We just enjoyed our third weekend in our new town home and our hearts are grateful for the Lord’s provision of a place we feel we can truly call home. We are living in a very quiet, predominantly Thai neighborhood that has some good Thai-style restaurants and a couple of coffee shops and is still only a 10 minute walk from the BTS. We are excited to get to know our new neighbors and look forward to taking walks as a family through our new neighborhood. Though we are still working on getting settled in, we’ve already had the joy of having a friend over to share a simple dinner and fellowship with us. We look forward to making our house more homey and being able to continue hosting friends both old and new.

Staying Afloat

We’ve already had the chance to see how our house holds up during heavy rains and flooding. This weekend heavy rains in the night (which lasted up to seven hours according to some accounts) pummeled the city of Bangkok, leaving our street and many others flooded. After hearing the rain most of the night, Amy got up at around 3am and found that the water was filling our carport and was only about 3/4 of an inch below our door. Fortunately, the Lord protected us and the waters did not come into our home. Some of our neighbors whose houses are not built as high up as ours is were not so fortunate and had 8-12 inches (or more) of water in their homes. While we felt hard hit, the floods have been much worse in other areas. We are grateful for the Lord’s protection!

Cross-Cultural and Incarnational Living

A highlight this month has been the training we attended on Thai culture and making disciples in Thai culture. It was a full week of learning from a wonderful Thai family who has made it their aim to truly understand how to reach the Thai for Jesus and share their knowledge with others. One of our biggest takeaways is actually summed up in a couple of simple questions: How can I change so that Thai will find the gospel something that they can feel is relatable, understandable, credible and desirable? How should I become like them to win these people for Christ? How can I share the amazing mystery of the gospel in a way that makes the Thai feel that it’s not a foreigner’s religion? In short, how do I live out what Paul talked about when he wrote about becoming “all things to all men that we may win some” (1 Corinthians 9:19-23)? It’s certainly not a new question, but one that we found a greater context to understand this month as we discovered aspects of Thai culture that will help us reach the Thai. Our hearts are inspired to learn more about Thai culture, Thai history, Buddhism, vivid and engaging storytelling, and embracing a value for fun or “sanuk” in our day to day lives and ministry.

Love, 

Matt, Amy, Jedidiah & Baby Baldwin