Hello everyone!As most of you know, we are settling just fine and quickly as well.It feels like the time is just going by so quickly.God is so amazing it is such an honor to serve him.Ministry is going well here,Friday night fellowship is the best.We have dinner and then we dig into the word.It is a great opportunity to answer questions and to show the great love the Lord Jesus has for others.Saturday is fun teaching English to the Karen children as well as a bible verse.Sunday we have English service at the Johansen's, it is just our two families but, we make a whole church.I think for the first time Saturday our children met some friends as it is not cultural for children to be outside.200 firecrackers go a long way.This week in Thai we learned sentence structure.The kids have been speaking Thai to there Grandmas this last week, they got a kick out of it.Joe was able to take some of our music down to the radio station this week for them to play.Joe is also doing well in his online class Kingdom Expansion 101.He has a great facilitator Dain Waidley.The kids are doing well with there studies.We are learning the tin whistle this year for music,the kids love it.I almost forgot on Saturday we were invited to Naamdib School to watch their athletic competition.They had a thirty legged race!It was so cool!After the competition they served us homemade strawberry ice cream!It was fabulous.One of our new friends Tar is a third grade teacher at that school.Continue to pray for our new friends.Thank you all for the love that is shown to us and for your prayers and support.
Prayer Requests
Our new friends
Thai Lessons (God to give us the ability to speak this tonal language)
Friday night bible study
The Nelson Kids to meet some more new friends
Monday, September 26, 2011
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
New Links Available!!
Greetings everyone! Joe asked me to set up links to a few websites for him. If you scroll all the way to the bottom of the blog, there is a section of favorite links. There you will find three links. One of the links is to a video produced by a group of people who want to bring to people's attention the plight of the Karen people of Burma. A second link is to messages by Pastor David Platt of Disciple-Making International. He is one of the pastors of The Church of Brook Hills in Birmingham,AL. DMI is a parachurch organization that desires to provide resources from the local church to support other churches around the world. And the third link is to sermon messages given at Joe and Sarah's home church of Calvary Chapel Valle Vista in Hemet, CA.
Stop by and check out the links. Watch the video on the Karen people. It's quite enlightening. And also be sure to stop in and check out the messages from Pastor Cliff at Calvary Valle Vista! And for more sermon messages about various topics, stop by the DMI website. All three are great places to visit and will help you grow in your walk with God!!
Thanks and have a blessed week!
Mike
Stop by and check out the links. Watch the video on the Karen people. It's quite enlightening. And also be sure to stop in and check out the messages from Pastor Cliff at Calvary Valle Vista! And for more sermon messages about various topics, stop by the DMI website. All three are great places to visit and will help you grow in your walk with God!!
Thanks and have a blessed week!
Mike
Saturday, September 17, 2011
Hi Gang!
Hey everyone! Everything here is going great! The Lord is so good. We have made several new friends, Jeab, Tar, Steve, and now Peter. Jeab is our Thai tutor, which by the way is going pretty good, Tar and Steve are teachers at the school Sarah was asked to teach at, and Peter is Steve's friend. It is so cool how the Lord has brought us all together. These guys are all really neat guys and all from different backgrounds. We have had the chance to hang out about three times a week, just loving on them and sharing Christ through our actions. It gets better, As Pastor Eric has been away at the refugee camp many things have come about, teaching, radio, bible study, etc. He was able to come down from camp this weekend and we were able to share what the Lord has been doing and the doors He has been opening. Eric is all for them so far. It was really neat, last Wednesday night, we invited Steve, Tar and Jeab to join for fellowship and Bible study Friday evening after Thai class, I was planning on doing something when Pastor Eric surprised us all with his presence giving him the opportunity to meet the guys and teach the first Bible study at his home with our new group of friends. What a blessing. Tonight we had plans to meet up with Steve and go to a "trade fair" more like a really organized swap meet, he took us there and had some things to care to so we were to meet up when we were finished. It was so cool, he told me, "Ok, we will come to your house, hang out, play guitar, and eat dinner." So, ok, we all went back to our house and ate dinner again. It is funny how the Lord works, right? I am so excited to see what the Lord does with this group of guys He has brought our way.
