Hi Guys!

We’ve had a big week here in Chiang Mai! Matt and I are finding our ways to contribute to the work with Faithful Heart Foundation. We’ll take you through the week by way of photos…

^^^Spent an afternoon walking through the city running errands and haphazardly finding what we needed! Long afternoon of searching, but super fun to get lost in the markets and attempt to find everything!

^^^Matt has been designing an aquaponics system—which is a combination of aquaculure (raising aquatic animals) with hydroponics (cultivating plants in water) to create a symbiotic relationship with the two systems. He’s been busy gathering supplies and perusing the asian version of amazon.com called AliExpress for supplies…it’s so awesome! Matt’s really excited to get the system up and going—he’s even recruited help from Gawley! The point of all this work is to raise fish for selling in the market and, in turn, pouring all the profits into Faithful Heart Foundation’s orphan homes…we’ll also get a few veggies out of the deal! :)

^^^We’ve already had 3 weeks of language lessons (9 sessions, holy smokes!). It’s been going pretty well, although we figured out quickly that our brains refuse to function in the afternoon, so morning session are much more productive! On the left, we’re with our language teacher, Suvanee. On the right I’m with our friend & dorm neighbor Tiida; we practice our Thai with her & she’s so patient with us! (oh, P.S. Tiida is from the Mae Chaem dorm /see below/ & is in her second year of college to become a PE teacher!)

^^^On Tuesday we went up to one of the dorms that FHF supports in Mae Chaem…a three hour drive through the winding mountains—better have your Dramamine ready! This dorm has 20 kids, elementary through high school. They’re all children from very poor families of the hill tribes, where there are no schools. The only chance these kids have at a better life is to get an education—which means leaving home to go to school. The dorm parents here (with us above, right) are such a neat Christian couple. In the photo on the left we’re all discussing the transition of a few of the high school seniors who are planning to come to Chiang Mai, live on site with us and attend college. It’s so, so awesome that they have the opportunity to go to college. BUT, the students need help with tuition! College is much cheaper here than in the US; it might only cost $1000 per year to attend, but that’s a lot for a poor family. So, we’re in search of supporters for a few of these students!

^^^On our way back from Mae Chaem we stopped at this gorgeous waterfall! That sweet couple on the left are Dave & Shirley—our house parents! :) They started FHF 10 years ago and are just amazing—we’re so blessed that the Lord brought us to them!

Thanks for keeping up with our happenings! Check back next weekend for another update!

Much love to all,

Audrey & Matt

PRAYER REQUESTS:

-Language learning: grace in learning thoroughly

-Healthy & rich relationships: friendships and our marriage

-Supporters for new college students

-God’s continual working in our hearts and those connected to FHF