Moving Around

In case you're wondering at home, how we here in Thailand get where we want to go. And, I'm sorry to burst your bubbles, but we don't ride elephants around here. Actually, we use vehicles, just like you do. Though the gas is fortunately a lot cheaper here then it is over there. Lately Eng has become quite keen on the idea of buying an automatic motorcycle. (He isn't comfortable riding Linda's motorcycle which has gears.) He hopes to use the automatic one to get to and from work. Linda is now a long way from when she crashed our helper's motorcycle, bruising her entire leg. Shown left is a photo of Linda on her motorcycle. Behind her, though barely visible, is our car. It is quite old (15 years to be exact), and prone to creaking when going over speedbumps, but it works. People here also bicycle to many places, not simply reserved to their own neighbourhoods, but also to their workplaces and schools. It takes us 10-15 minutes on a bicycle to get to Grace International School where Linda is a Grade 1 Teaching Assistant and where the boys study.

But when those fail, we always have Chiang Mai's public transport system. Usually very inexpensive, it often comes down to a toss-up between taking a songthaew, or taking a tuktuk. A tuktuk (as shown on the left, below) is a motorcycle that has been added on to to allow for passengers. These are usually very fast, smoky, and pleasant if you like the wind in your hair. Songthaews on the other hand, are, if you have been to the Philippines, much like jeepneys, though not as colourful. As you can, hopefully, see from the picture on the bottom right, songthaews are basically pickups, with a roof and seats for passengers in the rear. As I have slowly come to learn from living in Chiang Mai, the red ones are like taxis, and will take you anywhere, while the yellow, white, or blue songthaews follow a route.

A Little R & R

For the information of all of you who are reading this, it wasn't all work and no play for us over the summer. Every now and then we were able to take a break from visiting churches and re-meeting people we hadn't seen in years, and kick back for awhile and do things we'd never done before.

One such new and exciting experience was spent while we were visiting the Lewis's, a family that we go WAY back with. Anyway, they just so happened to have two ATVs in their garage, and me and Eric were blessed with the opportunity to ride said vehicles. To those lesser informed (I myself was one of your number 'till last summer), ATV stands for All Terrain Vehicle. And after a quick how-to lesson from Uncle Robert, we were off; zooming around their very expansive front and back lawns. (picture below)

Another thing we did during our stay was spend time with old friends. Eric, Eli and I had enjoyed two fun-filled years at Henderson Public School only a couple of years before, and we were overjoyed in meeting up with old friends and getting to spend time with them again. Below is a picture of Ethan and Eli with one of Eli's best friends, Kane. This was a real blessing in regard to the fact that we had not planned to see Kane, and were able to meet him at a swimming pool in our old neighbourhood.


Some of our most important times were the ones spent with our brothers and our mother. Once while driving along we came upon a playground, and due to the insistence of both Eli and Ethan, we stopped to play. I, in particular, was struck with nostalgia at the thought of once again playing at the park, and really enjoyed myself. Lastly, but not leastly, is a picture of Eric playing on the slide, below.

The Ges

This week's Unreached People Group is the Ge.

The Ge can be found in China, in the province of Guizhou. There are currently no workers over there. Thankfully, they are not one of the larger people groups, and only have a population of about 100,000. Still, the Lord loves them and are concerned for them.

Please join us in praying for the Ges, that workers would go to them, and that they would no longer live in darkness.

The Gha-Mus

Here it is again, the Unreached People Group of the Week.

This week it's the Gha-Mus. They can be found in China, in the provinces of Guizou, Sichuan and Yunnan. There are roughly 108,000 of them, stretched out quite thinly across China. They are not currently engaged right now, though by God's blessing 30% of them are Christians.

Please commit the Gha-Mu in your prayers, as we also ask God to work in the lives of these people.

And So I Lay My Head To Sleep...

Over the course of our summer, we were blessed with many places to lay our heads to rest. Long hours of traveling and the difficulty of finding a place for five people to sleep often led to many very interesting 'beds'.

