The Mullis Family Blog

A Career of Faithfulness...

2011-12-08T21:05:00.001+07:00

In October, Richard and Linda Blount said their final good-byes to Thailand. After 20 years of faithful service, they retired and moved back to the States. As many of you know, the Blounts have been teammates and friends of ours since we first arrived in Thailand in 2006. We have shared many good times with them. From doing Christmas parties in Krabi, sharing the Gospel together in rural villages or simply hanging out together, we have enjoyed their friendship and have learned much from them.

While we are sad to see them leave, we are so thankful for the legacy they have left behind. Through their ministry in Krabi and other cities in southern Thailand thousands and thousands of Thais heard the Good News of Christ for the first time. In addition, this past year they were able to start a new church plant in a rural area, which before they arrived, had no known churches or believers.

Richard and Linda are models of perseverance and faithfulness to whom we are greatly indebted.

We will miss you guys!! Enjoy your retirement!!

December Prayer Requests

2011-12-08T20:07:00.000+07:00

Pray...

that God would move mightily among the 10+ million people living in Bangkok.
that we would be bold as we share our faith with Thais.
for wisdom as we develop our church planting strategies for Bangkok.
that Eric can finish his coursework before his classes begin in January.
for safety for us as we travel to the States at the end of this month.
for our adoption process. Ask the Lord to grant us favor in our social workers eyes. She continues to drag her feet when it comes to helping us move forward with the adoption. We have completed everything needed for our file. We are simply waiting for the social worker to place a child with us. Ask the Lord to add a Thai child to our family soon.

The Lottie Moon Offering

2011-12-07T21:54:00.006+07:00

The Lottie Moon Christmas Offering is essential to our work here in Thailand, as well as Southern Baptist work all over the world. We cannot do what we do without the support of our brothers and sisters back home. One hundred percent of what you give to the Lottie Moon Offering goes towards missions...there is nothing removed from your gift that goes to administrative costs or anything else.

We know that the last few years have been difficult as far as the American economy goes but we would like to ask you to sacrificially give this year. Give so that others all around the world will have the opportunity to hear of the saving grace of our Lord.

Click on the picture below to see how you can be His heart, His hands and His voice!

Happy Father's Day!

2011-12-03T21:53:00.023+07:00

Today is Father's Day in Thailand. The King was born on December 5 so the whole country celebrates his birth with this holiday. This morning we participated in a march to celebrate the King. We started at the Democracy monument and marched to the park in front of the Grand Palace.

It was actually quite funny that Emma and our friend's kids drew so much attention. There were many photographers taking pictures of our kids in their strollers.

After we arrived at the Park, there was a huge ceremony.

Getting water at the water tent.

Prayer Requests for November

2011-11-07T11:59:00.003+07:00

Pray...

that God would transform this city with the Gospel.
for healthy, reproducing churches to fill this city.
for wisdom and clarity in beginning our work in Bangkok. Pray that we would be bold in loving others and sharing Christ. Pray we would have many opportunities to share and that God would bring those whom he is preparing to us.
that our home will not flood and we that we can finally get settled into our new home in Bangkok.
for Eric that he will be able to complete his school assignments before his classes begin in January.
that we would parent Emma well and that God would bless us with more children, both biological and through adoption.
that God would give us wisdom in how to help the many flood victims in Bangkok.

Updates on the Flood

2011-11-02T11:41:00.000+07:00

The best way for us to keep you updated on the flood and current prayer requests are through facebook and twitter.

If you would like to follow the reports on facebook, click here and send us a friend request.

Or, if you want more detailed updates, including news reports, click here to follow us on twitter.

Thanks again for your prayers and emails. It means a lot to us to know we have people at home praying.

Evacuating to Pattaya . . .

2011-11-01T11:25:00.000+07:00

With news that the flood would likely hit over the next few days, the company gave permission for those living in potential flood zones to evacuate to the Baptist camp at Pattaya.

Long story short . . . we waited for six long days in Pattaya. We read internet reports daily that said flood waters could arrive in our district at any point. Finally, on Tuesday, the media seemed to be in consensus that our district would be spared. So, we packed up and came back home.

However, by 2pm the day we arrived at home, we were greeted by new flood warnings for our district. At this point in time, we are staying put until the flooding is pushing at our door. All of our belongings are still packed away in an upstairs bedroom. The media continues to present mixed messages on the flood. We are simply waiting to see if, when, and to what extent we will be affected.

While we have not been affected yet, hundreds of thousands in Bangkok and surrounding areas face a very serious disaster. Please pray for them. Pray that God would use this event to draw many to himself. Pray that God would show Thai Christians how to minister to the lost in light of this disaster.

The Coming Flood . . .

2011-10-21T13:56:00.002+07:00

After being here less than a week, we are now evacuating because of a pending flood threatening our district and the entire city. Media is saying it is the biggest flood to hit the city in at least 50 years. Projections are that our district could see a meter of flood water. If that is the case, the water will enter our home. While water in our downstairs is bad enough, we would likely be without power and sewer capabilities. Even worse, they are saying the waters could take 30-45 days to drain out to sea. Considering all these factors, we are heading to Pattaya (about 2 hours east of Bangkok) to wait and see what happens. We greatly appreciate your prayers for us and the millions of other who call Bangkok home.

To keep up with details of the situation and prayer requests, you can follow us on twitter at: https://twitter.com/#!/MullisThailand

The two pictures below are 1) preparing sandbags at our front gate and 2) all of our belongings that we could get upstairs crammed into a bedroom.

Moving to Bangkok - Part 3

2011-10-17T12:00:00.000+07:00

We made it!! Good news is the forecasted flooding over the weekend did not hold true. So, along with some help from Robert and Kay, we began to work on settling into our new home. Our home is located on a compound (for lack of a better work) with other mission owned homes and apartments. Our property is located in the center city adajcent to the seminary. We are so excited about getting settled in and making our new house a home.

Moving to Bangkok- Part 2

2011-10-15T15:34:00.000+07:00

After a whirlwind of packing, we left Hat Yai at two in the afternoon for a 13 hour drive to Bangkok. Thankfully, the weather was good and Emma slept most of the way. The only challenge was that our cat Mo-Mo, due to chronic kidney and liver problems, was still recovering from a serious case of pneumonia. He had to travel with an IV for the entire trip. Good news . . . he survived and is recovering well.

Moving to Bangkok - Part 1

2011-10-14T09:50:00.002+07:00

Everything has happened kind of fast...

While we were considering the possible move to Bangkok, our landlord told us that he wanted to sell our home. Well, long story short, our landlord sold our home just before we got final approval from the IMB for the transfer. The bottom line was . . . we had to move fast. So we said our sad goodbyes to our partners and friends and loaded up our home within a weeks time. Below are a few pictures from our moving day.

This was our last meal in Hat Yai with our friends Kay and Robert Holcomb and So Duangdi. Without their help, we would have never been able to pack and move this fast. We are so thankful for their servant hearts. We will miss working alone side of you guys!

Sometimes things are harder than they should be . . . For example, when your mattress and wardrobe are too big to go down the stairs, the only option is to call a crane!!

Our friends Ajaan Surapon and his wife Tuk. Ajaan Surapon is the pastor at our partner church, Hat Yai Baptist. We pray God uses them and the church in Hat Yai to reach the Southern Thai people with the good news of Christ. We will miss you guys!