On another note, English class at the Karen church is really cool. Today we went through the alphabet with the kids teaching them the phonetics of each letter, this will be a weekly event, the phonics that is. We will be working on the vowels for a while, next week will be "Aa". During this time I also teach them a memory verse, not only does it implement the Bible, it helps with reading and pronunciation. Today was Genesis 1:1.
We are praying about a trip "inside" during which I may be teaching Microsoft Excel and Word. This will be a two or three week trip. It will probably be next month, October. Not sure any more details right now.
Also tonight I was asked to help Steve at the public school, he is the English teacher, teach conversational English. Just one more thing the Lord has opened up. With so many things coming up it is easy to take them all on only to find out later that some where not of the Lord. We have to be very cautious and bathe all these in prayer. Amen? God is doing amazing things here in Northern Thailand.
Please continue to pray for:
Our new friends
ministry opportunities ( both open doors and guidance to accept)
The new Bible study
Thai lessons ( Nelson's & Jeab)
Eric while he is away
Upcoming trip (the trip itself and the families behind, also the wisdom to teach these programs)
Here are some photos of us and our friends...
Top four: Celebrating Jeab's birthday Bottom Three: Bible study
God Bless you and check back frequently to see what the Lord is doing in and through our lives. Blessings from Thailand!
Galatians 2:20
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
New Photos From Thailand
Hi gang,
Joe sent me a few photos for you all. The first two are of the family eating and also what they are eating. It looks delicious!! I happen to really like Thai food and this stir fry (that's what I'm guessing it is) looks wonderful!!
The last two photos are of the family learning Thai with their tutor.
In His service,
Mike & Lisa
Joe sent me a few photos for you all. The first two are of the family eating and also what they are eating. It looks delicious!! I happen to really like Thai food and this stir fry (that's what I'm guessing it is) looks wonderful!!
The last two photos are of the family learning Thai with their tutor.
In His service,
Mike & Lisa
Saturday, September 10, 2011
RAIN!!!
Good evening,
All our Facebook friends have received some of this info already, but here is a more detailed explanation of yesterdays events; Around 6 p.m. yesterday Sept. 9th while we were waiting for our Thai language teacher to arrive at the Johansen's house it began to rain. And boy did it! It rained rather heavily for maybe one hour, however that was really all it took to. In that hour of rain, there where at least three landslides two blocking the road and one crushing a neighboring house. During this time parts of the downstairs were filled with mud. We were all safe during this time and spent it in prayer until the rain subsided. Unfortunately our language teacher was unable to make it as her mother in law was in the hospital .
We also had a meeting with an English school director after class and this went well also. Let me explain. Sarah has been assisting M.J. teach English at a local primary school, one of the teachers also owns an English school (like a tutor school) that helps teach English to the nationals. He invited Sarah to teach at this school. M.J. thought this would be a good way to get involved in the community and a way to build relationships for the gospel. This meeting was with the owner and the director discussing their needs and our availability.Pray for wisdom for us in this opportunity. Praise the Lord! This same teacher has something to do with a radio station, not sure as to the involvement but we have been asked if we would be interested in filling one or more of the slots. We are seriously praying this through as we work the details and get the permissions needed in order to be able to share God's word things of this nature. At this point it is only a prayer, but add it to the list of yours to be praying for, if it is the Lord's will it would be a great opportunity. By the end of this meeting the rain had stopped and we were able to head home. As we were loading up one of the emergency workers suggested that M.J. maybe find somewhere else to stay the night as the hillside was unstable. Cleanup crews worked all day in the area cleaning up the mess.
Sarah and I taught our first joint English class today at the Karen church we attend. This will be our Saturday ministry outreach. It was very neat to do it as husband and wife.
Here are some photos of the mud also one of the English class.
All our Facebook friends have received some of this info already, but here is a more detailed explanation of yesterdays events; Around 6 p.m. yesterday Sept. 9th while we were waiting for our Thai language teacher to arrive at the Johansen's house it began to rain. And boy did it! It rained rather heavily for maybe one hour, however that was really all it took to. In that hour of rain, there where at least three landslides two blocking the road and one crushing a neighboring house. During this time parts of the downstairs were filled with mud. We were all safe during this time and spent it in prayer until the rain subsided. Unfortunately our language teacher was unable to make it as her mother in law was in the hospital .
