Now that we’ve been missionaries here in Chiang Mai for a few months, we are gaining confidence living in a foreign country, and have had some of the highest highs of our lives. I (Simpson) have had some breakthroughs in my spiritual growth, I’m enjoying working closely with Lori-Ann (she literally sits behind me at ZOE), and it is so rewarding rubbing shoulders with our co-laborers–our fellow ZOE missionaries and the Thai staff. Serving the rescued children here and seeing them progress has also been a great encouragement for us.
In October we got to help with ZOE’s week-long children’s camp campaign that touched over 80 children–our children and children from a couple of other homes. Preparations took up a lot of time and effort but we were so blessed to be working alongside Jessica (ZOE’s NextGen Ministry Manager) and her Thai staff team. They work very hard but are quick to add smiles and laughter into the mix. The campaign included four separate camps and a couple of special events. During the camps the younger children were having fun soaking up their Bible lessons. We also got to see many of the older youth reaffirm their faith and their love for Jesus. (Photos at left top: working with one of the Thai staff prepping for camp.
Our Thai language skills continue to improve! We understand a lot more of what the locals are saying to us and we now venture out with grade-school level sentences. The Thais are so gracious and patient with us although they can’t help but smile at our attempts. Our newfound skills have helped to expand our food options. We’ve progressed from being able to order only a couple of dishes to a variety of meals. I have to admit, when we first started our studies, I was concerned that learning Thai was going to be beyond our capabilities.
These victories have been so uplifting but, at the same time, we’ve gone through some very low points as well. All these lows have been related to relationships. At one point Lori-Ann was really feeling the loss of being so far away from her family and friends. Email, social media, and LINE–they help us feel connected remotely but at the same time remind us that we are living remotely away from our loved ones. Starting relationships from scratch hasn’t been easy, and we miss having family meals or just casually chatting with a friend.
Recently, what has been particularly discouraging for me is the intensity of some of the, shall we say, “discussions” that Lori-Ann and I have been having here. OK, to be honest, these have actually been pretty loud and drawn-out fights!
For example, this one night Lori-Ann asked for my opinion on something. We were going back and forth on several points and, if you know me, when I get enthusiastic about an idea I start increasing the volume and pace of the discussion. Soon Lori couldn’t handle it anymore so she tells me, “I think you just need to back off!” That got me so infuriated! It wasn’t like I jumped onto her project and hijacked it. She came to me for my opinion, and now she’s telling me to back off?! So without another word to her I turn away and go back to what I was doing. But there were huge thunderclouds gathering inside of me and, if Lori said just one wrong word, I was going to explode.
Fortunately Lori and I have agreed from the beginning of our marriage that we would not go to bed angry at each other. Really, Lori wasn’t at fault here so I just had to calm myself down. But this time it was very difficult for me.
The next day I reflected on what happened. I remember being this angry just one other time in Hawaii in our 19 years together, and it was early on in our marriage. Now it shows up again only three months into our life here…and over something so trivial! What other surprises should we be expecting?
Not long after this episode, four of us men at ZOE were sharing one day and I was moved to bring up this incident. I’m blessed to be working alongside these guys who have been in the field for quite some time. They were encouraging me and one of my “aha!” moments during the discussion was the reminder that, as a Christian, there is an intelligent evil in this world that attacks us in different ways. Back in Hawaii Lori and I were living quite contentedly so perhaps this enemy had us where he wanted us and left us alone. Now that we are on the mission field, the Enemy would like nothing better than to split us up or discourage us and send us back to where we came from. I’m really not in tune to spiritual things but this was making sense to me. My dark and angry feelings of late are so odd because I am usually even-keeled. I do feel like there is something else going on that I can’t explain.
This naturally leads to our plea to please continue to pray for us. Pray for the protection of our marriage, that we love and serve each other. Pray that we will serve God in Chiang Mai with health and longevity. And feel free to drop us a line to let us know how we can be praying for you, too.
We are so encouraged by your support…thank you for loving us well!