The Tai Lue

The Tai Lue are located in Yunnan, China, as well as in Myanmar and Thailand. There are 1.4 million of them, and they are being worked with.

Please pray for them and the workers, as Myanmar, or Burma, is not the safest place to live in. Pray for their safety and for continued blessings and protection on those who live there.

The First Week

The summer has finally come to an end and it's back to the systematic schedule of the school week and the work day.

We started August 14th, on a Tuesday, and started right where we left off last year. I am now in 12th grade, Eric is in 9th, Eli is in 6th, and Ethan is in 1st. As a Senior (12th grader) I was and am constantly told and reminded that the classes I take this year will affect me for the rest of my life. My guidance counsellor actually said that I had better get straight A's this year, and that he was counting on me. Which is great, because motivation is always a good thing.

Along with obvious changes in courses, there are the other, less expected ones. As usual the school underwent a type of massive renovation in and around the building. This year's surprise was an extension of some of the staff offices and retiling some of the walkway beside the pool. This new cement contrasts brightly with the old tiles, and effectively blinds all who walk on or near it when the sun is out.

There are also many new students. This year Grace International School actually has roughly five hundred students, more than any other previous year. This became evident when I started to have the strange feeling that I was at a new school, one with the same uniform and building, but with completely different people.

(The picture to the left is my mother with her Grade 1 class.)

Speaking of new people we are now driving four families to school everyday. We are still driving the Millers and Samuel Hatton like we used to, but we now have an extra four people riding in our van (bringing the total to 11 plus Papa who drives us). Starting back to the first week of school we started picking up a Pakistani family that just moved here. Suffice to say, our van is now very cramped, but it works out and we have yet another opportunity to bless others through it.

To end off this summary of school life so far, my mother's been having a great time teaching. She wraps it up, saying, "It's a lot of fun, but a lot of hard work." We thank God that she's managed to get into the groove of teaching and is now managing her time a lot more wisely than before. We continue to ask God's help in her teaching at school and for her stress levels.

This being my last school year I also ask for prayers from you, and for the rest of my brothers as we strive to do our best in all that we do. Thank you, and God bless.

Same Friends, Different Country

There is nothing quite like seeing old friends; especially when the reason you haven’t seen each other recently is the price of a plane ticket. About a week ago we bid farewell to the Fullers, a family with whom we share not only an organization, but also two previous neighbourhoods. The last we saw of them before this year was the summer of 2005, at their new house in Singapore.

The Fullers were our co-workers in the Philippines, and among one of the first families we met. We lived roughly two streets away from them in Davao, which is a far cry from the present country (Malaysia) that now separates us. They then left for Canada a year before we did, and were actually responsible for setting us up with the house we lived in for two years. At that time they were living in a complex of townhouses, and they upon hearing about our need for a place to stay, notified us of a townhouse one unit over from where they lived. They moved to Singapore a year after we moved to Thailand.

For their vacation this year they came to Thailand to, among other things, visit us. They arrived in Chiang Mai on the first of August, along with Anna-Claire McMahon, whose family we also knew from the Philippines and whom we were also very happy to see. Unfortunately we were unable to see them for the first six days due to the fact that they were at a conference. So once we knew they were in Thailand we were forced to sit around in our excitement and wait for them to be finished.

One thing I’m sure they will attest to doing is shopping. We first met up with them to drive them over to the night bazaar, a must-visit tourist area in downtown Chiang Mai. Anna-Claire personally made up for about fifty percent of all purchases made that day, with five or six shirts and a purse. It was a new and exciting experience for them to barter the prices as opposed to just paying a fixed price. Unfortunately we were unable to do many things as a full family due to my father’s work at the office and my mother’s in her grade one classroom. We (the kids) were, however, able to join the Fullers on their trip to the elephant farm.

On the night before they left we were able to get together and play family games over at our house. They were able to teach us a few games we didn’t know and we all had a lot of fun. The last thing we did with them was to pray for them and see them off with God’s blessing. They were such a blessing to us and we look forward to seeing them again in the future, though we don’t know how long it’ll be until the next time.

The picture to the right is as follows:

Clockwise- Evan, Emily, Eric, Eli, Bethany, Ethan on Katie's lap, and Anna-Claire on Emily's lap.

Tai Daeng (Red Tai)

It's been awhile since we've done this, but this is this weeks Unreached People Group.


The Tai Daeng, or Red Tai, are located in Laos and Vietnam, and number about 30,000. They currently have no one working with them, and there are no believers.


Please join us and commit these people in your prayers.

