October 22, 2021 Prayer Letter

For a one page printable version of this prayer letter click here

Dear Friends,

For the first time since 2005, our family has enjoyed the transition from summer to fall in the United States. And although it is still a month away, we are anticipating celebrating Thanksgiving in the States. In preparation, I’d like to tell you about some of the things we are thankful for.

We are thankful for the past five months of furlough when we have been able to visit almost all our supporting churches. Without fail we left these churches encouraged by the friendship and prayers of the church members. In addition, we have been able to spend quality time with many friends and family. We’ve made a lot of memories doing fun things together. Our oldest two children have made progress towards determining what they may do for college, as well as taking steps to get their driver’s licenses.

We are also thankful that we’ve been able to spend almost two months of our time in the States in Colorado where my parents are, where my dad has been battling cancer. However, we are sad to report that he entered hospice care a few weeks ago. During the last two months Hannah and I have been pondering and praying about whether we should return to Thailand as scheduled the first week of November. In early October we decided to delay our return. Besides my dad’s health, two other factors weighed heavily in this decision: Thailand has quarantine rules in place that would make travel between American and Thailand not only extremely inconvenient because of time spent in quarantine, but also very expensive. Secondly, the pastor of our sending church in Minneapolis said that there were several ways we could be helpful to the church and would love to put us to work if we decided to stay for a few more months. So, we decided it would be best to delay our return to Thailand at least through the end of the year.

Katelyn enjoying a beautiful Colorado evening with Grandpa

Thankfully, in just the past couple weeks, Thailand has made significant moves towards easing the quarantine requirements which should make travel back and forth more feasible.

As for the situation of the church and ministry in Thailand, for most of our time here in America the church has not been able to meet in person because of Covid restrictions. We are thankful that restrictions are loosening and that most of the people have returned to meeting together in person.

In our church in Bangkok there is a Pakistani Christian family. They fled persecution in Pakistan several years ago with the hope of being resettled in another country. They have been living in Bangkok and a faithful part of our church, but in very difficult circumstances. We are thankful that there is now a church in Vancouver that is considering sponsoring this family for resettlement to Canada. Their decision will likely be made shortly. There has already been significant progress made towards the funds they will need to be resettled should the church agree to do it. We would be very grateful for your prayers about this situation too.

Your partners for the gospel,