January 16th, we celebrated our first year of marriage! Wow, time flies when you are having fun.

Right after we got married, Pim was having a difficult time finding a full-time job and so she spent her time doing online work for a company that develops curriculum for schools here in Thailand. Her job was to take the books they made and make PowerPoint presentations for the different topics and chapters for teachers to use in the classroom. At the same time, she also started working for House of Refuge and helping the Dutch foundation gather information about the girls and the houses to be used in fundraising efforts for the girls home. It was especially important that someone who is an English-speaking Thai did this as even the foreigners who have been speaking Thai for a long time would miss cultural and social cues that could help in understanding the girls and their stories.

Then came the summer of 2021, which I wrote about previously, in which we spent a month in the Netherlands. When we were stuck in quarantine on our trip back to Thailand the pastor of our church contacted us and said he wanted Pim to interview for a job at the church. Upon our return to Chiang Rai that is exactly what she did, and she was basically hired on the spot. She has been working there for 8 months now and has been doing an amazing job. For those wondering what the pay is like, it is very low according to international standards but for Thai standards it is decent but still only covers a fraction of our expenses.

But what about us being missionaries? How does that work with her getting paid? Well, we see it in the same way as Paul’s tent making in Acts. While the money earned allows us some financial resources to live, her job is also a ministry. While a lot of her work is administrative, she spends significant time ministering to the people in the church as well as discipling the youth. Outside her 40-hour work week at the church she also still does the work for House of Refuge on her days off. I honestly am amazed at her capacity to love and disciple people. She truly has been doing an amazing job in the administrative work and in showing people the love of Christ.

If you want to support us in the mission work that we do, please head over to the Support Us page to find out the different ways you can support us.