Our house :)

Thankyou everyone for praying for us and supporting us so faithfully. Thankyou especially for your prayers in the time we were looking for houses!

God led us to a house at the other end of town which is just great for our ministry. It has 3 bedrooms and another room outside which gives plenty of space for the 4+ guys we take care of. It is also good quality and not the kind of house that will flood! We have moved in faith that God will provide the extra finances needed each month to pay rent, as we saw how God really opened the door for this house and blessed the relationship we have with the owners. Now we are praying about whether God wants us to take a loan and buy the house by paying a little more each month. It all depends on how He leads us and provides for us!

This is the front view of the new house:

 

We have also attached some pictures of the time spent with the World Race that just left. They were a huge blessing to us. The first photo shows Nut leading worship and Karis translating for him. The second photo shows Noom performing one of his songs (this was at a slum at a program that the team did) and it also shows Nut playing guitar - a great example of our ministry. We are hoping to post a video of this in the next blog. The last photo was taken on the night before the team left at the house where they were staying. 

Thanks to the World Race team and to all of our supporters for making the last month a memorable month in our lives and in the Kingdom of God in Isaan! Please be praying for us these next 2 weeks as we're in Bangkok and applying for Noom's Australian visa. Pray for favor and for a visa that allows Noom to stay in Australia for the 3 and 1/2 months that we are planning :)

GOD BLESS YOU ALL.

House Hunting

The 6 month commitment with our house has recently ended and ever since that time (a few weeks ago) we started feeling like it was time for us to move to another place. Then, last week after a rainstorm our roof leaked and the strong wind blew the rain inside (we have no door, just a gate closing off the house) and some of our floors got flooded. Since then we have been looking for a house before the rainy season comes. We spent some time praying last week and asked God if He wanted us to stick it out this year and stay in the same place, but all 4 of us (Noom, Karis, Nut and Base - the boys staying with us at the moment) felt God said it was time for a new season and time to move on, even though we (Noom and Karis) didn't want to move (despite the troubles, we really like this house and have worked hard to make it look the way it does).

In the time looking for houses, we have come across quite a few that we like. The only thing is that we’re looking at houses fit for our ministry – or at least fit for 6+ people to live in (at the moment we have opened our house to 2 other guys but when Pedro and Ice come back from DTS it will be 4 other guys plus us). We have come across a lovely house with 6 bedrooms. This 6 bedroom house could be used as a home for our staff (who don’t have financial support to pay rent) plus our family. The owner of this place said we can rent it for 10,000 baht per month ($AU 400) or buy it for 2.5 million baht ($AU 92,600).

Our other option is a different area of land with 2 houses on it. This land isn’t for sale but only for rent and the owner has opened the door to only one house (which is quite small). Please pray that if this place is God’s will for us, that the owner will open up both houses for us to rent so that we can provide housing for others plus have our own personal space. This place is 4,000 baht per month ($AU 150) but will probably be more if we are able to rent both houses.

There are many other lands like this in Ubon (with 2 houses on them) but all the others are only for sale (3+ million baht: $AU 115,400+). However, we can only afford to rent and to pay 3,000 baht per month ($AU 115) and the only houses available to rent at this price are big enough for just 2 people (more can live in them but there would be no personal space for us as a newly married couple).

Therefore we would like to let everyone know about our situation at this time and ask everyone to please pray for us to find a house before the rainy season. Please pray that God will provide us with a house that we can use for our ministry and will also give us space as a couple. Please also pray for our financial support, as no matter where we move we believe that we will need to start paying more for rent as we are financially responsible for all the people that come to live with us too (these people all serve God and don’t have any money to help with rent or to rent a house for themselves).  Please also pray that we will be patient and trust God in this time for a house and for finances.

Thankyou so much for your faithful prayers.

For anyone who doesn’t yet know about Nut and Base, our next newsletter will share about who they are and what they are doing. If anyone would like to receive our newsletters every 3 months, please let us know: noomandkaris@gmail.com

Thailand Update

Hey guys, please continue to pray for Thailand.
You can see a recent update of the events here: http://m.apnews.com/ap/db_15806/contentdetail.htm?contentguid=ox8Q7xup

From 29th April until 22nd May there is a World Race team visiting us in Ubon - and we are their translators! This is the first time we've been official translators for a team and we are seeing that it is a lot of work! But at the same time very rewarding.

In the first week we translated for them in the local church, for testimonies and short talks, games and activities, children's programs etc. Here are a few pics :)

Taking the team prayer walking in a town where there is only one Christian...

The vehicles that carry the team! The truck belonging to the local church and our pickup...

A photo of Karis with most of the team (a few of them were away on this day) at the border of Thailand and Laos...
Some of the kids helping the team to give out Bibles in 2 different villages...

Karis translating for the team at one of the church plants from the local church...

This week we may also go with the team on their 2 day border run to Laos. The next two weeks have not been planned out yet, but we are looking forward to the opportunity of learning more Thai and English. Please pray for us that God will give us the strength and the wisdom needed to translate for this team's wonderful message of salvation.