Our friends Edmund and Ning also stoped by to say good bye. We pray God continues to bless your family as you continue to work and minister in Hat Yai.

Last, our friend and co-worker Kay. Not only will we miss you and Robert, Emma will really miss you too!!

New Assignment in Bangkok

2011-10-10T19:28:00.000+07:00

We are excited to announce that we just received final approval from our company to transfer to Bangkok. While we are sad to leave south Thailand, as there is much work to be done, we are confident the move is coming at the right time. In general, we will continue to work as church planters. Bangkok is a city with a population of over 12 million people and less than 1% of them are Christian. Therefore, opportunities for ministry are on every corner. We will start immediately evangelizing and developing a strategy to help start healthy, multiplying churches. There are also other ministry plans in the works but they are not yet solidified. We will keep you updated on those opportunities as they mature.

Visit from North Wake

2011-10-09T09:14:00.003+07:00

Every term our church from seminary, North Wake Church, sends either staff or members to visit their missionaries serving internationally. While this is certainly a big commitment, as they have sent out many families to serve overseas, it is something we are grateful for. Our personal visit came a few weeks back. We met the Merkle family just across the border in Penang, Malaysia. The Merkles are members at North Wake Church and Ben is also a professor at Southeastern Seminary. He is teaching for the semester at the Baptist Seminary in Penang.

We had a great time with Ben, his wife Marian, and their three children. Thanks Merkles for taking the time to catch up with us and thanks North Wake for your

continued investment. We appreciate you guys!

If you want to learn more about North Wake, their website is http://www.northwake.com/.

Also, Ben Merkle recently published two fantastic books on elders in the church. He offers much wisdom on this subject. Click on the pictures for more information.

Away for a While...

2011-10-01T17:34:00.000+07:00

Sorry for the extended absence from our blog. To be honest, will full time school and managing work, we have had little time to sit down and write. Hopefully, we can get back on track now. Over the next few weeks we will be writing new blogs to catch everyone up on our work here in Thailand. Emma's blog has been updated with new stories and pictures. You can access her blog by clicking here. Thanks again for supporting us through your prayers and yearly gifts to the Lottie Moon Christmas offering.

More Flooding in South Thailand

2011-04-05T02:40:00.002+07:00

Flooding has hit the south again. Thankfully, Hat Yai was spared this time. However, many parts of the South are not so fortunate at the moment. Flooding continues to be critical in towns like Surat Thani (pictured above) as well as Krabi province (pictured below). Richard and Linda Blount, our teammates living in Krabi town, are already doing disaster relief in the villages surrounding Krabi province.

Please pray that the Lord would use this natural disaster to make his name known. Pray for God to open doors in places that were previously resistant to the Gospel.

Annual Meeting

2011-03-22T02:23:00.000+07:00

This year our company's annual meeting was held in March, as opposed to July. We always look forward to collaboration between colleagues and worship in English. We were spiritually refreshed and rejuvenated by the time spent in Chiang Mai.

As many of you know, we sent out an email about a little Korean baby that we met while at the meeting. We hoped and prayed that we would be able to adopt this little girl. The mother, who is a college student here, wanted nothing to do with this child because she was not married and extremely embarrassed by what happened. She wanted to give the baby to us but, unfortunately, in the end she decided to do what was easiest for her. Out of fear that someone would find out SHE was the mother, she decided to just ship the baby back to Korea to put in an orphanage. We are heartbroken by her decision. We spent a lot of time researching ways to adopt her little girl and praying that the Lord would add her to our family.

Please continue to pray that the Lord would add to our family in whatever way he chooses.

New IMB President

2011-03-16T14:32:00.000+07:00

Tom Elliff has just been hired as the New President for the IMB. We are excited about what God will do in and through him. For full article, click on the picture above.

Please pray for our new president that the Lord will lead and guide him as he leads and guides Southern Baptists to be On Mission with God.

Tricia's Birthday in Malaysia

2011-03-09T03:06:00.003+07:00

We went to Kuala Lumpur for a couple of days for Tricia's birthday. As always, we love it in Malaysia. We ate at Chilies and Fridays and even had Krispy Kreme donuts to celebrate.

Our teammates Robert and Kay went with us. We enjoyed showing them around one of our favorite places.

Christmas Time

2010-12-26T02:39:00.005+07:00

This season Christmas lasted several weeks. We had the opportunity to celebrate Christmas in Bangkok...

North Carolina...

and Texas.

Our time with family and friends in the States was an incredible blessing though the main reason we went back was for Eric to continue some studies at Southeastern Seminary. He spent three weeks in classes and enjoyed his time there very much. Please pray for the Lord to help him balance work, school and family during this time. He has a lot on his plate right now and he is trying to be faithful with all of it.

Lottie Moon Christmas Offering

2010-12-05T23:16:00.005+07:00

We would like to ask you to consider giving sacrificially to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering this year. It is through your genouous gifts that we, as well as, 5000 other IMB missionaries are able to work among some of the least reached peoples in the world.

If you have a minute or two, check out the video below.

Traveling to the States...

2010-12-05T23:12:00.006+07:00

We are thankful to share with you that we will going back to the States on December 27 for vacation time with family and for Eric's classes at Southeastern Baptist Seminary in Wake Forest. We can't wait to see family and friends and finally have the opportunity to introduce them to Emma! Please pray for safe and uneventful travel...it's going to be a long flight for an eight month old! Pray Eric's classes go well and he can get all of his assignments written before he arrives.

We look forward to seeing many of you soon!!!

Pray for the Ferris Baptist Church Mission Team

2010-12-05T23:11:00.007+07:00

We are so excited that our friends Erskin and Kelli Anavitarte are bringing a mission team from their church (Ferris Baptist Church - south of Dallas, Texas) to come and work alongside of us for the Christmas season. They will be arriving on Monday, December 13th and staying for 10 days. We have a very busy schedule planned for them.

Please pray for their team.

Pray they will impact many people with the good news of Jesus Christ.
Pray they reflect the joy of Christ in all they do and say.
Pray for safe travels and good health.
Pray they leave with a passion for the unreached people in south Thailand and all over the world.

We will post later with details of their trip!!

If you get a chance check out Erskin's website: http://erskinanavitarte.com

Also, he has some great music you can get on iTunes.

Team Retreat in Krabi

2010-12-05T23:01:00.004+07:00

This past week we met together for our annual Team Retreat. This year it was in Krabi. We had a great time catching up with our teammates. Below is a group shot from the hotel. Also, check out Emma's Blog for pictures of her first time in a swimming pool.

New Video on Thai Buddhism

2010-11-15T11:34:00.003+07:00

OMF just put together a great short video on Thai Buddhism. If you get a chance, check it out at...

http://vimeo.com/13676845

Flood Pictures From Hat Yai Baptist Church

2010-11-09T20:31:00.005+07:00

Below are a few pictures from Hat Yai Baptist during the flood and after the water began to recede. The water inside the church rose to right at 6 feet and at the street level is was 9-10 feet deep. The last picture is our friend Noi pointing to the waterline on the church window.

