Merry Christmas from Thailand!

Merry Christmas to all of our wonderful friends and family!


We hope your holidays are blessed with joy and God's peace, and that you enjoy precious times with your families.  We miss you all and love you very much!  It is strange to have a hot, humid Christmas that feels like summer in Houston.  We celebrated Christmas with our team last night.  There aren't really any American restaurants around here, so we cooked a revised version of pesto pasta with chicken and garlic bread.  It was funny to see some of the ways we had to be flexible with that.....like, we could only find peanuts rather than pine nuts or anything else, and one girl smashed them with a rock, as we didn't have a food processor.  :)  The evening was wonderful, with a few surprises for the students.  It made us all just a little homesick, though.


I'm sorry we haven't updated sooner!  We have had pretty full weeks of ministry.  We have two amazing Thai women to work with as contact here, Jaime and Yui.  They are so vibrant and committed to seeing Thai people come to know Jesus.  They are youth ministers at a small church that we are working with here.  Their church has a wonderful ministry going here, and we feel really privileged to be a part of it.  Our team has performed at many Christmas parties and schools so far.  We have a variety of songs, dances, and dramas that we do, as well as sharing personal testimonies.  These schools are are filled primarily with Buddhists and a few Muslims.  It is such great timing to be here at Christmas, because everyone wants us to come to their gathering and teach them about this American holiday.  Then, we get to share the gospel and the true meaning of Christmas with them over and over!  Our team has shared the gospel with about 500 or more people by now through our various Christmas performances and messages!  It seems that Thai people take quite awhile to choose Christianity and leave Buddhism behind, but we are so thankful to plant so many seeds.  We have been able to pray for many and we know that the Holy Spirit is opening the hearts of people to receive this message.  Please pray that people would not forget what they've heard, but that they would be very curious and seek to know more about Jesus.


One of the most exciting things that happened was when a young English teacher came to a Christmas party for high schoolers that we helped host.  She listened intently to everything we shared, particularly the personal testimonies of a few of our students.  She told us afterward that she had never heard these things about Jesus before and that she wanted to know more!  We invited her to attend the church and we are praying that she comes.  It would be amazing for her to know him and impact many Thai students with God's love!


We are so thankful for all of you and your love for us, especially at Christmas.  Thanks for praying for us while we are here.  Please continue to pray for our team and particularly for hearts to be open to God's love and truth.


Bless you all!  
Erika and Jason