Thailand and Impact School of Missions

Friends and family!!

Greetings from Udom Suk, Bangkok!!

How are you all doing?!! Pray you are doing well. We are already into week 3 here at the Impact School of Missions (ISM) in Bangkok. Time has flown by as we have gotten settled into SE Asian life and have been busy with ministry. Here are some of the highlights:

- Preparing and teaching classes at ISM (Avin is teaching right now!)

- leading the students in worship

- serving at a 'Night Light' Cell group and Church Service, (Night Light is a Christian ministry that reaches out to woman in the red light district, disciples them and then employs them as factory workers)

- loving on kids at a ministry that reaches out to kids from poor/dysfunctional homes in a Bangkok Slum

- exposing the students to different ethnic foods at restaurants in Bangkok! (The Indian food was unreal!!)

- Not exactly a highlight but....traveling all over Bangkok trying to solve our computer problems!!

- getting stranded at a soup shop due to a classic SE Asia thunderstorm!!

- leading the students to the 'Ancient City' last saturday!! A must do if you come to Thailand!!

School here is finished on October 5th. After spending some time visiting friends, we will head to Poipet, Cambodia to pick up my truck and things and then will head to Phnom Penh.

We are loving being back in Asia and really couldn't be here serving without you. Please, please, continue to pray for us as a couple and that Gods power would flow powerfully through us so that the name of Jesus would be glorified, an people would come to know Him!!

Blessings

Joel and Avin

We've Arrived!!

September 5^th, 2012

We have Arrived!! (Physically speaking, Lord knows not in a lot of other ways!!)   After talking about serving God in Asia, preaching about serving God in Asia, praying about serving God in Asia ect., ect., we are finally BACK,  SERVING GOD IN ASIA!! We are ecstatic! Feels like we’re home, though it sure was a tear fest saying goodbye to our families!  We had a great flight on Japan Airlines from Vancouver to Tokyo and then to Bangkok.  We stayed with Peter and Sandra Macintosh last night and were just treated like royalty. Had a great time this morning talking about all the crazy missions trips we’ve been on and then Sandra took Avin and myself to the Pentecostal Bible College in Udomsuk, Bangkok where we will be staying for the next 30 days, teaching at the IMPACT SCHOOL OF MISSIONS (ISM)  

Our apartment at the Bible school is a 3 bedroom place with a living room, a kitchen and Air Conditioning!!!  I am getting soft in my old age!!  

We got unpacked and settled in today, got all our phones hooked up with SIM Cards, went grocery shopping, experienced a classic SE Asia 1 hour rain storm with thunder and lightning and had some amazing ‘gang keow wahn guy’ for lunch!   Just feels so good to be BACK!!  God is so good!

We begin teaching on September 10^th, so for the next few days we will be preparing for our classes, having staff meetings and hanging out with our friends here in Bangkok. 

Really appreciate all your support, prayers and for believing in us!!  Please be praying for Gods anointing to be on us as we teach and pour into the students at ISM over the next 30 days. 

Blessings,

Joel and Avin

Next Steps...

Praise God, He is good! “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to His purpose.” (Romans 8:28) Thank you to all who are working with us so we can follow God’s call on our life to Cambodia!!!!

Peter & Wanda: Three Hills Alberta

In the last month our fundraising efforts have taken us to Vernon, Coquitlam, Osoyoos and Three Hills, Alberta to share the Word and our vision at different churches. We have met so many new people and have felt so loved and welcomed…the family of God is one amazing thing!

Fireside Worship: White Rock Beach

We have finished our restaurant jobs, which we thought was going to leave us a ton of extra time for “other” things, but life has a way of filling up quickly! We have spent a lot of time committed to completing our courses for Impact School of Missions (www.ismsea.com), and spending time with supporters, friends and family.

Ready for the journey!

So where are we at these days? Well we need to let you all in on the best news of the month! Our team in the PAOC has given us the final approval to go and book our tickets back to South East Asia! PRAISE GOD! So many of you are a part of this news because it is YOU that has listened to God and decided to get behind us monthly! THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!! We are still believing God for the a few more monthly supporters to get us to 100% budget. We need the last 20% (about $900/ month). We know it is God’s economy and He continues to show us this, so we are moving forward full of faith and gratitude!

So by September 5^th we will be in South East Asia! That first month will have us in Bangkok teaching at ISM, and then we will be heading to Cambodia in October! This means we will be celebrating our 1^st anniversary in our new home, what a year it has been!

Stayed tuned…this is only the beginning…

Good News!!!

Jesus is Lord of all the Earth!    Every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that He is Lord!! Amen!!  

Avin and myself are so excited to play a small part in what God is doing in SE Asia!! After our fundraiser on June 24^th, we feel really supported by so many people who love the Lord and care about what He is doing all over the world!! 

Tim Lindberg and Crystal Asplend blessed us with some great folk music, the Thai and Khmer food was amazing, but more importantly, we just loved seeing many of you and being able to thank you face to face for getting behind us as a couple.   Thank you as well to many of you who gave so generously at the fundraiser! 2300 dollars was raised for the work in Cambodia, praise God!!

Avin and myself will be quitting our restaurant jobs in the next week and a half, and focusing entirely on writing courses for our teaching stints at ‘Impact School of Missions’ in Bangkok ,Thailand, as well as continuing to fundraise and share at different churches. 

