October 2009 Prayer Letter
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Dear Friends & Family,
Praise be to God for the addition of a new little one to our family. Caitlin Mei Dahlfred was born on Sept 21, 2009 in Bangkok, Thailand. 7.9 pounds, 20 inches long, pulsing with life & energy, and sporting a full head of hair (see pictures here). Thank you to all of you who have sent your congratulations on the birth of our daughter. God has been very gracious to us.
After a month in Bangkok, we are back home in PhraBaht now. October will be a fairly ministry-lite month as we keep outside obligations to an absolute minimum and adjust to having not one child, but two. Thankfully, Caitlin is eating well and actually sleeping fairly well at night. As for the daytime, screeching and banging noises from big brother Joshua’s playtime (which is all the time in his opinion) don’t always make for sound sleep. I am beginning to believe that using a “quiet voice” is a physical impossibility for a three year old. Please pray for us as we figure out new routines and learn how to raise our children in the LORD.
Not too much has changed in PhraBaht in our absence. During September, fellow missionary Rene continued on with the kids club in Nong Doan and now it is on hiatus until the beginning of November when the children will return from their mid-year school break (the school year in Thailand runs from June to March). Rene said that the kids kept asking when Teacher Karl was going to return so it will be nice to start up again in a month’s time. Hopefully we can pick up where we left off without much loss of momentum, and the coming year will hopefully see more Thai Christians involved. We are also thinking about some ways to connect with the parents of these children, whom we almost never see at the kids club.
As we get into a new routine with the kids, I (Karl) need to push through my final module of language study (some lectures from a former Buddhist monk who became a Christian) and sit my third year language exam by the end of the year. This will be a challenge with family life being crazier than before and the Christmas evangelism season coming up. Pray that I will be able to block out sufficient time for this task. Language study is not a necessary evil that needs to be gotten through in order to do ministry, but is an essential part of being properly equipped to do the tasks of evangelism and discipleship. There is no point in going out to “do ministry” if I have inadequate language and knowledge to get the job done.
We have about 1.5 years until our next home assignment back in the States and we want to be using our time well. So, I am thinking about what our priorities should be in ministry. Most importantly, we need to be spending time with people, in order to be sharing the Gospel and doing discipleship. The question is, How do we do that? The Gospel often travels along relational lines but we don’t know a lot of people out in Nong Doan. Pray that we would God would help us use the connections we do have to find more people who are interested to learn about God. As we get into a new routine at home, I will start up again with visiting Chaat & Muay, and then Ting also, out in Nong Doan to continue with chronological Bible teaching.
Thank you for praying with us and for us, and for the Thai people.
by Christ’s grace,
Karl & Sun Dahlfred
Follow our updates http://www.twitter.com/dahlfred
PRAYER POINTS
that we would be diligent in making sufficient time for Bible reading and prayer
Figuring out new routines for our now larger family
Sun’s recovery from C-section, increasing strength and feeling “normal” again
Ting (Nong Doan) to understand and embrace the Gospel of Jesus Christ
Perseverance and progress in language study for Karl
Short termer Brent Meyers learning Thai and learning about missions
PRAISE GOD
Safe delivery of baby Caitlin
Strong healthy new baby added to our family
Rene continuing the kids club while we were away
CALENDAR
10/18 Karl preach Phrabaht Church
10/20 Apply for Caitlin’s passport, U.S. Embassy, Bangkok