Relief Work at Koh Maak

2010-11-06T17:56:00.005+07:00

We received word late Friday night that the village north of town we are working in (Koh Maak) was hit hard by the storm and flooding. We decided, along with our partners at Hat Yai Baptist Church, that this would be the best place to focus our next relief project. So, early Saturday morning myself and our teammates, Richard and Linda Blount (who thankfully came down from Krabi to help), went shopping for water and food to carry to the village. In the end, we prepared over 200 bags with water, rice, noodles, canned fish and other staples to help carry them through. Here are some pictures from Saturday.

Relief Work

2010-11-06T03:29:00.009+07:00

We are fortunate to work for a company that has a disaster relief fund. Because of this, we have been able work alongside our partner church and distribute food and water to those in need. Today was the first day we were able to officially begin the relief work. We passed out bags that had water, rice, noodles, canned fish, etc. to those affected by the flood. There was also a truck that arrived this morning with food donations from some of the churches in Bangkok.

Pictures from Hat Yai Flood

2010-11-03T15:21:00.001+07:00

An Early Morning Call...

2010-11-03T02:14:00.000+07:00

After a long day and night of watching and preparing our home for flooding, we awoke to a 6 am call from out Thai partner Jetsada. He was calling to see how bad we had been hit. He was surprised to hear we had been spared. He then shared that the Church (He lives in a room on the backside) and the center city of Hat Yai had not been so fortunate...

At the time of the call the waters were already 31/2 feet deep inside the church and rising fast. Over the next few hours, the levels rose to 4-10 feet throughout the majority of the center city, leaving thousands stranded and in need of help. After riding out to survey and look for ways

to begin help, it quickly became obvious how widespread the flooding was. All the roads into the main city center were totally flooded making entering impossible without a boat. At this point, the government is organizing efforts to help and flying boats in from Bangkok.

Please pray for our friends and the thousands of others stranded in the city that they would find access to food and drinking water. Pray for their safety. The waters are expected to recede in 3 -4 days. Also, please pray for wisdom as we seek to find ways to help those in need. Below are a few pictures we took today from the edge of the flood zone.

Preparing for the Worst

2010-11-01T13:34:00.005+07:00

After three days of hard rain it seems we may be in for trouble...

11am - The street in front of our house has flooded and Eric rushes out to find sand bags to protect our house in case it continues to rise. We have never seen it rain like this.

2pm - The water has now entered our carport and Eric placed the final sand bags.

4pm - The water is inches from our front door. Praying it does not go any further. Just got the news a massive storm should reach the area between 10pm and midnight. On top of that, backed up flood waters from the south are apparently making their way to the city at the same time. Things are not looking good...

5pm - Thankfully the waters at our house have receded to the street level. So far...we have been spared.

6pm - Alarms go off all over the city. People are told to brace for massive flooding in the late evening hours. We quickly move our furniture (all that we could) up to the second level in our townhouse.

9pm - Massive storm hits Hat Yai. Heavy winds, lightening and torrential rain.

10pm - Water again rises to our steps. Praying hard that it will stop rising.

1am - Praise God! The worst seems over and we have been spared. We are hoping everyone else is a fortunate as we have been.

Great News!

2010-10-28T00:45:00.000+07:00

We are excited to share the news that our partners Ajaan Santhit and his wife Rat just gave birth to a healthy baby girl. Her name is Ratthipon. Please pray for them that they would adjust well to being new parents and that they would raise Ratthipon to know and love the Lord.

Below are pictures of the proud new mother and father and a group shot of some visitors from Hat Yai Baptist Church.

New Partner

2010-10-25T12:30:00.001+07:00

We would like to introduce you to a new partner we have began to work alongside. His name is Aajaan Jetsada. He is from northern Thailand. He has already studied in Bible College and has worked in Eastern Thailand. We are so thankful for the opportunity to partner with him. He has a wonderful heart for the Lord and is a capable teacher. Pray for Jetsada that he would be a bold witness for the Lord and a faithful teacher of his Word.

Emma's Gets a Visa

2010-10-15T19:03:00.000+07:00

This past week we went to Malaysia to take a few days off and get Emma an official Visa for Thailand. We had a wonderful trip. We were able to do some Christmas shopping for Emma and enjoy some Western food. Below are a few pictures from our trip.

Pray for Koh Maak

2010-09-26T09:35:00.007+07:00

We recently began working in an area called Koh Maak with Hat Yai Baptist Church. We have now made multiple trips up to this village. The people are very receptive to the Word and are eager for us to come teach them. Work began in this area about 10 years ago from a former missionary. Since that time, no one has been there to disciple or teach the few believers. Pray for us as we work in various ministries with them and seek to lead them to becoming a church. Pray for wisdom as we lead and pray that many in this area will come to know Jesus as their Lord and Savior.

Below are a few pictures from a worship service and a ministry to some of the neighborhood children.

New Teammates - The Holcombs

2010-09-22T09:10:00.013+07:00

We are thrilled that our teammates, Robert and Kay, have finished language study and officially moved to Hat Yai. We asked our friends Jet and Jo to come help us move the Holcombs into their new town home...only two streets over. We are thankful that they are here and that they live close by. The Holcombs are a wonderful couple and we are excited to get to know them better. Please pray for their transition to Hat Yai and the work here in the south.

July

2010-07-25T04:57:00.006+07:00

July was an incredibly busy month for us...but for many different reasons. After Eric's mother left to go back home, we all went to Bangkok for a few days to rest before going to an annual meeting in Chiang Mai. We always enjoy spending time in the malls in Bangkok and eating at restaurants we don't have in Hat Yai.

After a few days of rest, we headed off to Chiang Mai. We typically look forward to this meeting each summer because we get to catch up with friends, eat GREAT Western food and worship in English with our coworkers...we do go to meetings too. :) Well, on the way, we were in an accident. While driving, we were rear ended. We praise God that no one was hurt, although it is very scary to be in an accident with a new baby in the car! Praise the Lord for Emma's car seat...thank you West Concord! We were so thankful that after some effort of pulling the bumper off the rear wheel, we were able to drive the rest of the way to Chiang Mai. Needless to say, we were a bit distracted at the meeting this year. After the meeting, we had to stay in Chiang Mai for another week or so to wait for our car to be fixed.

Our Car....

The other guy's car...

On Vacation

2010-06-29T11:29:00.000+07:00

After spending a few days in Hat Yai, the four of us went to Krabi...

and then Phuket for a few days of vacation.

(It was fun to catch up with our old neighbors in Phuket and introduce Emma to them!)

We had such a wonderful time with Eric's mother and are so thankful that Emma got to meet her Grandma.

Around Hat Yai

2010-06-23T03:47:00.008+07:00

We picked up Eric's mom in Phuket but drove back to Hat Yai to spend a few days in our home and give Mearlyn the grand tour. Here are a few pictures around town...

Mearlyn inspecting the local snacks. :)

You cannot go anywhere without Thais stopping to look at Emma. They all think she looks like a baby doll. This is Mearlyn at our grocery store.

Emma's first day at church.

You definitely have to hit the shops...

and the beach...

Eric's Mom Comes for a Visit

2010-06-18T11:45:00.001+07:00

Tonight we picked up Eric's mom at the Phuket airport. We are so excited to get to spend time with her and introduce her to Emma.

Mo Mo came to the airport too.

Time with Tricia's Mom

2010-06-09T01:54:00.008+07:00

We had a great time with Tricia's mom. She helped us adjust to life with a newborn in so many ways. We didn't do much traveling but it was nice to spend time with her here in Hat Yai. Here are a few pictures of our time with Adria.

