Thailand Declares Marital Law and Coup.
On May 22, 2014 the Royal Thai Army announced it had seized control of the administration of the country and imposed a nationwide daily curfew from 10:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m. until further notice, a ban on political gatherings, and restrictions on media. More restrictions may come. As a result, there is a heightened military presence throughout Thailand.
Throughout the last couple of days, it has seemed pretty peaceful in the areas where Natalie and I travel. We are making sure to stay clear of protests. We were told that sometimes the protestors continue to get bolder and can get violent. Based on past experience, some protests can easily result in people getting shot including bystanders.
Although Natalie and I are very SAFE, we are continuing our everyday activities without any disturbances—we are just more alert. Things do develop and change quickly in times like these...so PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE continue to pray for God to work through and in this country. May His Peace and love expand over the people and the military.
If you would like to know more information, you can visit http://www.bangkokpost.com/.
Thank you so much for your prayers! They are very appreciated in a time like this. We are hoping that the door will be opened for the Lord to move in Thailand.
May 2014 Updates:
People
Just 3.5 weeks ago, our good friend and ministry partner, Jaime, returned back home to the States. He is moving back home to work with his parents and then continuing his education at Moody Bible College this upcoming fall semester. Although we sadly miss this good friend, we pray that God continues to Bless him in amazing ways!
While he was preparing to leave Bangkok, Natalie and I were privileged to participate in many going away parties in his honor. It was a great time of reminiscing our time with Jaime, as well as, our time in Bangkok these last 8.5 months.
I am so thankful that God has brought me to this incredible country. He has taught me so many valuable lessons and continues to grow me...
Community
Natalie and I are continuing to build better relationships with our dear friends in the community. Just this past month, we were able to celebrate three birthdays which I baked cake for! I am becoming quite the baker in Thailand! haha. (pastries and cakes are not very good here, so baking a box cake is a HUGE treat for our community!)
I have built quite a good relationship with one family here. I hope that God is able to touch this family and they will come to know Him personally. The mother has been praying a lot, but none of the family knows Jesus yet.
Please continue to pray for our community and for God to work in it!
Learning Thai
Currently I am in Module 5 which consists of reading lots of stories in Thai! This module is challenging because we are expected to be quite fast readers, and I am not! I am not even a super fast english reader so how will be read thai super fast!!??!! But its been good to improve my reading and writing through this module. I have one more module to go and then it just special classes that I can choose a topic to learn about. Please continue to pray for my thai speaking ability. It is difficult, yet I know I am slowly improving.
I have learned a lot about myself through language learning. I realize that I am very good at understanding rules and logic, but I am very bad at applying the rules through speaking, reading, and writing! Please pray for my application struggles.