Life/ministry update

We’d like to give an update about what we’ve been up to for the past two months here since we’ve returned with our new visas. Big news for our family – Josiah turned 18 in May and has graduated high school! He is going to take a gap year here in Chiang Mai, and will most likely go on to further education in the 2026/27 school year. During his gap year, he’ll be doing mentorships under two men (with two different organizations), both of whom have been in life long ministry. One is focused on connecting multiple mission organizations from Latin America, North America, and Asia to facilitate each other’s efforts, as well as set up a training initiative here in Chiang Mai that will act as a mid-stream training point for newly deployed missionaries. The other is focused on Bible/Christian teaching translation work, and includes the use of coding and AI in those efforts. We’re really excited for him!

​Meanwhile, Ruth and I have spent a lot of time walking alongside individuals and families around us who have been struggling greatly recently. Not sure why these things all happened at once, but such is life on the field I guess. We’re thankful we haven’t had any overt stress/trauma ourselves during this time, which has allowed us to be a support for these folks. Without getting unnecessarily specific, I’ll give an overview of some of the situations:

• A Thai friend recently fell prey to a Facebook-based scam that convinced her to transfer a large amount of borrowed money, and she’s now dealing with a huge debt problem that will take many years to pay off. I took her to the police station to file a report, but they aren’t any help with actually recovering the money. I’ve been meeting with her since then to help her draw up a workable budget and a debt repayment plan. 
• A missionary family who have been good friends to us over the years are dealing with sin, confessions, and pain within their marriage, and are currently separated. Our aim is to be a source of solidarity for them during this incredibly difficult time. 
• A family at church recently got a diagnosis of type-1 diabetes for their child. Such a difficult time for them as they deal with many doctor’s visits, and difficult decisions to make. 
• A missionary family in a more remote province are experiencing burnout, and working through major changes in their ministry direction. 
• A life-long missionary we’ve worked with over the past five years has experienced a major schism with his sending org, to the degree that arbitrators and lawyers are involved. 

​All these things are potentially mission career-ending problems to face. The knee-jerk reaction quite often is to immediately pull these folks home to their passport country, and while that is sometimes what ultimately needs to happen, that can also add to the trauma and cause further damage to the individual/family. We’ve seen that decisions about leaving the field permanently should often only be done after allowing some significant time for healing, recovery, and seeking counsel from leadership and peers. Please pray for these folks, many of whom are good friends of ours!

​In other news, we have our first “second termer” homeschool helper – Faith has decided to stay and serve for another year here! She’ll continue on with the current family she serves, and will also start with a second homeschooling family a couple days per week at the beginning of the next school year. She’ll be joined by a young lady named Lily, from Wisconsin, who plans to arrive in September for the 2025/26 school year. We’re really excited to see the Inspire program progress, even as Ruth and I engage in other ministries simultaneously.

-Lance, for the Baker family