Dear friends and family,
As we shared with you last time, Covid was making another round in Thailand, and just as we thought, another “lockdown” came with it. While we hadn’t planned on going to look for a house just yet because of some other things that needed to happen first, we were hoping to go down as soon as possible in May. The first few days of May however turned into the first few weeks as we searched the internet in hopes of finding a house online. Our search ended up being rather fruitless, but what it did lead to was an idea for a possible way to actually go in person to look around.
Our plot consisted of packing up enough food for a few days and then staying in a province (that was less locked down) that would be close enough to make some day trips to Nakhon Sawan (that was more locked down). Our prayer was that we could find “the house” (we knew God had one in mind and it was just a matter of following His leading to it) the first day partly just because that would be nice but also because of the fact that Nakhon Sawan was only really open for people passing through so even though we would avoid contact with people as much as possible, some would be necessary but the less the better.
Not entirely sure where to look first, we decided to go back to the area where we had looked in March. On top of the fact that our meeting with the “headman of the headmen” in that area last time seemed providential, we also had noticed that the soil in the area looked quite fertile. A couple hours of driving around and asking about a few houses seemed to avail nothing though so we thought we might as well go look elsewhere . . .
That's when Hannah’s phone rang. The lady said that they were interested in renting their house. At first we weren’t sure which house she was talking about, but when she sent us pictures, we were rather puzzled. This was actually the first house we had seen in March that seemed to be a possibility, and just now we had asked the guy that lived next door about it. He told us that the village water supply wasn’t good. (And that he has a well at his house.) But when we called the phone number he gave us, the guy said that they were not wanting to rent it - only sell.
Maybe the husband and wife didn’t agree? We didn’t know, but then the lady told us that if we wanted to drill a well at their house, we could do it instead of rent for as many months of rent as it would cost. We had no idea how much that would cost so we went to talk to the neighbor about his well and to look around the outside of the house some more. (The owners live in another province.)
Turned out the house was on almost half an acre of land (huge factor for us gardening lovers!) and a well would only cost about a year’s worth of rent. The area was not prone to flooding, and it was in a great location for making frequent trips into the city. There was a problem though, and whether or not that could be taken care of would turn out to be the final deciding factor in our decision. . . .
And there’s so much more to share, that we’re going to tell you more next week!
Thank you so much to each of you who have been praying for us! Those prayers make a big difference.
Praying God blesses each of you with grace and strength to do the work he’s given you in your corner of the globe.
Until next time . . .
May God richly bless you!
Jonathan and Hannah
Foreign Correspondents
Jesus4asia.org/jonathanhill
Vimeo.com/jonathanhill