Around Town...

At the hospital for Emma's 1 month check up...

Trying to get a good family photo (with no luck) ....

Getting Emma's room ready...

We ALL did a lot of this...

and this...

We had such a good time with Tricia's mom and are so thankful that Emma got to meet her MiMi.

Trying to recover our Yard

2010-06-05T21:48:00.003+07:00

Being away from your home for over a month does usher in a few problems... By the time we got back to our home all of the plants that the owners of our house had planted were, for the most part, dead. Fortunately, beautiful plants and flowers in Thailand are EXTREMELY cheap! We had a fun time out this afternoon with Adria picking out new plants to bring our yard back up to shape. The only downside was, the actual planting turned out to be a much bigger task than we expected!

Speeding Ticket

2010-05-24T20:51:00.003+07:00

While driving back to Hat Yai, I got pulled for speeding. Getting pulled over by police is quite common here. Typically, they are looking for you to make the "convenient" option of paying on the spot (meaning they want to pad their pockets). This time, however, they were going to offer a receipt which made it appear that the transaction was legitimate. Anyways, I paid the ticket (about $8 US). What was funny is the advice the officer gave me as we were leaving. He said to make sure I kept the ticket with me for the rest of the day in case I got pulled again. Apparently, if I got pulled again, all I had to do was to show the ticket to the next officer and he would let me pass. Rule of Thumb: you can only get one ticket a day. Unbelievable! Pay $8 and you get day pass to drive as fast as you want!

A Stop at the Juniper Tree

2010-05-21T19:45:00.003+07:00

Because the drive from Bangkhla to Hat Yai is over 14 hours, we decided to break up the drive. We stopped in a city called Pranburi (for those of you who are familiar, it is south of Hua Hin). This was a good stop for us because we got to take a mini vacation with Tricia's mom and check out a new hotel called the Juniper Tree. The Juniper Tree is a guest house specifically for missionaries. It is very cheap (approx. $30 a night) and it includes 3 meals a day and laundry service. We took a few days there and toured the local beaches, as well as a national park. It was also fun to meet other missionaries from around the world.

Picture of the Juniper Tree

Tricia's mom on one of the beaches.

Fishing village in the national park.

We also spent an afternoon in Hua Hin shopping and then we celebrated a late Mother's Day with Tricia's mom at the Great American Rib Company. The rib dinner was fantastic!

Tricia's Mom Comes for a Visit

2010-05-20T19:45:00.002+07:00

Today, we picked up Tricia's mom at the airport! We are so excited to have her come for a visit and meet Emma. We are looking forward to all the time we get to spend with her!

A Sad Day in Bangkok

2010-05-20T16:08:00.001+07:00

Bangkla

2010-05-17T19:40:00.002+07:00

First, thanks for all of your emails and prayers. To catch you up, last night the fighting near our apartment grew more intense and closer. We could hear gunshots and explosions throughout the night. While we are probably safe in the apartment here, we decided this morning it may be wise to move outside the city for a few days just in case things got out of control on our street.

Fortunately, our company has a guest house at a mission medical clinic about one hour east of Bangkok in a town called Bangkla. So, this morning we packed up and headed out. Hopefully things will be back to normal soon.

Violent clashes continue in Thailand

2010-05-17T00:20:00.001+07:00

As many of you are already aware, the months of political tension in Bangkok have now turned into a very serious situation. Currently, there is fighting in many places throughout the city center. As of now we are still here in Bangkok waiting for Emma's birth certificate and to apply for her passport. Unfortunately, the US Embassy is in the middle of one of the areas of heaviest fighting which may delay our appointment with the consulate on Wednesday. While our apartment is in the city center, please know we are safe. Most of the fighting has thus far has been limited to confined areas. If the fighting does shift more in our direction, we will be moving outside the city. We are monitoring things closely. Please pray for wisdom for us in this situation and pray for us to be able to get Emma's birth certificate and passport quickly. Below is a CNN video filmed in Bangkok yesterday.

Tricia's First Mothers Day!

2010-05-11T15:53:00.010+07:00

This past Sunday we were so excited to get to celebrate Tricia's first Mother's Day. Because it was such a special day we decided to splurge and go to the JW Marriott for their lunch Buffet. It was absolutely amazing! We had a great time celebrating this special day.

Emma's Blog!

2010-05-11T11:28:00.005+07:00

To keep all the grandparents and uncle Greg updated on their new family member, we have started a new blog. We hope to update it regularly with short stories and photos of Emma. Check if out if you get a chance! Click Here to enter her blog.

Going home...

2010-05-05T16:49:00.001+07:00

Today we were thrilled to take Emma home from the hospital! Both she and Tricia are doing great. Before we checked-out, the nurses gave us a few lessons on basic "infant care" and we took some pictures of the hospital. Also, in the pictures you will notice the interesting "swaddling bunny outfit" Emma is wearing. A few months ago when we went on vacation in Malaysia we had picked the perfect outfit for her to wear home from the hospital. Well... little did we know the hospital had a "take home outfit" already prepared! Here are some pictures from our last day. Hope you enjoy them.

The First Week...

2010-05-04T11:15:00.007+07:00

To begin with, we apologize for the slow response to announce Emma's arrival. The Internet at the hospital has had problems the entire week and we have not been able to send out a birth announcement or update our blog. Anyway, since Emma's arrival Wednesday, April 28, we have been on a bit of a roller coaster ride. First, while Emma arrived healthy (Praise God!) she did have some problems with breathing due to fluid in her lungs. She, therefore, spent the first week of her life in an incubator in the NICU. At this point, she has recovered well and we expect her to be released tomorrow. We are so excited to finally get to have our daughter all to ourselves! Along with that Tricia was sick for the first 4 days after giving birth. We feared she was having a flare of Crohns disease. Thankfully her symptoms improved yesterday and she also will be released from the hospital tomorrow. God has blessed us so much. We will have many pictures to follow. Below are a few from the past week to get things started. Thanks for all of your prayers!

Emma Kaitlyn Mullis

2010-04-30T16:36:00.009+07:00

An Eventful Wednesday - Part Two

2010-04-30T14:17:00.010+07:00

Well, after an hour of being hooked up to the fetal monitor, we got an unexpected response from our doctor. With a smile on her face she said, "Today's the day!" Tricia had already begun to go into labor and needed a c-section right away. Our little girl couldn't wait any longer. Though excited beyond measure, I (Eric) must admit I was slightly overwhelmed to say the least. Though I didn't know exactly what all we needed for our little girl or for our stay at the hospital, I knew we were not prepared. We didn't have clothes for us or the baby, no camera, etc.. Prepared or not, the doctor gave me two hours to go home and collect all we needed and get back. Excited, yet slightly scattered, I got a taxi and rushed back to our apartment. On the way, I made a few quick phone calls to my parents, my brother and Tricia's mother so they could be on stand-by. As soon as I arrived at the apartment, I frantically packed all I could think of that seemed appropriate. After destroying our apartment, I crammed all I had into my taxi. Now...only one more problem to overcome. On the way back to our apartment I noticed a lot of "red-shirts" on the streets near our home beginning to rally and assemble for protests throughout the city (see previous blogs on political turmoil in Bangkok). The major streets we had taken back to our apartment were now grid-locked with protesters. Fortunately, my taxi driver knew a good detour back. After seemingly circling the city, by the grace of God, I made it back in time to quickly be prepped and dressed for the events that were about to occur. Just a few minutes later I was holding Tricia's hand and the c-section had begun. Literally, within 5-10 minutes we were overwhelmed with joy...

