Through Gates of Splendor

I just started a new book today called Through Gates of Splendor by Elisabeth Elliot (Thank you Jamie Van!). I'll let everyone know how it is as I get more into it, but so far, even the first chapter was amazing. The book goes with the movie End of the Spear. I needed a good missionary book to read right before we leave for Thailand. My favorite quote so far:

• It was typical of Jim that, once sure of God's leading, he did not turn aside easily. The "leading" was to Ecuador, so every thought and action was bent in that direction. Jim practiced what he preached when he wrote in his diary: "Wherever you are, be all there. Live to the hilt every situation you believe to be the will of God."

Wow! That so describes the way Gabe and I feel right now about Thailand and Southeast Asia. We watch asian food shows, read through Thai blogs, and research all we can about the people and culture. Thank you LORD for Your leading!

Our Word from the Lord

When we were first praying about going out on the mission field, specifically Southeast Asia, we wanted something from the Lord to hold on to. We would read our Bibles and just desire for the Lord to speak to us and give us words that would be our special treasures. One day, after our morning devotional time, Gabe and I had both felt that we truly received special words out of scripture from the Lord. This was probably about nine months ago, but I have really wanted to share these scriptures with others, so here goes:

*Ephesians 1:16*

"I pray that your hearts will be flooded with light so that you can understand the wonderful future he has promised to those he called. I want you to realize what a rich and glorious inheritance he has given to his people."

*Psalm 67*

May God be merciful and bless us.
May His face shine with favor upon us.

May Your ways be known throughout the earth,
Your saving power among people everywhere.

May the nations praise You, O God.
Yes, may all the nations praise You.

How glad the nations will be, singing for joy,
Because you govern them with justice and
Direct the actions of the whole world.

May the nations praise You, O God.
Yes, may all the nations praise You.

Then the earth will yields its harvests, and God
Our God, will richly bless us.

Yes, God will bless us,
And people all over the world will fear Him.

Our Job...

We wanted to add this blog to go along with the last one we wrote. So this is what we, ourselves, are working on as far as finances go so that we can follow God's calling to reach Southeast Asia for Jesus.

First of all, we are working on becoming completely debt free. This is extremely important to us! We want people's support to actually go towards supporting us in Thailand and not towards paying back the debt that we wrongly accumulated. So, we are excited to say that we should be completely debt free by the end of May. That is our goal and we believe with everything in us that we can do it. All we have left is to finish paying off student loans. Right now we have around $3,500 left to pay. So Please believe with us that we can do this, once and for all. We see FREEDOM ahead!

The school that Gabe will be attending.

Also, we will be working hard to save, save, save, and do some more saving! This is also extremely important to us because we want to have a nice established emergency fund in place before we hit the road (or actually the sky). Not only do we need just regular savings, but we are really working on saving to be able to completely pay for Gabe's schooling, out of our own pockets. If someone wants to pay for Gabe's schooling as a way to invest in us, we definitely won't complain. But we are just so grateful to have amazing friends and family supporting our missions work, that we are more than willing to work hard to pay for the education part. Oh, and the school is quite reasonable to attend. I believe it will cost about $1000 a semester for Gabe to attend. And I think that includes some missions travel and other school expenses.

Thailand Budget

We have actually been working really hard over the last six months to come up with a budget for our big move to Thailand. We have visited countless websites that had some kind of Thailand cost-of-living figures. We have also asked our parents, Tony and Margaret Foster, a ton of questions about costs and things because they are actually located in Asia right now and they have been visiting the exact town we will be living in. So here is the monthly budget we have come up with:

Tithes $100 ----- We will really be tithing the first of whatever support we receive, but we are just figuring $100 on a $1000 budget.



Housing $250 ----- When we first get there we will be staying in a one bedroom apartment room for $100 a month. But then we will work on finding something more for the long term. This will probably be a townhouse for about $250 a month.


Utilities etc. $150 ----- This should be enough for electricity, water, some cable, internet, phone, & laundry.


Food $200 ----- We have heard that people in Thailand just eat at the food stalls on the streets most of the time. This food is said to be quite cheap and good, and we have seen a ton of dishes that are under $1.00. So we are budgeting about $5 a day for food and some extra just in case.


Insurance $150 ----- Health insurance is incredibly cheap in Thailand and the health care is said to be outstanding. All three of us will be fully insured for only $119 a month. We are also budgeting for our life insurance which is $28 a month.


Transportation $50 ----- This is for public transportation. We won't be able to own or drive our own vehicle so we will save money by not needing to purchase gas or insurance.

Other $100 ----- Everything else: toilet paper, diapers, clothing, savings, visas, giving, and so on and so forth.

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Total $1000 a month


This is probably on the high side of what we will actually need to live in Thailand, but we want to do things in the country that will really make a difference. I read somewhere that the average annual income of a Thai person is less than $4000 a year. So when we go eat at a food stall we want to be able to tip the worker's nicely. We are bringing our sweet Jesus to these people, but Jesus is working through us many times in the natural as well as the spiritual. So to bless these people in tangible ways will just help us reach them for Jesus.

Please prayerfully consider supporting us on this great journey we are about to take. American money goes quite a long way in Thailand so any amount of support we receive will actually do a great deal of good. Even if it's only $5 or $10 a month you can help us with, it will still be so incredible and will mean the world to us. Thank you!