| From:
To: Don Woodard Sent: Sat Nov 25, 2006 Subject: Ouellette Update (c/w photos) |
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Sawat dii kha!
...and Happy belated Thanksgiving to our American friends & families!
(We are aiming to give you a little update every two weeks,
please bear with us as we figure out the best way to make it happen!)
Malaysia Trip
Thank you to those of you who prayed for me (Becky) on my recent trip to Malaysia. I had a great time reconnecting with an old friend from high school. Thank-you for praying for Amber as well. She was given a tourist visa - not our first choice, but sufficient for the short-term. We sense there is more to this story yet. Please continue to pray that God would show what the next steps are for Amber. We are still asking that He would make a way. The rest of our team now have our one-year renewable visas, for which we are thankful!
24hr Prayer
Last night as I (Greg) was putting Luke, our 5yr old, to bed, I asked Him if Jesus was saying anything to him about where He wants us to live when we move to southern Thailand next September. He said, "No, I haven't heard him say anything about that." So I asked him if we should we ask Jesus about it. "No..." he says, "...I want him to surprise me!". I laughed when he said that, but it also made me stop and think!
In our last email we mentioned that our team set aside Nov. 9/10 for a specific time of prayer - about where we will be living in the south as well as a number of other things. We need to say that we came away from this time very encouraged and refreshed! We will definitely be doing this again. Thank-you for praying with us! It was especially encouraging when we had a chance to share with the rest of our team and found that God spoke SIMILAR THINGS to a number of us. This is not finished! Thank-you also to those of you who emailed us back to share things that you felt God was speaking to you as you prayed with us. We are amazed at the confirmations we are getting. We feel that God is showing us some next steps and it's likely that in the not too distant future some of the team will go on another scouting trip to the south. As well, some of us are considering doing a Christmas open house for our neighbours. More on these things as they unfold! (We'll also keep you informed as to the dates of our next 24 hour prayer vigil!)
Spirit Houses
Everywhere you go in Thailand, you will see "Spirit Houses". These are miniature houses (various sizes) that people will leave things at in order to appease the spirit that happens to live in that particular geographic area. We are not exaggerating when we say you will find them everywhere. We have seen them at the post office, the local markets, the bank, at restaurants, bus stations, train stations, hardware stores, 7-11 stores, government buildings, schools, and individual homes ...everywhere!! Most neighborhoods ("muu baans") have one for the whole neighbourhood. Ours is just around the corner. There is a lot of fear of evil spirits here... for good reason. People have very real, physical encounters with them. This past Friday we had an insightful session with Ajaan Plern who helped us understand Thai spiritism. We appreciated his openness and learned much about these things from him... what he shared also shed some light on some of the things that our team has faced since arriving here.
At Home
Our kids are doing well in school! One of the volunteers is moving on after Christmas, so Luke, our 5 year old, will be in need of a new teacher. Please pray with us that God provides someone equally as wonderful as Khruu (Thai for "teacher") Caroline to work alongside Khruu Karen in providing a good environment for Luke and the other K and 1 students. (Please email us if you or someone you know would like to join us from January to mid-June!).
Thank you for taking the time to stay in touch with us by reading this email! Thanks too for the encouraging emails that we receive from many of you from time to time. We are often reminded that our team is much bigger than our team-mates right here in Lopburi.
We appreciate you,
Greg & Becky
(Caleb, Emma, Luke & Silas)
LopBuri, Thailand.
| PS | We are attaching some pictures of our beautiful new homeland...we had a long weekend last week, so we were able to take some day trips in and around Lopburi. Hope you enjoy this brief tour :) |
| PPS | And lest you begin to think that where we live is very rural, we will send you some pictures of LopBuri city in an upcoming email... |
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Ajaan Plern |
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The sunflower fields surrounding LopBuri (Greg climbed the mountain in the background - its very similar to the Stawamus Chief just outside Squamish for our BC friends!) |
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Caleb and Greg took a train to Ayutthaya, a nearby city which was the former capital of Siam some 400 years ago. This is one of the many temple ruins still there. |
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The kids enjoying the river at a well-known park ("Chet Saow Noi") about 2 hours away. The place was packed with people. We felt as though we were all on display... |
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Caleb: enjoying being on display... ! |
