These past eight months

It’s the beginning of a new year… I look back and ponder all the way that the Lord has led us. This time last year we had no idea that today we would look back on eight months of Bible School in Asia. In fact, at the time we had very little knowledge of what IGo even was.

 

our little family in Thailand

    But God opened doors and directed us through them and we are very thankful for His leading and rest in the steadfast hope that he will continue to lead in the future.
    So a bit of a sum up.
If you read back over past posts, you will be able to form a bit of an idea what life looked like for us there.  There were a lot of changes to make to adjust to being students. We’ve both been out of school for years, and were mostly home-schooled, add to that being spouses and parents. I had no idea what a challenge that would be. After the first term, I stopped taking classes in the class room and did a bit of listening over skype or to recordings while caring for the children.

  

 John and Christy playing in the dirt

Darren took all of the morning classes, but for the most part used the afternoon for studying. After a few terms I began taking one class in the afternoon while the children napped. That was a blessing.
    The teaching we received enriched our lives and the experiences of living in unusual circumstances and working closely with other people day in and day out was very good training for us. I learned to understand better what it means to live “in a fish bowl” or a “glass house.” They say that people who live in glass houses should never throw stones. I think I understand that concept better than ever. Those who lived with us, and worked with us over these past months can testify to our many faults. I hope also, by God’s grace, they could testify that they have seen us reaching forward, and striving to overcome them. As I saw my own weaknesses exposed for everyone to see, I  think I learned to feel for others more deeply and to give them more grace in their weakness. I hope I don’t forget but continue to learn this lesson.
 

My little monkey

 
  After Darren’s last accident, we had one more term and then took the trip to Cambodia that we had been planning to take when he got hurt. 

(That hurt foot healed very slowly and his toe still gives him pain)

    Our original contact had to take a quick leave of absence, and was not able to give oversight to the planned work, so we worked with a kindergarten school there instead. It was a rather unique experience. Teaching a bunch of 4-7 year olds to say their letters and words like - eyes, mouth, ears…. Not exactly what we would have chosen, but God knows best. Cambodia has a horrifying history of genocide during the Pol Put regime. If you don’t know anything about it, maybe you should research it sometime. I understand that about 1in 3 of the people were tortured and killed during the horrific reign of the Khmer Rouge. The stories make your blood run cold. All the older people (over 30) can remember those days. It definitely still has its affect.

In Cambodia