It’s been an interesting couple of months for us.

Covid

The current wave of Covid is finally starting to lighten. Since our last update, restrictions have continued and there has been little sign of letup until just recently. We are finally seeing potential changes in the amount of restrictions as public gatherings up to 50 persons are finally allowed once more and the possibility of reopening schools may be as soon as November.

Kids

In the midst of the lockdowns, there was the beautiful blessing of us being able to bring 9 people into the kingdom of God during the months of July and August. The majority of those were children who started coming to our home for a Saturday morning children’s outreach. With it being the rainiest part of the year in the rainiest part of Thailand, our Saturday efforts seem to be consistently rained out. Our kids ministry has shifted from being a structured game, song and story time to being kids coming over to our house and playing with Jed and Alizah in the afternoons, followed by snacks a little dance party and watching Superbook in Thai. We look forward to being able to build these relationships further and to restarting our children’s ministry outreach efforts as Covid restrictions let up.

Church

In the midst of the COVID lockdown, we continued to worship at home and it has been a sweet time. We have seen people stepping into leading worship who haven’t done it before. We will also begin having a couple of our Thai church members begin preaching who haven’t been engaging in that form of ministry.

We have just recently been able to rejoice that we will soon be able to meet in a building when we return to meeting in person. The church began in a school, moved to our house during COVID, and now we will be moving into a space we will rent for church use at a very low price. We are hoping to begin meeting there as soon as the beginning of October. We are currently waiting for the chairs that we ordered to arrive before we begin meeting there.

We are seeking to add on to our current worship hall with a children’s ministry center. The building as it stands now simply has a worship hall as the second floor will be used as a dormitory for boarding students. We would like to add on to the existing building with a space to minister to kids that might possibly also have a pastor’s office and living quarters. We are inviting the Thais to join with us to finish furnishing the building, purchasing musical instruments and sound equipment, a projection system and so on. In the days ahead, we will also be inviting our partners in the US to join us in blessing the Thai church with a love offering to help the church get on its feet.

Thank you to each of you who have stood with us through this challenging season. We are continually blessed by the faithfulness of our financial and prayer partners.

You are loved in Thailand,

Matt & Amy