An Eventful Wednesday - Part One

2010-04-30T13:57:00.006+07:00

This past Wednesday Tricia had her 36 week check-up at the hospital. We arrived for her appointment with Dr. Anong at 7:30am. Upon arrival we found out Dr. Anong had just been called away to perform an emergency C-section, so we waited and enjoyed a coffee until about 9:30 when she was available. The appointment started off well. Tricia shared she was feeling good and we made plans for the delivery date of May 5 (Week 37). Following our discussion, Dr. Anong did a physical exam. Long story short, she rushes us upstairs for Tricia to get hooked up to a fetal monitor. As we waited for the results, we kept thinking this is just a precautionary measure; no way Tricia is close to delivering. She feels too good. After all, we didn't come this morning prepared for more than a quick visit...

35 Weeks Pregnant

2010-04-21T21:14:00.001+07:00

Here is a picture of Tricia in the lobby of the hospital at 35 weeks. Today, the doctor moved up our due date to May 5 and suggested that Tricia rest in bed as much as she can. Otherwise, as far as the baby is concerned, everything is looking good. It won't be long now!

Pray for Bangkok

2010-04-16T14:10:00.003+07:00

Since we wrote last week, the political tension has continued to escalate in Bangkok. Last Saturday there was scattered fighting throughout the city leaving over 800 injured and 24 dead. Please continue to pray for a peaceful solution to this political fallout. Again, please know we are in no danger. We know where the "hotspots" are and are keeping our distance. Check out the ABC News video below to get a better perspective on the situation.

dfsd

Songkran Holiday

2010-04-16T11:34:00.003+07:00

Despite the political tension in the air, many Thais still took time to celebrate the Thai New Year festival, "Songkran," this week. Songkran is by far the biggest holiday in Thailand. It is a full week of celebrations consisting mostly of water gun (hose, bucket, etc.) fights. It is definitely a sight to see! With Tricia's pregnancy, we chose not to celebrate in the "water games" this year but in our travels around the city we really enjoyed seeing everyone engaging in water fights.

If you would like to see pictures and read more about this holiday, click here.... Songkran .

34 Week Check-Up

2010-04-16T11:23:00.007+07:00

Here are some photos of Tricia's 34 week check up at the Hospital here in Bangkok. Her doctor (pictured below) gave us a delivery date of May 10. However, she does believe that there is a strong possibility the delivery could come sooner. Overall, the check-up was good and all reports show we have a healthy little girl.

Tensions still rising in Bangkok

2010-04-08T17:58:00.004+07:00

Since we arrived in Bangkok earlier this week, the political tensions have continued to rise. The protesters have now caused a state of emergency to be issued. First, if you are getting these reports on the news (or for the first time now), please know we are safe. Bangkok is a BIG city and so long as you keep clear of the demonstration points you are not at risk. We will keep you posted on any major changes should they occur. As we have recommended before for up to date news on this situation, check out:

The Bangkok Post www.bangkokpost.com or

The Nation www.nationmultimedia.com

33 Weeks Pregnant

2010-04-06T18:19:00.004+07:00

Arriving in Bangkok....

2010-04-06T16:04:00.005+07:00

Because Tricia falls into a "high risk" pregnancy category, it was decided that it is best for us to deliver our daughter in Bangkok verses the local hospital in Hat Yai that does not have as good of facilities for taking care our little one should she come early. So...as per our doctor's orders, our plans were to come up to Bangkok April 10 to wait for the delivery. Well, last week Tricia began to have more of the Braxton Hicks contractions and we feared being stuck down in Hat Yai unable to get to Bangkok in time should something happen. So, we decided it best to go ahead and go to Bangkok a few days early just in case.

After some rest, Tricia is doing well. Her symptoms have tapered off and we are continuing to pray for a full term delivery. We have another doctor's appointment tomorrow. We will keep you posted on details.

Where We Live - Part 2

2010-03-30T21:34:00.007+07:00

As you already know we live in Hat Yai, the commercial and economic hub of southern Thailand. While the greater Hat Yai area has well over 1 million "Southern Thais" (the people group we serve among), it comprises only a portion of the Southern Thais in the region that we want to reach with the Gospel.

The southern Thai people live in an area of Thailand known as the Malay Peninsula. This peninsula begins just south of Bangkok at the province of Chumpon (see map below) and stretches all the way to Malaysia. To help add perspective, by car it is about a 10 hour drive from Chumpon to the border of Malaysia.The southern region is is made up of 14 provinces with a population of "Southern Thais" numbering around 7 million. Below are two maps to help give you the "big picture" of where we live and serve.

Pray for wisdom as we continue to develop a strategy not just to reach Hat Yai but our people that live all throughout the region.

Ministry Objectives in South Thailand

2010-03-30T20:07:00.002+07:00

In an effort to help better explain our work we wanted to share with you our broad ministry objectives that we put together last term. Hope this gives you a little better picture of our task.

Southern Thai Team

Purpose Statement: To glorify God through making disciples, mentoring leaders and planting churches among the Southern Thai people that will impact the world.

Ministry Objectives:

Objective 1: Godliness - Our ministry must flow out of lives that are sold out for the glory of God above all things. Complacency in this area is failure. To be effective, our work must be an outpouring of our affection for Christ - meaning it is an act of worship. Our lives are to be grounded in the Word, spiritual disciplines and community. We will hold each other accountable as we fight for our joy to be found supremely in Christ.

Objective 2: Prayer - Out of obedience to the Gospel and the understanding that it is God alone who saves and Christ who builds his church, we joyfully labor in prayer for God’s favor to rest upon our team, for the gift of repentance to be given to the Southern Thais, for radical disciples of Christ to be made, for strong churches to be formed, and for an army of new leaders to be raised up who will impact the region and the world. We will also continually seek to build our base of stateside supporters who will intercede on behalf of the Southern Thai people and ourselves.

Objective 3: Gospel Saturation - We are committed to grass-roots, reproducible, evangelistic strategies that will bring Southern Thais face-to-face with their Creator. We will labor to proclaim the Word through organized and lifestyle approaches. We are committed to being God-centered and culturally understandable in our presentations of the Gospel. While various methods will be employed, the primary goal is mouth to ear proclamation.

Objective 4: Discipleship - Understanding that the Biblical mandate is to make disciples and not simply converts, we will labor to do so effectively. We understand this will not only involve teaching but leading by example and personally investing in people. We strive to be holistic in our discipleship. Our goal is to make disciples who find their ultimate joy and hope in Christ, who live with him as their greatest treasure and out of love share the Good News regularly. We endeavor to make disciples who will be transformed people leading transformed lives before a lost world. When possible, discipleship will be done in groups as this is the first step towards starting a new church.

Objective 5: Church Planting - Understanding that the model we establish for church will have effects for generations to come; we strive for a solid, Biblical foundation and cultural astuteness in all that we do. We seek for the church to be a defined, accountable community of believers who live out the Augustinian description of being a “city within a city” – meaning a culturally sensitive and culture-engaged, counter-cultural family that radiates transformed lives both individually and corporately to a world desperately in need of God. Church structure will be simple and free of unnecessary financial and organizational encumbrances that would shift attention away from its main Biblical purposes and mandates.

