What we’ve been up to…

Well we’ve now been here for about five months and I thought I would give some quick highlights of what we’ve been up to and let you know what we have coming up, how we are doing and how you can pray for us!

If you’ve been following our blog and receiving our newsletter, then you know that since we left the U.S. in May, we moved to Bangkok, Thailand, found and rented a townhouse, enrolled Caleb in International Community School for his junior year of high school, enrolled in Thai language school, worked with a Work & Witness team from Olivet in Chiang Mai and Maetang, took a trip to Laos to renew our visas, took Noah back to the U.S. to Olivet Nazarene University.  If you are following us, you know that have been attending Thai speaking churches and getting to know our wonderful Thai brothers and sisters.

What’s new? Since our last blog post, I (Jeni) have joined a Thai Bible study, I’ve been tutoring a new friend in English.  Kevin and I are now teaching English on Saturday nights at the Bangchalong Church (a Burmese speaking congregation) and helping with the music portion of Caleb’s high school musical (which happenes to be “High School Musical”).   Kevin has preached twice in different churches the past two Sundays.  Caleb ran in his first meet for cross country and took 3rd place for his time in the 5K.

What’s coming up? How can you pray?  Well… we are are still studying Thai every day.  We are trying to use it as much as we can and to interact with our community.  Please pray that the vocabulary and grammar stick in our brains and come more quickly to our minds when we need them.  We know that learning this language is going to take a while, but we also know that with God’s help we can learn it quickly and well.  Pray that while we are learning the language and the culture that we will not accidentally offend anyone or make any cultural mistakes that do anything more than make us look silly.  We don’t mind looking bad, but we do not want to damage any relationships.  We want to build strong ones!

Please pray that God gives us the words to say that will communicate His love and the hope of Jesus as we learn to communicate.

Also pray that we build strong relationships, that our eyes are open to the opportunities around us to make friends and share love and life.  Pray that we never become so preoccupied with our responsibilities and daily life that we fail to see what God is doing around us.

Please pray that we are wise in our choice of activities. That we say yes to and put our time and energy into the activities that are in God’s will for us.

Please pray for us as we plan and teach English that God will direct us in the lessons we plan, that we will use the gifts and talents God has given us to lead others to Him and to help those who do know Jesus to grow in Him, in Christ-likeness, and in service.

Please pray for our upcoming trip to Cambodia.  October is the time for our second visa run and we are excited to go and spend some time with team members there and meet some more of our Southeast Asia family.

Please pray for Kevin as he prepares for upcoming Work & Witness trips.  Please pray for those who will be joining us here in Southeast Asia.

Please pray for our kids, for a great balanace of school, work, friends, rest, etc.  Please pray that they grow closer and closer to Jesus every day. Please pray for their mental, spiritual, emotional, and physical protection.

Please pray for wisdom, strength, diligence, energy and health.  Pray that we, His bride,  will continually be in love with Jesus and live like it.

One more thing… we want to pray for you.  Please leave a comment with how we can pray for you as you live out the love of Jesus where you are.