The majority of our stay was spent at our grandparents' house, where immediately spaces of sleeping were claimed. My mom and Ethan took the couch pull-out bed, Eli took the jacuzzi, (as shown in the picture above), Eric took the living room couch, and I took refuge in the basement with the luggage, which all in all, was not particularly a bad thing. I had privacy when changing, and a cool place to retreat to when the summer heat got to me.

During our stay with the Pulsifers in Salmon Arm, Eric, Chris, Jordan, Eli and I took up in their trailer in their backyard, where we spent six nights talking and enjoying the cool B.C. weather.

Our most interesting and by far most enjoyable night was spent atop the Pulsifers' roof, staring up at the night sky. With our uncle's permission, Jordan, Chris, Chris Pikk (Chris' friend), Eric, Leslie, Murphy and I excitedly got ready for our night up top. Careful not to disturb the gravel, we clambered up the ladder, which was propped up by the van, and arranged our beddings.

Once up and comfortable, we chatted the night away while attempting to keep warm and watching shooting stars (which we saw a lot of by the way).

We awoke the next morning with the sun in our faces and barely a night's-worth of sleep between the seven of us.

As we finally left Salmon Arm to go to Vancouver International Airport, we spent a night in the house of Linda's cousin. That morning, as we were packing up, Ethan continued his rest on some porch pillows, looking as comfortable as can be. (picture below)

The Sinicized Miaos

Now we return to our regular programming, with the following section known as the UPG of the Week. UPG stands for Unreached People Group, and we will be posting one every week, for your prayer.

This week we ask you to pray for the Sinicized Miaos.
According to Dictionary.com, Sinicized means to make Chinese in character, or to change and modify by Chinese influence. These Miaos have apparently been heavily affected by the Chinese, and in this way have adopted much of their practices and religion.

Of their population of 250 000, 0.10% of them are Christians. Compared to many of the other people groups in their area of China and Guizhou, this is quite high, though it is indeed a minimal amount. There are workers there right now.

Please pray that the Sinicized Miaos would be open to the gospel, and would leave off of their Chinese influences and embrace Jesus as their saviour.

Summer in B.C.

Hey, this is Evan, the eldest son of the Yeongs. I'm here to update you on our little 'vacation' that we so joyfully experienced these past two months.

Mainly, this post is about our time in B.C., in which we were able to spend time with our extended family, the Pulsifers, in the small town of Salmon Arm, a mere 9-hour drive from the Vancouver International Airport. We flew to Vancouver from Toronto, accompanied by our cousin, Jordan. He visited with us to get away from the busy city life, and to visit the Pulsifers, which consist of Tito (uncle) Craig, Tita (auntie) Lib, their eldest and only son Christopher, and their four daughters, Leslie, Lia (Murphy), Lindsay, and Leilani.

Shown below is a picture taken by my Tito Craig, a skilled photographer and journalist. It was taken at one of the many beaches we visited. We remember this beach in particular for its seaweed covered bottom, and its frigid waters. Regardless of these aspects, we managed to have a pretty good time just getting to know our cousins again.

Much of our time was spent in the water, inner tubing, swimming, or just plain relaxing. Jordan and I were also able to meet a few of Chris' friends, and get to walk around Salmon Arm's 'down town', which was very interesting.

One of my most memorable moments about that time would probably have to be sitting by the street on a bench, with Jordan, Chris, and Chris (my cousin's friend). One thing that must be known about Salmon Arm is that it's not known for it's immense asian population. All jokes aside, we literally doubled the asian population while we were there. Carrying on, we were sitting there on the bench, and we were getting the weirdest looks from passing drivers. It's as if they had never seen two asian kids hanging out with two white kids before. Some of their looks were just so ridiculous that we had to laugh at them, it was hilarious.

All in all, we were really able to start anew with the Pulsifers, catch up where we left off, and really enjoy their company. One thing we enjoyed in particular was Tita Lib's cooking, and family games late at night. We all thank God that, since this detour was not scheduled originally, we were able to take a visit down to Salmon Arm. We also pray blessings over the Pulsifers, for letting us live in their house, eat their food, and play with their children.