We hope everyone had a good Christmas and New Year. This year, I preached my first Christmas sermon in Thai as I went to Immanuel Church in Chon Buri on Christmas! Later that evening, we enjoyed an “American” Christmas dinner with ham and all the trimmings with some missionary friends of ours. The weather even seemed to cooperate, and we had a pleasant few days with highs in the low 80’s and lows in the high 60’s (this is cool for our “winter” season). The Thai people looked seasonably dressed with scarves, sweaters and winter coats, but us Americans just felt comfortable for a change!

In Thailand, Christmas is purely a religious holiday, and not a family/cultural holiday. Therefore churches are the only place that Thai Christians can celebrate as most of their families are unsaved. Most Thai churches have a whole week of celebration activities, including parties, church wide caroling, and special communion services. This year, we were one of the host homes for the three nights of Christmas caroling. It is always interesting to see the people’s reaction to our “American” Christmas tree, decorations, and holiday treats. Though we do miss home this time of year, it is refreshing to see Christmas through the eyes of Thai believers who are untainted by the commercial Christmas that our secular, western culture has distorted.

We found a house! A couple weeks before Christmas, we went to look at a house after I preached at Immanuel Church. The house is owned and designed by a Thai man who works as a contractor for an expatriate neighborhood in the area. He designed the house in a typical European style to attract foreign renters. Not only is the house the right size, with a kitchen (not typical in Thailand) and air conditioning units, but the rent is also significantly less each month. The only downside is that the current tenants do not move out until the first week of February, so we will be a little delayed in moving. We are very eager to be there full-time, and to get the new English outreach ministry off the ground. From what we are told, prospective students of all ages come by the church on a daily basis to find out when we start! We are so thankful for the Lord’s provision for a comfortable house, and an exciting new ministry! We are praying for a fruitful year in 2012! Thank you for the Christmas cards, gifts, prayers, and support!

December Prayer Letter

We have just enjoyed some time with family as my parents have just left after almost two weeks in Thailand. Our kids love the spoiling that always comes with a visit by their grandparents! The older our kids get the harder it becomes for everyone to say goodbye, but we are always so thankful that our family was able to come!

This month, after much prayer and advice from respected missionaries, friends, and Thai pastors, we have decided to move to Chon Buri and assist there in the new church plant. Two weeks ago, I preached there at Immanuel Church and the whole family was able to come. We were encouraged to see how readily the people were accepting of us and our kids. Our kids also really enjoyed playing with the other children in the church. From talking to the leaders of the church plant, it has been very exciting to see what a great fit we are in our abilities in ministry. Because many of the believers are very young believers, discipleship training is greatly needed. As I have previously mentioned in past letters, I have a real burden for discipleship training. Also the church would like to have more outreach opportunities into the community, specifically an English ministry. The church also needs someone to preach on a regular basis and though I don’t always feel confident preaching in Thai, I have been given many opportunities in the past few months to continue practicing and hopefully improve! We are very excited to see what the Lord will do in Chon Buri and are thankful to Him for providing this opportunity!

Please pray for us as we begin looking for a house. This is always a tedious process of driving through neighborhood after neighborhood looking for signs of houses for rent or sale and then calling to negotiate prices. Very few houses are ever listed online or in newspapers here and thus moving becomes a stressful process. Because of prior commitments and the holidays, our plan is to move right after New Year. In the mean time, we will try to go to Chon Buri a couple times a month and continue the process of building relationships with the people there.

Next week, we are helping in the Word of Life English Camp. Heather has been busy writing the entire English curriculum for the camp. We will also team teach in one of the classes. Several students from the Monday night English class will be coming to camp. This is always a great opportunity to present the gospel in a setting away from the pressures of such a Buddhist culture. Please pray that the Holy Spirit begins even now to soften the kids heart to the gospel and that many will come to know Him through the messages!

Thank you all for your prayers, encouragement, and support! We are so thankful for the people back home that have made it possible for us to serve in Thailand!

