r

,eff and Pilar Prus

P.O.Box 239

Chiang Mai50000
Thoilond

Phone/fox: 011-66-53-282-646

Email, pruj@pobox.cofTi

Missionaries to Thailanc

CHRISTIAN MISSIONARY KLLOWSHIP Prayer Newsletter

May 1997

Dear Friends and Family,

Greetings in Christ's name! It is a joy to write to you from
Thailand. Our first five months have been very eventful
and challenging. We thank God for all of the people who
have been prayingfor us over this time. It has been an
encouragement to us, and we could not make it without
those prayers. We would like to give you an update on the
things that have occurred since we arrived, which primarily
consists of settling in, language study, and cultural
adjustments.

studies by concentrating on speaking the Thai language

and building our vocabulary before we started learning
how to read and write the Thai script. For the first three
months, we plowed through three language modules and
gaining confidence about speaking Thai, even with our
limited vocabulary. During this time, we joined a group of
children for SundaySchool in order for us to hear Thai at
a simpler level. We have also been joining a smallgroup of
Thais that meets on Wednesday nights to have dinner
together and study the Bible.

Settling In
Our plane landed in Chiang Mai on December 2, 1996.
The first few months in Chiang Mai were spent getting
acquaintedwith the area. Finding out the best places to

buy food, where to pick up transportation, where the post

office is, and many other basic necessities were all things
we had to learn. We found a house within three days and

from what our friends have cold us, this is no small task.

We had over 100 people praying for this specific request,

and God answered it with lightningspeed. Praise the
Lord!

Christmas time was a little hard for us as this was our first

Christmas on the field, and we were barely familiar with

our surroundings. We did have the privilege, though, to
visit the foreign prisoners at the Chiang Mai prison and

The Wednesday night smallgroup that weattend.

hold a Christmas service with some other missionaries. It

Just this month we began to study the Thai writing system.

With 44 consonants, 32 vowels, and 5 tones, this is quite a
challenge. We can now make out some small words on
street signs and continue to recognize more and more each
day. Our progress is very exciting. We just bought some
Thai children's books that we're hoping to go through and
read for more practice.

was sad to know that these people would be celebrating

Christmas behind bars, but it was nice to be able to share
with them what Christmas meant to us as Christians.

Language Study

Two weeks after arriving in Chiang Mai we began our

language and culture study. We have two excellent
teachers who teach us five days a week. We began our

We especially wanted to learn to read after an unpleasant

experience. Recently, we were picking out an ice cream
bar after a hot afternoon, just wanting to cool down and
relax. The package was yellow, and we thought that it was
mango flavor. But to our surprise after biting into it, it
turned out to be a corn popsicle with actual kernels of
corn. Talk about an incentive to learn how to read!

Cultural Adjustments
Moving to another country, as you know, means adjusting
to a different language, climate, and culture. This can be a
fun part of being a missionary, and it can also be frustrat
ing. Sometimes we never know what to expect next. It
keeps the days exciting though.
Pilarpracticing her Thai writing.

We have days when we feel like it's not so different here,

then we hop on the motorcycle, turn the corner, and pass

an elephant walking on theside of the road. Actually,

there is an elephant that often walks through our
neighborhood past our house {and two that live nearby).
The strange part is that we live inside of the city, notout
in the country or jungle.

Wonderful CMF teammates. We had our first

CMF-Thailand team meeting as new members of the

team. Thiswas a great opportunity to get to know our
teammates better.

The peace that God has given us that this is exactly where
we should be!

Last week was the big Thai holiday known as Songkran.

This is the Thai New Year holiday that is celebrated by

Prayer Requests

everyone throwing

water on everyone else. 1

Continued good adjustment to the Thai culture.

We've never been

That we will do well in learning the Thai language

fluently throughout this concentrated year and beyond.

'

involved in a city-wide
water fight before, but
that's exactly what it's

More Thai friends to whom we can share our lives.

