Coming to America!

Well,

Happy Summer! Hope everyone is enjoying the warm weather. As I am sitting here typing this it's 10:30 p.m. our time. I am utterly exhausted but in a good place. Our house sits nearly empty. A shell of what it was 5 days ago. My clothes are being washed and folded getting ready to be packed along with various other items... like my favorite curtains... if they fit. I also unstuffed the couch pillows :) My home is nearly empty except for my family and the fullness of our hearts realising the impact we have had on the people around us here. We have done our best to love those around us... even in difficulty, as culture can often make it. As we have been saying goodbye to our neighbors, co-workers, students,and friends we have been shocked to find how much God has used us in their lives. Many of them were teary eyed at the news. Some of them.. we weren't for certain if they even liked us in the first place :) God has used us to love those around us in a culture where love and compassion for others is minimal. He has used us to plant many seeds and we are confident that those seeds will grow with the help of God. They are all sad to see us go. We are also sad to leave but God has shown us that He wants us in America for a time. As you have probably figured from the above said, we are in the process of moving back to America. We are not exactly sure what God has for us there. We were not expecting to leave Thailand so soon. However, we will follow where He leads us even if it is not in our plan :)Right now every day is one step at a time.

We will be leaving for Bangkok on Friday afternoon... Thursday sometime for you guys. There we will stay the night and catch a plane to Taiwan in the morning. From there we have a 4 hour layover and then we will be headed to L.A. We'll wait around for a bit longer and catch a flight to San Jose where we will be staying for a little over a week. After that we will be in Indiana! We arrive on July 4th! What a homecoming :) How many travel hours... let's just say I need more than two hands to count it!

Please be praying for us as this has been difficult on the little guys. Especially Maya, she's been quite upset having to say goodbye to her friends. We know she will be OK once she is back with her friends and fam in America but it's hard for her right now. Jet will turn 1 on July 3rd! He is hanging in there. It has been very busy as we have been getting ready. Jared's mom is currently in the states and will remain there. We will be seeing her in San Jose along with his younger sister, we hope! Let's just say.. this will be an unplanned but FUN family reunion!

We are looking forward to seeing our church family! We can't wait to get involved. We are very curious and looking forward to God's plan for us while we are in America!

Thank you for your prayers love and support! They mean the world to us!

Prayer Points For Our Family:
Safety and health during travel
Ease of travel
Ears to hear God's direction for our time in the States
Provision

God Bless! See you soon! Can't wait to give you guys our love in person!

God Time and Family Time!

For the first time in almost three years my family has had more than a week alone together! This has been an unexpected gift and blessing from God! Our home has been quiet from the outside bu there are deep works going on within. We are wrapping up our English teaching from home and transitioning to English parties twice a month to continue building relationships in a more fun and free environment. We just had our first English party where we made dumplings and pizzas together. We also played some of the games you guys sent. Uno stack was a hit!We will continue to host these parties not to entertain but purposed to continue to build trust and relationship with the students that the opportunity arises where we get to share Christ with them! The people here are so desperate for love. Jared was telling me today that one of the Thai staff asked him if he had problems with students drinking toilet water from the bathrooms. Keep in mind toilet water isn't what you're used to. He said apparently the students do it so that they become sick and get attention. How sad! We have a hope that these kids desperately need!

Today I am thankful that I am hungry. Hungry for God. Hungry to reach out in desperation for the things that He has for me. Hunger for God is such a gift! I am desperate for more of Him because I am surrounded by hopelessness. Christ is hope and I want more of Him to give more away. To be a blessing to those who cannot see the true reality . The reality that there is a God who loves them. That there is a God who fights for them! That there is a God who is Jealous for their love. God is amazing. God cannot be contained, summed up, or explained. He must be experienced, pursued, sought out like a beautiful treasure, dove into like a beautiful ocean of endless love, mercy, peace, and joy! In this season I am pressing in for more of Jesus in my life. More of His truth to manifest as reality in my life. Let the word of the Lord not only come alive in me even more but flow through me as healing waters to those around me to the glory of God! I need him even as the air I breathe!

