Hallo there from a rainy Bangkok!! We are so happy to have finally received some rain. Thailand is currently suffering from the worst drought in 10 years, and it has impacted the country intensely. Although it's mostly a drizzle here and there, it does help to cool the hot days down a bit... Yeah!!
You may have noticed that I haven't posted anything since April, and for that I do apologise. So let me try to catch you up briefly...
We finished our 3 month trip to Bangkok at the end of April, and had to leave for South-Africa seeing as though our visas had expired. We spent the month of MAY at home, during which we have finally received our long awaited religious visas. It's basically a one year visa but it can be renewed annually within the borders of Thailand. We thank God for His provision and you for your prayers!
We had a wonderful time with our families and friends, and thoroughly enjoyed our time back in S.A. We really appreciate everyone who went out of their way to make this time special and memorable!! But one month passed and it was time to pack our bags again, and this time it wouldn't be for a few months, (like every other time) but a few years.... It felt surreal to pack my entire life into
two suitcases, but even more so, to greet my loved ones...
We arrived back in Bangkok during the first week of JUNE. We went straight from the airport to our new home, which was completely empty apart from some curtains. Thankfully, a lady from church sent us a picnic mattress to sleep on. We spent our first month just figuring out where to buy certain household items from, and trying to nurse ourselves back to good health as we shared food-poisoning together. During this time I used to get a lot of: "what on earth was I thinking" moments... haha!! Yup... missionary life.... it's not glamorous at all!!
But in God's grace, (which I always feel, acts like super-glue, holding everything together), we survived our first month... It's remarkable how different the experience becomes when you know you're not going back home in 3 months, there's no backdoor, this is it. You need to accept this new reality. This might make no sense to you, but we feel like we don't really have a home anymore, both S.A and Thailand is and is not "home" at the same time... haha!! This is supposedly a common experience amongst missionaries. But......
It is so GOOD for my spiritual walk to feel "homeless", like a traveler not really belonging anywhere. Us humans always seek security, stability and comfort, and we find them by establishing certain material things or relationships into our lives. God has been patiently teaching me another way these past 3 years.... Our God alone can be my unfailing and unchanging security, stability and comfort. I've been constantly stripped from material and relational resources and at times it felt like the only things I truly owned was my loneliness and brokenness. But it was then that I realised, there is nothing in this world for me to firmly hold on to, but Him. God is truly the only certainty we will ever have in this life. This is most certainly not an enjoyable (continual) lesson in my life. But God is using all these difficulties to benefit (work together for my good) my relationship with Him, which is the only thing I truly own and will take with me when I die.
So is it good for me to be lonely and depressed at times, without all the people I hold dear, struggling to find my way in this foreign world..... YES!! Because it reminds me of my great dependence on the One that I have come to know as my Rock. I am truly and richly blessed by my Heavenly Father!
Thankfully by JULY our general health seemed to have picked up a lot. Just in time for us to start with our Thai language learning again. It's going well and we are mainly working on expanding our vocabulary and trying to distinguish between those nasty five tones... haha!!
We also celebrated Johan's birthday on the 11th . We had a small birthday party with most of the church members at our house. They loved singing to him, and of course taking pictures together (Thai people are extremely fond of having their picture taken, and don't forget the peace, thumbs up or 'freak out' expressions - they are a must!!.... haha!!
We've also set up English classes which we teach for free from church. It's a wonderful opportunity to draw in people from the street. We met a young Thai man (that can speak English a bit with the desire to learn more) at the supermarket the other day. We invited him and he never misses a class, Johan regularly engage in conversations with him about God, and he is open to listen. So please pray with us that the Holy Spirit will convince him (and his wife) of the truth. His nickname is Golf and his wife Oeh (the guy third from the right, and his wife second from the right). The rest of the people are church members, with our Thai teacher, Nee, to my right.
I've made our neighbour's homes on either side black and white so you can see which is our apartment. I apologise for the picture, but it insists on lying on it's side no matter what I do!!
It is so GOOD for my spiritual walk to feel "homeless", like a traveler not really belonging anywhere. Us humans always seek security, stability and comfort, and we find them by establishing certain material things or relationships into our lives. God has been patiently teaching me another way these past 3 years.... Our God alone can be my unfailing and unchanging security, stability and comfort. I've been constantly stripped from material and relational resources and at times it felt like the only things I truly owned was my loneliness and brokenness. But it was then that I realised, there is nothing in this world for me to firmly hold on to, but Him. God is truly the only certainty we will ever have in this life. This is most certainly not an enjoyable (continual) lesson in my life. But God is using all these difficulties to benefit (work together for my good) my relationship with Him, which is the only thing I truly own and will take with me when I die.
So is it good for me to be lonely and depressed at times, without all the people I hold dear, struggling to find my way in this foreign world..... YES!! Because it reminds me of my great dependence on the One that I have come to know as my Rock. I am truly and richly blessed by my Heavenly Father!
Thankfully by JULY our general health seemed to have picked up a lot. Just in time for us to start with our Thai language learning again. It's going well and we are mainly working on expanding our vocabulary and trying to distinguish between those nasty five tones... haha!!
We also celebrated Johan's birthday on the 11th . We had a small birthday party with most of the church members at our house. They loved singing to him, and of course taking pictures together (Thai people are extremely fond of having their picture taken, and don't forget the peace, thumbs up or 'freak out' expressions - they are a must!!.... haha!!
Johan also had the opportunity to deliver his first sermon at church. A regular church service here is a bit different.. The pastor gives an hour long teaching from the Word, afterwards they will start the official sermon with announcements and worship. The pastor will then deliver his one hour long sermon. After the service the church serves lunch and everybody scurries around to get it all set up. On today's menu was fish and chicken feet, served with rice and noodles. Johan tried bribing me (with 7 ice creams - one ice cream a day for a week) to get me to eat some chicken feet (which he himself doesn't eat), but I resisted the temptation, and made sure to plate up craftily . . . hahaha!!!
We've also set up English classes which we teach for free from church. It's a wonderful opportunity to draw in people from the street. We met a young Thai man (that can speak English a bit with the desire to learn more) at the supermarket the other day. We invited him and he never misses a class, Johan regularly engage in conversations with him about God, and he is open to listen. So please pray with us that the Holy Spirit will convince him (and his wife) of the truth. His nickname is Golf and his wife Oeh (the guy third from the right, and his wife second from the right). The rest of the people are church members, with our Thai teacher, Nee, to my right.
Although we are still very limited due to language, we make do with what we have, trying to stay faithful in the small things. We are happy to report that our relationships with the church members has grown a lot, on our previous visits we felt some of them to have a negative and closed attitude. But God has opened their hearts towards us and caused friendships to bloom, even though our conversations are really really basic... haha!!
We've also made a lot of new acquaintances in our neighborhood, as we walk through it on a daily basis. This is the first out of the four times we've been here that we stay in an actual neighborhood. We usually stayed in bustling parts of the city surrounded by shops, vendors and diseased stricken stray dogs. We are so thankful for our current accommodation and location, which is really a lot easier on us than our previous arrangements. We currently live in what they call a townhouse, which is basically a two bedroom apartment. It was a much unexpected blessing from God and we are happy to be able to accommodate visiting friends and family for the first time since we got married!! So if you need to take a breather from your busy lives......
I'm afraid that's it for the moment. I hope you enjoyed this lengthy post... Remember you are always welcome to respond to this blog via email.
May you be blessed and continue to grow in truth...
Love xxx
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