Hello all. So it's been quite a while since the last post and we apologize. Glynn has been working, Bum has been a full time mom, and Winter has been full time Winter. As you may remember we moved to Bangkok to try to earn money to move elsewhere and start out own school. Well, the saving has not gone according to plan and cost of living and other constant unexpected expenses keep coming up that have made it near imposable to save anything. That coupled with Bum's allergies and lack of places and people for Winter to play with we have decided to go ahead and leave Bangkok. We are moving to a place where we will be able to both live long term, minister, find work, and be in a more suitable environment for Winter and future children the Lord willing.
We thought and prayed a lot about the move. There were several places that we considered. Nakhon Sawan, where Bum went to school and did a lot of her growing up was one of the top considerations and the place we originally planned on living. However, being here with Winter and thinking about him on top of all the other concerns we have (his education, work for Glynn, Relationships and Christian partnerships in country, etc) we decided not to move here for the time being. Kampheang Phet, where Bum's family lives was another consideration but we decided not to for many of the same reasons we did not move to Nakhon Sawan. We could not have moved to either of these locations in faith or with any kind of comfort or peace.
The one place we have felt positively about is Chiang Rai. This was not our first choice as there are already many ministries there, many missionaries and several churches functioning and working towards their own goals. We will try to give a brief overview of what we hope to do here and ask that you will pray as you feel led.
Glynn will still be working as a teacher. He has already got a job lined up with a half government half private school in the area. This will mean less pay but we will also have a lower cost of living in Chiang Rai than in Bangkok. He went and interviewed the other day and met with the director of the English program. She seemed very nice and has been helpful and cooperative over the last 2 months that Glynn has been job searching.
We still hope to start our own school in the near future. We think that Glynn can use some of his contacts at the school and the meetings he has with parents to start building a student/client base for us to begin the school with. It will primarily be in the evening and on Saturdays at first. We want to have a class of between 5 and 10 kids for an hour a day Monday to Friday. We may also offer some sort of class on Saturday mornings. We will work with this arrangement until we feel like we have enough contacts and a large enough group of parents looking for extra lessons that we can start renting (maybe buying) a building to have the school in. At that point we will offer open classes for adults or businesses during the day and evening classes for children or students.
We will try to partner with and help as many ministries as time allows at first until we can find where and what exactly we think that God wants us to do right now. Glynn's goal is still to one day start a small church with the aim of training up and partnering with a Thai leader to take over and lead the church. We will then try to plant other small churches and do the same with them. This is still a ways off as Glynn still needs a lot of language training.
We are sure that there is more that needs to be said but we will try to save that for the next post. We will be better at posting now that more things are about to happen. Hope to write again in a week or two to let you know how things are developing. Until then, God bless.
The Reeves
Tuesday, March 19, 2013
Monday, August 27, 2012
Growing Pains
Not much has happened this week. Glynn had a busy weekend trying to get ahead at the school. He has a lot coming up in the next couple of weeks. He would also like to apologize to any teacher he was ever a pain to. Some of the kids at his school are driving him a little crazy. Bum and Winter have also been having a rough week. Winter is getting over a head cold and has ben really moody the last couple of days. We think it might be leaving him now so hopefully he will be back to his old energetic and happy self.
We are in need of prayer right now. We are just having some adjustment woes. We are having difficulties adjusting to life in Bangkok. Bum is also feeling kind of lonely because she was surrounded by so many great and godly ladies while we were in the states and now she has very few close friends. She wants to have a mentor that can disciple and grow her as a godly wife and mom. Pray that God would meet this need in her life. Glynn is needing about the same thing only with a man and learning to be a Godly husband and dad.
Our devotional time together has been lacking but we are getting it back together. We have been praying and reading together more and we hope to increase the frequency with which we do both as a family. Finding time together for devotions and worship is difficult enough but with all the emotional stuff we are going through it is making it all that much harder. We both feel that it was God's timing when we moved back to Thailand and that he is teaching us something in what we are facing now. Pray that we would be patient and humble enough to see the lesson he is trying to show us.
