Dear Folks – Thought I’d send you a recent email from our newest missionary family, the Miskimens. They have taken Bob & Esther Howder’s place in Thailand. Please pray for them today and let them know you appreciate their ministry!
Hello!
We wanted to let you know that we now have internet at our house. It’s slower than what we wanted so we cannot do much with video or uploading files, but it’s good enough for email and limited web surfing. We tried several options to get a faster connection but finally realized it was this or nothing. It is a special help to Charlene and the kids who now can keep a little more current on news, sports, and emails and feel a little less isolated in Northern Thailand. Taking the whole family to the office during off hours was not going to be a long-term solution.
We had a surprise supper invitation from one of our taxi drivers. We met Ake (pronounced like “ache”) “by chance” late one night when we were desperately seeking a taxi to get us home with our several bags of groceries. He has since been a great help to us with several things including buying our truck, getting it repaired, inspected, licensed, and Tim’s own driver’s license. He speaks adequate English and has been very helpful all around. His daughter is about Ellie’s age so they have played together on a number of occasions when Ake came to our house to help with things.
We gave his family a gift bag at Christmas time as well as a DVD of the Jesus film in Thai. He reciprocated at the New Year by giving our family a gift basket full of fresh fruit (gift baskets are very common here) along with an invitation to meet at a Thai restaurant for supper that night. So we went to a nice Thai restaurant with his family and we were also joined by his wife’s sister’s family. We sat around the table for about three hours as various dishes were brought out (including two whole fish who watched us during the meal). We talked about all sorts of things and basically had a good time getting to know these dear people. We look forward to doing more with Ake’s family in the future. Please pray that we will have opportunities in the future to explain further what we do and why.
Sometimes we find that language barriers are helpful – like when your children say things that you hope no one heard or understood. As I said in an earlier letter, some of our neighbors have loud dogs. One dog is particularly annoying. He is an old, German shepherd who has only his bark left – a long drawn out bark/howl/death rattle. And it’s usually late at night or early in the morning (4:30 AM early) that he seems to see his invisible prowlers. I admit I have mentioned in my children’s hearing some unkind words regarding that dog. One day I went out with Ellie and Matthew in their little boat paddling along the canal. As we came directly across from the house with the German shepherd, he of course began to announce our intrusion into his territory. Ellie sang out from the back of the boat, “There’s that Dog Daddy wishes would DIE!” With the way sound travels across water, my only hope is that no one in that house speaks any English.
Thank you for praying,
Tim and Charlene
Discipling Leaders for Growing
Churches in SE Asia
Asia Baptist Theological Seminary of Cornerstone University
360/22 San Sai Noi
Amphur San Sai
Chiang Mai 50210
Thailand
(66) 83 564 1226
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