In July we will be sharing at Vernon Full Gospel Tabernacle,  Coquitlam Community Church and Osoyoos Pentecostal, as well as a fundraiser in Kelowna and 3 Hills, Alberta.  

We are still believing God for 25 percent ( 1,300 dollars) to come in, in the form of monthly support.   Please be believing God with us for this last amount to be raised.

We would love to see many of you this summer so don’t be shy!! Email us or give us a call. Would be great to get together!!

Blessings,

Joel and Avin

Can you taste it?!

We are so close!! We can taste the Thai food and feel the heat on our skin! Praise God!

Traveling to Victoria - a few of these trips over the month

To be honest, for Joel and I, nothing much has changed over the last few months. You have heard it all before, working, fundraising, etc…BUT all of this working, fundraising, etc. has paid off and things are getting ready to change. Joel and I will officially be finishing our jobs at the Vault and the Washington Ave Grill at the end of June. We have been so blessed to have been a part of such an amazing “family” and have been able to work through all the changes God has brought in our lives over the last 2 years! Now we are at 70% of our budget needs and, with the next few commitments that have been promised, we will hit that 75% and will be ready to book our flights back to SEA!

God has heard all of our, and your, prayers for an August departure date, and it looks like that is what is going to happen. We are planning for the end of August, allowing us time to land in Bangkok, teach at the ‘Impact School of Missions’(www.ismsea.com) for the month of September and head to Cambodia in October to start our new life there! That means we will celebrate our one year anniversary in our new home!!!

We want to thank all of you who have heard our hearts, heard from God and have chosen to be a part of this journey – really, our hearts cannot say thank you enough. We hope to see you all at the June 24^th Fundraiser to celebrate and share together.

So stay tuned as details unfold, this is only the beginning…your prayers and love are so needed and appreciated!

From BC to Ottawa...what a month!

What a season of blessing! Really…is it bad that sometimes I am just knocked back at the amazing God we serve?! I should be there daily, but sometimes the community around us can show us God’s love in a new light, and it is powerful! Over the last month Joel and I have had the chance to visit different churches in the BC area, spend time with some amazing couples, and every moment is a new moment of awe at how God’s family works. We also had the blessing of being commissioned for missions work at the PAOC General Conference in Ottawa – what a wonderful family we are a part of and it was so powerful to have our leaders cover us in prayer and prepare us to be sent out. Our Regional Directors were even in town from Thailand, so great to have them with us for this! We want to thank all of you who have been a part of our lives over the last while, thank you for your hospitality, your prayers, your love, your words of encouragement, and your guidance as we walk towards Cambodia!

Visiting Glad Tidings Church in Victoria

Our travels have taken us to Victoria, our Provincial capital and then all the way over to the east coast to our Nation’s capital, Ottawa. We have been struck by what God is doing in this beautiful country of Canada! We are a place so blessed with abundance but we are so hungry for God. Over the last few weeks we feel inspired that there seems to be a new move of the spirit, falling fresh onto this country…and all of you who are a part of the larger decisions and guiding – we are praying for you! And for the rest of us, let us be inspired to try something different this week, let us try to be more aware of what God is doing in our daily lives, and the lives we touch daily! I am so excited about what is coming!

Our first time seeing the Parliament Buildings!

Joel and I will be continuing to work on our fundraising (of course!) and creating our Impact School of Missions (www.ismsea.com) curriculum. Life keeps us on our toes, but we would not have it any other way! We are still working on partnering with those who have a heart for Cambodia and the work God has called us to over there. Please be with us in prayer as we continue to ask God for our sending date, our prayer request has been for a timeline, and we are now believing God for this August.

Thank you to all the new supporters who are joining us monthly to bring us one step closer to being able to book our return tickets to Cambodia – we cannot say thank you enough! You are part of what God is doing and going to do!!!!

Spring!

Welcome Spring! God is great! We have had a blessed month! We have spent time with our families, celebrated Easter, and shared our vision for Cambodia with new people and churches!

April started off with Avin’s Grandpa’s 80^th birthday, so we began planning our family trip to Kelowna where we could have time with the family and then spend some time connecting with new churches in the Okanagan. Everything was going perfectly, until days before the trip. The road reports started warning people of travel, news of blizzards and horrible road conditions on the Coquihalla! A sad last minute decision led us to post-pone the trip. But the next weekend, with roads looking good, we packed our bags and headed up to the Okanagan. Praise God, beautiful blue skies and dry roads were waiting for us this time around. With God’s grace and leading this trip was meant to be post-poned, we were able to make some wonderful new connections throughout Vernon, Penticton, West Kelowna and Kelowna!

Thank you to the wonderful Koch family, who hosted us for our time up there!!!! Amidst meetings, there was some wonderful Easter bread, time to catch-up, and a rousing game of Pass the Pigs!!! I think Isaac Koch and Joel might have thoughts of joining the Professional Pass the Pigs League! (lol)

We are so encouraged by the Pastors and people we have been meeting with, and the connections they are so generously helping us make. There are doors opening up in other provinces, so please keep praying for these opportunities where we can share our hearts and what God has called us to!

So slowly but surely God is opening the hearts of those around us to partner with us. We are also planning to have a Missions Night Fundraiser over the next while, so stay tuned for more details there!