We also had a meeting with an English school director after class and this went well also. Let me explain. Sarah has been assisting M.J. teach English at a local primary school, one of the teachers also owns an English school (like a tutor school) that helps teach English to the nationals. He invited Sarah to teach at this school. M.J. thought this would be a good way to get involved in the community and a way to build relationships for the gospel. This meeting was with the owner and the director discussing their needs and our availability.Pray for wisdom for us in this opportunity. Praise the Lord! This same teacher has something to do with a radio station, not sure as to the involvement but we have been asked if we would be interested in filling one or more of the slots. We are seriously praying this through as we work the details and get the permissions needed in order to be able to share God's word things of this nature. At this point it is only a prayer, but add it to the list of yours to be praying for, if it is the Lord's will it would be a great opportunity. By the end of this meeting the rain had stopped and we were able to head home. As we were loading up one of the emergency workers suggested that M.J. maybe find somewhere else to stay the night as the hillside was unstable. Cleanup crews worked all day in the area cleaning up the mess.
Sarah and I taught our first joint English class today at the Karen church we attend. This will be our Saturday ministry outreach. It was very neat to do it as husband and wife.
Here are some photos of the mud also one of the English class.
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Week 2
We have been here in Northern Thailand now for two weeks and already so much has happened. We have reunited with old friends, spent some time with friends from the States, and said goodbye to our new friends we brought with us from the Philippines. It has been a busy two weeks that is to be sure. We have been purchasing the needed items for our home, that the Lord was so gracious to provide for, we purchased a transportation, refrigerator, washing machine, some misc. dishes and housewares, and beds for all of us. There are a few items that we are still lacking but they are not really necessary for daily living, things like storage containers for our clothes and dishes, cushions for our furniture, etc. Thank you to all who heard the Lord and listened when it came to helping finance these things. We also had the opportunity to travel with Pastor Eric, and his wife M.J. to see the Fletchers off at the airport in Chaing Mai for their travel home. It was a real blessing to have them here to assist in the move and get a feel for our daily lives. Chaing Mai is the closest big city with all the shops and stores of a big city, I think the real highlight for us was Burger King!
The kids have started school and it is going rather smoothly, considering we are starting a new school year and new curriculum, Joey started 7th grade, Jacob 5th, Tyler 3rd, and Marissa 1st, we also have Eric and Mj's two girls joining in the schooling this year. Tonight was our first official Thai language class, rather interesting, some of the sounds we need to make in order to say these words is rather foreign to say the least. The actual language seems to be pretty straight forward, word placement and sentence structure that sort of thing, it is all about tone, pronunciation, and vocabulary. Thai has five tones so each word can have five different meanings depending on the way you say it, but as time goes and the Holy Spirit does His thing we will get this worked out. Thanks again for you financial support and your prayers. Please continue to lift us up in prayer.
Here are some of the areas of prayer:
Finances/ monthly support
Language
Schooling
Ministry opportunities
English teaching outreach
Adaptation
Steadfastness in the Word.
God Bless.
The kids have started school and it is going rather smoothly, considering we are starting a new school year and new curriculum, Joey started 7th grade, Jacob 5th, Tyler 3rd, and Marissa 1st, we also have Eric and Mj's two girls joining in the schooling this year. Tonight was our first official Thai language class, rather interesting, some of the sounds we need to make in order to say these words is rather foreign to say the least. The actual language seems to be pretty straight forward, word placement and sentence structure that sort of thing, it is all about tone, pronunciation, and vocabulary. Thai has five tones so each word can have five different meanings depending on the way you say it, but as time goes and the Holy Spirit does His thing we will get this worked out. Thanks again for you financial support and your prayers. Please continue to lift us up in prayer.
Here are some of the areas of prayer:
Finances/ monthly support
Language
Schooling
Ministry opportunities
English teaching outreach
Adaptation
Steadfastness in the Word.
God Bless.
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