Objective 6: Army of Leaders - We will seek out and train the next generation of men to lead as pastors and church planting facilitators in the region. We will also seek out men and women who will lead in starting new evangelistic Bible studies. The goal is high quality discipleship and training for leaders. Shadow pastoring/leading will be the means of training. We will also seek to invest in personal ways in the lives of our leaders in order to live out Christ before them so they will, in-turn, know how to effectively disciple those who follow.

30 Weeks - Preparing the Baby's Room

2010-03-20T13:03:00.004+07:00

This past weekend we spend some time putting together baby Mullis' bed and getting her room ready. While we still have more to do, we are excited that her room is beginning to take shape. Today on our day off, we plan to work more on her room. The next step is finding a dresser. Though Hat Yai doesn't have too many furniture stores, we are hoping we can still come up with something.

Also, this is Tricia at just over 30 weeks.

Southern Thai Team

2010-03-18T22:02:00.003+07:00

This past Monday and Tuesday our IMB team came to Hat Yai for a 2 day team meeting. We had a great time catching up with each other. For those of you who do not know our teammates, here is a quick introduction. Richard and Linda Blount work in Krabi, as well as, Matt and Erin Malone with their four children Andrew, Elizabeth, Ian and Oliver. Then, Keith and Tracy Richards with their children Libby, Emily and Joshua work in Phang nga. Last, Robert and Kay Holcomb were missing from our meeting because they are finishing up language school in Bangkok.

Pray for our team to have close walks with the Lord and for them to bear much fruit in the cities where God has led them to serve.

Family Camp

2010-03-18T21:30:00.007+07:00

This past weekend we had the opportunity to participate in Hat Yai Baptist's annual "family camp." Part of the camp was a river trip on Saturday with about 40 church members. We had a blast. Below are a few pictures from our "outing" with them.

The Best Single Biblical Resource Available

2010-03-17T16:30:00.000+07:00

We have both been using the ESV Bible for many years but it was not until last summer at the Gospel Coalition Conference that we were introduced to the "Study Bible" version. While I had read rave reviews, I must admit at first I was not very interested in another Study Bible. One trip down the aisles of any Christian book store and you can see seemingly endless versions of Study Bibles. How much more could this new one bring to the table? Well, more than I could have ever imagined. So much so, I would affirm as many others, it is the single best biblical resource available. Period. First, you get the ESV Bible (the most accurate English translation and easy to read) along with notes by leading scholars, maps, illustrations, charts, time lines, articles and book introductions. It is said that this one book is equivalent to a 20-volume resource all in one. You can get information on their website at www.esvstudybible.org

Political Turmoil in Thailand

2010-03-11T18:00:00.000+07:00

Today I noticed the political situation in Thailand in the International news. Since the military coup de' e'tat that took place a few years back, it seems the country has struggled to settle differences between the two major competing political parties. Tomorrow is the start of another mass rally in Bangkok (hundreds of thousands of protesters expected) with the aim of toppling the government. If you want to follow the story as it unfolds, the best two English resources for news are 1) www.bangkokpost.com and 2) www.nationmultimedia.com. Please join us in prayer for a peaceful resolve to the situation.

28 Weeks Pregnant

2010-03-05T11:06:00.003+07:00

Where We Live - Part 1

2010-03-04T23:55:00.001+07:00

I am quite certain most of you had never heard of Hat Yai before you connected with us on our blog. It is not a city of world renowned, nor will you find it on any Westerner's travel agenda in Thailand. To be honest, until we started studying and learning about Thailand, we had never heard of Hat Yai either. The greater metropolitan area of Hat Yai is home to well over 1,000,000 people. It is the commercial and economic hub for south Thailand - full of big buildings, hotels and universities. The majority of people that live here are Buddhist. Less than 1/4 of 1% make any claims to know or understand the Gospel. Over the next few months, we will share about this city, its people and their culture to give you a better insight into the people we believe God has lead us to live and serve among during this season of our lives. Pray God will open their eyes that they may know Jesus in all of his splendor and adore him as their highest treasure.

Pray for Aajaan Santhi

2010-03-04T23:47:00.000+07:00

We want to introduce you to our new partner and friend, Santhi, who is working along side of us in Hat Yai. He is originally from northern Thailand. (His family lives about a 24 hour drive from Hat Yai.) He is a graduate of the Baptist college in Bangkok and just finished an intern program with our partner church in Hat Yai. He and his wife, Rat, are newly married and are uniquely gifted for ministry. Aside from duties at Hat Yai Baptist Church, both Santhi and Rat have a ministry to children in the Baan Pru community in Hat Yai. Two evenings a week they meet with local kids to play games and teach them about Jesus. We are now beginning to transition the work in Baan Pru to also engage adults with the Gospel. Our goal is to start "study groups" with those we meet in the area who are interested in learning about their Creator. Please pray for Santhi as we begin this new work together. Pray for boldness in teaching and proclaiming. Also pray for he and his wife to have deep, spirit-filled, growing walks with the Lord.

Changing our blog... well a little bit

2010-03-04T21:29:00.000+07:00

Recently, we realized we have fallen into the trap of mostly blogging about "events" that take place in our life. While that does give you (our friends and family that keep up with us) a snapshot into our work, we want to expand our blog a little and give you a bigger picture. We are going to attempt to blog more about people we know here, things God is teaching us, details on missions in general and specifically in Thailand, books and sermons we have learned from, etc...

Our goal is to post 2-3 new stories per week. We want to do all we can to pass along a passion for God's glory among the nations. Thanks for keeping up with us.

Exciting news!

2010-02-10T20:34:00.008+07:00

After months and months of preparation and tests, we just got news this morning that Eric was accepted into the Ph.D. program at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. Lord willing, he will start coursework this fall, while maintaining his work on the field, and attend classes at Southeastern in January and July for the next 3 years. He is also fortunate that Dr. John Hammett has accepted the role as his major professor. Dr. Hammett just published the book, Biblical Backgrounds for Baptist Churches, an outstanding work on Baptist Ecclesiology. He is definitely someone that will challenge Eric tremendously. We praise God for this great opportunity!

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

2010-02-10T19:40:00.009+07:00

While most things in Thailand are inexpensive, one thing we recently found out is that does not hold true for baby items. Everything here seems to be imported which makes the price ridiculous. For example, a stroller that might cost $150 in America is $500+ here. Fortunately, we found out that Malaysia is much cheaper. So, this past week we made a quick vacation/shopping trip to Kuala Lumpur to pick up a few things. We had a great time in KL looking for things for our little girl. Among other things, we were fortunate to find a baby bed at IKEA.

Here are a few pictures from our trip.

24 Weeks Pregnant

2010-02-02T19:29:00.000+07:00

Visit from the Browns

2010-01-15T07:19:00.007+07:00

We were so exited to get the news that Buster Brown, pastor of one of our partner churches - East Cooper Baptist, would be in Thailand this month. Thankfully, we were able to get together with him and his family at Railey for a few nights to catch up. It was such a good time.

Occasionally in life you have relationships that are an obvious God send. This is one of those for us. Buster and his wife Sara are not only partners in our work but are people we deeply respect and are so thankful to look to as mentors, both in work and in life. Thanks guys for investing in us!