God Bless,
Glynn, Bum, and Winter.
Sunday, August 19, 2012
Church Search
This was the longest short work week ever. As we mentioned last time, Mother's Day was last weekend and so Glynn did not have to work on Monday. This was a good thing. But unfortunately we both had diarrhea all week long. Anyone who has traveled internationally knows the joys of having to adjust to new foods. Some take the cautious road of eating only prepackaged meals or only eating at nice clean looking restaurants. Glynn tends to take to eating with a certain gusto that he should probably rein in at some point. If he sees someone else eat it he will eat it. And at times as long as you tell him someone has eaten it before he will still eat it. Bum tends to be a little more cautious and eats what she knows. She being Thai and this being Thailand means that there should not be much of an issue there. So when Bum's aunt brought us some Som Tom (a Thai salad with a sour papaya base) last Sunday we did not think anything about it. We both love Som Tom and usually have no problems in the digestive arena after eating it. But this was no normal Som Tom. It was a kind of hodge-podge mixed up crazy salad. It was mostly bean sprouts (no problem here) with a little papaya and a lot of hoi (Pronounced like you substitute the "c" in coy for an "h". Hoi means "shell" and refers to any of a number of shell fish. In this case I think they are usually river muscles.) and a big hand full of little crabs. Glynn is blaming the hoi for this extended bout of the runnies. On Friday Glynn had a crazy head ache all day at school, which was probably due to dehydration and Bum was stuck at home with stomach cramps and Winter keeping her on her toes.
We are happy to say that all is well now in the belly department. We have recuperated and are starting to feel ourselves again. Bum still has a head ache but that could be because Winter, and in therefore Bum, has not been sleeping very well. Pray that what ever was infesting our guts is gone all the way now and will not come back to visit any time soon.
We went to a new church again today. It was largely western and missionary filled. From the time we entered until we left no one said a word to us. This took us both by surprise. We want to find a church home to be a part of here we are just not finding what we are looking for at any of the churches we are visiting. I think the reason is that Kenwood spoiled us. We loved being at that church and with those people so much that we feel like nothing is going to compare. We talked a while today about this and know that we are just going to have to find the place that we think we can be of most use and learn the most about what a "Thai" church is like and start serving and ministering there. Perhaps we can instill some of the love and fellowship that we felt at Kenwood in what ever church we decide to join with here. Pray that we would find a church home soon.
God bless,
Glynn, Bum, and Winter
Still looking.
We are happy to say that all is well now in the belly department. We have recuperated and are starting to feel ourselves again. Bum still has a head ache but that could be because Winter, and in therefore Bum, has not been sleeping very well. Pray that what ever was infesting our guts is gone all the way now and will not come back to visit any time soon.
We went to a new church again today. It was largely western and missionary filled. From the time we entered until we left no one said a word to us. This took us both by surprise. We want to find a church home to be a part of here we are just not finding what we are looking for at any of the churches we are visiting. I think the reason is that Kenwood spoiled us. We loved being at that church and with those people so much that we feel like nothing is going to compare. We talked a while today about this and know that we are just going to have to find the place that we think we can be of most use and learn the most about what a "Thai" church is like and start serving and ministering there. Perhaps we can instill some of the love and fellowship that we felt at Kenwood in what ever church we decide to join with here. Pray that we would find a church home soon.
God bless,
Glynn, Bum, and Winter
Still looking.
Monday, August 13, 2012
Thai Mother's Day
Hello all, this is going to be a short post. The power went out yesterday evening and stayed out for the better part of the night. Therefore Glynn did not get to do the blog on Sunday like he has been doing. And today he felt bad and was just lazy.
Last weekend was Buddhist lent. For us that meant a long weekend. Bum's parents got to come up for a visit and spent the night with us on Thursday night. They left on Saturday morning and we rested up after that. It was a good visit and mom and dad had time to visit and play with Winter.
