June 2015
Greetings to family and friends,
We’re pleased to report that our 2 month trip to Southern Thailand and Hawaii went well and we’re back at home…jet-lagging. At the end of March we travelled to Phang Nga, Thailand where we spent two weeks teaching in the DTS there. That base and DTS was a plant that came out of our YWAM base in the north and so we are committed to serving them in all the ways that we can. Cy taught the first week, going through the whole overview story of the Bible and God’s plan of redemption. Rob used the second week to teach on Spiritual Warfare. Here’s a picture of the DTS there:
Our trip to Hawaii was special. Last year, when we embarked on our first trip to Hawaii, we were expectant that God was going to do something special…we just had no idea what that would be. Since then, we have seen God open up amazing opportunities for us to engage with others around the world in the Great Commission in ways that we never could have imagined. The fruits of OUR labours are going to impact millions.
“OUR” MEANS:
1. US AS A FAMILY,
2. AND THOSE WHO HAVE GIVEN TO, PRAYED FOR AND ENCOURAGED US IN THIS ADVENTURE.
THAT’S RIGHT, THESE FRUITS ARE YOURS TOO! There are two main fruits that we want to share with you about.
FRUIT #1: The SphereView Bible
The main purpose of this particular trip was to serve on a project that will manifest itself to the public by year end (God-willing). We served on part of the team of editors for the SphereView Bible. It’s a digital Bible that will allow people to engage with the Bible from the view points of the 7 Spheres of Society. We’ll share more about this project in a coming update, hopefully with a video, report from the leader of this project and personal reflections…stay tuned!
FRUIT #2: The Thai SourceView Bible
To give you an idea of what this Bible is all about, please watch this video: 
This Bible contains the 4 gospels and the book of Acts. The vision of this Bible is to get people to engage with it like never before. Here are the key elements:
1. The text is written like a drama script, having the name of the speaker beside the words spoken.
2. The text is colour coded according to four main speaking parts:
– Black: Narrator
– Red: God
– Green: Main Character(s)
– Blue: Supporting Cast
3. The instructions on the back: 
1. Get into a group of 4 or more people
2. Read according to colours (these bibles are printed with different covers to encourage this)
3. Talk about what you read:
– What did you learn from this story?
– What did you learn about man?
– What did you learn about God?
– What can you apply to your life?
– Who are you going to tell these things to?
The main idea is that anyone (whether Christian or not) can pick up this book, read it with others, easily understand the storyline, process what they read and apply it to their life. We’ve been able to raise money and print 8,000 of these Bibles. We gave away 5,000+ of them to all the key denominational leaders, pastors and lay people in the body of Christ all over Thailand at a major conference that only happens every 4-5 years, which took take place from 3rd-5th of June. It was called the National Congress 8. In July we’ll be giving away around 500 to all the YWAMers in Thailand that will meet together for our YWAM Thailand National Conference at the end of July. Ultimately we’d like to see a major distribution of this Bible all over Thailand.
We believe that when people engage with, read and apply the Word of God to their lives, the kingdom of God manifests itself in individual lives, families, neighbourhoods and even nations. May the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ come to Thailand as it is in heaven! We want to thank all of you for participating in making this project become a reality. This is the fruit of your labours in the kingdom of God!
Cy’s Health
On June 4th Cy started to feel pain in her hand. It spread up her wrist and has since gone all the way up her arm. The doctors that we have seen (which now total 4) all come to the same conclusion: Nerve problems. She’s been given pain medication for the time being (which hasn’t helped at all so far), but she needs to get an EMG test done. The one in Chiang Rai has a 2 month or more waiting list. The most recent hospital we went to in Chiang Mai booked her an appointment for July 14th. However, she needs to get this test done as soon as possible. The test will confirm whether she needs to get surgery or not. We’ll be contacting all hospitals that we can in Thailand to see if there is a test available that would be earlier than mid-July. Please pray for 2 things: 1. Pain relief & 2. an earlier test date/correct diagnosis/right procedure moving forward.
New Passports
Both Elias and Cy need new passports because they both expire in the next 6 months. We recently applied for Elias’ new passport and should arrive by the end of the month. For Cy’s passport we have to go to the closest Embassy/Consulate (which happens to be Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia). So, once we get Elias’ passport we’ll be making a trip to Malaysia to get the new passport and new visas for Thailand. We’ll have to be there for about 6+ days at the beginning of July.
PRAYER REQUESTS:
1. Cy’s Health (see above)
2. Finances – We really need God to come through in this area at this time. Please pray for an increase in monthly support and also some needed one-time donations.
3. The spread of the SourceView Bible in Thai (both through selling them and giving them away)
4. Refreshing from God in our lives as missionaries, as a family and as individuals.
5. Increased anointing from God to serve as leaders, pioneers and teachers in the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ.
This seems like more than enough news for one update. It’s too bad that we have to cram all of these things into one long letter. We thank you and appreciate your prayers and encouragement.
Blessings!
Rob, Cy and Elias