More workers to join our CMF-Thailand team.

straight days. We
jeff and Pilar

We were like drowned'

cats before too long as Here
we are
Here we
are suitedfor
suitedfor battle
battle and
and
bucket after bucket of

drenchedfrom Songkran!

water was poured on

us. It was crazy but
definitely a good experience. The Thais sure know how to
have a good time.
Day by day we continue to learn more about the Thai
culture in hopes of makingour adjustment as successful as
possible. We also hope to find ways to bridge the gap and
explain the Gospel to Thais in a familiar context. Please
pray for us as we learn about the culture and ask God to
sho-W us wiys that we can^ttch the Scripture in a
meaningful way.
Eating Northeni Thaifood.
Praises

yfJt wereable to find housingso easily and get settled in

with relatively no problems.
Our language study is going so well thus far. We are
blessed to have the two teachers that we have, and we

thank God for this opportunity!

JefFand Pilar Prus

Christian Missionary Fellowship

Nonprafii Organization
U^. Postage

P.O. BOX 501020

INDIANAPOLIS, IN 46250-6020
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Indiiiupolis. Indiani

Address Correction Requested

Mission

Editorial Dep

jeff and pilar prus

missionaries to thailand

P.O. Box 239

Chiang Mai 50000

Tliailand

Phone/Fax: 011-66-53-282-646
\

i,!'

Emaii, prus@pobox.com

jeff and pilar

CMF INTERNATIONAL Prayer Newsletter

November 1997

As we write this newsletter, we are sitting in our

bedroom trying to reflect on all that God has done in
our lives these past few months. We have felt the
presence of the Lord with us every step of the way,
reminding us of the words "and surely / am with you
always, to the very end of the age." Matthew 28:20

We are now able to read and write quite a bit of Thai.

All of our lessons are in written Thai, and we constantly
read everything wherever we go in order to build our
vocabulary. People can't believe that we can talk to
them in their language and read and write Thai after just
10 months of studying. They keep telling us that Thais
study English for 10 years and can't (more like don't)

Here are just a few of the events in our lives that God
has helped us with.

speak to foreigners.

A few weeks ago, we took two non-Christians to church

cultural adjustments
Both of us made it through alive the infamous "sixmonth cultural shock stage" and are doing great! It's
true that some of the things that were so new and
exciting when we got here aren't quite so exciting
anymore (and can border along stressful). But, on the
other hand, some of the things that seemed strange
when we got here aren't quite as odd to us anymore
either!

with us (one of them had never been to church in his

life). During the sermon we heard words that we hadn't

studied yet and didn't understand. We took that
opportunity to ask our Buddhist friends what those
words meant and had them help us understand the
meaning of the sermon. This was a great way to learn
more Thai words as well as to have our Thai friends

contemplate the content of the sermon. We have found

that Thais usually enjoy the opportunity to help us

understand their language, so we'll ask anyone around

us to help!

This past summer we bought a vehicle. With the

difference in the exchange rate of the Thai Baht, we
were able to get a four-door pickup truck instead of a
two-door! Pickup trucks are cheaper than regular cars
because the government doesn't tax them as much as
the passenger cars.

One of the toughest things for us in practicing the

language is that Thai people laugh at you when you say

a word wrong (I think they think it's cute). This can be

discouraging, but that's when it helps to have a sense of
humor! God is helping us to be good-natured and to
laugh at ourselves, too. Before we left the States, we

Driving on the other side of the road took some getting

used to at first. It is also very different to drive on the
other side of the car, shifting gears with the left hand.
For the first week or so, every time we turned a comer
I'd accidentally turn on the windshield wipers instead of
the turn signal because they are the opposite of what

attended a seminar on learning foreign languages that

taught us when you learn another language, you're

I'm used to. At least we had the cleanest windshield in

Please pray with us as we continue on with our

language study. This is our number one priority this
year. Our goal is to study Thai through April 1998,
then take the Thai government exam ~ which tests you

town!

