Attending Thai Church

Thank you all for your continued prayers and notes. Each time we receive an email or letter, it is a huge encouragement—a tangible reminder that we are certainly not alone in this ministry.

When we first landed, attending a Thai church felt like a huge undertaking that we were not quite ready for while walking through culture shock. So we checked out the international churches. Little did we know, that Covid would foil plans to attend any churches (both Thai and international) for nearly a year, and we instead met with five other families as a “house church.” It’s felt like a very long-time coming, but we finally had the opportunity to attend a small Thai church just last month. We’ve gone for three weeks now, and even the kids have really enjoyed it. Some of the children are bi-lingual classmates from school, and the teacher speaks both Thai and English for their Sunday school.

During the adult Sunday school, we have appreciated one of the bi-lingual attendees stepping in to help translate. I, Traci, have been able to understand a good deal of what’s being said in Thai, but definitely would miss a lot without the translation. Right now we see this as an opportunity to engage more with the language, especially since Nick and the littles are in English-speaking environments all day at school—most of the small congregation speaks exclusively Thai—and a chance to build relationships with more Thais in our community. The church is at a brand new location, just five minutes from our house. We’ve definitely felt stretched, but in a great way, and we are looking forward to attending more regularly.

Alpha Parenting Training & Seminary Course

In February, we joined an online Alpha Parenting Class led by another couple within Cru, out of their home in Bangkok. The training itself is not overtly Christian, but the couple leading it has used it for several years in order to build relationships with parents beyond the class and then share the gospel with them. They have seen a lot of fruit from this ministry, and it’s one option we are looking into possibly launching here in Chiang Mai in the fall. We’ll be participating in the course through April, and are praying through how it might work with our schedule to facilitate it next year.

We have also started another seminary course through Cru—ironically, Intro to Missions—that will run for fi!een weeks. While there is a lot of reading and “homework” involved, there will not be any super late-night live classes like our training last summer. Praise the Lord for that! Thank you again for your ongoing love and support. We couldn’t be here without you!

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