[month one]

Today marks our one month mark in Thailand!

It is truly hard to believe that we have "only" and "already" been here a month. Sometimes, it feels like I've been here a lifetime... (except for the fact that my extent of Thai is 30 words!) and other times it feels like we just arrived.

This week the BSC staff welcomed our arrival and the June birthdays with a little celebration, complete with cake, gifts and flowers! The Thai's love any excuse to celebrate... and it was all well photo-documented. As Archan Thongchai said, "Let's take a picture! It's part of our culture."

This month has been filled with so many mission teams and visitors to Thailand. It has been neat to get to rub shoulders with so many people who not only love the Lord, but also are dedicating their lives to taking His Name to the nations. There is so much camaraderie between those who have the same heart and vision for ministry. I love it! John Lapos is always talking about how "we're family" here in Thailand, and I really do feel that way. Sometimes it's messy, complicated, and difficult, but at the end of the day, we're all brothers and sisters in the faith. It's crazy how you can meet someone for the first time and have so much in common with them... that's the unity that knowing Christ creates. That's the global Church!

Here are some brief bio's of some of your brothers and sisters abroad:

Meet Matt, a 27 year old originally from Florida who is teaching and doing missions in China. He's in Thailand on his visa run-- but taught English in northeast Thailand a few years ago. While he's only here for a couple weeks he's been joining in with the Conversation Corner at the BSC and even came to our small group!

[left to right: Matt, Kyle, Bakery, Lina / getting on the BTS after small group!]

Then there's Rod and Rhonda, an awesome couple who came to Thailand with two of their three kids. They have such a heart for the Lord and a great sense of humor. They're always game to join us for late-night smoothies and are willing to stay up and share stories!

There's also the Lifepoint team-- 9 interns from Smyrna, TN who love the Lord and are fired up to be in Thailand to be trained at the Missions Training School and put that training into action through serving in various ministry capacities in Bangkok and beyond. To read more about their journey, you can check out the team blog, or some of their individual blogs! (I will post more later if I find out that other members have personal blogs)  [lifepoint sending- blog] [ryan's blog] [erica's blog] [brianna's blog] [shelby's blog] [emily's blog]

There are also teams and individuals from other places in the U.S... but I haven't met them all yet. Every time I have breakfast or lunch at the food court at the BSC it seems like there are more farang!

Last, but not least, is the Florida team, five folks from... Florida! They're a part of Calvary Baptist Church, who has a history of partnering with the BSC and serving in Thailand. Two other Calvary folks have been here a while, Paul and Barbara, serving in a ministry they started called "Grief Share." The Florida team led Friday Night Life tonight and I got to tag along afterwards with them to dinner. There's a neat outdoor restaurant near the BSC which is the Thai equivalent of "The Melting Pot" in America... except it's only $4, and all you can eat!

[left front to back: Pat, Rod, Lauren, Meghan / Ryan, Rhonda and Luke]

Thank you to each of you who are supporting us through prayer and/or financially! It has been such a blessing to know that there is an army of people lifting us up... Thank you for being a part of helping us build relationships and show Christ's love to the Thai people. I hope that you are encouraged by how God is using you, through us, to make Him known in Thailand.