workers.  The conference will be held not too far north of our current city of Lopburi.

• Feb 15 – March 14 – It’s time for us to head to the OMF International Headquarters in Singapore.  Prior to reaching the field, each new missionary is supposed to spend one month at the Int’l HQ for what is referred to as OMF’s Orientation Course (or OC, as it is better known).  The time spent in OC is meant to help bridge the gap between leaving one’s life in their home country and transitioning to a new life overseas.  There are seminars on language learning, cultural adjustment, member care, medical care, self-assesments, getting to know the staff at HQ, among much else.  Since we were somewhat fast-tracked in our process of getting to Thailand, we were allowed to skip out on this event prior to reaching the field, with the agreement that we would attend at a later date – February.  We are hoping to use this month to reflect on our time in Thailand thus far, get to know more of the OMF International staff, as well as learn more about how to make this missionary life last for the long haul.

Upon returning to Lopburi March 15th, we will resume full-time language study, with plans to be finished by the end of June.  After completing our first year of study, it will then be time for us to move on to another location for our first term in ministry.  As of now, we are exploring some options in the capital city of Bangkok, but we have nothing nailed down yet.  We plan to use our final months in Lopburi to continue examining and praying about which location would be best for us, and move on from there.

As you can see, we have a lot going on!  Thank you so much for all of your prayers and support as we’ve started this journey here in Thailand.  We are so grateful that you have decided to come along with us and have taken an interest in our lives.  As we go through these busy weeks and months ahead, please pray for our safety in travel, adequate refreshment, and clarity as we try to figure out what our next steps should be.

To download the newsletter, just click the image below!

Thanks for all of the support over the past few months.  It has been exciting, trying, fulfilling, tiring and fun nearly all at the same time…and all the time!  Your continued prayers are more than appreciated!