This weekend was Mother's Day in Thailand. Mother's Day is extra special here as it is the queens birthday. August 12 is the actual day but we devoted the weekend to it. Friday night we went out to eat at Sizzler with their friends Karen and Ramon. Everyone had the salad bar, even Winter (we kept feeding him green beans and carrots and he kept throwing them on the floor). Ramon also had the mushroom hamburger which looked amazing. Saturday we went to the mall and walked around a little and bought Winter a big foam floor mat so he can stop whacking his head when he falls down. Then we went to Makro (kind of like Costco or Sam's Club) and got registered for a member card. Sunday we just rested and caught up on sleep and our bible reading plan. Winter and Glynn worked on Bum's mother's day card and Glynn and Bum worked on little animal cartoon posters to hang up in Winter's room. Today was probably one of the laziest days Glynn has had in about three years. He did almost nothing all day. This is partly because he just needed a break and partly because he woke up this morning with the back side of his sinuses totally raw and aching every time he thought about swallowing. Please pray that this does not turn into anything more serious.
Hopefully we will be able to write another little update during the week. But if not talk to you next Sunday.
God Bless,
Glynn, Bum, and Winter.
Last weekend was Buddhist lent. For us that meant a long weekend. Bum's parents got to come up for a visit and spent the night with us on Thursday night. They left on Saturday morning and we rested up after that. It was a good visit and mom and dad had time to visit and play with Winter.
This weekend was Mother's Day in Thailand. Mother's Day is extra special here as it is the queens birthday. August 12 is the actual day but we devoted the weekend to it. Friday night we went out to eat at Sizzler with their friends Karen and Ramon. Everyone had the salad bar, even Winter (we kept feeding him green beans and carrots and he kept throwing them on the floor). Ramon also had the mushroom hamburger which looked amazing. Saturday we went to the mall and walked around a little and bought Winter a big foam floor mat so he can stop whacking his head when he falls down. Then we went to Makro (kind of like Costco or Sam's Club) and got registered for a member card. Sunday we just rested and caught up on sleep and our bible reading plan. Winter and Glynn worked on Bum's mother's day card and Glynn and Bum worked on little animal cartoon posters to hang up in Winter's room. Today was probably one of the laziest days Glynn has had in about three years. He did almost nothing all day. This is partly because he just needed a break and partly because he woke up this morning with the back side of his sinuses totally raw and aching every time he thought about swallowing. Please pray that this does not turn into anything more serious.
Hopefully we will be able to write another little update during the week. But if not talk to you next Sunday.
God Bless,
Glynn, Bum, and Winter.
Sunday, August 5, 2012
The Surprise
So last week we mentioned our surprising Bum's parents and how it did not go quite according to plan. Well, what had happened was: (queue the smoke and dramatic lighting, it's time for a flash back)
When we got to Thailand we had already received news that one of Bum's mom's best friend's mothers had died. What we did not know is that the viewing was the night that we planned to go to their house. On the way to her parent's house, Bum called her mom and pretended to have just a normal conversation so that we could find out where they were and what their plans were for that evening. Turns out they were going to be going to the viewing about the same time that we were going to be arriving at their house. You may be thinking to yourself that that is not a big deal. Her parents will go to the viewing and be back in no time. That might work in America, but in Thailand the funeral process is somewhat different, including the initial viewing of the body. Here parents were going to be there for quite a while and we had to decide what we were going to do. Our options were to sit at the house until her parent's got there (we have no keys to go in and wait for them and they could be hours. And this is topical Thailand with its crazy heat and hungry mosquitoes and we have an infant with us) or we can go to the viewing and surprise them there. Needless to say we take option number two.
So we get to the viewing and park but there is no sign of her parents. Now we have to call again and see where they are. We are not sure if they have come and gone already (this would be weird but you never know), rode with a friend, changed their mind and not come at all, or what. So Bum calls her mom for the second time and asks where they are now. This is odd because she generally would not call them twice in one day while we were in the states. So her parents are going to be wondering or worried why she is calling again. So Bum just tells them rather matter of factly that we are waiting for them at the viewing and we need the keys so that we can go to the house and wait for them there.