20 Weeks Pregnant

2010-01-07T12:39:00.003+07:00

Outreach in Baan Pru

2009-12-26T13:44:00.000+07:00

Today the church we are partnering with sponsored a neighborhood Christmas party in the area we are working to plant a church in. It was a great turnout of both kids and adults who, for the first time, heard the good news of Jesus Christ. The evening program consisted of games, skits and various Gospel presentations. Many new contacts were made in this community! Pray that God opens doors for ministry in this area as well as for God to make himself known in this community. Here are a few pictures of the evening.

Missionary Get Together

2009-12-24T03:30:00.001+07:00

We were invited by some of the missionaries here in Hat Yai to a Christmas meal. We all brought finger foods and desserts and hung out for the evening. We enjoyed getting to know some of our new friends better. Here in Hat Yai there are other teams of missionaries from the States. One team is from Fire Church International (Denomination that came out of Brownsville revival) and the other is from Antioch Church in Texas.

Caroling...till 4:00am

2009-12-24T03:05:00.010+07:00

Yes, you read the title correctly! Little did we know that when we agreed to go caroling with the local Baptist church we would be out till 4:00am. Not only were we a little tired at the end of it, we were extremely FULL. Every house we sang at prepared food for us to eat. So, we had to eat from approximately 6pm till 4am. I guess you could say that we are gluttons for punishment because we actually caroled for two nights - though the second night went only till 2:30am. We really enjoyed the opportunity to fellowship with the local believers and get to know them better...though I don't think our Thai language was too coherent at 4:00 am. :)

Here are a few pictures from the two nights of caroling.

Christmas Party for the Neighborhood

2009-12-20T02:48:00.006+07:00

Hat Yai Baptist church held a Christmas party for all the neighborhood kids today. They played games and performed skits all in effort to explain the true meaning of Christmas to the kids in the community. There were tons of children that showed up and heard the Gospel message. Please pray that the seeds planted in the hearts of these children will mature into faith and belief in the one true God.

17 Weeks

2009-12-16T14:16:00.003+07:00

We are so excited to share with you that our pregnancy is progressing smoothly. Baby Mullis is growing as he/she should and appears to be healthy. We praise God for blessing us with this child! Here is Tricia at 17 weeks.

"Disappear Quickly"

2009-12-15T13:47:00.004+07:00

Today we went to visit one of the pastors in the area only to find out that he and his whole family were sick. The wife, Tuk, came to meet us at the gate and talked with us for a few minutes about all that was going on with them. Well, on our way out, Eric tried to tell Tuk that he hopes her husband gets well quickly. However, instead of saying "I hope he gets well quickly," Eric left out one word which made the sentence say "I hope you disappear quickly."

We got in the car and just laughed and laughed. No matter how long we live here we still make language mistakes! It is a good thing we can laugh at it...well, at least some days we can. :)

Southern Association Women's Meeting

2009-12-12T13:27:00.009+07:00

This weekend I, Tricia, went to the women's meeting for all the Baptist churches in southern Thailand. This was a great time to fellowship with Thai Christian women. Friday night we all shared a meal together and then came together for worship and preaching. I was actually asked to translate for the main speaker because some English speakers from Malaysia came - it was definitely a challenging experience!! :) Then, on Saturday morning, the women broke up into groups in order to pray for all the churches in Thailand and around the world.

Please pray for the female believers here in Thailand that the Lord would mature them in their personal walks and make them bold in their proclamation of the Gospel.

Pray for Baan Pru

2009-12-08T21:32:00.008+07:00

One of our partner churches has been praying about starting a church in the Baan Pru area of Hat Yai. They have been working with children in Baan Pru for the past few years. Last week, we went out to survey this area with them and began discussions on how we can help them start a new church in this community. While in Baan Pru, we had the opportunity to meet many of the families who have children participating in their ministries. We are excited about partnering with them in this community that desperately needs the Gospel.

Eric's Birthday

2009-12-05T12:51:00.012+07:00

We took the opportunity to celebrate Eric's birthday in Penang, Malaysia. Penang is only 3 and a half hours from our house in Hat Yai and they have American restaurants like Chili's, TGI Fridays and Starbucks. We were so excited to have a quick get away and enjoy some Western amenities. We even found a couple of Dr. Peppers in the local grocery store!

Lottie Moon Christmas Offering

2009-12-01T20:00:00.000+07:00

We would like to challenge each of you to consider giving to the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering this year. As you may know, we (along with 5,000 other Southern Baptists missionaries) are supported by this offering. It provides food for our table, health insurance, keeps us on the field, supplies us with resources to complete our task and much more - 100% of what you gives goes directly to support missionaries. There are NO overhead costs taken out of the money that you give. (If you want more information on the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering click on the picture above.)

We know and understand that the economy isn't the best it has ever been. The Lottie Moon Offering has consequently suffered because of this. There have been over 500 missionary jobs that have been cut because of financial shortages.

We are asking you to pray and ask God how He would lead you to give even though times are tough.

Monsoon Rains have Arrived

2009-11-22T19:19:00.002+07:00

In the 3+ years we have lived in Thailand, we have NEVER seen it rain like it has the last week or two. We woke up to go to church today only to find our street completely submerged in water. We tried to get out of the house and in the 5 minutes it took Eric to open and shut the gate he was soaked all the way through...not to mention his shoes and pants legs were drenched way above the ankle because he had to wade through the water to get to the gate! We were praying the water would stop at the car port and not enter our house. Thankfully, the water never got to our front door.

The lovely rains also brought with them a huge leak in the ceiling in our guest room/baby room which, again, we are praying stops growing. The rain is continuous so, at this point, we are hoping the owner of our house hurries up and fixes the problem before it becomes an even bigger different problem.

New Regional Website

2009-11-21T19:51:00.003+07:00

Our region (now called Southeast Asia) has a new website.

When you have a chance, please check it out.

(Click here to enter website.)

Exciting News to Share...

2009-11-13T06:03:00.005+07:00

We have some excited news to share with you...we are expecting our first child!

Many of you have prayed for us these last 3+ years and we want to thank you so much for your prayers. God, in his time and sovereignty, has answered our petitions with a pregnancy. We feel completely humbled and amazed at his goodness and mercy to give us this tremendous blessing. We don't take this gift lightly. We believe that children are a blessing from God so we rejoice and praise God, who alone is the author of life!

Tricia just finished the first trimester. Again, we give thanks to God for this milestone. Although she has been sick with morning sickness the last six weeks or so, we aren't complaining any! :) We do ask for your prayers though. Due to the pregnancy, Tricia stopped one of her Crohns medications. Please pray that God keeps Tricia's body healthy and her disease in remission during this time. Pray also for a healthy baby! Please pray that God would prepare us to be godly parents, even now as our baby grows and develops.

Team Retreat

2009-11-02T03:29:00.005+07:00

Our southern Thai team was able to meet together in Phuket to reconnect after a year of much transition - many of us have gone on Stateside assignment and returned, though not all at the same time. It was actually nice to go back to Phuket since that is where we lived the second part of our last term here in Thailand. We drove by our old house and visited a few restaurants that we enjoyed when we lived there. We were sad that we didn't have a chance to visit our old neighbors though. We will just have to make another trip sometime soon to see them. :)

The retreat was wonderful for us. We are so thankful to have a team as wonderful as we do. We spent the last 3 days studying from God's Word, worshipping and praying together, fellowshipping, playing at the pool, eating Western food and relaxing. It is always nice to get away for a few days to rejuvenate and refocus on the task that is before us.

