Christmas has come and gone again

Hello to all! I hope you had a wonderful time with family and friends remembering the amazing thing God did for us when He sent His son to earth.

Arm and I had a more non-traditional Christmas this year, which made us a little sad. We didn't get to go to church for the annual Christmas party because we had to go to his cousin's wedding, so we weren't able to see the Christmas play. I've never appreciated how easy it is to see a nativity scene or go see a Christmas play in America as I appreciate it now. May we never let anyone take that ability away from us no matter how loud they yell.

I was given one opportunity to talk about the true Christmas story in my upper-intermediate conversation evening class that I took on this term. On Christmas Eve, there were three students all from very different backgrounds. One is a master's student, another woman is an employee, and the third woman is getting her PhD in science. I was able to share the Christmas story with them and find out their opinions. They all said they had never heard it before, even though they had heard bits and pieces before. Some thought it was strange, which is understandable, while others thought Buddhism had stranger stories than this, so they thought it was a good story. Later, we got into a conversation about God's peace and how it's difficult for non-Christians to understand. I was able to share several stories from my own life where circumstances looked bad, but I knew God wanted me to move forward because of the peace He gave me. We also talked about how faith without works it dead. It was an interesting night.

After teaching, I joined most of the people from our church at a M's house for a Christmas Eve service. They exchanged gifts, which is probably the only gift they would get since their families don't celebrate Christmas, sang songs, listened to the Christmas story, and prayed for one another. It was a good way to spend Christmas Eve. It's nice to see how many churches in Thailand are truely a Christian family because most of their own families are not Christians, so they have two families, their biological family and their Christian family.

Please continue to pray for his sister, Eff. She met a "Christian" at school who told her she doesn't have to go to church, and so she hasn't been going. This isn't good for her at all since she isn't connected to anyone who can help her grow and learn about God. Pray that God will help her get connected with some good Christians who will take her to church and help her grow. She's also having problems with friends at school and she feels like they've all abandoned her. It's hurt her pretty badly.

Next, please pray for Jan. She's had a few more problems with her friends at school, which makes her feel more lonely than she already feels. Gossip is pretty bad in Thailand and things get blown out of proportion pretty easily, which causes problems between friends and they won't talk to each other anymore, even to find out if the gossip is true or not.

Finally, please continue to pray for Arm and I as we are preparing to go back to the states. There are so many things to prepare here as well as people to see, followed by a long plane trip (about 24-26 hours) and then more preparations and jobs to find, etc. Our heads might be dizzy by the end! Please pray that God will give us wisdom in all of our decisions and peace about everything we decide to do. Pray for:

- spending quality time with people here
- packing or selling what we own (it isn't much, which is a blessing hahaha)
- the travelling
- the dogs to survive the journey to the US
- jet lag
- jobs in the U.S.
- settling in to our new place
- friends for Arm and I
- Arm to not get too homesick. He's used to talking to his parents every 3 days and seeing them at least once a month. We've hooked them up with internet and we'll be giving them my phone so they can call us, but it will still be an adjustment.

Thank you so much. We'll be leaving on Feb. 20th EARLY in the morning (about 5am) and then arriving in Memphis 24 hours later on Feb. 20th at 5pm (no, I'm not kidding). Time changes are a little crazy haha.

I pray you all had a wonderful Christmas and are anxiously looking forward to what God has for all of us in the coming year!

Busyness!!!

Hello to you all. We have had an extremely busy month from church activities, festivities, and health problems in our family. First, we got our second dog to take to the states so that we can breed them. Her name is Dutchess and she's really sweet, but Duke is still a bit jealous. We had to move them to a new place so that they could be together, but that means Duke left 4 cute kids and his beagle friend. So, he didn't get as much love and he had an energetic puppy to deal with hahaha. He's doing pretty good now with her and I really think he does miss her.



Next, my sister-in-law, Cara, had a pretty tramatic experience as she found out she was pregnant and then found out she was A) miscarring her baby or B) had a tubal pregnancy. After a week of tests, praying, and an emergency exit to a better hospital, she said goodbye to her little baby of 8 weeks and had surgery to remove her little boy from her fallopian tube right before Thanksgiving. God has helped her and comforted her a lot as well as Joel and family and friends from the states. Please continue praying for her.

Next, we had Thanksgiving with some missionaries around here. It was a lot of fun! Everyone made something and brought it and enjoyed each other's company for quite awhile. It wasn't home, but it was close.





Next, Arm just preached at church. He talked about how bitterness can destroy your heart and encouraged people to talk together and work out problems in the church so that there will not be any divisions among us as a body of Christ. He used Joseph as an amazing example of real forgiveness and a soft heart by seeing that in the end God is the one who orchestrates events for His purposes. This is not always easy to do, yet I agree with Arm and think if we could do this, we could truly be a family in Christ.

Next, my grandma (my mom's mom) was also taken to the hospital because she was getting dizzy and they thought she might be about to have a stroke. She was in the hospital for a couple of days, but thankfully she was not having a stroke. She had a vein in her neck that was 60% blocked, so she had a stint put in it and she is home and healthy today. At the same time, my grandpa turned 80 years old.

Also, Jan is once again having problems in her family. Her mother is very discouraging towards her and her marriage is weak. I think they stay together simply for their kids. Anyway, her mom had a fortune teller come and tell her children's fortunes. Jan's fortune was bad. The fortune teller said she would never be successful or go abroad, etc. Jan says she doesn't believe it, but I think it has shaken her a bit. Plus, now her mother is even harder on her since she doesn't think Jan will amount to anything. I encouraged Jan that with God, she can do anything and that she doesn't need to listen to the fortune teller because I believe Satan uses fortune tellers to make people think they can't change the future. However, I think it is affecting her quite a bit. Especially since I am one of the few people in her life who encourages her. Pray she will find a church that welcomes her that is near her house. She has gone to a couple, but she always feels out of place and our church is quite far for her to come, even though she really enjoys it. Her mother doesn't always let her come. Pray she will continue reading her Bible as well and continue to trust in God. Her home life is very difficult, however, God never leaves her.

Finally, pray for Arm and I as we are getting ready to move back to the states. Our feelings are obviously very different. Arm is slowly getting ready to leave his home, while I'm almost chomping at the bit. Pray that we will both spend our time here well and that God will prepare us at the proper time to return to the US.

Thank you so much for all of your prayers and support. Arm and I really appreciate all of them and it is encouraging to us here to know that so many people are praying for us. May God bless you and keep you safe as we travel on this road together.