Hi, Everyone!
Here in Chiang Mai, Thailand, our family has been settling in and getting used to our new home. I’m investing in my sixth-grade students at Grace International. Zoey and Jayden are each involved in different things at school and making friends. Let me tell you more about what’s been going on.
School started in August. Jayden is in 8th grade and Zoey is in 10th. Both of them have been thrilled to meet so many other classmates who share interests and who have been really welcoming and kind to them. Zoey is playing JV soccer and really gaining lots of skills on the field. Jayden is in drama club at school and is loving it. Both of the girls get to go to Wednesday night Bible studies called Anchor Groups. These are grade level groups that meet in homes with senior girls leading the study and a parent or two to guide them. We have been so relieved and impressed by the opportunities that our school gives our girls to grow in their faith.
We have started going to a church that meets at the Night Safari (a zoo), called Safari Church. How cool is that?! It’s pretty close to our home and has a youth group that meets each Sunday right after the service.
For me (Stephani), all the many transitions have been very challenging. I think that the biggest difficulty of all of them is the move from teaching secondary to teaching elementary. For one more year, 6th grade at Grace is the last year of elementary—next year, after the middle school building is finished, 6th grade will become a middle school grade. The elementary day is intense, every day has a different schedule, and I’m teaching Science, too! My colleagues and principals have been very supportive and helpful. My students are just perfect.
Recently, we had parent-teacher conferences in the elementary school and I met parents of nearly every one of our 42 sixth graders. Almost all of them are serving in ministry and I was so encouraged to hear about what they are involved in. Each of the missionary parents was very appreciative of my role as support for them. Here in Chiang Mai, people don’t have to put their kids in boarding school or stop ministering to home school their children. They trust us to educate them and to disciple their kids.
In a couple of weeks, Ken will make a trip to the U.S. There are some important details he needs to take care of, but he really hopes to visit as many of you as he can. He hopes to visit Avalon, Grabill and First Missionary Church (in Berne), as well as Good Shepherd Church in Greenfield.
One of the scary parts of missionary life right now is the expense of travel. Ken’s tickets will total close to $2,000 and he’ll also need to rent a car for the two weeks that he’s Stateside. These travel expenses are more than our budget can tolerate at this time. The trip needs to be made but, we’d really like to find a way that it won’t wreck our budget . If you are not already supporting us financially, would you consider helping with the costs? Any amount of financial assistance will be helpful. Or if you have a vehicle that he could borrow for those 10-14 days, could you let us know?
Stephani
A quick update: In our last newsletter we told you that we had raised 25% of our budget needs, we’re happy to report that we are now at 41% of budget. We give praise to our Lord Provider and we thank you for how you’ve blessed us with support and prayer. If you’d like to assist us with a monthly support gift or even a one-time gift, the link and details are below:
Crossworld Support: https://crossworld.org/give/support-a-disciple-maker
Notes for support: Name – Ken & Stephani Clouser & Support Account: 40586
If you’d prefer to support us by mailing a check to Crossworld:
- Make a note on the check with our name and account number (Clouser, 40586)
- Mail to: Cross World USA, Finance Department, 10000 N Oak Trafficway, Kansas City, MO 64155
If you’re interested in meeting with us by Zoom or Google Meet or FaceTime, please use this link to schedule a time, we’d love to talk with you! https://calendly.com/kenclouser/60min