Up Close and Personal With a Cobra

The other day in our village we came across someone with a big cobra...seemed like a good pic for the blog.

A baby dedication service for Nuhy's baby

At a nearby church this past Sunday, our friend Nuhy expressed her desire to raise her child in the ways of the Lord.

Encouragement from Elderly Thai Christian

On Sundays, we drive about 20 minutes to a small Thai house church. In our area of Thailand, there are only a few churches, and just a few believers scattered around. In America, we are used to driving 10 minutes, 15 minutes, maybe even 30 minutes to go to church...its normal; however, most Thai people in our area don't have vehicles, and have to rely on public transportation (occasional bus-like vehicles that drive down main roads). I was really impressed this morning by the devotion of an elderly lady, Sa-Lee. As the only Christian in her village, Sa-Lee had no ride to church, so she had to walk from her village to the nearest main road to get a bus. This elderly lady, worn down by years of working in the rice fields, walked over a mile in the Thailand heat just to get to the bus stop, and then made her way on to the church. Lets all be encourage by Sa-Lee, and her devotion to God and to her Church.

Hudson Hiding

After cleaning up his toys, Hudson put himself up too!

Pamela's belly (8 months)

Pamela's getting bigger now, these are some recent pics.

Ban Tdum Kids

These are some Kui kids from Ban Tdum, a nearby village. Mike and Amy Bowles, and their family, used to serve in that village. We took them out to celebrate one of their birthdays. Here is a pic that we took at a park.

Pray for Dtoy

Just recently, we hired a lady, Tdalm, to come help out with some housework. She is a Christian and attends the church that we go to. Her younger brother Dtoy came to visit us the other night. He acted a little weird, but I wasn't sure why. That night he was riding home on his motorbike and had a wreck. I think the reason he was acting weird was because he had been drinking; unfortunately, I didn't think about it at the time...I just thought he was weird. He has lots of scrapes all over his body, but as far as I know he's doing ok. In his weird state, he asked me to take his picture. His sister says he's a Christian, but he's walked away from God. Please pray that God would work in his life, and draw him back.

Praise God!!

Thank you for praying for Nuhy. Today she gave her life to Jesus. She is the first go give her life to Christ from her family and from this village. Pray that God will protect her. In a Buddhist and animistic environment, being a Christian is strange. Today she counted the costs and chose to follow Christ. As a school teacher, she mentioned that she has been and will be laughed at for following Christ. Pray that she will be a witness, and a light, in her place of work. Finally, pray that she will grow in her walk with God daily. To God be the Glory!

Further Prayer for Nuhy Needed

Thank you for praying for Nuhy (from 2 blogs ago). I had a big, long talk with her tonight. She has been studying on her own quite often about God. She's read about 4 books about the Bible, as well as many tracts. She has a good understanding at this point about God, what it means to be a Christian, how someone can give their life to Christ, etc. She has been reading a New Testament that was given to her, and tonight I just gave her one with an Old Testament as well. It is obvious through the stories that she told me tonight that God is working in her life, and has been for a while. As you read this, please simply pray that Nuhy will give her life to Christ.

This is our new nephew Joshua. Derek and Erin (Joshua's mom and dad) called us just a couple of days ago from the hospital letting us know that he was on the way.

Good Encouragement from Hudson

This past week, a Thai pastor asked me to preach at church. I was like, oh, ok, sure. I'm thinking, why did I say yes? So this week, I've been working through the passage in English, translating it into Thai, getting help from some friends, and hoping to have everything ready by tomorrow. After eating lunch today, I gathered some materials together, and started going over them. Then, Hudson says, "Daddy, what are you doing?" I said, "I'm justing getting ready for preaching tomorrow." Hudson responds, "Thats funny!"

I had to agree--me trying to preach in Thai is actually pretty funny. If you could, lift me up in your prayers for Sunday (tomorrow morning Thai time or Saturday night in America).

Pray for Nai's Sister Nuhy

In the last blog I shared about Nai, who has been helping me to learn Thai. I would also like for you to keep Nuhy, Nai's sister in your prayers. The moment we came to live in this house, Nuhy came and spoke with some friends of ours who were on our team. She seemed interested in learning about Christianity, but we weren't really sure how interested. About one year has passed by now, and we believe that she is really close to giving her life to Christ. Nuhy teaches about computers at the local village school. All the teachers there also teach about the Buddhist religion. A month or so back she mentioned to the principal that she would not be teaching about Buddhism because of her interest in Christianity. Just a few days ago, she shared with me another story about how her mother was crying out while asleep, but she would not wake up. Her family members in the village offered things to deceased ancestors on behalf of her, and Nuhy reluctantly joined in and helped gather some things. While doing so, she stopped and prayed to God for her mother. Not much later, her mother awoke; Nuhy said that the others believed this was because of their appeasing of the ancestors, but she felt it was a work of God. Please pray that Nuhy would make a decision to follow Christ, and that we would have ample opportunity help her to grow in her understanding of the great God that we serve.