There is now total confusion in her parents vehicle. Her mom swears that it was Bum talking on the phone. Her dad said that is impossible because we are in America. They do not know what is going on. A few minutes later they pull up at the viewing and park on the other side of the road. We see them in the rear view mirrors so Glynn does a u-turn and pull up right behind them as they are getting out of their truck. We are in a rental car and they do not recognize it and we think that they refused to believe who their eyes were telling them was driving up behind them. We are just smiling and waving as we pull up and they are looking more and more confused. Then we get out of the car and everyone erupts into laughing and hugging and gleeful greating. Everyone but little Winter. The long drive, strange surrounding, and now all these new people and noises were just too much for the little guy and he broke down. He was balling as he was being passed around between the grandparents and a great aunt. Finally Bum got him back and he started to calm down. We sat and talked for just a few minutes then we got the keys and went to their house to rest.
So not exactly as we had planned but still pretty good. Till next time.
God bless,
Glynn, Bum, and Winter
When we got to Thailand we had already received news that one of Bum's mom's best friend's mothers had died. What we did not know is that the viewing was the night that we planned to go to their house. On the way to her parent's house, Bum called her mom and pretended to have just a normal conversation so that we could find out where they were and what their plans were for that evening. Turns out they were going to be going to the viewing about the same time that we were going to be arriving at their house. You may be thinking to yourself that that is not a big deal. Her parents will go to the viewing and be back in no time. That might work in America, but in Thailand the funeral process is somewhat different, including the initial viewing of the body. Here parents were going to be there for quite a while and we had to decide what we were going to do. Our options were to sit at the house until her parent's got there (we have no keys to go in and wait for them and they could be hours. And this is topical Thailand with its crazy heat and hungry mosquitoes and we have an infant with us) or we can go to the viewing and surprise them there. Needless to say we take option number two.
So we get to the viewing and park but there is no sign of her parents. Now we have to call again and see where they are. We are not sure if they have come and gone already (this would be weird but you never know), rode with a friend, changed their mind and not come at all, or what. So Bum calls her mom for the second time and asks where they are now. This is odd because she generally would not call them twice in one day while we were in the states. So her parents are going to be wondering or worried why she is calling again. So Bum just tells them rather matter of factly that we are waiting for them at the viewing and we need the keys so that we can go to the house and wait for them there.
There is now total confusion in her parents vehicle. Her mom swears that it was Bum talking on the phone. Her dad said that is impossible because we are in America. They do not know what is going on. A few minutes later they pull up at the viewing and park on the other side of the road. We see them in the rear view mirrors so Glynn does a u-turn and pull up right behind them as they are getting out of their truck. We are in a rental car and they do not recognize it and we think that they refused to believe who their eyes were telling them was driving up behind them. We are just smiling and waving as we pull up and they are looking more and more confused. Then we get out of the car and everyone erupts into laughing and hugging and gleeful greating. Everyone but little Winter. The long drive, strange surrounding, and now all these new people and noises were just too much for the little guy and he broke down. He was balling as he was being passed around between the grandparents and a great aunt. Finally Bum got him back and he started to calm down. We sat and talked for just a few minutes then we got the keys and went to their house to rest.
So not exactly as we had planned but still pretty good. Till next time.
God bless,
Glynn, Bum, and Winter
Sunday, July 29, 2012
The Flight
It has been another week and nothing amazing to announce. We went to a different church today and it was closer to what we like and what we can imagine a church we might start looking like. The pastor went to Fuller Seminary for his Mdiv and New Orleans Theological Seminary for his Ph.D. The worship was also more our style. We may go back here next week or keep looking around. We are not sure yet.
Sense there is nothing big going on now we want to catch up on the 3 weeks before the blog started. As many of you know we were trying to surprise Bum's mom and dad so we had to keep our moving back to Thailand a secret from them. This was a little more difficult than we thought it would be. Because most people are now on Facebook and a large majority of them are there more than they realize putting more info out there than they know. We had to be careful to ask everyone not to post anything about our moving, leaving, going, etc...