Annual Southern Thai Associational Meeting

2009-10-25T09:38:00.007+07:00

We just spent the last 3 days at the annual Southern Thai Associational meeting. It was a wonderful time of fellowship with Thai believers from all over southern Thailand. We were praising God that it was held in Hat Yai this year because that meant we didn't have to travel anywhere and we could sleep in our own beds at night. We are so thankful for the opportunity to reconnect with the local pastors so soon after moving to Hat Yai. They are eager to work with us, as we are of them. Here are a few pictures of our time at the meetings.

Hat Yai Overlook

2009-10-17T15:03:00.008+07:00

The owners of our house, At and Kung, took us to a city park tonight that over looks the whole city of Hat Yai. It was such a beautiful view.

After we walked around the park for a while, At and Kung took us to a seafood restaurant. This excursion turned out to be a cultural experience for us. :) We are all about eating fish (fried, grilled, steamed, whatever) but some of the items ordered were not quite so common...for us. For starters, the appetizer was fresh water snails. We can both honestly say that we had never eaten snails before. We didn't even know how to eat them when they came to the table. But, after a quick lesson from our new friends, we were partaking of the "delicacy." In case you are curious, it tastes like you think it would...definitely an acquired taste! The main course was next - a fried fish, a steamed fish in lime sauce, a mango salad with fried fish in it (really tasty), fried rice and shrimp. The only twist was the shrimp. They were not the normal kind you typically think of. They were huge...the size of your hand and the whole body was presented in the plate. The part that made them "extra special," however, was not their size but what was not omitted in preparation - "the brains." Covering the top half of the shrimp was the brains, a yellow paste that had been carefully spread out for us to enjoy. Our friends could not wait to introduce us to this treat!

All that to say, we survived and if the worst thing we have to eat in country is a few snails and shrimp brains then we will be doing okay. It really could be a lot worse here!

Chaotic First Week

2009-10-10T05:00:00.007+07:00

This first week in Hat Yai didn't quite go as we planned. We had waited around in Bangkok for many extra weeks because we were waiting for the details on our house to be finished (i.e. screens, security bars, water tank/pump, etc.)

Well, after arriving, it turns out that only some of the items were completed before we got there. This whole week there were workman in and out, all day, every day working on the house. It really was tiring! We had to make sure that one of us was upstairs with the workers and one of us was downstairs with the workers so no one would steal anything...our owner kept insisting that we watch them carefully - this can be a problem here. :) All that to say, we had to put our unpacking on hold so we could monitor all the workman coming in and out of our house.

We think the owner began to feel bad though. His wife kept bringing us desserts from a local bakery and food for lunch. It was hard to be too frustrated because they were being so generous with us. It all worked out in the end and we are beginning to get settled.

Moving Day - Part Three - FIASCO

2009-10-04T07:00:00.000+07:00

While the movers were moving our belongings inside, they came across a big problem...our wardrobe would not fit up the stairwell! Here in Thailand you HAVE to have wardrobes for your clothes because they do not have closets in their houses. Everyone sat around and talked and looked at it for a while then put it aside to continue on the other tasks at hand. We were both worried thinking, "What are we going to do? We can't go downstairs to the living room every day when we want to change our clothes or get dressed for the day."

Not too long after that we realized that the movers left our king sized mattress in the car port. Noticing another potential problem, we thought to ourselves "what are we going to do? We need our mattress upstairs in the bedroom to sleep on."

Once the moving truck was empty and everything was almost complete, the owner of our house said he knew of a way to solve our problem. After a quick phone call, 10 minutes later much to our surprise, a large crane showed up in our driveway. The owner of our house had called a friend of his to bring his crane to come and hoist our wardrobe and mattress over the power lines and into the sliding glass doors on the second floor. We had never seen anything like...we almost couldn't watch. But we are happy to report that it was a success.

Moving Day - Part Two

2009-10-04T03:30:00.007+07:00

The drive down was tiring but we made it. We were SO thrilled to finally see the signs for Hat Yai!

The moving truck actually called us at 11:00am this morning and told us that they had just arrived at our house in Hat Yai. I am not sure we were much more than half way at that point. We felt bad but had to ask them to just wait for us to arrive...at 3:00pm.

The movers were extremely wonderful and gracious to us. We had a great experience with this moving company. You hear so many times of personnel talking about their moving experience and how the movers man-handled their belongings. This company was wonderful! They carried everything in for us, put it where we asked, and even assembled the furniture for us when the truck was unloaded.

Another surprise awaiting us at our house in Hat Yai was the owners of our house. They wanted to come and help us because they knew we didn't have any family around. (Family is very big in this culture.) The couple invited the husband's mother, brother and cousins to come and help. So, we actually had a small army helping us move in. It was really nice to have the help because Tricia wasn't able to do much...we'll share more about why she couldn't do much later. :)

Moving Day - Part One

2009-10-02T22:00:00.005+07:00

Before we left to go to the States, we packed up all our belongings and stored them in this "go-down" in Bangkok. Today, the moving company came over and loaded up all our stuff into this truck for the 12 hour drive south.

We kinda wish we could go ahead and leave today with the truck but since we have Mo Mo with us we cannot stop at a hotel halfway (which would be nice). Our plan is to leave tomorrow morning around 3am, drive straight through, and hopefully meet the moving truck in Hat Yai by 3pm. We are both dreading getting up that early and the drive! It has been such a crazy week trying to get everything lined up for the move.

Our Crate Arrived

2009-09-19T22:00:00.004+07:00

We were so excited that our crate from home arrived today. We are thankful to live in a country that allows us to bring items from the U.S. in this manner. It wasn't much but just some treats and indulgences on our part. Eric got to bring some of his new books that he bought while we were in the States and I got to bring a few kitchen items I had been wanting. Shipping these items is helpful because the airlines would charge an arm and a leg to bring heavy items like these. We even threw in some foods and personal items that you cannot get in Thailand. We have already eaten all the cookies we packed. :)

Training in Bangkok

2009-09-17T12:48:00.007+07:00

Our company just had a 3 day training event for the personnel in our country. This was a great time for us to catch up with our teammates. While everyone on our team wasn't at this particular training, it was good to see most of them.

One of the nights, all of us went to dinner together at Charlie Browns. We talked and laughed and enjoyed the "Mexican" food. While it wasn't quite up to Tex-Mex, it was still pretty good for Mexican food in Asia. So good, in fact, we ate there every night of the training.

Reason 1269 Why Our Cat Isn't An Outdoor Cat

2009-09-15T19:05:00.007+07:00

Some people ask us if our cat, Mo Mo, is an indoor or outdoor cat and the answer is always...an indoor cat. This picture of a monitor lizard is reason 1269 why Mo Mo isn't allowed to go outside.

The other day we were coming home after running some errands and noticed a lizard like this on our front porch (here in Bangkok). You can see these all over Bangkok in the rivers and ponds, as well as, in the public parks. Little did we know that one had made itself a home under the house we are staying in.

Click on the picture below to see a youtube video of these lizards in Lumpini Park. Eric runs in this park every morning and sees tons of them.