Our last 6 months on the mission field was an extremely difficult time for me.  Being a cross-cultural missionary has constant challenges.  And having had no break since we arrived in 2015 combined with a melancholic personality turned out to be quite a deadly combination.

So just imagine what a blessing it was to us when both our parents decided to sponsor our very first furlough!  It was a much needed break, and we had a fantastic time back in South-Africa.  It was so uplifting to be in an environment where we are loved and supported.  Being surrounded by people of the same nationality, language, religion, worldview and likes has a sort of enchantment to it, which you only realize when you are suddenly completely cut-off from it.

Though we haven't spent as much time with all of you as we would've liked, we do cherish every moment we did have, and would like to thank you again for it!  A very special thanks to our families for spoiling us and going out of their way to make it a holiday to remember!!

And yes, we definitely did visit the Kruger, and yes, we are very proud to announce that we saw African Wild Dogs for the VERY FIRST TIME since visiting there for the past.... our whole lives!!  We had a fantastic sighting of a pack of Wild Dogs fighting a pack of Hyenas.... there.... read and weep.... hahaha!!  Thank You God for spoiling us in ways only You can think of.....

We also had our sweet friend, Unbee visit us in January, all the way from Thailand.  She is a South-Korean girl that we met at our language school.  She loved all things South-African, especially the Kruger, potjiekos and proteas!

And so, after many many braais, koffietjies and kuiertjies we are back in Bangkok.  We continued right away with our full-time language studies and are currently learning to read and write Thai.  Our previous studies focused on speaking, sentence structure etc, so we are happy to embark on this new part of the journey.

I'm also proud to announce that we are now the proud owners of some essential pieces of furniture.... hahaha!!  Not being able to "skrop my nes" since we came here definitely made things a lot more difficult, but thanks to a gigantic blessing from God, we now have a HOME for the first time...  I won't be posting any pictures of it on any social media, so you would just have to come see it for yourself.......... wink wink..

At this stage we feel quite encouraged to continue with our task here, but please do remember us in your prayers.  Also, be sure to have a look at our 'Prayer Requests' section, and never hesitate to send us your prayer requests via Facebook/ Whatsapp or e-mail.

Blessings

Yolandie