Because of Him,

Ryan, Heather, Addisyn, and Branson Hill

September Prayer Letter JPEG

Sawasdee from Thailand! This month the Thai people celebrate Mother’s Day as it coincides with the Queen’s birthday. Since Addisyn is attending a Thai preschool, we had the privilege to see first-hand a Mother’s Day Celebration.

This month we have had some incredible opportunities and need your prayers for the decisions involved ahead! Last month I was asked to help a new church plant by preaching monthly for their newly started Sunday morning services. The church plant is in the province of ChonBuri in the district of Ban Bueng which is southeast of Bangkok near the Bay of Thailand. This church plant had a pastor in place, but plans changed and they are now without anyone who can preach or teach or has had any Bible training. After the service, I was approached by one of the main leaders at the church. He asked me to pray about considering helping them with the church plant in a full-time capacity. At first I was completely taken off-guard, but told him I would pray.

This month the whole family was able to go with me to the church. The church is about an hour and a half away, on Sundays, or about three hours during the week. Therefore, if we decide to go it means a big move. Selfishly, we like where we are living and have made Thai friends and other missionary friends, but at the same time we haven’t completely been at peace in the ministry here. We have had the desire to do more. Even before I spoke in ChonBuri, Heather and I have been praying for an opportunity to help in a church plant. It truly seems like the Lord just dropped the church in our lap, but this is a big decision and will be a huge leap into ministry! What we ask from our supporters is to PRAY for us. Please pray that we would have wisdom to discern God’s leading. Next month we hope to have more to share as we will be visiting the church again in September.

This past Saturday, I was thrilled to be able to go to a discipleship seminar. The sessions were very simple but good. I am always glad to see the Thai people get excited about reaching their own people. Most exciting was to hear that a discipleship book is close to being finished with the translation process and will be available in November. Whether we are in Nonthaburi or Chonburi, I know the discipleship materials will be a great help!

We know many of you have committed to pray for us and it is always a blessing to hear about it\ We recently were told by Heather’s parents that while exercising they met someone who said they knew of us. In fact, they pray for us daily!  We are humbled to think that there are people all over the states that pray for us regularly! Thank you!

Because of Him,

Ryan, Heather, Addisyn, and Branson Hill

 August Prayer Letter JPEG

After the service I was able to sit down with two of the deacons in the church and one of them began to share with me about what God has been doing in his life. His name is Own and he is only about 30 years old. He is a very successful business man, as he owns a chicken factory and he sells chicken throughout Thailand. He began to share about how he is witnessing to his employees and how he has employees from Myanmar, Cambodia, and even a few Thai workers. He has had several of his employees come to Christ and he has been able to host them in his home for Bible study. One problem happened though, Own lives with his parents and they are Buddhist. They told him he either needs to move out or do the Bible study somewhere else. He decided to start doing the Bible study elsewhere and has seen God bless that ministry. Its amazing to think of these employees from his factory that have trusted Christ that are from several different countries, they in turn have been able to share the gospel with their families back in their home country. His factory and business is having an eternal impact throughout Southeast Asia, from a little province in Thailand named Chonburi. Own would tell you that he has just made himself available to be used.

Once a month I will be taking a trip to Chonburi to help this church, please pray for travel safety and that God would bless the services. 

Because of Him,

Ryan

Greetings from Nonthaburi, Thailand! Whew, this past week has been a busy one for us personally as we celebrated both of our kid’s birthdays and our anniversary all within five days! Addisyn turned four on the 20^th and Branson turned two on the 22^nd and then we celebrated seven years of marriage on the 24^th!  Besides celebrating birthdays, we have also been battling a nasty summer cold as each of us have caught and passed it on. You would know that both kids ended up sick on their birthdays, but it looks like we have turned a corner and are close to full speed again!

