we’re back!
Hey guys!! We’ve had a whirlwind past few weeks, so I know I’m super late in getting everyone updated, but here goes! We had an amazing trip back to the states, but we are very excited to be back home!! We still haven’t gotten back into our routine, but you’ll soon see why.
When we first arrived, we had a few Japanese friends visiting. Many of you know we extended our trip in the States so we could stay for my cousin’s last minute wedding, but we were only able to do that because this awesome couple came to fill in for us. Since the other elder in our hall is back home working, Aaron would have been the only elder at our hall. So since we wouldn’t be back in time, this couple volunteered to visit Nongbua Lamphu for 4 weeks. They live 5 hours away, and actually are serving in the Thai Sign Language hall. We were soooo thankful that they were able to come take care of all the meetings and bible studies!!!! I think they had fun too, since we threw them a taco thank you party!! They never had tacos before, and were REALLY excited to try. We also invited a local Thai couple who are studying and progressing well, and I when I told him I wouldn’t be serving Thai food he looked so scared! But whats not to like about tacos?! Fortunately, everyone loved them!! (or at least pretended to) Aaron had to demonstrate how to make your taco and how to eat it, and they all got a kick out of eating with your hands! Everyone was taking pictures of each other eating tacos, it was sooo funny to watch!
The next morning, as Aaron and I were preparing our watchtowers and drinking our coffee, we heard a few loud “thud” sounds on our roof. We have occasionally heard this sound before, and always assumed it was a cat jumping around or fruit falling and never paid much attention to it. However this time, after one last “thud” there was a huge CRASH CRASH CRASH!!!!!! I immediately jumped up to look in the kitchen only to find our whole ceiling had falling down!!! Only a few days before, we found a snake lying on our bathroom skylight, so immediately we were terrified of a snake somewhere under all that drywall!!!
Fortunately our landlord lives next door, so he was able to come over right away. Not scared of the snake, he jumped right in and started cleaning ASAP. We are so thankful we have such an amazing landlord, him and his wife worked for hours helping cleaning everything up. Fortunately nothing was broken, so it really wasn’t a big deal. Aaron and I had to leave for Bangkok in a few hours, so we quickly did the best we could to clean up, pack, and get on our way.
We felt like real needgreaters this day! Instead of taking the bus to the airport like we normally do (it takes foreverrrrr), we decided we wanted to try taking our motorbike there instead. We’ve done this drive plenty of times on the bike, but not with bags. So we said goodbye to our landlords, jumped on our motorbike with our two big backpacks, and drove off 1 hour to the airport. Thankfully, it went really well, so I think that’s how we will get there from now on…as long as we can pack LIGHT!
The reason for our trip to Bangkok is Aaron was invited to elders school! in English!!!! That’s another great thing about serving in Thailand. Because there are SO MANY need greaters here, they have all the schools in English and Japanese. Aaron had 52 brothers in his class, some coming from China, Vietnam, and Laos. What also made it unique is because they are all need greaters, many came from England, Canada, Australia, but also France, Germany, Spain, Russia, etc. They all attended the English class because its the closest available to their native language. There were also two deaf brothers and their translators who are serving here in sign language. So it was definitely a mixed crowd!!! But it was so much fun, even for me. I met with a few sisters from the English congregation and got to go out in service, and hang out with them while the boys were in school. After class a few days we were able to go out to dinner with some of the friends too. So it was a really nice opportunity to make friends who are serving all over Thailand, and we are so excited to see many of them again at the English assembly next month.
Meanwhile, our house got all kinds of work done. They ended up replacing the ceiling in the entire house. Our landlord was concerned about the rest of it falling down on us. He also had pest control come and replaced a few of our doors that had been eaten away by termites. So far the bug situation has been ALOT better, but I’m sure its only a matter of time until we are overtaken by ants again! He also cut down some of the trees near the house so animals and snakes can’t get on our roof. Unfortunately, while the quality of work was good, the quality of cleaning and protecting our stuff was not, so we came home to paint on almost everything, and ALOT of cleaning to do. Drywall dust made its way on to just about everything we own. Just now we are starting to get things back in order.
Aaron conducted the Watchtower on Sunday and did an AMAZING job, but since there were only 5 other publishers at the meeting we all had to comment ALOT!! I almost wonder who had the harder job…him for conducting or me for commenting every other paragraph!!!
We’ve also been busy applying for teaching jobs online. The time has finally come where we feel ready to take on having a job, and we really, really, need the income! We’ve spent hours getting our resumes together and sending them out, so hopefully that will turn into employment soon! Please pray for us!!! We really need a job that pays well but also offers a flexible schedule since we have to travel so much for assemblies and visa runs. One company in particular, boxfish, is sounding PERFECT but it is highly competitive, and unfortunately we don’t have any experience yet. That makes it so hard to get our foot in the door. We’ve been praying a lot that this particular company works out for us because it seems to check off all of the things we are looking for. We should hear back about possible interviews by the end of the week, so PLEEEEASE pray for us!!! (in particular you mom-mom!!!)
So that about catches everyone up! Sorry it was so much to read!! We hope everyone back home is doing well, and we apologize that we didn’t have time to see everyone while we were back in the States. Please be in touch, we would love to hear what is new with everyone and what you’ve been up to! Love to you all ❤
click on the pictures below to see them larger! And of course, please leave comments for us! We love hearing your thoughts!!!
I just love all your pictures and the accompanying story. Glad you are back safe and sound and getting into the routine again. And yes, where IS the snake???? haha Keep up the good work you are doing for Jehovah – we LOVE your updates!!