kingsland members around the world

missing you!

Hey everyone,

Just a quick note to say hi, and that today I am thinking of everyone at our home church (thats you!!)

Hope you are all well, thank you all for your continued encouragement as a kind word goes so much further than you know :)  See you all in a couple of months!

Emily (and Hayden)

Here i come...

Hi everyone, I am very excited to anounce that I (Emily) will be returning to England for a visit in July!  My mum is having her 50th birthday (not sure if i'm allowed to share that? :)) , and has offered to buy me the flight home for 3 weeks.

I plan to attend the Ichthus Summer Project for the first week, a week of training in evangelism, and then return to Colchester to see you all for 2 weeks.  I wish i could stay longer but i have to return here for the work i am currently doing.

Hayden would also love to join me, and maybe he will, but for know it's just the better half of us ;)

Well, don't forget to check out www.hayemx.com for info on what we are up to - just click on 'blogs'.

See you soon !  I am very excited!!

A testimony of God's care

Although this will start sounding negative, it is actually a positive thing.

For the past 2 weeks or so, I have been having problems with the lady at school again.  (For those of you who do not know - there is another teacher at my work who has taken a severe disliking to me and she has a very devious nature)  she has been yet again going out of her way to make my life difficult and brought me to tears again begging God to take me somewhere else.  Through her words and actions she had me in a place where i doubted my abilities to care and teach my kids, she made me feel that i was not capable.

But God rescued me.  This Friday i had to organise an Easter Celebration (of which she had tried to make quite clear that i was not to speak about any religious side - through her looks and laughter - but what is Easter about anyway :)).  And 2 days before i was in tears, begging others to do it for me because i truely feared her cutting words - i was convinced that whatever i did she would find serious fault with, and take it to tht Boss.  (This other woman has worked here for a long time so does have alot of respect from the boss, even though our boss has spoken to me and reassured me that she understands my feelings and that this other lady can be difficult to work with.)

Anyway...that day, God gave me joy, peace and enthusiasm.  For those next days leading to the celebration, i had no fear, no nerves and no worry.  I was confident in my decisions, my planning and my abilities as a childcarer and teacher - nothing could penetrate the protection God had given my heart.

What an awesome God!! Thank you Lord!

Emily

Sorry we're so slack! :)

Hi everybody

ME!!!

We haven't blogged on here for a long time.  I hope you are all well.  I was just looking at some pictures on the website and don't recognise many people.  Anyone still there who remembers us?

We are fine and mostly healthy (although i'm just getting over flu)  I was very busy with my Mum visiting in December which was gret to have some contact from home.  And now i'm back at work.

Some of you know that we have been looking into our otions for this coming year, and would like to make the move out of Bangkok to a smaller town.  It would be very exciting to see this happen.  But it needs lots of prayer.  I would not be able to work for someone else as there is no demand so we would need to make money on our own.  We are looking into how to open a shop or cafe and options like that.  It would simply supply the money for our ministry which continues to be a desire to support the local communities and poorer people through free English classes and my love of children will come into it somewhere i'm sure.

Well, you all know to check out our blog at : HayEmX.blogspot.com  for more informationa bout what we are up to.  We love you all, and i wish i could pop pver for a visit - especially cause my sister phoned last night and she says she misses me :(

Well - it'll be heading back into hot season soon, i've loved the feeling of an occasional cool breeze but it has to go.  If anyone wants an exotic holiday with sun, jungle and the river Kwai, book to come and visit next year, and hopefully that's where we'll be - ready and willing to host you all :)

All our love to our home church, we love you all and really appreciate everyone who has continues to contact us and support us through prayer, emails, gifts etc.

Please pray at this time for our individual relationships with God - that we would continue to seek him and push on to find his plan for us even though he asks us to wait.

Emily from Hay and Emx

Hi out there!!??

Hello Kingsland

We havent spoken to you in ages!  I (Emily) am frantically preparing for my end of term Christmas show at work.  Making angel costumes, halos and all the classic stuff.  there is not Christian stuff in this show, except my class' song of course.  we are singing, (or more precisly waving our arms and staring into space) Mary's boy child.  My kids look really sweet but my average age this term is 1.8 months and they are quite little to be singing beautifully! :)

Well...My Mum is coming to visit on thursay, which is cool!  Hayden is happy too...i promise :)

We don't know what we will do for christmas yet, my Ma has had some ideas, making cookies and giving stuff etc.  All sounds good to me...even better if i could speak good Thai :(  My Thai is coming on and I often get told that i speak well but that is because the Thai people do not expect foreigners to speak Thai.  so ordering foo and saying my name is....is pretty good to them!!

