We met three fabulous couples this evening. All three compose a team that are beginning a ministry project here in Chiang Mai. I’d love to introduce you.
Couple 1 moved to Chiang Mai with their three kids seven weeks ago…from Conway, Arkansas. For the past few months of raising support, we’ve had their name mentioned countless times, with everyone telling us how wonderful they are and how we should meet them. So we did, and they are lovely. They have a wonderful heart for missions.
Couple 2 moved to Chiang Mai on Tuesday, just like us. They are also from Conway, Arkansas, and one graduated from UCA. Further, a friend of mine’s dad just married them and is their mentor; and they know both of my college roommates. And she has curly hair, so we chatted about that. They are lovely, too.
Isn’t it crazy that two of the couples were from the small little town of Conway, Arkansas, allowing us to know so many of the same people?
It gets better. Weirder.
Couple 3 just arrived in Chiang Mai on Thursday from Roanoke, Illinois. Roanoke, Illinois–the small town of 2,000 that I grew up in before my parents moved to Little Rock. They, too, are a wonderful couple, and we are excited for their ministry here in Chiang Mai. But it was crazy: to hear the husband describe to his wife where his dad’s fields were across from my dad’s and to talk about how we know so many of the same people (well, pretty much everyone in that little town).
Really, we had a wonderful evening. (Or so we thought. They could have just thought we were weird.) It was a little piece of familiarity, and even more than that. It was God giving us a little picture of his goodness to us. Or maybe just me.
Obviously we will be living some distance from these couples, but we really are looking forward to continuing to get to know them as we are up in Chiang Mai for visas, work, and weekend trips. It sounds like such a gift to have couples both our age and older that are outside of Partners, but dealing with similar challenges of making Thailand home. It sounds like such a gift to have people who know what B98.5 is and who the Lemans are (or for that matter, how to pronounce Leman). I suppose it was just a little glimpse into the things God is orchestrating that we could never imagine.
It was a good day. And it’s a very small world.
This is sooooo cool! I knew about the Sauders, but three couples all connected to you in someway? God obviously orchestrated the whole thing. I’m so excited for you!
Dad
God is so good. This is incredibly cool. And it is comforting knowing that you have other couples going through the same thing that you can build community with.
No Way!!!
That’s CRAZY! Wouldn’t it be funny if Brad and I showed up next week and said we’d been raising support to move to Burma, too, and acted like we didn’t know why you were surprised? I mean, I think that would be really funny.
Also, I’d like to say that I’m sure it takes lots of time to do updates, but it’s SOOOO great for us to be able to keep up with you guys so consistently. So, thanks!
Please do! 🙂