All Set

By 8:00 A.M. tomorrow, the 2007-2008 school year at Grace International School (www.gisthailand.org) begins. This time, 500 students will be walking through the front doors, 51 students more than last year. With over 20 nationalities represented, the student body is truly multi-cultural.

It should be fun, challenging, tiring, enriching, delightful, and worthwhile to teach there. All summer I've prepared for tomorrow and beyond. The pencils have been sharpened, the name plates have been set in place, the bulletin boards have been decked out, the week's lesson plan is awaiting delivery, and hundreds of other things have been prepared in the classroom. It's as ready as can be with flowers to add on a vase tomorrow as a finishing touch.

Tonight, Eng and our 4 sons joined me there for a short worship time and to pray together for
the students and for me as I begin to teach Grade One there. I also called my parents in Toronto to receive their blessing and prayer. I am absolutely desperate for the Lord's help and hopelessly dependent on Him. Thankfully, I know He can be relied upon and will not let me be put to shame as I trust Him. I hope you'll remember to pray for me too. It should be an exciting half a year of teaching. Like the school's name, His grace will live out in me. Amen, so be it.

Our Time In Malaysia

Having only gotten back this morning at 10 AM, our trip to Malaysia is still very clear in my mind. After two weeks away, from the tenth to the twenty-fourth of July, it’s nice to be back in Chiang Mai, and good to rest after all of that traveling.

The entirety of our stay there can easily be summed up in one word: Blessing. From the beginning of our stay in Kuala Lumpur to the point of unpacking here in Chiang Mai it’s been one blessing after another.

Originally the plan had been to stay a week at my dad’s friend’s house in KL, but Uncle Ravi decided that it would be more convenient to book us into the Peninsula Residence, a service apartment, fully paid for. Our suite consisted of a kitchen, a sort of living room, and two bedrooms each with a double bed and its own bathroom. In each of the bedrooms and the living room was a television. All of the rooms were air conditioned, and we were even able to enjoy the swimming pool and weight room they had on the top floor.

From there we were able to get around, which included shopping at the Kuala Lumpur City Centre, which is located underneath the Petronas Twin Towers (which can be seen in the background of the picture above). While there we also visited Aquaria, an aquarium where we got to see a lot of fish (in front, above, and all around us!). We were also able to enjoy swimming and playing at Sunway Lagoon, a water/theme park courtesy once again of Uncle Ravi. His driver took us around KL in a very spacious air-conditioned van, which was really good considering how much taxis cost there. We spent some time with him and his family, especially his two children, Liyanna, fourteen, and Qalif, thirteen, who seemed to really enjoy our company.

After taking a bus from KL to Ipoh we moved into my uncle’s house for a week, which was vacant since he and his wife are living in Australia for two years. Although only he and his wife live there, it was easily large enough to accommodate our entire family. To get around we used his car, which he let us use while he’s away. While we were there we visited a lot of family and often spent time at my other uncle’s house with my grandmother.

We were further blessed by a visit to my dad’s old classmate, Joseph, in his hometown of Sri Manjung. He took it upon himself to take us to what he called ‘the best restaurants in town’, and practically begged us to stay for an extra night. He, along with his wife and daughter, took us to Pangkor Island, where we were treated to a thrilling motor boat ride around the islands and a chance to snorkel and see beautiful rainbow-coloured fish (some ate right off our hands while we swam with them!). Our boat driver hand caught some of the fish which we later ate for supper, along with sea snails (yum!)

The way everything lined up so perfectly we spent very little on the trip. The most we spent on while we were there was the entrance fee to Aquaria, which was amazing. The food courts in Malaysia were filled with foods from all sorts of different countries, and I personally enjoyed the Chinese food the most.

Everyone had something they enjoyed doing, whether it was shopping in KL, or playing at Sunway Lagoon, or simply enjoying the food and the company of others. For my father I’m sure it was reconnecting with old high school friends, most of whom he hasn’t seen since their last reunion almost three years ago (and for some, close to 30 years ago). Being with family was a lot of fun, and I felt a closeness I hadn’t felt before being around them.

We thank God for all that He’s done for us, in blessing us through so many people in so many ways.

The picture on the right was taken at Aquaria. Eric, Eli, and myself have live scorpions on our arms (Ethan was too scared to try it) It was literally creepy!

Tai Kaos (White Thai)

This week's UPG are southwestern animists. They are the Tai Kaos. There are 225,000 of them living in Laos and Vietnam. Unfortunately, out of that number, not one believe in our Lord. Worse, no one works with them. How on earth can they be saved? Thank God that with all our prayers, nothing is impossible and it can and will happen. Let's please pray for them. Thanks!