Our goal as a family is to meet as many people as possible. When we go out to the store, school, church, restaurant, hospital, or any place else, we usually pray that the Lord may lead us to a person of peace — someone from “the people group with a good reputation, influence and connections . . . who is interested in not only learning and living out spiritual truths but sharing them with others” (Bowers, Adventist Frontiers, April 2024, page 5).
We meet lots of people when we go out. My parents’ most common question is, “Can I have your phone number?” People usually don’t hesitate, and soon we’re connecting with them, inviting them to the house, going to a restaurant, or one of the most popular ways, giving them an English class. We don’t use a specific curriculum when teaching them English, but there is a specific book that we always, always use. It’s the Bible. We teach English using the Bible! When we teach little children, their parents usually sit nearby, and they hear the stories, too. We find that it’s a great way to share. They like the stories because they encourage obedience, forgiveness and love!
Our current English class is with children from a village. We meet every Sabbath. We start by singing a song, reading a Bible story, splitting into classes and then talking about what we learned. Just two weeks ago, we read the story of Joseph and how he forgave his brothers. That was really hard for them to understand. For them, that didn’t make any sense, but the more we talked about it, the more open they were. My hope is that these stories may leave an impact. I pray that they may want to know more.
When we first met the kids, they were a little shy, but that’s changing, too. One of the ways I like to help my students not be so intimidated is by having my missionary kid friends (who don’t speak Thai) correct the English of the Thai kids. Then, we have the Thai kids say the word or phrase in Thai, and my missionary friends have to repeat them. Then, the Thai kids get the chance to correct them. This helps the Thai kids not to feel so nervous. We always end up laughing with each other when we are unable to pronounce certain sounds or words.
Thai New Year is in April, and people celebrate with a week-long water fight. We have gotten to know the people and feel more comfortable with each other since then. Our hope is that our English classes with the kids and Bible studies with the aunts and uncles of that village may be planting seeds. We pray that we may see baptisms in that village this year. Thank you for your prayers and support.
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