kingsland members around the world

Hayden And Emily

If you are interested in reading more general updates, info about Hayden's health, and info on what we are up to then you can check hayemx.blogspot.com  From there you can also sign out for our newsletter and all the blog entries can be sent to you every 2 months.

Lots of love :)  Emily

Christianity in Thailand and England

I have continued to visit churches here and there, and continue to feel quite alone in the church department. It is very difficult to keep bothering when you find nothing that seems to fit. Once upon a time I judged people like me, who do not 'attend' a church every Sunday and are not a member of a church in their local community - well now I understand how you get to that point.

We do not realise how blessed we are to live in a Christian country until we leave it. To have churches on every corner and to have a whole community within a church. But here, and in much of the world it is a different story. Sure there are International churches, but the community is not there. Many of the churches are filled with people passing through the country, or have people from every corner of the city coming together once a week, but meeting other than that can prove difficult for us because of out non-central location. Also the hour trip into the centre in an open air bus with pollution filling your lungs and pores is never very inviting, especially when I am doing every other day of the week for work!

Then there are the Thai churches of which there are some more locally located. Hayden and I had originally hoped to join a Thai church as we are here to meet and bless Thai people. However, language is obviously always a barrier even though we continue to try and learn. I certainly couldn't follow a sermon in Thai although I have observed Hayden do a pretty excellent job of understanding in the past ;). Thai people are also so giving that they would feel obligued to find a translater for us and their whole service would turn into an effort to meet our needs and not their own. Sometimes it just deosn't seem to work in the Thai churches, and sometimes you just feel like you are not wanted, not in a very negative way but because of the extra hassle you bring with you.

On the other hand, being Christian here can also seem alot easier than it is in England or other Christian countries. People here have never judged me, people at work do not put me in a box of 'Christian therefore strange'. Thai people are often very interested to hear about what being a Christian means. We are alos extremely blessed here because Christina seem to have a good name for themselves. Most Thai people think Christians are here to help, to work with the poor to assist the needy, they are never put off thinking we are just here to convert them which is what most English people think as soon as you say you are Christian. Some countries are so badly bruised by a history of Christians doing bad things, that they no longer have any respect for us, but Thailand is truely blessed to have such a good record of Christians in their country.

I know that many of you back home struggle with the continued persecusion from people in the work place or family, and it is very difficult to say 'I am a Christian' when you are first meeting and making friends. People usually move away pretty fast or stop talking when you are around because they think you will judge them for what they do.

In conclusion, I cannot decide where it would be easier to live as a Christian. All are persecuted, all struggle, all have blessing and curses, all are judged. Yet God is there beside every one of us, wherever in the world that may be - Thailand, Uganda, Israel, Switzerland, France, Australia or anywhere.

One thing I can definately say is this: Kingsland is my home, I love you all so much and feel still a part of you even though I am on a different continent. I am sure many of the other 'Kingslanders around the world' feel the same. It is never easy, life is never easy and I am sure it never will be but I pray God blesses you in abundance! I cannot even express how much you did for me when I moved to your church, and even though I was only there a short time before moving out here with Hayden, the blessings from you continue.

All my love, Emily

Short and sweet

Hi everyone!

Here is a short update on what we are up to:

Hayden is much healthier now, although nowhere near as healthy as a human should be :(  His diabetes is back on a fairly stable track.

I have been attending a church recently which I am really appreciating, the teaching is excellent and I learn new things every week.

My work seems to be employing more and more Christians which is awesome!  We now have 2 teachers, 1 Teaching assistant and a nanny with another assistant on the way (All Christian - I was on my own when I started)  I really feel the difference in the place and areas of attack are much less.

I am on half term right now.  Have just been relaxing but am heading to Pattaya by the sea to meet with the runner of the Mercy Center.  They have a children's home, prison outreach, young mothers support, children at risk scheme and much more.   It is just a shame that we live 2 hours away.

mmm, that's it for now, but don't forget you can sign up for our bi-monthly newsletter and read more detail on our blog at www.hayemx.com

Love to everyone - even those of you we don't know yet because we love Kingslanders!!!!!

Emily (and the tall blonde Kiwi :))

Love to everyone

Hayden's Health -final update

Hi everyone,

Thanks so much for your support and prayers over the past few weeks. Hayden is feeling a lot better now, although his immune system seems to be very low as he has been constantly sick with various things since coming out of hospital. He is still experiencing a lot of headaches, is still struggling a little with eating, and is not really sleeping - all of which were a result of his hospitalisation.

There are a variety of things that can set off high blood sugars to cause Ketoacidosis in a diabetic, and the hospital suggested Hayden could have had some food poisoning (which is what we thought it was originally).  Looking up Ketoacidosis showed that there are a variety of things that can help set it off, nothing too extraordinary, but in the previous couple of days before Hayden got sick, all of these causes seem to have occurred.

Basically, we decided to take Hayden to hospital after he had been really ill for about 10 hours, and had been vomiting more and more fequently up to every 10 minutes. I took him to a good hospital with diabetes doctors as I did not want to chance going to a cheap Thai hospital. Upon admission, he was not very with it and we was put straight into ICU for a couple of days. He was then moved to a ward for one more day before we decided to check out because of the high costs (ICU is not cheap).

I (Emily) feel that my family is really being attacked health wise at the moment, with Hayden being just one of the casualties, so please continue to hold us in your prayers during this time. 

