April - Summer Break

The kids at Faith Village are all on Summer Break, so the schedule has been different than the norm, although everyone is still as busy as ever with music lessons, Math class, swimming, chores, worship practice, etc.! This month we celebrated the resurrection of Jesus by going with the church to the hot springs (a national park) in Fang, where three were baptized on that day!

Thailand also celebrates their Songkran (water) holiday, but the population has been forbidden from the usual water festivities due to Covid again this year. Thankful we were able to carve out some time to take the worship team to a nearby Vineyard for Bingsu!

We are still dealing with our Visas (this is pretty typical). We were granted our one month extension on our tourist Visa, which allows us to stay (or get a new Visa) until mid May. Meanwhile, we are working on trying to get Misty's volunteer Visa and will then proceed with getting the Tims their long term Visas after that. It is a process that requires much patience, more money that it used to, and favor.

We were going to host a music camp next week, as an outreach for the teens in the area, but Tim and I felt a check. It was a great idea, but we did not feel that it was God's perfect plan; so we canceled the camp. I'm so in awe that we have a God that speaks! Last week, due to Covid, any camps or educational programs were prohibited by the government until May 1st. This would have had us putting in a lot of work and effort for the camp, only to have it be canceled. We have been able to use the time on other projects instead. We will do a camp at some point. But the timing was not right for this month.

The cat is out of the bag! Victory Church just announced what we have known around here for a while, that they are planting a church location in Chiang Mai (which is about 3 hours from here through the mountains). Currently, Victory Church Thaton is reaching one of the world's largest unreached people groups, the Shan - and it is thriving with believers and seekers from various tribes in this area. The services (including the worship) are conducted in the Thai and Shan language. Chiang Mai is a city and comprised of a different demographic. So services there will be conducted in Thai and English.

Tim and I are working with the team here to get translation transcribed and organized, (and in all the areas of worship ministry) to get the worship standard set for the new church location. The thing that gets me excited is that there are so many other missionaries and ministries - just like us - that are willing to partner and support and encourage and be a part of this vision. Oneness - it's the catalyst for revival! You can learn more about Victory Church and the church plant over on their webpage.

Timmy is going great! He has his own learning style and has been taking every Thai learning book he can get his hands on to practice. He, just this week, recited to me the entire Thai consonant alphabet, with only picture cues. Now moving on to vowels. Good for him!

What about Asaph's Journal School?! Don't worry. We haven't forgotten who we are or why we came. God is working and we are privileged to be able to step when He orders, where He orders. We will have more on the school in next month's update!

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Every where I look this month It seems I'm either dealing with repairs, water news, water issues, water baptism, and reminders of patience (snails, butterflies, waiting for water to come...) Admittedly, the Scott family has struggled this month. Learning to communicate and comprehend in a culture that commonly switches between multiple languages and is comprised of subcultures within the culture, and village life, which is much slower that what we are accustomed in the West, has been a journey. There is a time and place for both pushing and pulling; between planting and harvesting; between accepting cultural norms and demanding excellence. We are learning to navigate those things. Sometimes more tactfully than others. We appreciate your prayers; because the culture here, in the village, is also different than the culture in the city.

I was revisiting Kay Crawford's book on prophetic worship last week and she referenced the partnership between the prophetic (we are called here to raise up a generation of prophetic worshippers) and the apostolic. Both build - although differently. The prophetic, more like the flow of a river; and the apostolic more like that of a bulldozer. Both are necessary for building - but differently. Above all, we want to honor people and create a culture that demands excellence, but loves in the learning. In doing so, hopefully the people will love us during our learning as well.

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Prayer Points:

1. Our visas are granted without delay or extra costs.

2. That God would send the right people for the new church location worship team.

3. God send us the right interpreter for Asaphs Journal School.

4. We are still believing God for a vehicle that can navigate these mountain roads in the rainy season.

5. A new roof (see recent damage pictured above). When we remodeled our tiny home to make it suitable for us, we did not have enough in the budget to do the roof - so we waited on that. The tiles are so brittle, and rainy season is just a few weeks away. It is time.

*Thanks to Victory Church for most of the pictures.

He is our greatest adventure!

Tim & Misty