Well, this was a quick hello. Hopefully we an chat with you soon,

All our love as always,

Emily and Hayden Andrews

Hayden and Emily - The study center moving along

Since we developed the dream and vision for the study centre, we have felt God saying to keep going with it, and that we should push on to see it become a reality. Even though we had some scared feelings regarding the lack of funds, we soon realised that God will provide whatever we need.

We have now come to a crossroads, where we need to seek God and his desires for us, before taking the next step. There are 2 options:

1. Watson 5 - This is a very large centre that has the potentional to be split into 2 or 3 large rooms. We have both become very excited about his option. It gives a whole range of possibilities. We can afford the first months rent, but not the 3 months deposit or any of the set up costs. We would also be relying on God for the monthly rent thereafter.
2. Above the family mart - This is a much smaller place. It is a fine size and is large enough to carry out everything we first envisioned. Although, activities will need to be sheduled as 2 cannot be run side by side. Furniture would also need to be stacked for certain activities such as the toddler group. This is not needed in the larger centre. We can afford to pay the regular monthly rent, (if we cut back ourselves) but again, cannot afford the set up costs.

We have decided to truely seek God regarding these 2 options. We are seeking God because we feel strongly that he wants us to move on with this project, but are unsure of the way forward from here.

For each of the 2 places, we have calulated the set up costs and amount needed for the first payment and deposits. We have now asked God to provide us with one of the following:

1. The amount needed for watsons 5 or more, we will go ahead in faith with that project.
2. The amount for above the fmaily mart or more, we will go there.
3. Less than either of these amounts, we will take it as a sign to wait, and seek him further.

If God provides either of these amounts, we will then need to trust him for the following monthly costs. We are also praying that we will remain open to God's voice, and not clouded by our own dreams. That we will be open to any other answer he wishes to give.

We are now putting time into prayer until the 7th October, seeking his will for us and the project, and asking him to provide what is necessary. Please pray with us as we seek Him, and any words will be greatly recieved. We need prayer support at this time.

Since deciding to pray about these options, we feel we have been attacked in a few areas, including Hayden become very sick, and finally after a few days of restored health, the sickness returned much worse than the first time. He has had bad stomack sickness for nearly 1 week altogether, and this is very dangerous for his diabetes. Please pray for our protection. Also my login on our computer has mysteriously turned to Thai, which would be fine if I could write Thai, but have no idea what i am typing :)

Thank you everyone who is praying.

Hayden and Emily - Military take over Thai government

Most of you have probably heard more than us, but last night, the Military took over th Thai Governemnt.  14 tanks surrounded governemnt house and within 10 minutes had taken over while priminister Thakisn was out of the country.

We are safe, and so far there had been no fighting, although tanks armed with loud speakers have warned people to stay inside near the centre of Bangkok.  We wait to see if the priminister will fight back, creating an army vs army situation in and around the Capital. TV stations have been closed so we don't have much news and mobile phones have been cut off.

The military intend to form a new government of civilians as they believe the current priminister to be a corrupt man using the power for his own families personal gain.  Although Thaksin was once considered a great leader as he cleaned up alot of drugs and sex industry in Bangkok.  He is now disliked due to his bending Thai law for himself.

We will let you know when we know more.  Please pray that the right people will get power of the country, I do not kow enough to have an opinion as of yet.

We have written a bit more on our blog: Hayemx.blogspot.com, although, as i said you guys probably hear more than us in UK or New Zealand.

Thanks for all your prayers, and please continue to pray for our Study Centre.  Any comments or thoughts from God or yourselves are always appreciated.

Emxily and Hayden

Hayden & Emily - The Study Centre

Emily wrote an article a few weeks ago about the study centre that we would like to start at the gates to Raamkhamhaeng University; the biggest university in Bangkok.

We have been working through this vision for quite some time now; it started out as a plan to rent a 'shop' to reach out to the community.

We are now quite focussed with our two goals of :

1. Providing a quiet place for students to come and relax and study. Most students live 3-6 people per small room, with no aircon, and if they want a quiet place to study, must go to a food court at a mall, or McDonalds, or find a spare spot within the university grounds. We would like the place to have a relaxed 'place to gather'  feel, so would also liek to have couches to relax in, books to read, and games to play.
2. We want to be have a unifying affect on local churches. Therefore we do not want to require anything of them, but instead want to ask them if we can offer their services (outreach programs, church services, English lessons, etc) to those who visit our study centre. And we want to offer our resources to the local churches, making available a place outside of their church building. We are also considering an idea for a newsletter so that churches can tell the other churches what they are doing, and what they have available. The main thing is that we do not want to replicate any services which local churches are already providing well. For example, we would much rather offer our centre (and ourselves) to a church with an exisiting English teaching program, than to start our own English program.

We do have a few other small ideas of things that we would like to see happen, but we would like to begin by focussing on these two main goals.

