Greetings from Asia and the East! We have recently been teaching our Thai college students that essential phrase in American life: ‘What’s up?’ If you were to ask us right now, we would have some interesting answers. I spent the morning working on expanding our fish project and now I am watching from my desk the rain pouring down outside. I lost three baby chicks due to a breakout this morning and a overly eager dog (A “Dingo” really did eat these babies---Seinfeld joke for those who know:-). The sweat on my shirt is still wet and my temper still slightly unhinged. Audrey and I have been holding down the fort for the past several weeks while Dave and Shirley are in the USA. So far, we only had one real tragedy on our watch. One of our cats (Stormy---my favorite) was attacked by stray dogs in the neighborhood and even after a visit to the vet, died later that evening. Then, I had a nasty bout of food poisoning the day before we HAD to make our last visit to the Immigration office for our visas. We had to go that day or pay a large fee. The kind people at the office kept telling me I looked very bad and should go see a doctor. To which my not always pleasant response was: ‘I am going to as soon as you let me leave.’ We finished up and went to the hospital. I was out of commission for about 4 days. Stay away from the fried fish and mushrooms!
In the midst of those daily adventures, came one very welcome and very unexpected surprise. In 2009, Audrey and I were invited to attend a retreat by a friend of a friend from college (we had never actually met). It was a small miracle we went, but it was a huge encouragement to us at the time. The men who led the event was named John. He and his family were preparing to form a team to move with them to the Middle East. There is a longer story here, but he was an ‘inspiration in season’ (what was needed, precisely when it was needed). At that time he invited us to consider joining him in this new adventure. We felt we couldn’t say yes, though we couldn’t say why. It was 3 weeks later we discovered my brother had cancer. We didn’t see John again for 6 years and I am ashamed to say we never really let him know what was going on with us. Until I noticed a familiar man sitting across from me at church here in Chiang Mai. I love that this city is such an international crossroads! We had a great lunch with John and his family who are again headed back to the Middle East. It was an opportunity to share more of our story and extend a long over due ‘thank you’ and a roundabout hello.
We continue to find fun places to eat (above is a picture out the window of a restaurant run by an all organic farm). My fish project continues to grow (sometimes by accident). We are now nearing 750 tilapia and over 3,000 gallons of water. Most are still pretty small, but the first group are probably a month or so away from full grown and ready to eat!
Our Thai lessons continue 3 days per week, two hours per day plus homework. Please continue to pray for help learning this language. We have really enjoyed our small cell group and getting to know the college students that we live with here at Faithful Heart. As many of you know, life gets full and runs fast. Thank you for your kind notes of encouragement and greeting. They really do mean so much. Thank you for praying for us. We are optimists: we believe love is stronger than hate, beauty stronger than destruction, that people really can change and that the God who made it all will one day make it all right.
With lots of love, in hope,
Matt & Audrey