God is not only doing transformational work in me but also my family. As we are pressing in He is exposing areas that need to be strengthened by the truth of His word. He is doing some deep works in mine and Jared's' life. He is drawing us together and into him. He is teaching us to stand together even more and work together even more. At times it is painful as we are clumsily learning to minister to each other and being cleansed of lies planted deep within. It is also joyful as He is planting in me visions for more of the work He has for us here. I can feel them and sense them as if they were already fulfilled! We are waiting on the Lord excited to see what He will do. Most importantly our family must be healthy and planted even deeper into God's word before we can reach out even more. In His time all of these things will come to fruition. Until then we will wait expectantly pressing into Him even more.

I want to encourage you to keep pressing in! It is so easy to become complacent but don't you want to dive deeper! How great is His love for us! How rich are His blessings! Take hold of them and with faith pull them into reality! Provision! Healing! Everlasting Joy! Peace! A relationship with the Holy Spirit, Jesus, our God! Eternal life and a Sea of Love! How blessed we are to know the truth! I bet some of those around you could use some of this also! Press in so that you are overflowing and can't help but give some of it away!

Hey,

Thanks for loving us and praying for us! You are amazing! Your prayers are powerful and we believe that when you pray God moves! We love, love, love it when you pray for us! Thank you also for giving! You help fill the gap financially that makes it possible for us to stay here! Please feel free to e-mail us! We would love to hear from you and answer any questions or curiosities you may have :) I've posted prayer requests below:

Divine protection, provision, and health!

More opportunity to love people!

Jared's transition to working full time with Thai high school students to go smoothely as there have been many challenges already!

The school processes our visas before we have to do another visa run! Jet and Maya fussed the whole bus ride last time :(

God Bless!

Sorry, I'll post pics next time... Jet's sleeping on my lap :)

They will know we are Christians by our LOVE!

Hello everyone!

We made it through songkran with much R&R to be thrust into daily life and then some :) However, I have a great story to share that came out of the chaos! Hopefully you can stay with me as storytelling isn't my forte!

Jodi, one of the students who has lived with us over the last couple of years received news from her University that her student status had been

terminated. She called her supervisor and met with her several times over the following days but to no avail Jodi could not re-enroll as the enrollment for this school year had already been closed. All of this was terrible news as Jodi's student termination was of error. To make it all worse her parents are very upset with her and place most of the blame on Jodi when truly it's not her fault. In there eyes she has caused them to "lose face" putting their whole family in shame. Through the last week or so we have spent much time encouraging Jodi. As I write Jodi is in China we will miss her as one of our own family but we know this will be a good time for her to grow even closer to God as her faith will be tested. We are confident that she will be a light shining in China for her family and those around her! There is much possibility that she will be returning to Thailand in the next 6 months to a year so we are praying and looking forward to the day she returns to fulfill her dream of getting a masters degree from a good Uni. here in Thailand! The next part of the story.....

The night Jodi left we had our English class. In the English class we have 3 Chinese students and 2 Thai students. It just so happened that that night we had been talking about how our different cultures display affection. For example it's normal for men to kiss each other on the cheek in some European countries, however, this is not normal in America. One of the things we had talked about was if guys in America normally hug girls that are their friends and so on... so we explained that usually men don't hug female friends unless it's a hug goodbye to a dear friend, it doesn't happen on a daily basis :) We later learned that hugging in China was reserved for family mostly. Not long after that, it was time for Jodi to go. I came down all teary eyed with her, already having said my goodbyes. Jodi gave Jared the biggest bear hug I've ever seen a girl give :) The students sat in awe at the display.

Jodi drove off and we continued class breaking off into pairs so they could practice speaking english with each other. Jared's partner asked us why we came to Thailand. So he proceeded to tell her "that God had told us to come." She then asked if we were "Christmas." He then replied, "Do you mean Christians?" She said "yes, you pray before you drink water and eat." Jared then proceeded to very briefly tell her why we pray, why we love people, why we love God, why He loves us, and why we ask God for answers and direction in life. This was HUGE. The only thing LuLu had heard about Christianity was Christmas, a couple of her acquaintances were Christians, and she new the names Adam and Eve. She had never heard about Jesus. She had never heard the name of Jesus! Later all three of the girls commented on how much Christians loved each other having witnessed Jodi's love at times when they would see each other out in the community and what they had witnessed in our home that night. They concluded it was very good! Praise God that the doors are now wide open for these girls to learn more about the love of God! We will continue to cultivate our relationships with them and see what God does!

Isn't love such a powerful and amazing testimony! Be encouraged that if you take the time to love others around you they will take notice!

Thank you all for praying for us.

Goodbye Photo with Jodi and Candy