I, Kenzi Martina Alexea Markling, hereby apologize to all family, friends and supporters for not updating regularly. I beg for forgiveness and grace as I come before you head bowed low.
The Reason
I have come to the conclusion that it is a mixture of both procrastination and travelling. The first part is self-explanatory: cramming your life onto a single blog post can be tiresome and stressful therefore creating such a thing called dread which leads to the forever wonderful act of procrastination. And then there was travelling. In a span of just over a month, we have been to Cambodia, Bangkok, Malaysia, regular trips to Chocheongsao and we just returned from Baan Kruit, six hours away from here. Needless to say, it's been hard to find a computer.
Christmas
This Christmas was phenomenal. What I thought would be a difficult time turned out to be epic. We spent Christmas Eve carolling around the neighbourhood, enjoying snacks and praying over families. Christmas morning felt as special as ever as we came down in our PJs to a Christmas tree and stockings. Santa came! Or more like my friends did. We had a breakfast feast as we all made Mickey Mouse pancakes, bacon, eggs, the whole shabang. In the evening we went over to Angsila and sang more carols and prayed for people in this fishing village.
But more than just the day of Christmas itself was all the outreach programs put on. There was about four major events each having a turnout of hundreds. There were dance performances, drimes, worship, doorprizes and, most importantly, the Gospel Message was laid out for all to hear. God's hand was working over that week and hundreds heard of the birth of Jesus.
Globetrotters
Okay, well maybe not globetrotters, but how about southeastern Asia trotters? Like I said earlier, this month has been officially labeled the "time of travels". Whether it be for vacation, visa runs or ministry, we've been all over. It's been nice to have a break from routine but we've missed being home and seeing our friends regularly.
Here is a brief overview of what we did in each place:
Cambodia: Drove six hours. Visa run. Really sucked because it was then that we realized we could only get a two week visa. Either we figure something out or looks like "Team Thailand" might become "Team Cambodia".
Bangkok: On our New Year's holidays we went with P'Uh-Oh to Bangkok. Performed the usual touristy "had-to-be-seen" things. One of my favourite nights in Thailand was held in Bangkok. We went to Uh-Oh's brother's restaurant and just spent the night laughing and listening to good bands out in the Thai night. We were there for four days.
Malaysia: Hooray, looks like Dave's lawyer-guy found a loophole in our visas so, "Guess what guys! We're going to Malaysia tomorrow!" So we caught a plane and went to the Thai consolate in Penang, Malaysia. During the hard and treacherous daytime, we went to our own secluded beach. Praise God four our three month visas. We were in Malaysia for three days.
Chocheongsao: The regular thing. We thank God for the new believers he brings forth every week. The new sala is now build and looking fabulous.
Baan Kruit: Here we were the childcare workers for fifteen missionary kids from China and Mongolia. In the mornings we planned fun activities and bible studies, in the afternoons we went swimming in the stunning ocean and at night we lit campfires with kids and played wide games in the dark. It was such an amazing time of rest and renewal where we could bless these missionaries and their families. It was inspiring to see God's kingdom being stretched throughout this part of the world.
Prayer Requests
As our life begins to straighten out and we add new tasks to our routine, we ask you to join us in prayer with:
- Our new Kid's Club ministry in Angsila church (pray for kids, kids and more kids)
- Another start up of English Lessons (we've been struggling to find students)
- New relationships with Thais and stronger ones with already existing ones
- Renewed strength, vision and guidance from God for our team
I love you all and miss you incredibly.