We are happy to say that the effort payed off. Bum's parents had no idea that we were coming back to Thailand. Things got a little more difficult once we were here and the surprise did not go exactly as we had imagined. But more on that in a little bit.
The flight over was smooth for the most part. We flew with Korean Air and we would highly recommend them to anyone especially if you are flying with young children. They took great care of Winter and even held him a time or two when the stewardesses had the time and if he was cranky. We tried the baby cold medicine trick to get him to sleep for the first flight (don't judge us) at the recommendations of several doctor friends and the pharmacist where we bought the medicine. This did't really do anything but make Winter act a little drunk. He was not drowsy from the medicine at all. He probably didn't need the help as he was great all through the first 14 hour leg of the trip. The second 6 hours were a little more difficult on us all.
After we changed planes in Korea Winter was not as happy. We fed him while we were at the airport and he threw up everything he had eaten. Then once we were in the air he decided he was not going to sleep for this part of the trip. He was kind of fussy for a couple of hours and Glynn had to walk him around and stand in the little hallway where the bathrooms are when he would not stop crying as all the stewardesses were either busy or just made Winter angrier once he realized a stranger had him. But he eventually settled down and Glynn was able to get a little sleep as well.
Our friends Karen and Ramon met us at the airport to pick us up with the van from the school where we all work. The 45 minute drive from the airport to the apartments where we live was really smooth. This was probably because we arrived in Bangkok at about 1:00 AM. We made it home and got to sleep pretty shortly after getting to the room.
Tune in next time for how the surprise with Bum's parents went.
God bless,
Glynn, Bum, and Winter
P.S. From Winter's six month photo shoot with Ramon
Sense there is nothing big going on now we want to catch up on the 3 weeks before the blog started. As many of you know we were trying to surprise Bum's mom and dad so we had to keep our moving back to Thailand a secret from them. This was a little more difficult than we thought it would be. Because most people are now on Facebook and a large majority of them are there more than they realize putting more info out there than they know. We had to be careful to ask everyone not to post anything about our moving, leaving, going, etc...
We are happy to say that the effort payed off. Bum's parents had no idea that we were coming back to Thailand. Things got a little more difficult once we were here and the surprise did not go exactly as we had imagined. But more on that in a little bit.
The flight over was smooth for the most part. We flew with Korean Air and we would highly recommend them to anyone especially if you are flying with young children. They took great care of Winter and even held him a time or two when the stewardesses had the time and if he was cranky. We tried the baby cold medicine trick to get him to sleep for the first flight (don't judge us) at the recommendations of several doctor friends and the pharmacist where we bought the medicine. This did't really do anything but make Winter act a little drunk. He was not drowsy from the medicine at all. He probably didn't need the help as he was great all through the first 14 hour leg of the trip. The second 6 hours were a little more difficult on us all.
After we changed planes in Korea Winter was not as happy. We fed him while we were at the airport and he threw up everything he had eaten. Then once we were in the air he decided he was not going to sleep for this part of the trip. He was kind of fussy for a couple of hours and Glynn had to walk him around and stand in the little hallway where the bathrooms are when he would not stop crying as all the stewardesses were either busy or just made Winter angrier once he realized a stranger had him. But he eventually settled down and Glynn was able to get a little sleep as well.
Our friends Karen and Ramon met us at the airport to pick us up with the van from the school where we all work. The 45 minute drive from the airport to the apartments where we live was really smooth. This was probably because we arrived in Bangkok at about 1:00 AM. We made it home and got to sleep pretty shortly after getting to the room.
Tune in next time for how the surprise with Bum's parents went.
God bless,
Glynn, Bum, and Winter
P.S. From Winter's six month photo shoot with Ramon
Sunday, July 22, 2012
Church
As I am writing this there is a karaoke party going on next door in out somehow Winter is kind of sleeping through it. And this is no mere karaoke party, it sounds like a really depressed 80's lounge. All slow synthesizers, slightly echoed voices, and whiney male vocals. Evidently for someone this is what fun sounds like.