Today, I (Hayden) am going to go around some of the available places with a Thai person, to ask as many questions as we need to decide whether each place will meet our needs or not.  Most available places, just now, are on the second floor, which most people agree with have quite a negative effect on the number of people who will find our services - It will rely on advertising and word of mouth among the students (mainly the latter), whereas a place on the street level will naturally invite investigation from passers-by. The main problem is that, currently, we have enough money to afford 2-3 months rent of a 2nd floor place, but certainly not enough to pay for rent of some ground floor places.

We originally thought that we would like to have a full plan, and be totally prepared (particularly financially)  and then God would make a place come available. But recently, while praying, we have really felt that God wants us to step out and do this, which means renting a place, and seeing where God takes us, and how he provides for it.

We are not restricting ourselves by a budget though, as although we know that we can afford a cheap place for a couple of months, we know that we could not possibly afford to use such a place, so it does not seem to matter at all really whether we can actually afford a place for a few months or not. So, as we look at these places, we are praying that God will point out the perfect place, regardless of the cost, as only he knows how he will provide for the whole project, and he is in control of all things.

For more details of what we are trying to do, and the places we are considering, please visit http://www.HayEmX.com/index.php?page=aboutus&spage=thDropIn

The main point of this ?little? article, is that we would REALLY appreciate your prayers, and any comments ot ideas that you might have. So please don't be shy to pray and comment!

My latest thought: The battles that God says are won, are won.... The battles that God says are best avoided, and 'truly' best avoided. Pretty simple really.

Lotsa love, Hayden & Emily

H&E - Us Again .....

Wow, this is the third Blog entry in a row written by ... US!!!  And we always thought that we were the only ones so terrible at staying in touch ;)

Just wanted to say 2 things:

1) We have finally created a monthly newsletter. Do sign up. You can find it at http://www.HayEmX.com/index.php?page=newsletter.  If you struggle even with email newsletters, please contact Jo Jeffrey or Nicky Matthews about receiving a printed copy of our monthly newsletter that Nicky will be preparing on our behalf.

2) It was our great privilege to be able to spend some time at Kingsland today via webcam. We enjoyed it very much. And also had the *enforced* opportunity to spend some time with the Wents and Kish. And Emily even got to talk to Holly for a little bit after the service. Thanks guys!

During the Kingsland service, we mentioned that we are working through plans to rent a shop and set-up a study centre. This must be run purely as a charity as we are not allowed to run a business in Thailand because we do not yet qualify for the appropriate visas. Although running a successful charitable work for a few years should help us with future visas. If you are interested in finding out more or getting involved, please do visit http://www.HayEmX.com/index.php?page=aboutus&spage=thDropIn. There are so many ways that you can be involved and help.

Please especially pray for the finances for this. God has blessed us immensley in the area of finances over the past few years, and our time in Thailand has been no exception. Because of the blessings of Emily's job, and with some monetary gifts, we have been able to live a comfortable, although simple & cheap, life. Our frustration comes when we want to do extra things, like learn Thai, save towards flights home, or begin projects such as the study centre. Please pray with us that God's current blessing over our finances and work will be extended to include finances to do these extra things.

Hayden and Emily

Hayden and Emily's 'English Drop-in Centre'

We have been working through a vision that we have had for sometime now; to rent a 'shop' to reach out to the community and do something for God.

We have been formulating our thoughts and ideas into a business plan, trying to work towards seeing this vision come alive.

We would like to have a flexiable space that can be used for a variety of things to reach and help this community. Emily has some ideas for helping, educating and reaching poorer families and mothers & children.  Hayden also has some ideas to reach the vast number of University students in our area. Although Emily is working full time, we would still like to have this 'facility' open most days, so have come up with a vision of an English drop-in centre.

Our main sellable item is that we speak English, and in this area people are desperate to practice speaking. Sometimes we even get approached in the street by someone asking, "can i speak with you". We believe that this should be part of the focus of what we do to encourage people to visit our centre, plus the fact that it will be free, comfortable, and cool.

We hope to have a comfy area where people can come chat, meet friends, or study at our desks, and we hope to have 2 or 3 computers for studying purposes only (we want to remain considerate of businesses in our area and not steal their customers).  On Saturdays, Emily is thinking of teaching under 8's and possibly offering a creche facility for mothers from the Khlong.

There are many possible opportunities here, and we would love for you to pray and share your insights and ideas with us. Any thoughts of your own and ideas from God, will be greatly appreciated and taken into account while planning.

Soon, we would like to interview some trusted Thai people to confirm that our ideas are needed, wanted, and would make best use of the facility. Hayden keeps joking that we will end up with a room full of Karaoki boxes if we ask Thai people for their advice ;)

To read more about our plans and ideas, please regularaly visit the web page that we have specifically set up for this at http://www.HayEmX.com/index.php?page=aboutus&spage=thDropIn

Thanks for all your support and prayer,

Emxily