Discipleship: A couple of weeks ago, I had the privilege of taking a group of church leaders to a discipleship seminar. For three days, we were taught about a program that can be implemented in the church to disciple mature believers as well as new believers. It seems many times discipleship is an area of weakness in a lot of churches, and sitting in this seminar I realized why. Discipleship takes a lot of Time! I was amazed when I heard that each member of the church was asked to make the commitment to either be a teacher or a student in a discipleship group of twelve or sometimes both as the pastor and staff also helped disciple some of the leaders. As the believers grow in Christ and their understanding of the gospel then they in turn begin to share with unbelievers and from this starts new discipleship groups. The model of the discipleship program is based off of Christ’s ministry with the 12 disciples. Christ invested His time into the disciples, but what great dividends were reaped as these men in turn shared Him with the world!

Bible study: I had the privilege of attending a new Bible study this past Tuesday. I have been asked to teach a short lesson of English conversation as a way to attract more people. As our Thai pastor said I am a novelty in this completely Thai neighborhood and I bring a bit of a WOW factor! I was also challenged and encouraged to hear the testimony of Phi Kan. She has been saved about six months now and has grown spiritually in such a short time. She recently was demoted at her job because during breaks and outside of work she was sharing Christ boldly with her coworkers and her boss did not like it. At first after losing her management position she thought she might quit, but then decided to stay because she didn’t want to do anything to hurt her testimony with the coworkers she had been witnessing to! As a way to have more opportunities to witness she began an in-home Bible study with her family and neighbors. She has been disappointed that many of the young people in her apartment complex would not come to the Bible studies, so she was very excited to hear I would teach a little English! Oh, for every believer to have this zeal to share what Christ has done for them; I honestly believe our churches would not be able to hold all the visitors!

New website: We recently had a couple, Brandon and Shyanna Clementson, come stay with us for a while and help to revamp our very old and boring website. We now have an easy way check our recent prayer letters, download our current prayer card, or keep up with us on our blog. We also have an updated photo gallery with pictures of our family and Thailand! Please check out the new and improved website at   reachingthailand.com.  We always love hearing from everyone and appreciate all the prayers and support!

Because of Him,

Ryan, Heather, Addisyn, and Branson Hill

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We hope everyone is enjoying their summer. June is usually our time for family vacation as Heather’s parents come to visit each June. This year Heather’s sister, Courtney, was also able to come with her son, Mason. We had a great time together and enjoyed getting away to the beach for a little while.

Student Center update: On furlough, we mentioned that our future plans included a student center. Although the center is still a part of the plan, our time frame has changed a bit due to a change in the furlough plans of the family we had originally planned to work with. The Gordon’s furlough dates were moved up about seven months not giving us enough time to get something started before they leave. As of right now, we do still plan to start the center, but after the Gordon’s return from furlough in May of 2012. In the meantime, we are very excited about the ministries that God has opened the door to.

Current ministry opportunities: In addition to the Sunday afternoon Bible study with the career/work group, I have also been asked to assist in a Tuesday night Bible study in one of our church member’s home. Through this Bible study, the church has seen several people saved and many visitors come for Sunday services. I feel strongly that this is one of the most effective outreach tools in the Thai culture because it heavily relies on Thai believers taking an active role in sharing about their relationship with Christ! Along with the Bible study, I have also been asked to teach English at one of the local universities on Monday nights. This is such a great opportunity to get out into the community and build relationships with some of the young people in our area. Heather has also been given the opportunity to teach English to some of the area kids on Saturday mornings and is excited to be able to get involved. We are praying about starting a Bible study in our home, as we have met a lot of people that we think would be interested in coming. No decision has been made yet, as we are still looking for a teacher who would come along side and assist in the teaching. Please pray for us as we get involved in some existing ministries and are praying about beginning some new ministries.

Please know that we feel blessed to represent you here in Thailand and are so thankful for your faithfulness in your prayers and monthly support!

Because of Him,

Ryan, Heather, Addisyn, and Branson Hill

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