Before we left England to come here I remember being given a wonderful word from someone at church - someone we hadn't really chatted to before.  It included lots of wonderful blessings and things to remember while here in Thailand.  One of the words (It was a couple of pages :)) was about health.  That we would have healing hands and that health would be an area of blessing but also real struggles - for us and people around or close to us!  That we would need to remember to seek God and would need to maintain a true and close prayer relationship with Him during those times because they would be times of attack. 

Well...this is being proven right now, many of my family are currently fighting health problems - and Hayden's health is nearly a joke at how much trouble he has now, one thing after another.  He has not had anywhere near 80% wellness for a long time now.

Please keep praying that Hayden immune system will be restored so he can fight off the illnesses of the last few weeks.

Thanks everyone for your support, we love you all!

Emily and Hayden

Hayden's Health Scare

Let me start by saying Thank You to everyone who was praying for Hayden over this weekend.  We really needed your support over this time.  And he is now home, resting, and safe.  Here is what happened:

A few hours into the day on Saturday, Hayden began vomiting and had a headache and needed to sleep a lot.  After a lot of searching the internet for a definition of what was wrong and 10 hour of vomiting and every 10-20 minutes, we decided to take him to the hospital as his blood sugar levels were extremely high even though he had not been able to eat.

Well it turns out we were wise.  Within 2 hours Hayden was in the Intensive Car Unit with Diabetic Ketoacidosis.  (you'll have to look it up if you are interested cause i don't fully understand it myself :), it is potentially fatal if left untreated.  Basically his sugar was too high and somehow it produced an acidity level that is very dangerous. Well, he had to stay in hospital for 2 days to be monitored hourly, and to get his blood sugar back to a stable, safe level. 

He is now home, although he still struggles to eat because of the damage done from all the violent vomiting. 

We left with a free tea and coffee maker :) (neither of us drink it) and so many free shampoos and tooth brushes, and talc and shower gel etc - we had to make the most of paying for a private hospital here in Bangkok :) The result - a healthyish Hayden, and our savings cut back by a serious percentage :)  But it is obviously more than worth it to have Hayden still here with us and cared for correctly by a specialist in diabetes.

Bangkok ramblings :)

Geetings Kingslanders!  Hope you are all well have haven't forgotten us yet!

Emily here, I am writing because we have just moced apartment.  We won't post the address but if you want it just email us and we will give it to you. 

We have finally moved after one and a half years in one room together, we now have a seperate living room and bedoroom and most excitingly an oven!!! (It's just me excited about that - i think it's me dreaming of a roast dinner!!) :)

I hope that the new space will give opportunity to have people over, to witness and bless others with my bad cooking :)  Seriously, It will be good to have somewhere to bring people.

Well, this was just a quick greeting, our love to everyone we know and those we don't :)

God Bless, Emily and Hayden

Prayer for Hayden's Healing

Some people have told us that they are praying regularly for Hayden to be healed from diabetes and related sickness. I, and others, continue to believe that God will fully heal Hayden.

Hayden's mum, has also been praying for Hayden and believes that his healing is not far away. She would like to make contact with anyone else who might be praying for Hayden as she feels that networking together might prove effective at this time.

If you would like get involved in praying for him, please send us your email address and we will pass it on to Hayden's mum. I am sure there are people who have said that they are praying for Hayden who do not check this site, so if you think of anyone who might like to be involved, please do tell them.

If you do not have our email address, Rob Buck and various people at church do.  Or go to our website, www.hayemx.com, and use the contact us page.  You can also sign on for our monthly newsletter there too!

Thanks to everyone who continues to pray for us.  We love and miss you all loads!

A Thank You from Emily

I had a fantastic time in England. It was great to see you all again, and also meet the hundreds of new faces at Lexden.

Thanks for letting me show you what we have been up to. It was great to be able to share with you even if the pictures didn't work :)

If you are keen to keep up to date with what we are doing, please visit our website, www.HayEmx.com, where you can access our blog and subscribe to our newsletter for a monthly email.

Love to you all,

Hayden and Emily

Greetings

Hi everybody, Hope you are all well.

Hayden and I have been trying to prepare fo trip to England.  Unfortunately I have had so much work to do at my school: an Open Day taking up all last weekend, now reports for all my students and a school show at the end of the week!

Well, I am looking forward to seeing you all, even though i have to leave poor Hayden at home :(

See you all next Sunday if all goes to plan!  Love to you all, and I will give you more info on what we are up to when I come.

Emily and Hayden

Greetings Kingslander's

Hi, Emily again :)  I thought we'd up date you all on where we are and what we're heading to:

This weekend, Friday to Monday 7th(ish), we are heading for a visit to Kanchanaburi.  This is the town we have felt strongly lead to and continue to persue our plans for (unless God says otherwise).  We head there for a weekend of reflection and prayer.  Since our visit to New Zealand, I (Emily) got all caught up with our friends there and lost sight of what God has for us here, so we are now coming back to making progress with God here in Thailand.

Please pray with us this weekend as we look further at the area, pray regarding the estalishment of the Charitable Foundation, and seek the Lord's guidance.  We particularly pray that we can come together as a couple, stronger than ever and united in our decisions.  Please pray that we would confirm each others thoughts and words from God and communicate in the best possible ways.

We also continue to pray for the provision of finances for the foundation itself (not us).  Before any application can be made to start the Foundation, a set amount of assets must be seen in a Thai Bank Account.  This is the only frustration as it could take a long time to raise the funds, and then another year or more for the application to be processed.  We must simply look to God to provide what is needed and for a speady establishment process too.

This means we can't, yet again, say Hi to you all this Sunday, but promise to try again very soon.  Love to all, and don't forget to check out http://hayemx.blogspot.com/ for our more up to date blog!