We did make it to church today. We went to New Vision Church located in downtown Bangkok. We really liked the church. The message was sound, everyone was friendly, and there was a meal afterwards. It almost felt Kenwoody for a little while. The size of the church and the worship would be the only things I would change, but it is not about me. Everyone that was there seemed to be worshiping so I will just have to adjust. And as for size, while I prefer a smaller church, growth is a good thing and I hope that we can be a part of the growing process.
The nursery was in the back of the sanctuary. It was a nice sized room, with the wall separating it from the sanctuary being mostly windows so the moms or dads in there with the kids could still see the service. It was sound proof with a little speaker broadcasting the service into the room. Winter did great during the service.
The trip to the church this morning took about an hour and a half. We took tricycle taxies from our apartment to the main road. We got on a van there, bound for downtown. The van stopped at three or four bus stops to try to get a few more passengers before it made it to the toll road. The express toll road was smooth sailing as it generally is. Once we got into town we had to hike a little ways to the BTS (sky train) station where we went down one stop to the next station. The church is on the corner outside the BTS station. So our morning, and maybe every Sunday morning for a while, will be like this. Leave the house at 9:00 to make it in time for church at 10:30 (or 8:00 if we want to go to 9:30 sunday school). A friend did tell us a taxi is much easier and quicker but it is a little more expensive. We will have to see how the next couple of weeks go and determine if it is worth the extra money to make up for the time.
There were two guys after church that made decisions to follow Christ. In the small group that had been leading them they had the gospel explained to them again and what it was they were confessing. Both of the guys again professed Christ as their lord and savior before the group and then we prayed for them and they were presented with Bibles. Also at the end of the service there were probably six or seven people that said they wanted to join the church. It is good to see the church thriving.
So this was our Sunday. Like I said in the first post I want to fill you in on the first three weeks of Thailand and I plan to do that in the next update. I should have some time this week if all of my classes go according to plan. Thanks for reading and God bless.
Glynn, Bum, and Winter
P.S. Winter with a teething cracker.
We did make it to church today. We went to New Vision Church located in downtown Bangkok. We really liked the church. The message was sound, everyone was friendly, and there was a meal afterwards. It almost felt Kenwoody for a little while. The size of the church and the worship would be the only things I would change, but it is not about me. Everyone that was there seemed to be worshiping so I will just have to adjust. And as for size, while I prefer a smaller church, growth is a good thing and I hope that we can be a part of the growing process.
The nursery was in the back of the sanctuary. It was a nice sized room, with the wall separating it from the sanctuary being mostly windows so the moms or dads in there with the kids could still see the service. It was sound proof with a little speaker broadcasting the service into the room. Winter did great during the service.
The trip to the church this morning took about an hour and a half. We took tricycle taxies from our apartment to the main road. We got on a van there, bound for downtown. The van stopped at three or four bus stops to try to get a few more passengers before it made it to the toll road. The express toll road was smooth sailing as it generally is. Once we got into town we had to hike a little ways to the BTS (sky train) station where we went down one stop to the next station. The church is on the corner outside the BTS station. So our morning, and maybe every Sunday morning for a while, will be like this. Leave the house at 9:00 to make it in time for church at 10:30 (or 8:00 if we want to go to 9:30 sunday school). A friend did tell us a taxi is much easier and quicker but it is a little more expensive. We will have to see how the next couple of weeks go and determine if it is worth the extra money to make up for the time.
There were two guys after church that made decisions to follow Christ. In the small group that had been leading them they had the gospel explained to them again and what it was they were confessing. Both of the guys again professed Christ as their lord and savior before the group and then we prayed for them and they were presented with Bibles. Also at the end of the service there were probably six or seven people that said they wanted to join the church. It is good to see the church thriving.
So this was our Sunday. Like I said in the first post I want to fill you in on the first three weeks of Thailand and I plan to do that in the next update. I should have some time this week if all of my classes go according to plan. Thanks for reading and God bless.
Glynn, Bum, and Winter
P.S. Winter with a teething cracker.
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