Hello Friends,
The summer is just about over for us. Leeza returns to school on Wednesday and students, including Tripp, go back the following Wednesday. Our summer was busy, but refreshing. As I mentioned in a previous post, we had a couple of great family visits this summer. We had so much fun with my parents and sister as well as with Leeza's sister. I'm going to be a little vulnerable here. Sometimes people admonish us for all the "sacrifices" we are making by being missionaries overseas. While I understand why they do this, it makes me uncomfortable because I know that we haven't actually sacrificed anything of our own. We are simply doing what God has told us to do with the lives He has given to us. We don't feel like we have sacrificed because God has given us so much. But there is one exception to that, which is our families. That is by far the most difficult part of living in Bangkok for Leeza and I. Having them here in Thailand and being able to show them our new home and the lives we have built here was such a joy.
We also just completed our two weeks of cross-cultural ministry training with Life Development International. This was a real blessing for our family and fruitful time that we believe will have a significant impact on our ability to continue doing ministry in Asia. We learned so ton about the culture, the Asian learning style, buddhism, and how we can contextualize the gospel and our ministries without compromising the integrity of the message of the gospel and our Christian witness to the unreached peoples of Asia, especially here in Bangkok.
Heres how you can continue praying with and for us:
We were able to hire a new nanny. Her name is Tookta. She is a Thai and we are very thankful the Lord has brought her into our lives. Please pray for a smooth transition over the next week as Leeza returns to work. Pray as well for God to reveal Himself to Tookta and for her to grow an interest in learning about our Christian faith. We saw that she was reading a Thai Children's Bible last week, so God is already doing something there.
Please continue praying for our Indian brother John. We have had difficulty finding an avenue for he and his family to obtain visas to live in Thailand. We are continuing to trust God's perfect plan for John, but we all really want to see him join our team here in Bangkok.
Please pray for the Pakistani refugees here in Bangkok. One of the men we have been discipling and training for over a year has had to return to the Immigration Detention Center. The conditions are brutal. Pray for supernatural encouragement and peace for him, his family, and the hundreds of other refugees in the IDC.
Thank you for your prayers and support,
Carl, Leeza, Tripp and Lindlee