Having the truck has made life a little easier for us.
When we went to the grocery store on the motorcycle,
we could buy only a limited amount of food because we
couldn't carry that much on the bike. With the truck we
can actually stock up on things and not worry about
having enough hands to carry them home. Plus, in the
rainy season, we sure do appreciate having a roof over
our heads as we drive and not being stuck under a
canopy somewhere waiting for the rain to stop!

language study
Our language study is one of the highlights of our time
so far. Both of us are progressing well and starting to
learn at a more accelerated pace. We still have the
same two teachers as before, but now we study Thai
separately one-on-one with our teachers. This has
enabled us to go at our own pace and individualize our
lessons in order to be more effective. Since we made

this change, we're both improving by leaps and bounds.

going to make a million mistakes. So we might as well

go out and start making some each day! I've almost
reached my million (Pilar's only at 131 mistakes).

at the level of sixth grade.

relationships
God has blessed us with lots of great relationships here.
We have lots of friends and meet new people all the
time.

One person we've been building a relationship with is

our air conditioner repair man. Our air conditioner
broke down in the hottest weeks of the hot season, and
he came out to fix it. Ever since then, he's come around
each month to check our air conditioner, and usually

stays to chat for a while. He's about our age, has a wife
and newborn daughter. We are excited about this
friendship and getting to know them further.
Unfortunately, his company just sent him to work in
Pattaya (southern Thailand), and he only gets to come
home for a few days each month to see his wife and

daughter now. Just before he left, he came by to see us

and tell us that he's going to be gone, but assured us
that he's still coming by once a month when he's home
in Chiang Mai.

We met another Thai man while visiting a Buddhist

Temple in Bangkok. Pilar and I couldn't find our way
to the Golden Buddha, so we asked a young man sitting
on the temple steps where it was. After we found it and
came out, we saw that same man again. He said he
came to the temple to worship and offer gifts to
Buddha, but he wanted to talk for a little bit. The bus

we came on was going to leave in 10 minutes, so we

Vision

We recently returned from our first vacation and are

now refreshed and ready to continue on in our language
study and plans for the next year. While on vacation,
God gave us a renewed sense of vision for the ministry
and work in Chiang Mai. He inspired us to search for
new ways to build relationships with Thais, as well as
to help the existing churches in Thailand that need
leadership training and encouragement. Over the next
few months, we will meet with members of our

Thailand Field Team to discuss a strategy for our work

after we finish language study.

chatted until then.

praises and prayer requests

He asked why we are able to speak Thai and why we
came to Thailand. We told him that we came to help
the Thai people know God and have life through Jesus.
He said he had never heard the story of Jesus before.
By this time our bus was going to leave. He asked if he
could have our address to write to us, and we gave it to
him. A few weeks ago, we received a letter from him
saying he'd like to keep in contact by mail. Please
pray for this young man named Prasert.

There is also a young lady whom we have befriended.

Just last week we visited at her house, but she looked as

if she didn't feel well. She told us she'd been very sick

and was glad we came. We spoke in Thai with her for a

few minutes, then she just fainted in the doorway. I ran
and got a neighbor to help. We kept talking to her,
trying to revive her. Finally, after almost five minutes,
she came out of it and stood up. Fortunately, this
happened while we were there, and we could help take
care of her. We bought some food and medicine for

We praise God for

blessing us with the ability to learn the Thai language.
our safety in travel.
the friends whom He has put into our lives.

the Hope that He gives us in Jesus Christ.

Pray for
our continued success in learning the Thai language
(good pronunciation and correct tones).
the relationships that we have built with Thai people,

that the Lord would help us to live out His love in

everyday situations.
continued safety in travel.
wisdom and guidance as we move closer to our time
of formal ministry.

1
Jeff

her.

She called later to tell us how much she and her

P.S. We're sorry that we couldn't illustrate some of our

ministry with pictures, but our photos were lost in the

husband appreciated our help. Now her husband wants

mail somewhere between Thailand and the CMF office.

to sffi gelttmg together withes. ~We also took her^d

her daughter to the zoo for the day. She told us that
they are interested in learning more about Christianity.
They are asking some good questions, and we're
looking forward to having more opportunities to do
things with them and talk with them about Christ.
These are some of the unique friendships we've been
able to develop with Thai people. Our goal is to enter
into the lives of everyday people and live out the love of
Christ before them in a relevant, meaningful way.

11/97

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Jeff and Pilar Prus

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